game design
Massively Overthinking: Is the MMO genre facing an identity crisis?
MMORPG blogger and MOP commenter Isarii (@ethanmacfie) recently published an excellent video positing that the MMO industry is facing a "massive identity crisis."
"The MMO...
EVE Evolved: Low-security space has lost its identity, but it can be fixed!
When I first discovered EVE Online back in 2004, it had been out in the wild for just under a year and was a much...
EVE Evolved: Video highlights from EVE Fanfest 2017
For a few days each year, hundreds of EVE Online players from across the world flock to a frozen volcanic rock at the top of the world for...
Massively Overthinking: MMOs, from hardcore to casual and back again
Massively OP reader Suikoden wrote this great question to the podcast -- too good to let just Justin and me answer it. It's a...
Leaderboard: How much did your family support gaming as a hobby when you were a kid?
I was chatting with my mom this morning when I was surprised to hear her say that she was impressed with how good my...
EVE Fanfest 2017: Hands-on with competitive VR sports game Sparc
At the end of February, CCP Games announced a new game that has nothing to do with EVE Online or even the EVE IP. Named Sparc,...
EVE Evolved: EVE Online’s moon mining overhaul and the future of conflict
Just under four years ago at EVE Fanfest 2013, EVE Online's Executive Producer Andie Nordgren took the stage and delivered an epic long-term vision for the...
Massively Overthinking: Competition vs. community in MMOs
Quantic Foundry, the games research group we've been tracking ever since it posted its original Gamer Motivation Model, has a new piece out this...
MyWorld empowers players create and link their own ARPG levels
If you are the sort that has ever looked at online game design and thought to yourself, "I could do so much better," then...
EVE Evolved: What’s the deal with EVE’s PLEX changes?
This week CCP Games announced that some big changes are on the way for PLEX in EVE Online. The PLEX or "30-day Pilot's License...
EVE Online overhauls PLEX currency system, ending tales of PLEX-stuffed ship destruction
CCP announced this morning that it's overhauling PLEX in EVE Online. As the currency works now, players buy the 30-day sub token known as PLEX...
Why gacha is the ‘gotcha’ tactic of MMO sales
Making money in free-to-play games isn't as simple as pursuing a single revenue stream. Often studios are looking at multiple approaches to coax players...
EVE Evolved: Hints of EVE Online’s summer update
The EVE Online community was a little surprised this week by what appeared to be the accidental early reveal of the feature list for this summer's...
MMO Mechanics: 2017’s take on the sandbox MMO
I am finding it hard to believe that we are two months into 2017 already, especially since I've had so many pressing Guild Chat...
Perfect Ten: MMORPGs that help you get your spaceship on
Sometimes even the most die-hard MMORPG player finds him or herself a little tired of constantly looking at the back of a head and...
EVE Evolved: What do we want from Drilling Platforms?
If you followed our EVE Fanfest coverage last year, you might remember CCP announcing plans to add a whole series of new deployable structures...
EVE Evolved: Would EVE Online make a good survival game?
EVE Online has practically dominated the sci-fi sandbox MMO niche for nearly 14 years, with its harsh PvP-oriented gameplay and massive single-server universe combining to provide something that's...
Massively Overthinking: Death and dying in MMORPGs
In March of last year, MOP's Justin wrote a detailed guide to the most common death penalties in MMORPGs. Last September, Gamasutra pulled seven...
We’re gonna have gorgeous hair in City of Titans
A few weeks ago, the Massively OP writers were hanging in the news room on a tear about mohawks. We're not against mohawks. Mohawks...
EVE Evolved: Making stories with friends in EVE Online
It's one of the more peculiar laws of the universe that when enough EVE Online players meet in the real world, they absolutely must swap stories. You...
