mmo design
Vague Patch Notes: Why we should evaluate MMO systems based on how they break
Back before Final Fantasy XIV's reboot launched, Naoki Yoshida talked about how the developers had plans to make certain primals be world bosses. Players...
Vague Patch Notes: Why do people remember an MMO past that didn’t exist?
Let's just start with the premise out of the gate. World of Warcraft launched to sales of 240,000 units on its first day. The...
Vague Patch Notes: The power of perspective in MMOs
So now that Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out, there is a very funny meme that is going around, but it...
Vague Patch Notes: You cannot win on pay-to-win
I want you to put a game in your head that you think is pay-to-win. No, you do not have to say it out...
Vague Patch Notes: MMO players don’t talk about aging
I turned 40 this year. It's not something that I announced with any particular fanfare, due in no small part to the fact that...
Vague Patch Notes: Can the gaming industry move on from high school, please?
So this weekend had at least one incident that was, I'm not remotely sorry to say, exceedingly funny. If you've been paying any attention...
Vague Patch Notes: If there’s any sort of metaverse, it’s already here – and it’s not what you think
We've had a lot of fun here having a good little giggle about the whole saga (if you want to call it that) of...
Vague Patch Notes: E3 is gone, but it’s only half a victory
So E3 is dead, and we've already shared some of our thoughts on the matter earlier this week. But as someone who literally wrote...
Vague Patch Notes: Can anyone really cover games objectively when there’s suffering built-in to them?
In July of 2021, we started a roundup tag in our tag cloud that most of us probably didn't expect to still be using...
Vague Patch Notes: The objective truth of ‘objectivity’ in games journalism
All right, folks, real talk: Originally there was going to be a much more sober and depressing column this week, but then this week...
Vague Patch Notes: How WildStar’s first dungeon killed me
This is the story of a girl who ran a dungeon in WildStar's world, and while it looks all right in photographs, I absolutely...
Vague Patch Notes: Being there or getting there in MMORPGs
Here's an interesting fact to consider: It took me ages to hit the level cap in Final Fantasy XI. Absolute ages. And no, it's...
Vague Patch Notes: Why I’m anticipating Blue Protocol
My anticipation for Blue Protocol is something that I cannot adequately explain because at the end of the day it's more based around a...
Vague Patch Notes: MMO events are not for the high-level playerbase
Let me start with a statement of fact: I actually really like limited-time events in MMORPGs. I don't like them as a means of...
Vague Patch Notes: The three kinds of sunset in the MMO space
Not all sunsets are the same, no matter how much you may like a given game. This is one of the things that tends...
Vague Patch Notes: Diversions are what makes the MMO
I am going to put forth a theory today in the Vague Patch Notes column. It is potentially an odd theory, and as sometimes...
Vague Patch Notes: Floaty, samey, and janky – a treasury of MMO terms for bad combat
Any time you bring up The Secret World or Secret World Legends's bland, floaty combat, at least one person is going to chime in...
Vague Patch Notes: Fractured Online deserved better, even if you think it looked bad
When it comes to upcoming MMOs, there's always a sense of uncertainty in terms of what the final product is going to look like....
Vague Patch Notes: Stop taking your released MMOs back to the drawing board
This is not a column about Kingshunt, but it is. It's not a column about Crowfall or Deathverse: Let it Die or even Crucible....
Vague Patch Notes: Embracing limited-time content modes in MMOs
Today's column was inspired by a discussion in work chat about limited-time game modes - specifically, the idea of something like that in World...
