The Problem with Inclusive Game Design
In the past decade, video games have undergone a dramatic and sinister shift—not in gameplay mechanics or technological innovation, but in the values and ideology subverting their creation. Terms like …
Category: Video Games
Daniel Vávra Feared Cancellation During Kingdom Come II Development
Daniel Vávra, the Czech game developer behind Mafia and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, has revealed that during the development of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, he feared being fired due to his …
The Origins and Spread of the Body Type Fad in Fantasy RPGs
The recent release of Oblivion Remastered has reignited the controversy around the replacement of traditional sex designations with the modern “Body Type” system. The original Oblivion (2006) featured male and …
How Wikipedia and Molly White Rewrote the History of Gamergate
As time distances us from the events of 2014, the memory of Gamergate has begun to fade. For those who lived through it, Gamergate was a chaotic, messy, and multifaceted …
An Open Letter to Ji Ham, CEO of Enad Global 7: The Future of EverQuest Must Be Now
With EverQuest’s 25th anniversary having just passed, I am not only a veteran player, but a person who lived and breathed Norrath from its earliest origins. I have walked its …
Ubisoft Wokeness: Did Canadian Govt Grants Help Ruin Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
The France-based Ubisoft, once a titan of the gaming world, now teeters on the brink of ruin, its reputation battered by self-inflicted wounds and a desperate grasp for relevance. The …
Is Daybreak Games Creative Director Listing for EverQuest a Ghost Job Listing?
Loyal EverQuest fans, brace yourselves for another dose of bitter disappointment. For over 18 months, Daybreak Game Company has dangled a Creative Director job for Darkpaw Games like a carrot …
The Vision™: Brad McQuaid’s Dream for EverQuest and the MMORPG Genre
The year 2024 A.D. was an important milestone in MMORPG History. EverQuest, the brainchild of Brad McQuaid and John Smedley had somehow survived for a quarter of a century. Over …
12 Things Amazon Games Should Do to Ensure Their Lord of the Rings MMORPG Stays True to Tolkien
If Amazon Games plays their cards right, they could see their upcoming Lord of the Rings MMORPG dethrone Blizzard’s aging giant, World of Warcraft. WoW is showing its age, not …
ChatGPT’s Analysis of Enad Global 7’s Stewardship of EverQuest
For almost 20 years, I have been writing articles about MMORPG design. There is one particular intellectual property that I’m very much interested in: EverQuest. Released in 1999, EQ was …
Rob Pardo’s Bonfire Studios Abandons the MMO Genre and Announces Cooperative PVP Game Arkheron
Hell has frozen over it seems. After 8 years of stealth development, Rob Pardo’s Bonfire Studios has finally released the name of its upcoming video game for the PC. It …
The War on Role-Playing: How Representation Ideology Undermines Immersive Gaming
For the past 30 years, the notion of representation has been incrementally injected into the cultural bloodstream. Even though nobody ever voted for representation ideology, it has crept into all …