Blizzard’s Smoking Gun Interview that Shows How MMOs Became Games
Those of us poor souls who are MMO and virtual world veterans have seen a lot in the past 12 years of the history of this genre. We are no …
Reflections on Blizzard Losing 600,000 WoW Subscribers
In January of 2011, I made the somewhat the bold and outrageous claim that Blizzard's Cataclysm was the worst MMO expansion in history. From the vantage point of a player …
Why It’s Time to Get Rid of Quests in MMORPGs
I used to think there was something grand and noble about the idea of a quest, that is until MMORPG developers got their slimy hands on them. Quests have become …
Chasing the Virtual Dragon and the Search for Wonder
Many years ago when I first started to be seduced by the charms of EverQuest — the first fully realized 3D virtual world — I was overcome with a feeling …
RIFT Impressions: Loving and Hating That New MMO Smell
Almost everyone likes new. In our culture, newness gets an undeserved sense of respect and cachet. There’s a sense of anticipation and mystique about an upcoming film, a new restaurant, …
MMOs Were Originally Designed to Be Shared Social Experiences
Most MMO enthusiasts have noticed a sharp decline in the quality of the WoW community of late. Cursing, nastiness, bullying and other forms of rudeness have now become endemic in …
Is Blizzard’s Cataclysm the Worst Expansion in MMO History?
There's an aging corpulent MMO dinosaur that is lumbering under the weight of its own arrogance and sloth. This MMO has grown too big for its environment and is due …
MMO Design Lessons from Hannibal Lecter and Why Combat Needs Fixing in RIFT
Ever since watching the Silence of the Lambs movie I've been somewhat fascinated by a particular scene in the film where the character of Hannibal Lecter quotes Roman Emporer Marcus …
RIFT MMO Beta Impressions and How to Fix What’s Wrong
Now that Trion Worlds has lifted the NDA and I have a few hours of spare time during the Christmas holidays, I'd like to share some of my impressions of …
Trion Announces RIFT MMO Beta and Opens Floodgates for Free Beta Keys
Via MMO Symposium, for those of us looking for a polished AAA+ MMO that poses a credible alternative to the Blizzard's dominance of the market, there is at last some …
The Triumph of Personal Virtual Space in Social Games
There's a revolution going on in the video game industry. Each day hundreds of millions of players log on and experience the phenomenon called social gaming in games like Farmville, …
Identity of BlizzCon Red Shirt Guy Revealed
There’s more Red Shirt Guy news today. As well as the fact that the video of him asking that now famous question of the lore devs at BlizzCon has seen …
My Red Shirt Guy Challenge to Blizzard to Support Asperger Syndrome Charity
Today Kotaku reported that the Red Shirt guy, who attended BlizzCon 2010 and rocked the World of Warcraft community with his mad lore skills, released a video where he explained …
Revenge of the Nerds: BlizzCon Red Shirt Guy Defeats Alex Afrasiabi in His Own Dojo
There is nothing better in this world than seeing poetic justice come true. At BlizzCon this past weekend during the WoW Quest Question and Answer Panel an avid WoW and …
Blizzard’s SnoozCon 2010: Same Old Song and Dance
As BlizzCon wound down this past Saturday, it suddenly dawned on me that the 2 day show has become a cliché. From the perspective of someone that watched the event …
Tough Questions I’d Like to See Asked at BlizzCon 2010
As an observer of Blizzard for many years, I've noticed that they rarely engage or debate the public in open and independent forums. The Blizzard public relations machine runs a …
BlizzCon 2010 New MMO Announcement Speculation
Earlier this week, Blizzard released the Cataclysm cinematic to the public. I find this anti-climatic given the fact that BlizzCon is only a few days away. Perhaps this might …
An Examination of Risk in MMO Design
A couple of years ago something happened while I was designing the levels on a LEGO video game that I'll never forget. After the programming team added the "lives" to …
Are Chatless MMOs a Precursor to Console MMOs?
At least for me, the big appeal of participating in a MMORPG was the fact that you could interact with other people online. Not only could you band together to …
Inspired New LOTRO Video Campaign
This week Turbine launched a very new ad campaign to herald their new free to play monetization model for their MMO <a href="http://www.lotro.com/">Lord of the Rings Online</a>. Here's the ingenious …
The Great MMO Paradox: Why Success Keeps Trumping Quality
Think for just a moment, what would happen if we took the most classic sports and games of all time and asked two of today's most successful gaming companies Blizzard …