How to Clean Up Your WoW Server One Idiot at a Time
Admittedly, I'm still playing WoW. After quitting last year, like many people I decided to come back to experience the new expansion content of Wrath of the Lich King. To …
MMO Journalism Jumps the Shark
MMO journalism is in a sorry state these days. Faced with a lack of new information to report MMO news websites must resort to creating news to keep their readers …
Corruption, Treachery and Deceit at Wikipedia
Reverence for knowledge and history are two things that are absolutely essential for the continuance of any great civilization. At times in our history we have had emperors, kings and …
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 …
WoW: How Blizzard is Cheating Explorers
Are you an explorer? Do you play MMOs primarily to see new areas? Do you delight in discovering what may lie beyond the next valley or hill? If you play …
A Blogger’s Ego and the Anatomy of a Phony Scandal
Ego. We all have one. Bloggers are no exception. Blogging started off as a way to share one's passion and hobbies with like-minded individuals. Yet blogging has started to change …
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 …
More Pressure to Remove Leveling for MMO’s
ust this week, Cameron at Random Battle called for the removal of the first 20 levels for veteran MMO players. What is the reason for his discontent? It's the problem …
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 …
WoW: Is Blizzard Promoting Virtual Torture and Murder with the Deathknight Hero Class?
Today I read a very interesting thread on the official Blizzard forums about details about the quests for WoW's first hero class: the Deathknight. Orophino points out that in order …
WoW Insider Columnist Ridicules Stay At Home Mom
For years, the WoW community has been one of the worst communities in MMO history. Players on the official Blizzard forums routinely indulge sophomoric acts of flaming, personal attacks and …
WoW: Is Rolling the Dice a Good Way to Select Beta Testers?
Lately I've started wondering about the validity of the selection process for the beta test of Blizzard's Wrath of the Lich King. In the Burning Crusade Blizzard admitted that players …
Raph Koster on the Bartle Controversy
Before you can evolve you have to *want* to evolve. You just don't stumble upon greatness, you need to aspire to something greater. First comes the desire, then comes the …
Why They Hate Richard Bartle
Well lots of folks are upset with Richard Bartle including players, bloggers and some MMO developers. Why? On the surface it’s because he has the temerity to speak his mind …