science
Ship of Heroes’ map is ‘larger than the starting maps in City of Heroes’
If you're a City of Heroes fan - or any kind of superhero fan - then you're gonna want to check out the brand-new...
MMO designer Raph Koster reveals ‘Trust Spectrum’ research for online games
If you'll be at GDC this week (we will!), you're in for a treat, as research from MMORPG designer Raph Koster will be on...
Trion Worlds’ Scott Hartsman goes on NBC to address video game violence and game ratings
Here is something kind of neat: Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman sitting down with NBC's Press:Here to talk about video game violence and game...
For science: New long-term study shows video games don’t make adults violent
Before we start, yes, I'm sure many of our readers are feeling a big wave of "duh" at the statement in the headline, but...
Star Trek Online will make a 3-D model of your ship for hundreds of dollars
For Star Trek Online captains who have fallen deeply in love with their starship of choice, now they can take that ship out of...
EVE Online, Star Trek Online, and Elite Dangerous players memorialize physicist Stephen Hawking
Multiple MMORPG communities are celebrating the life of internationally renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who passed away earlier this week.
In EVE Online, players came together...
Hyperspace Beacon: Why SWTOR fans should be excited about Fogbank
This week, I'm going to depart a little from the usual insights into the world around Star Wars: The Old Republic and talk about...
MMO business roundup: Steam, toxicity, Kartridge, contracts, dopamine, and guns
What's going on in the online video games business this week? Let's dig in.
Steam, toxicity, and Kartridge
The Center for Investigative Reporting (via Motherboard) has a...
Academics argue WHO’s ‘gaming disorder’ is arbitrary, criticize lack of evidentiary transparency
Researchers and self-regulatory bodies are continuing their denouncement of the World Health Organization's plan to classify "gaming addiction" as a "gaming disorder." The Entertainment...
New Hampshire senator Maggie Hassan has picked up the lootbox and gaming addiction cause
Up until now, the political grumblings about video game gambleboxes has been mostly limited to state governments, specifically Hawaii's Chris Lee, who submitted four...
German commission takes up lootbox issue as academics link whaling to gambling markets
Germany has added its voice to the anti-lockbox chorus in the US, UK, and Netherlands. According to an article on the German-language Welt (picked...
Academics debate WHO ‘gaming disorder’ classification and global political implications
Remember how the World Health Organization is angling to classify gaming addiction as a "gaming disorder"? Researchers and self-regulatory bodies have been pushing back...
Ship of Heroes teases February combat alpha with new gameplay pics
Ship of Heroes' latest newsletter is here, and it's all about the escorted combat alpha due to begin later this month.
"The combat alpha will...
The Stream Team: Exploring ECO with devs
ECO is a survival game unlike the others; you are trying to keep the entire planet alive! Not only that, but it is full...
The Game Archaeologist: Fallen Age
Imagine that one day you wake up, stumble to your computer, and check in on the morning news. Among the various tidbits is a...
The Daily Grind: Have you ever taken drugs in an MMORPG?
Probably my favorite screenshot in an MMO is the one I took back in 2003 or so, when my Star Wars Galaxies character was...
Star Citizen explains where baby ships come from
Star Citizen just wouldn't be Star Citizen without its obsession with meticulously crafted starships, and they're exactly the focus of the Ship Shape segment...
Darwin Project lets players and hosts explore their inner griefer
So you probably expected a bunch of battle royale games to pop up on Steam this year, given the remarkably popularity of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds...
Crowfall’s Raph Koster goes into insane depth on the cost of creating video games
If you have an exceptional memory, you might recall that a couple of months ago, Crowfall and Star Wars Galaxies designer Raph Koster wrote...
Game Theory explores the psychological exploitation at work in lockboxes
"It's as easy as one, two, insert your credit card number here!" So begins the parody at the beginning of the first of two...
