Ask Massively: Is there anybody (else) out there?

Where, oh where, does the time go? It's time for this week's edition of Ask Massively, the place where no question is too great, or too small, or too weird, even if it's about Hello Kitty Online. Let's face it, there isn't much in this world weirder than that.

Believe it or not, I actually go back and read through prior columns. Not out of some narcissistic sense of admiration, but rather to try to get an idea of which topics I've been beating to death. Happily, this week's question inspires a fairly radical departure from previous topics.

Dear Massive One,

If you are quite finished with writing about World of Warcraft and Second Life, could you do us all a favor and talk about any other MMO's you play? I have a bet with my friends that you can't come up with any that you've played in the last month.

-Kyur Reeosity

What makes you think I've ever played Second Life? I have enough going on in "Life #1" that starting a second instance sounds like a bad idea. All I did was ask whether or not Second Life is really an MMO, and spend the next week dealing with players who take SL way too seriously. As for World of Warcraft, I'll plead guilty as charged. I've spent the vast share of my available gaming time in Azeroth (and Outland), but can you blame me? There is a lot of stuff to see and do after the 2.4 patch, details of which are startlingly hard to come by.

But you are going to lose your bet, sir. (I'm assuming that Kyur is a masculine name, but I'm really not sure. If I have offended, I apologize) I have, in fact, played a couple of MMORPG's other than World of Warcraft in the past couple of months, and I'll be happy to share my thoughts with you about those games after the jump.

If you have other questions, observations, comments, criticisms, enjoinders, rejoinders, jokes, jibes, japes, or jests, feel free to stop by our tip line or send us an email at ask AT massively DOT com. Fair warning, I'm all set on University Degrees, Rolex watches, and herbal supplements. Please don't ask me to buy any more.

Before I get into which games I am currently playing, let me say that there is one upcoming title that I am preparing to spend quite a lot of time playing. However, the question was about current games that I am playing, so I'll save any discussion of Age of Conan for another column.

The first game I need to mention is City of Heroes/City of Villains. My highest level character is only a level 38 Illusion/Kinetic Controller, so I can't rightfully comment on end game issues, or the lack thereof. However, from a replayability and social standpoint, I enjoy CoH/CoV more than most games. I have a small group of friends that I play with, and we spend most of our time creating alts for whatever whim crosses our pointy little heads. I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore or even an expert player, but I enjoy the game a great deal. In my mind, it is the best casual game out there. As long as I'm mentioning characters, I must mention my Mastermind who has a pirate's costume with ninja henchmen. I'm sure I'm not the only one to pull that off, but creating that character was definitely nerdgasm-worthy.

For sheer enjoyment of the subject matter, I also play Pirates of the Burning Sea. I come from a long and distinguished line of folks who have a casual disrespect for law and order, and there's just something about piracy that appeals to me on a genetic level. (That's a really long way of saying "Arrr, I be a pirate." Don't go poking holes in my reality please, it's fragile enough.) The gameplay could be improved on a number of levels, but the naval combat and unique nature of the game world really appeals to me. Time will tell on this one as it is still relatively new. I don't know much about end-game content, but I enjoy the PVP aspect of the game immensely. It's not quite as hardcore as EVE Online, and is far more tactical on an individual level. Even as a newbie, you aren't helpless if you know how to sail your ship and have a few friends to fight at your side.

Most recently, I picked up a copy of Tabula Rasa. It is a bit awkward to comment on a game that I have only played for about an hour, but my initial impression of the game is that it plays almost like a first person shooter. That is certainly an innovative approach, and I've enjoyed it so far. I don't know how well this will translate into group or end-game content, but I hope to find out. The controls are a bit awkward in the default configuration, but I'm fairly sure that is a casualty of being used to WoW's controls. I had the same issues initially with City of Heroes, so I'm going to see how that plays out as I spend more time with the game. Logos still feels like they tried to shoehorn "magic" into a sci-fi game, but again, until I have more experience with it, I'm going to keep an open mind. You may find Shawn Schuster's article, "Getting started in Tabula Rasa" worth reading if you are curious.

I've even, however briefly, given consideration to returning to some of the games that I previously gave up. Everquest is still going strong and apparently BoB didn't destroy EVE Online after all. However, there are only so many hours in the day, and while my wife is understanding about my gaming habit, I don't think she would give countenance to my paying for more than 2 or 3 of them. So many games, so little time.

Speaking of which, that's all the time we have for this week. If you have a question or an observation that you'd like to see discussed in Ask Massively, stop by our tipline or email us at ask AT massively DOT com.