evergreen
Perfect Ten: MMO terms that have overstayed their welcome
My original plan for this week - during the few moments that I was capable of coherent speech rather than just babbling about the...
Working As Intended: Sex, love, and MMOs
In the ongoing, neverending sandbox-vs.-themepark MMO debate, the folks on the side of sandboxes want one thing: more. Actually they want a lot more. They want...
MMO Mechanics: Three favourite action combat systems
Virtually every MMO contains dangerous places that are filled with other players or NPCs that will attack characters on site, and many also feature...
Perfect Ten: How to find the right MMO for you
A common question that I see posited around forums and Reddit is, "What MMO should I play?" If there is a more loaded question...
Working As Intended: Ten lessons I learned from classic Guild Wars
Guild Wars -- the first Guild Wars -- celebrates its 10th birthday this week alongside several of my characters who are equally old. I originally...
The Game Archaeologist: What Star Wars Galaxies life was like before the NGE
A decade after Star Wars Galaxies' "New Game Enhancements" hit the game, controversy, grumbling, and revelations still pop up about the notorious decision to...
Perfect Ten: Important features MMOs lacked at launch
Every MMO represents a journey, starting with an idea, progressing to a fledgling beta, launching as a production title, and growing thereafter. All of the...
MMO Mechanics: How strong communities are barriers-to-exit
MMOs occupy a unique position in our game libraries because they include a wide range of clever mechanics that keep us logging in day...
Massively Overthinking: The death of the MMO guild
This week's Massively Overthinking question comes to us from Kickstarter donor JakeDunnegan, who is worried about the future of MMORPG guilds.
When EverQuest came along, I was...
Perfect Ten: 10 MMOs that let you turn real money into MMO money
Two days ago, World of Warcraft launched the WoW Token service, which will kill the game forever. It thus joins the list of every...
Massively Overthinking: Making MMOs ‘sticky’ without vertical progression
Today's Massively Overthinking question comes to us from Kickstarter backer Jersey C, who asks,
If you were asked to design an MMORPG without vertical progression...
Perfect Ten: Combat-free MMOs
If there's one thing that always, always goes with MMOs, it's combat. I mean, we can't be a hero without killing something, right? We...
Working As Intended: Six things I expect from serious MMO PvP
With PvP-encrusted MMORPGs like Camelot Unchained, Crowfall, and even Revival on the genre's horizon, I have a glimmer of hope that the future of MMO...
MMO Mechanics: Navigating fast-travel systems
I'm delighted to resurrect the column that brought me to Massively-that-was, MMO Mechanics, for the ravenous readers of MOP. The column focused on the...
The Game Archaeologist: Ten facts of EverQuest life circa 1999
MMOs change. We know that, but we also tend to forget it as well. The games that we play today can often be light-years...
Working As Intended: ‘Multiplex monotony’ and the death of the mid-budget MMORPG
Back in December, film editor and author Jason Bailey wrote a piece on Flavorwire called How the Death of Mid-Budget Cinema Left a Generation...
