game design
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...
EVE Evolved: Five EVE video shows to watch in 2017
Over the past several years, the way in which we receive gaming news and the types of gaming media we follow has changed pretty fundamentally. Today's...
Ashes of Creation outlines its reactive player-driven nodes
So what is Ashes of Creation meant to be? Is it supposed to be more of a sandbox, more of a themepark, what? The...
Global Chat: Boobs and wrinkles edition
Is the infamous "chainmail bikini" slowly disappearing from western RPGs and MMOs? Pete at Dragonchasers thinks that it is... and he kind of laments...
EVE Evolved: 2016 EVE Online year in review
It's been another busy year for sci-fi MMO EVE Online, and an absolute roller coaster ride for both players and developer CCP Games. On the...
EVE Evolved: The Siege of M-0EE8, the new largest battle in gaming history
In the political sandbox of EVE Online, colossal player-run military coalitions frequently war over territorial conflicts, in revenge for past transgressions or just for...
Path of Exile celebrates a smooth content launch with two new videos
Launching something new always involves a certain amount of pulling the trigger and then apprehensively waiting. What's going to go wrong? Are the servers...
MMO Mechanics: 2016’s MMORPG mechanics in review
The holiday season is finally upon us: My decorations are resurrected from their dark corner of my storage closets once more, Jack Frost is...
Massively Overthinking: FOMO and time-limited events in MMORPGs
Earlier this week, Daybreak told players it wanted to get back to time-limited events in DC Universe Online. "Events make logging in every day...
Here’s how Rare is building Sea of Thieves’ outposts
Ever wondered how it is that game designers actually build the locations you'll be tromping all over in MMOs? The latest Sea of Thieves...
EVE Evolved: Getting started with EVE’s free-to-play
Just under two weeks ago, EVE Online launched its new free to play account option with the introduction of clone states. Subscribers are now given the...
Three-year-old Warframe broke its concurrency record after The War Within
GIbiz has an interview out with Digital Extremes VP of Publishing Meridith Braun today, who sheds light on how Warframe is doing. It turns...
Massively OP’s 2016 gift guide for the MMORPG bookworm
Hey you! Yeah, the player who actually reads quest text and lore entries when all of the other hooting madmen are furiously clicking past...
EVE Evolved: Three essential tips for new alpha clone players
EVE Online's Ascension expansion goes live in just two days on Tuesday November 15th, introducing the new free-to-play alpha clone state and completely overhauling...
EVE Vegas 2016: EVE Online is finally getting a real tutorial
One of EVE Online's developers once described the new player experience with the line "Welcome to EVE, here's a Rubik's cube, go f**k yourself," and he...
EVE Evolved: Alpha Clone economics, bragging rights, and restrictions
Yesterday at EVE Vegas 2016, developer CCP Rise held us spellbound with tales of his recent misadventures in EVE Online recently when pretending to...
Creating Crowfall is ‘part exploration and part iteration’
Despite what some players might assume, developers do not begin with a game design document that can and will never be changed. It's a...
