Global Chat: Why we blog
Why an MMO player decides that he or she needs to take up an additional hobby of writing about these games isn't much of a mystery. We may all blog about a huge variety of topics, but the impetus behind it tends to be very common: We have so many thoughts about and so much love for these games that we can't hold it in.
To blog is to open up and share experiences, observations, and hopes. It's to connect with others and to perhaps give another layer of meaning to the time that we spend in-game. We don't blog because we have to; we blog because we simply could not not blog.
So let's see a few examples of what MMO bloggers couldn't keep inside of them! From spooky stories to rapturous tales of exploration, it's a testament to the power of words and goofy rejoinders.
1. Superior Realities: TSW Halloween 2014
Tyler has plenty of good things to say about the recent Halloween event in The Secret World, including praise for the scare factor of The Broadcast mission and how tradable event rewards was a brilliant social move on behalf of the devs. However, he is less than thrilled with the massive delay that threatened to postpone the in-game festivities until after the real-world holiday.
"A holiday being delayed this much just strains my patience past its limit," he writes. "You can't put back the real-world holiday, so delaying the in-game holiday just gets messy. A Halloween event that mostly takes place in November is no more acceptable than a Christmas event in January would be."
2. MMO Juggler: WoW 30 levels
I can admit to a guilty pleasure in reading "return" posts from bloggers as they revisit old favorite games. It's usually enjoyable to see a player reconnect with an old flame, but in the case of MMO Juggler, his return to World of Warcraft prompted a lot of negative remarks.
"I've lost count how many times I've been cut off trying to get to a quest objective by another player using a ranged attack to tag a mob before I can get there. Or resource node. Blizzard, play some GW2 and advance your quest design by 10 years."
3. Inventory Full: Zing! went the strings of my explorer's heart
Bhagpuss is completely enamoured with ArcheAge for its virtual world, which he says hits all of the triggers of his explorer-happy heart and then some.
"It's perfect," he gushes. "Most of the time when I go exploring the reward is just as it should be -- satisfied curiosity, occasional adventure, incidental terror. Props to Two Crowns for having a proper sewer system. That was a scary half-hour in the dank dark. Now and again, however, often when I do something a little out of the ordinary, like riding my horse up the side of a carnival marquee, I'll hit one of those disconnected triggers and... zing!"
4. Spinksville: Your learning needs are not my problem
Spinks takes an article to examine how MMOs attempt -- and typically fail -- to teach players complicated fights to perform in groups. It's stressful, she says, and most players don't even come close to understanding the mechanics of the entire fight anyway.
"People are lazy. Only raid leaders are really motivated to fully understand fights. A lot of players are happy to just be told what to do. None of this is surprising. I also think it is most fun to learn a fight in a group of similarly skilled players who are also friends who are learning together; it's harder than ever to get this type of group together except at the beginning of new content," she observes.
5. Pleasant Gamer: Diving into RIFT
Expansions are usually great at sucking back in lapsed veterans, and Zyngor was no different when RIFT: Nightmare Tide put out the call to return. He blogged his first few days back in the game checking out the new content, including the minion system, the water plane zones, and the nightmare rifts.
"Overall, my limited time with the latest expansion has been a pretty good time. I have not really gotten far enough to give a better opinion, but first looks are leaning on the positive side of the board," Zyngor sums up.
6. MMO Gypsy: Of unexpected turns and raiding pains
Syl is quitting the WildStar raiding scene, but not for the reason you might expect. She wrote a post on how the game was starting to cause returning symptoms of old back pains caused by previous marathon raiding sessions.
"I remember a time when my youth would cradle me in blissful ignorance of such concerns, yet after I had turned 28 years old with five years of WoW raiding (12 hours a week on average) on my literal back, the physical reality of my hobby caught up with me," Syl said. "I've always had issues with my neck, but from that point in time my back pains took a life of their own and spread to the rest of my body in one neurological fun fest."
Awesome MMO blog opinions abound all over the internet -- and Justin "Syp" Olivetti reads them all (or skims really, really fast)! Global Chat seeks to round up the most interesting and zany posts from the MMORPG blogosphere. Who knows? You might discover a new favorite blog this week!
