the soapbox

The Soapbox is home to our staff’s wild opinions on MMORPG topics near and dear to us. [Follow this column’s RSS feed]

You should be better at this.

The Soapbox: Lessons Secret World Legends failed to learn from Final Fantasy XIV

181
I've mentioned many a time that I like Funcom quite a bit. I want to like Funcom quite a bit. Heck, I want to...

The Soapbox: Why is Pokemon GO still a tech demo?

6
I've been a bit frustrated with Niantic lately. I love some of its ideas, but I watched someone else play Ingress prior to Pokemon GO's...
zzzzap

The Soapbox: What the Mass Effect Andromeda kerfuffle ought to teach us about games criticism

152
Today is the official release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, which was preceded by the frankly baffling decision to allow people access to an early...
This is not that lightsaber, but I care so little I'm not hunting down a picture.

The Soapbox: Everyone’s being dumb about Star Wars: The Old Republic’s lightsaber

61
A couple of years ago, The Force Awakens introduced us to (among other things) a lightsaber that looks poorly made, like a little kid...

The Soapbox: Pokemon Go Generation 2 still isn’t a real MMO

13
Pokemon GO Generation 2 is out now, and it feels a lot like an MMO expansion in a lot of ways: We have new features,...

The Soapbox: The sorry state of ARK Survival Evolved

71
When ARK: Survival Evolved came on the scene in June 2015, it was met with enthusiasm (dinosaurs!) as well as some skepticism (Early Access)....

The Soapbox: Asheron’s Call is dead, and Turbine killed it

0
You'd think recent news about Asheron's Call 1 and AC2 would be easy to swallow. After all, we'd already been warned that Turbine was becoming a mobile...
Just admit it's launch day.

The Soapbox: Calling an MMO launch a launch

0
It's launch. Can we collectively accept that? Marketing, developers, and players alike? Launch is launch. When your game launches, it has launched. If I can...

The Soapbox: Sharing MMORPGs with my kids

0
"Dad, can I pilot your ship tonight?" I turn around to see my seven-year-old son giving me Bambi eyes with his hands clasped because, somewhere...
Let's hunt some people.

How Star Wars: The Old Republic won me over with its endgame

127
I walked away from last week's Star Wars: The Old Republic livestream pretty happy. Considering that I repeatedly say how much I absolutely loathe...
Very respectful

The Soapbox: Advertising, blacklisting, and critique – The broken incentives of gaming media

59
This guest Soapbox was commissioned through Massively Overpowered's Kickstarter campaign and is authored by D. Emery Bunn. The opinions here represent the views of our guest...

The Soapbox: MMOs and the power of habit

24
I've been reading this book by Charles Duhigg called The Power of Habit. Actually, the full title is The Power of Habit: Why We...

The Soapbox: The fun and frustration of SWTOR’s housing system

29
When I was a kid, I had far too many Star Wars action figures, vehicles, and playsets. And when I say kid, I actually...

The Soapbox: These three MMOs deserve a do-over

179
Wouldn't it be cool if every MMORPG that failed to reach its potential were granted some sort of do-over? We've seen it happen once, with...

The Soapbox: Why I’m hopeful for the future of MMOs

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Earlier this week, Justin asked what gives you hope for the future of the MMOs. As you might expect, the responses were many and...

The Soapbox: An ode to MMO positivity

54
I had a strange thought the other day, at least as regards the MMO genre. I'm kinda having fun here. I know, it surprised...

The Soapbox: Star Citizen is still worth the wait

354
Wow, it's Star Citizen and Derek Smart in the same post! OK, now that I've stopped laughing (again), you can call me crazy because I remain optimistic about...

The Soapbox: The fallacy of ‘F2P insight’ in the MMO market

272
I read with disgust a recent GI.biz piece about free-to-play and its supposed coming of age. The business model has of course run amok...

The Soapbox: Can MMOs eradicate pay-to-win?

247
You know what sucks about getting old? Apart from the adult diapers and the dying? Yeah, it's the seeing things you love retconned into...

The Soapbox: Making your own fun in MMORPGs

112
This guest Soapbox was commissioned through Massively Overpowered's Kickstarter campaign and is authored by Chris "Warcabbit" Hare, a developer at Missing Worlds Media. The opinions here...

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