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The Think Tank: The best Massively content of 2014
Massively reader Hagu recently wrote to us and suggested that "when the holiday doldrums" arrive and we're "filling with retrospectives" we consider doing one on our most important articles of the year, the ones we really wish developers or players would read and really take to heart. So that's what we're doing in today's Think Tank: I asked each writer to pick one article that he or she wrote this year that marks his or her very favorite, best, or most important work. Since we are writers, most of us couldn't just pick one, and I'm not about to stop us. We'd love to hear you sound off on your favorite content of the year as well (it helps tell us what we should do more of). Happy holidays!
The best of Massively's MMO Family column
While young children aren't Massively's target demographic, we frequently encounter MMOs that appeal to kids as well as MMO gamers with kids. That's why we ran the MMO Family column for over four years. Helmed first by Lisa Poisso and then Karen Bryan, the column reviewed kid-friendly games and offered advice and insight on how to survive as the parent of budding MMO gamers. Enjoy our picks for the very best of their collected work in MMO Family.
The best of Massively's Field Journal and MMO Mechanics columns
During their tenure at Massively, Tina Lauro and Matthew Gollschewski were responsible for two generalist columns on the site: MMO Mechanics and Field Journal, respectively. The Field Journal was dedicated to covering interesting elements of mid-tier games, the sorts of MMOs that are popular but not quite popular enough to merit their own dedicated columns, whereas MMO Mechanics represented a deep-dive into the game mechanics and systems that influence the entire industry. Though the columns had short runs on the site, they both still represent some of our most compelling and interesting work. Enjoy this roundup of their material!
The best of Massively's League of Legends column, The Summoner's Guidebook
Former Massively writer Patrick Mackey was first brought onto the team to cover Champions Online in his Behind the Mask column, and he did so with technical expertise and brutal honesty that was even better-suited for his ultimate column here: The Summoners Guidebook, which for two years covered Riot Games' League of Legends, one of the biggest games on the planet. Today, in honor of that column's lengthy run, we share the very best of Patrick's articles. If you'd like to follow his future League of Legends blogging, you can find him at Boot Camp for Gamers.
MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively
Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? It's not all WoW, all the time! Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all of the other MMOs around: past, present and future. Space combat confirmed for The Old Republic Those eagerly awaiting the upcoming Star Wars MMO from BioWare were given yet another reason to be excited recently. At Comic-Con, it was revealed that The Old Republic would feature space combat, drawing in even more potential players who had been on the fence about the game thus far. Study claims that women spend double what men do on virtual goods PlaySpan and VGMarket surveyed just over 2,200 people between the ages of 13 and 64 regarding their purchases of virtual goods and currency. Women are the big spenders here, particularly when it comes to in-game money. They spend an average of $50 per year, as opposed to the $25 a year that men spend. SOE and Blur release DC Universe Online story trailer Sony Online Entertainment has recently released a lengthy story trailer for its forthcoming DC Universe Online superhero MMORPG. Debuting early Saturday morning on GameTrailers, the massive video clocks in at over six minutes in length and features nearly all of the DC Comics notables, including Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Wonder Woman, the Joker and others.
The Best of the Best of Massively
For the last six weeks we've been listing off some of the best and brightest content we've put up on the site. We've had a very full year of features, interviews, guides, and walkthroughs, and what we have below represents the best of the best we've had on offer. Take a minute to walk through the very best of Massively.com, to reflect with us on the great year we've had! Our five all-time greatest hitsthis is the last episode! We're wrapping it up by presenting what are arguably your favorites -- our five most viewed featured articles ever! Three of these are top five articles, so we're three-fifths of the way to making a top five top fives list, it would seem. The numbers don't lie, though, so enjoy, and tune in Sunday for the first giveaways! Our ten most important interviewsWe're starting with our ten most important interviews. We tried to find a good balance between interviews that have insights that are still relevant today, interviews that were important for the history of our site, and interviews that were just plain awesome. We saved the coolest ones for last, so be sure and stick with us to the end! Our top 5 weirdest news storiesThis time around, we're looking back at the top five strangest, weirdest and sometimes-raciest news stories we've covered since we launched last November.
