mmo design
Vague Patch Notes: Yes, sandbox MMOs need tutorials and guidance, too
I'm going to make some sandbox fans a little miffed right here with my opening premise. Yes, your sandbox MMO needs tutorials and probably...
Vague Patch Notes: A love letter to the people going above and beyond in the MMO genre
Let's just lead off with a very simple statement. Hey there, teams out there working on MMOs and doing more than you need to?...
Vague Patch Notes: You are not immune to predatory monetization in MMOs
This week, I want to expand on something I mentioned in last week's Vague Patch Notes as an offhand thing that bears further examination....
Vague Patch Notes: Examples of predatory monetization in the MMO industry
So, if you've been paying attention to this column over the past few forevers, you will have no doubt noticed by this point that...
Vague Patch Notes: Mobile MMOs, free-to-play MMOs, and the path of microtransactions
When I first started playing Magic: the Gathering, Revised was the new hotness and I got used to the idea that Serra Angel was...
Vague Patch Notes: The specter of MMO persistence in single-player games
Recently, we got a great letter from a listener asking about an issue that he'd been having with single-player games compared to MMOs. Essentially,...
Vague Patch Notes: A look back at my start in Final Fantasy XI, many years later
It is the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy XI this week. Not the 20th anniversary of the game being in the US, and thus...
Vague Patch Notes: The negatives of MMORPG rogue servers
Last week, we began a discussion about the ups and downs of rogue servers in the MMO space, by which I actually mean we...
Vague Patch Notes: The positives of MMORPG rogue servers
Here at MassivelyOP, we have a complicated relationship with rogue servers for MMOs. We have some pretty firm rules about when covering them is...
Vague Patch Notes: Stop giving rich people money to make failed MMOs
Richard Garriott has been to space. I'm going to repeat that a lot for emphasis, just because I feel like it's important. Richard Garriott...
Vague Patch Notes: When MMOs pit their playerbase against itself
Today's Vague Patch Notes is about something weird that I feel like someone should definitely done something about a long time before now. It's...
Vague Patch Notes: Community workarounds don’t excuse broken pieces of MMOs
It's many years in the rear view now because these days it's someone else's show, but there was a time when Choose My Adventure...
Vague Patch Notes: When you like the idea of an MMO more than the game itself
So I was reading Chris' recent CMA entry on The Secret World, and I found myself in a curious state. I definitely agree with his initial...
Vague Patch Notes: Pretty is boring in MMOs
So NCsoft unveiled Throne and Liberty and it looks... pretty? I guess? But it looks pretty in the worst way. It looks pretty in the...
Vague Patch Notes: Bro, do you even play your MMO?
So Guild Wars 2 had some problems with the process to unlock its siege turtle mount. As launched, it required players to take part in...
Vague Patch Notes: So why do MMO developers gender lock?
Last week's Vague Patch Notes on MMO lore and its impact on design decisions produced a lot of good comments along with a smattering...
Vague Patch Notes: Lore is not an excuse for bad MMO design decisions
In a previous column, I wrote about how gender-locking classes is bad. This is because it is bad. It is bad in all conceivable...
Vague Patch Notes: The metaverse doesn’t exist and isn’t a good idea either
You can't swing your arms at this point without hearing about "the metaverse" in some capacity, which is supposedly the reason why Facebook changed...
Vague Patch Notes: Looking back on the MassivelyOP magic, seven years in
As of tomorrow, we're seven years out from the launch of this site. This means that we're actually into the point when I've been...
Vague Patch Notes: MMOs taking inspiration from one another is not a bad thing
Back when Guild Wars 2 announced the Bladesworn elite spec for Warriors, I had a little fun with the idea because... well, let's not...
