The Problem with the WoW Achievement System
I absolutely loathe the WoW achievement system. There I said it. Both in it's design and implementation Blizzard has created an obnoxious cuckoo clock that pops out every so often …
Bartle Questions Virtual Torture and the Lack of Choice in WoW’s Quests
Virtual world evangelist Richard Bartle has made the news yet again in the MMO blogosphere. Richard Bartle the grandfather of virtual worlds, recently posted a blog article about some concerns …
Are Blogs Impacting the MMO Industry?
Eventually every MMO blogger worth their salt ponders the impact that blogs have on the MMO industry as a whole. Of course we'd like to think we are somehow making …
Xbox Live Barbarians at the Gates of Virtual Worlds
Despite the amazing advances in information, communication, connectivity and commerce that Cyberspace has provided us, it has one glaring defect: people can behave badly without fear of repercussions because they …
Blizzard’s CEO on E-Sports and Community
Blizzard has often bragged about the fact that their 11 million subscribers total more then some small countries. It stands to reason that would make Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime the …
PC Game of the Year — King’s Bounty: The Legend
I usually don’t do game reviews as this is a website devoted to MMOs but one PC game that I have recently fell in love with deserves to have it’s …
Predictions and Wishlist for the Third WoW Expansion
This Friday October the 10th hails the beginning of Blizzcon 2008. Typically that includes announcements about future WoW expansions. It got me to speculating about what Blizzard plans on doing …
The Obsession with Math and Numbers in MMOs
A few nights ago while playing my paladin in the Wrath of the Lich King beta I overheard a conversation in General Chat in the Borean Tundra. There were two …
Who Should You Believe: Tobold or Will Wright?
Occasionally religion and politics intersects the world of video games. As this is a blog that deals with MMO's, I normally avoid discussing those issues as they are usually fraught …
Unintended Consequences of Quest Directed MMO’s
Lately there have been some good discussions in the blogosphere lamenting the erosion of one of the key facets of MMO's: grouping. I made a few comments on some of …
Will You Grow Out of Your MMO?
Steve "Moorgard" Danuser brought up a thought provoking point on his blog this week. He contends that MMO's focus on a certain type of demographic. He used the analogy of …
Thoughts on Lord of the Rings Online One Year Later
For a change of pace from my usual obsessive critiquing of Blizzard's WoW, I've decided to jot down my some of my opinions on another relatively popular MMO: Turbine's Lord …