5 Mistakes Blizzard is Making that Distracts them From Making Great PC Games
Here are 5 things that Blizzard has engaged in that have distracted them from making great PC video games.
Tag: MMO
The Death of an EverQuest Guild
Last week my EverQuest guild disbanded. For over a year, I was a member of an EverQuest guild on the time-locked progression server called Agnarr. The guild was Imperium Deus. …
Felmyst Server Shuts Down After Blizzard Sends Legal Letter to Disabled WoW Fan
Everyone loves the David versus Goliath story where the underdog prevails against the powerful bully. Unfortunately, real life isn’t like that. In reality, the small guy usually loses against the …
Rob Pardo’s Journey of Redemption Begins with Bonfire Studios
In September, the world learned that former Blizzard Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo launched a new video game studio called Bonfire Studios. Pardo’s biggest claim to fame which earned him a …
The Death Penalty Mechanic and Loss Aversion in MMO Design
For many years I have been on a mission to unlock the elusive code that made EverQuest so great. There is no single equation that accurately explains the magic of …
The Rise and Fall of MMO Critique
This week while doing routine maintenance on my blog, I decided to make sure that the links to other MMO blogs that specialize in critique on this site were still …
How a Video Exposes the Sorry State of World of Warcraft
Almost 6 years ago in 2010, I penned an article entitled the Are Chatless MMOs a Precursor to Console MMOs? It was during that fateful year that Blizzard designed to …
Blizzard Dev Ion Hazzikostas Admits WoW Leveling is Pretty Broken
It’s not every day that a Blizzard developer candidly admits that something is terribly wrong with one of their products. This week Ion Hazzikostas did just that when he shared …
How Blizzard’s Infatuation with Political Correctness and Disneyfication is Alienating their Fans
All is not well at Blizzard Entertainment. It has been a bad month for the embattled video game giant. In early April of 2016 Blizzard’s Jeff “Tigole” Kaplan in charge …
Visionary Realms Silences the Critics with Twitch.tv Reveal of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
The MMORPG community has just experienced a week like no other. First, we learned the bad news that EverQuest Next was cancelled. Second, a fledgling company called Visionary Realms silenced …
Lamenting the Lack of Purposeful Choices in the MMORPG Genre
Long before MMORPGs became a homogenized cultural phenomenon thanks to World of Warcraft, pioneering virtual world players felt they were embarking on a journey in a genre that had no …
Five Films that Every MMO Designer Should Watch
For the past 15 years, virtual worlds and MMOs have been experiencing a steady inspirational decline. This once great pastime has fallen into a formulaic rut that has all but …