The Best of Massively: Our five all-time greatest hits
Our first birthday is this weekend and we're very excited -- so excited that we're giving away tons of stuff with reckless abandon. As you know, we've been leading up to it for the past month by listing our best work in the Best of Massively series. Well, folks, this is the last episode! We're wrapping it up by presenting what are arguably your favorites -- our five most viewed featured articles ever! Three of these are top five articles, so we're three-fifths of the way to making a top five top fives list, it would seem. The numbers don't lie, though, so enjoy, and tune in Sunday for the first giveaways! Click to start >> %Gallery-35800%
Tune in next week for Massively's swag-filled birthday blowout!
As you've probably gathered from our ongoing "Best of..." features on the site, Massively's first birthday is this Sunday! As it's a weekend we're going to celebrate quietly with party hats while we blog away in the Massively dungeons ... but next week we're going to put on a party for each and every one of you! Join us starting next Monday for an entire week of giveaways from your favorite MMO developers! NCsoft, Mythic Entertainment, SOE, Flying Lab, and many many more have chipped in to reward you, the players and readers, with swag, swag, and more swag!Game time cards, shirts, hats, brickabrack, toys, lanyards, mouse pads, t-shirts, boxed copies, collectors editions ... we've got it all! Make sure to watch this space for these giveaways. Remember every giveaway we do just requires a simple comment, but more importantly you have to be reading to participate. Plus, if you really want to get some insider loot, some of the best and brightest goodies we've got lying around we'll let you in on a secret: go follow us on Twitter. We'll be giving away some of the weirdest MMO loot we can only via Twitter, so go follow @Massively to get in on that.See you next week, Massively!
The Best of Massively: Five stories that scandalized you
Massively is just a week and a half away from its first birthday, and we're winding our Best of Massively series down in the final days! This week we're listing five stories we wrote that caused a lot of people to get very angry -- sometimes at us, sometimes at game developers or other industry figures, and sometimes at all of the above!If you have a thick skin for controversy (or if you're drawn to it like a moth to a flame like a lot of us are!), check out the list. Just... let's not let it come to violence, okay? Click to start >> %Gallery-35305%
The Best of Massively: Hands-on with upcoming games
Massively's first birthday is only a couple of weeks a way! We've been having fun looking back at our first year of coverage -- first with our ten most important interviews, then our most helpful guides, and most recently our top 5 weirdest news stories. This week we've compiled six of our hands-on previews of games that are yet to be released.Jump into the gallery to see what's on the genre's horizon with new expansions, Sci-Fi, super heroes, and more. No matter what your interests, we've got you covered! Click to start >> %Gallery-34363%
The Best of Massively: Our top 5 weirdest news stories
We're still counting down to Massively's first birthday by compiling the best and most entertaining coverage we've done. So far we've listed our most important interviews and our most helpful guides. This time around, we're looking back at the top five strangest, weirdest and sometimes-raciest news stories we've covered since we launched last November.Whether you missed these stories or you're just ready for a refresher, we hope they'll make you smile and laugh -- or at least make you raise an eyebrow or two! Click to start >> %Gallery-33582%
The Best of Massively: Our most helpful guides
In just over one month, Massively will celebrate its first birthday! Last week we started a countdown to the event by kicking off a series of features highlighting the best stuff from the site so far. We started with our ten most important interviews. Today, we're continuing the weekly countdown by listing some of your (and our) favorite guides!We broke them out into six categories, counting down to the best and most popular. A wide variety of games are covered, so chances are you'll find something useful in here. This list can serve as a springboard to a ton of content -- dozens and dozens of articles. So consider this your go-to place for info on some of the hottest games.Without further ado, here's the guide to our best guides. Wow, how meta is that! Click to start >> %Gallery-32805%
The Best of Massively: Our ten most important interviews
We have exciting news, dear readers. In just over a month, Massively will be one year old! We're very proud of how far we've come since last November, and we'd like to thank you for sticking with us through all these months. To celebrate our first birthday we're looking back at the most interesting stuff we've experienced so far!We're starting with our ten most important interviews. We tried to find a good balance between interviews that have insights that are still relevant today, interviews that were important for the history of our site, and interviews that were just plain awesome. We saved the coolest ones for last, so be sure and stick with us to the end!Think of it as a look back at the past year in the MMO world, if you like. Major releases, major ideas -- many of them are here. Enjoy, and be sure and tell us what you think. Click to start >> %Gallery-32260%
