game design
Activision-Blizzard’s diversity and inclusion goals are out of sync with its corporate action
Activision-Blizzard has released a full-year review of its diversity, equity, and inclusion stats for 2022 this week, and the first thing readers will notice...
Perfect Ten: A primer on 10 very basic MMO fight mechanics
When the first two humans decided to get into a fight, they were just pushing one another and telling the other person to quit...
Massively on the Go: Why Pokemon Go elite raids fail while Scarlet/Violet tera raids fly
As we recently noted while updating our March Pokemon Go event round-up, Niantic has somehow made the already hated Elite Raids even worse. The...
Interview: The Wayfinder team on group size, customization, monetization, and more
Perhaps you're interested in Wayfinder because you like the idea of a small-group dungeon-running game published by Digital Extremes. (The studio made another game...
Torchlight Infinite addresses DPS nerfing, difficulty, and balance
Torchlight Infinite is continuing the comms following its earlier admittance that Season 2 didn't hit the mark, this time with a bundle of answers...
World of Warcraft’s Chris Metzen: ‘I don’t think I’d ever make video games anywhere else than Blizzard’
Just before Christmas, Chris Metzen - who'd retired as Senior Vice President of Story and Franchise Development for Blizzard back in 2016 - rejoined...
Massively Overthinking: What MMORPG content requires the most skill – and why?
Back in January, there was an inflammatory thread on the MMORPG subreddit that argued that anyone using rotation mods in endgame MMO content was...
GDC’s State of the Games Industry survey once again demonstrates dev skepticism for metaverse and blockchain hokum
This year's State of the Game Industry from GDC - its 11th since beginning the project - delivers a range of insights from the...
Interview: Annex is a ‘romantic gold-rush’ MMO set in a post-post-apocalyptic world
Last November, we reported on a new Icelandic game studio and the hints of its upcoming MMORPG project by ex-CCP developers. Arctic Theory, as...
Vague Patch Notes: MMO design is not value-neutral
It's rare for me to find myself actively yelling at my computer screen while watching something, but it does happen every so often. The...
First impressions of World of Warcraft Dragonflight, part three: Combat, content, concerns
Eventually, you are going to have to fight something in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. Of course, by "eventually" I actually mean "more or less...
Perfect Ten: 10 things we’re thankful for in MMO gaming
In my experience, people who invest heavily into being grateful and thankful for blessings don't have a lot of excess room for negativity and...
Reboot of 2005 MMO Rose Online plans early access for December 13
All right, folks, time to get ready for a blast from the past: Rose Online is going to enter early access on December 13th,...
Embers Adrift promises changes to its questing and challenge level in reaction to player feedback
With the launch month of October in the rearview mirror of Embers Adrift, the devs are now taking stock of the month that was...
Vague Patch Notes: The art of picking winners and losers in MMO design
There's a meme that's gone around the Final Fantasy XIV community sphere for a while, and I'm going to try my best to explain...
Legends of Aria’s blockchain mess gets a new name – BRITARIA – as its token sinks
The crypto shenanigans around Legends of Aria just keep getting weirder.
Readers will recall that Legends of Aria, Kickstarted by MMO players as Shards Online,...
Riot Games sponsors design challenge centered on making online spaces safer
Riot Games is not a gaming company most folks in our industry would consider a paragon of community in or off the court. The...
Vague Patch Notes: Mandatory content and game design in MMOs
Let me tell you about my second roommate in college. He was named Kyle, and he was benefiting from the fact that I had...
WoW Factor: When your MMO design is hooked on a feeling
To start this off, I want you to summon up a feeling. I want you think back to the first time you can remember...
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go Fest’s Finale was a blend of comfort content and bad bugs
Pokemon Go's yearly Go Fest was fairly rocky this year - so rocky that some of us old trainers had to remind people that we've...
