Ask Massively: Moneybags edition

Ask Massively is back this week to answer your pressing questions on the state of MMOs (and my stacks of money).

This time around, we cover more Mac MMOs, what the staff does during their down-time and a few questions regarding the podcast and its format. We made sure to cover all direct questions this time around, including ones that had been answered by other commenters. If you'd like to see your question answered next week, add it to the comments below or send it to ask AT massively DOT com.
Blah? asks: Now that you've interviewed Lord British, who would you love to interview next?

I've interviewed a variety of names in my journalistic career, including Richard Garriott, R.A. Salvatore, the members of Testament and the actress who plays Roxy Hunter (no, seriously), but I do still hold on to an "ultimate interview list" of the older-school game developers who directly influenced me with their games. Brian Fargo, Joel Billings and the guy(s) who made Space Jockey are right up there at the top. But it's not about me, right? It's about who would be the best fit as an interviewee for Massively.com. So, quite honestly, the new and upcoming MMO design talent is always exciting for me.

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Das asks: What do the people of massively do when they aren't playing games and writing for the site? do you guys have normal jobs? or do you (Shawn) sit back collecting ad money while the rest of your writers slave over reviews, playing games, interviewing devs, and still trying to cram in that 40 hour work week.

Hey, you leave my stacks of money outta this! They didn't do anything to you.

Actually, we're all different. Most of our news bloggers are full-time on the site, while our columnists have regular day jobs with things like health benefits, vacation and holiday pay. It's a crazy concept. So I guess you could say for most of us at Massively, this is our "normal" job.

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Lateris asks: Is it possible to get more devs on the podcast from games such as , SWG, AoC, Ryzom, Eve, AO, LOTRO, Fallen Earth, EQ II, gand games that are in development. MMO games :)_~~~

My favorite part of this question (besides the squigglies at the end) is the fact that a contrasting comment was left on our last podcast asking us to stop interviewing devs and get back to the news. Personally, I like to mix it up. I don't actively pursue game devs nearly enough (they usually come to us, with Lord British being the recent exception), but the podcast was originally created to act as a voice for our staff writers. I want to get back into that by having as many members of the writing team on the podcast as are willing. Just not all at once. That would be an editing nightmare.

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miatt asks: I was very intrested in TERA before i read the word Grind from the FGT, and Aion came rushing back to me. As you guys have played it (although briefly), was it pretty much completed when En Masse got hold of it, as in are they just westerniseing it, or did they have a very early build to work with?

The En Masse team is localizing it for a Western audience, currently. This means they're removing that G-word, supercharging the lore and generally making it something we all want to play. But the core of the game is essentially complete, based on what's available in Korea already. From what I can tell, they're very aware that the days of grabbing a Korean grinder and sloppily translating it into English are over. But, as with everything else, we'll just need to wait and see when it releases.

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TheGreatMachine asks: Could you interview Brad McQuaid in an upcoming podcast please? I want to see the mmo internet explode.

TGM, I do not want to see the Internet explode because it signs my checks. Having Mr. McQuaid on our podcast is an interesting thought, though. I'll add him to the list.

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Dumac asks: Could you pull some of your strings and find out whatever happened to Mythos? They were announcing a beta near the end of 2009 and beginning of this year and than kinda disappeared in february, with no twitter or facebook updates, dead forums, and ofc no sign of a beta...

Back in December of '09, Mythos relaunched their website with some exciting new info on how the game is reborn and will continue to a western audience. The last entry from the dev blogs is from early February and we haven't heard anything since then. Yes, I know you totally just said that, I'm building up suspense!

That said, I've contacted them after getting your question and will report on any news I hear regarding the state of the game. I hope it's good news!

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Liltawen asks: "I've got a friend who has a Mac..." Could someone explain that whole thing to me: are there Mac MMOs and I just never hear about them? is it technical? are they on different Mac-servers? only discussed on weird Mac-only websites?

We had a few similar questions on last week's Ask Massively, and I need to thank the other commenters for being so thorough in their answers. There are a few other helpful resources out there on the intertubes, such as this list from 2005 that shows many forgotten Mac MMOs like Clan Lord. You can add Warhammer Online, City of Heroes, EVE Online, Fallen Earth and an unofficial LotRO client to that list.

Another reason I wanted to answer this here was to say that we're actually working on a comprehensive guide to Mac MMOs. If you have any input on this, shoot over an email using the contact form at the top of the page.