evergreen
The Game Archaeologist: The day Dungeons and Dragons Online dropped the free-to-play bomb
By 2009, the MMORPG genre had firmly established a norm for its business model. For over a decade, a monthly subscription -- usually $15...
Massively Overthinking: Is the age of the $15 subscription coming to an end?
Massively OP's own Justin Olivetti penned a blog post this week in which he muses on the lifespan of the $15 MMO sub fee,...
Perfect Ten: Why Fallen Earth was a flawed gem of an MMO
Even though I half-expected it for a while now, the news of Fallen Earth's demise earlier this month made my heart sink. Way back...
Lawful Neutral: Examining Ashes of Creation’s controversial referral program
I have a really hard time taking anything seriously that refers to money as "bucks." You'll recall that I opened the Lawful Neutral column...
Massively Overthinking: Let’s ban a word from the MMORPG lexicon
A while back, an MMO player I follow on Twitter who also happens to be super into sports retweeted something fun into my feed:...
Vague Patch Notes: Timesinks, sunk time, and MMOs
Here's a fun question I asked myself a lot back in the day: Why, exactly, did leveling take so long in Final Fantasy XI?
The obvious mechanical...
Perfect Ten: The many modes of social experience in MMOs
There are two statements frequently made with regard to MMOs that seem like linked clauses, but they're not. "MMOs are social games" is a...
Working As Intended: What it means to be an MMORPG
I am amused and somewhat bewildered to admit that I have my very own pet troll. He follows me around on Reddit to hassle...
The Game Archaeologist: Is it worth the hassle to update graphics in older MMOs?
"I'd play this game again if the graphics were updated."
"If they re-released this game with modern graphics, it would be way more popular."
"The Game...
The Soapbox: There is no MMO that can fix a broken MMO community
We've heard again and again how the recently launched World of Warcraft: Classic was going to "fix" the MMO community by stripping away modern...
Massively Overthinking: Do you ever feel guilty about ‘freeloading’ in a free-to-play MMO?
A few weeks back, Massively OP's Ben Griggs made an observation that I bet some readers can relate to. He mentioned that in his...
Vague Patch Notes: How MMO studio communication and player confidence really work
Here's the funny thing about communication from MMO studios: It's vital to the continued feeling of a healthy game, and yet at the same...
Perfect Ten: MMORPGs made by tiny teams
I don't really have to tell you this, but creating an MMORPG is a huge undertaking. These are some of the most complex games...
Perfect Ten: The fantasy MMO zone atlas
There are, let's face it, a limited number of different ways to design real-adjacent zones in any fantasy game. At the end of the...
LOTRO Legendarium: Lord of the Rings Online’s prettiest and ugliest places
Depending on how you count it, at the present Lord of the Rings Online boasts somewhere around 45 zones -- a vast improvement on...
Massively Overthinking: Problematic faves in MMOs
A while back, a reader suggested that it was impossible for a fan who loves something to recognize its shortcomings, and I was taken...
Vague Patch Notes: How time distorted what ‘hardcore’ means for WoW Classic
There's a contingent of players looking forward to the launch of World of Warcraft: Classic next week that is vocally thrilled about one specific...
Perfect Ten: MMOs that flirted with permadeath
This month, Dungeons and Dragons Online will be venturing where many MMORPGs have feared to tread: into the realm of officially supported permadeath. The...
Flameseeker Chronicles: What would a mobile Guild Wars 2 look like?
Ever wished Tyria could fit in your pocket? That dream could one day become a reality. A couple of weeks ago, we heard rumblings...
Not So Massively: Comparing looter shooters, from Destiny 2 and Division 2 to Anthem and Warframe
Looter shooters -- online games with shooter gameplay and loot-based progression -- are all the rage these days. But maybe this trend has passed...
