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The Think Tank: What do you look for in a guild?
Guilds are what make MMOs. It's that social interaction among real people that defines a massively multiplayer experience, but our guild preferences differ greatly. Some of us like to stick with the same guild throughout multiple games, some of us only play with real-life friends, and some of us seek out new guilds as part of the adventure in each new game. The Massively staff is certainly no different as we all have our own way of interacting with guilds in the MMOs we love so much. How do you think each team member likes his or her social interaction? Follow along after the jump to find out.
The Think Tank: The best MMO of 2013... so far
At the end of each year, we like to put our heads together and figure out the year's best MMOs in several categories. Often times, the games released earlier in the year aren't as fresh in our memories, so we might not be as excited about them by the time December rolls around. But in this week's The Think Tank, I wanted to make sure to play off of that mid-year enthusiasm and have the team members pick their favorites as they stand at this halfway point. So what did the team pick for best MMO or expansion released from January to May 2013? Read on past the cut to find out.
Chaos Theory: Opinions, facts, and open flames
It's not often that my writings take a ranty slant, In fact, I don't believe I have ever expressed anything along those lines here in Chaos Theory -- although I have a time or two elsewhere. Blue moons come and go much more frequently than I don my Massively-standard-issue flame-retardant garb and venture forth. But right here, right now looks to be one of those times, and I'm already suiting up. So what about The Secret World has me riled up enough to flex my woefully underused ranting muscle? Nothing. Seriously, I can't call to mind a single thing in the game deserving of a rant. Sure, TSW isn't perfect; there are flaws and there are things that could use improving, things that are certainly worth discussing. But rant-inducing? Nope. Too bad the same can't be said for people. It doesn't matter how many times I've witnessed it: It never ceases to amaze me when folks trumpet their own opinions as fact while insisting dissenting opinions can't possibly exist. It's like they board the crazy train where the lines between opinion and fact are swirled together like coffee and creamer, where reality and logic are tossed right out the window. So as a public service, I'm going to derail that train.
The Think Tank: What got you started in MMOs?
Can you remember your first MMO buying experience? What series of events led to your interest in massively multiplayer gaming? What made you finally accept that paying monthly for a game is a thing that's OK? Or did you wade through countless free-to-play games before finding one that suited you? As the guys and gals you turn to each day for your MMOs news, the team at Massively has a solid history with this genre. So I dug a bit deeper to get those stories from a few members of the team. Feel free to leave your own MMO origins story in the comments below as you enjoy our own after the jump.
The Think Tank: Would you play a chat-free MMO?
Last month, Justin asked you in a Daily Grind article whether you'd play a chat-less MMO. His examples included The Endless Forest, where communication is done through emotes and symbols, and Journey, where players use visual cues to signal intent. As MMO players, we feel that massive communication is a must-have feature and socializing is just part of the game. So I was curious about the opinions of the massively staff members on this topic. Would they play a chat-less MMO?
The Think Tank: Have you ever quit an MMO over an update patch or expansion?
One of the beauties of the MMO is that it's ever-changing. This means that the world expands, the community grows, and skills are always being re-balanced. Sometimes this comes in the form of a patch or update, and sometimes it comes in the form of a full-fledged expansion. But when these changes affect the original game too much, it's inevitable that some players will not like what the devs see as improvements. In the case of the infamous Star Wars Galaxies NGE, players left in droves. So I threw the question out to the Massively staff to see if anyone had been so turned off by a game update that he or she left for good. Read on to find out who left what and why Patrick might need to leave the country for a bit.
The Think Tank: Does studio drama affect your opinion of a game?
Drama is a human condition that plagues some more than others, but it's generally unavoidable. When drama comes from a game developer, we, as players, usually respond with our own drama in the form of forum posts containing lots of all-caps. Whether it's an out-of-context interview faux pas or whatever the War Z devs are up to this week, studio drama makes the news. Some of us love it; some of us hate it. But our reaction to developers behaving badly is what we're most interested in exploring today. I asked the Massively crewmembers how they react to drama from their favorite developers. Does it affect their purchase of the game? How far is too far? Or do we need to keep studio views and the game itself separate?
WRUP: How's that honeymoon doing?
It's always a little funny when new patches come out. You start off just loving it... new stuff, new challenges. But then you get bored and start hating life. So, how about you guys? Is the honeymoon over? Join our staff by telling us how you feel about the new patch in the comments. And, of course, read on in What Are You Playing to see what we're doing this weekend! Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) I'll hopefully be spending the weekend on my new server. If not, then I'll be spending the weekend not really logging into WoW aside for dailies. As for 5.2 -- I love the patch, I love the content, I haven't really gotten bored with anything yet. However, the re-structuring and subsequent splintering of my guild has put a bit of sadness over the whole thing. On the other hand, the Isle of Thunder is tremendously entertaining, and every time I see a tree or structure struck by lightning I stand there marveling and hoping it will happen again because it looks really, really pretty.
The Think Tank: The curse of IP-driven MMOs
Whenever a new MMO with a popular IP is announced, there's a palpable sense of dread in the Massively virtual offices. Multiply that dread by a thousand if the IP is being overused in other media or the game is being produced by a studio with a reputation for churning out junk. Whether we're talking Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, Game of Thrones, or even gaming-centric IPs like The Elder Scrolls or Final Fantasy, that wariness is understandable. We've all been burned before. But even still, not all of the members of the Massively staff allow an IP to unduly influence their opinions about the MMOs themselves. In today's Think Tank, let's discuss just how cautious we are about MMOs saddled or boosted by popular IP-driven settings. Are they a boon or a curse?
The Think Tank: What is the one MMO mechanic or feature you can't live without?
Your most popular MMOs usually share some type of common denominator. Whether that's a familiar UI, a skill tree that makes sense, or a cast of classes involving the holy trinity, it's safe to say that many MMOs are very similar. But in recent years, developers have been stretching their creativity bones to invent new ways to play a roleplaying game online with lots and lots of people. Some of these innovations have worked; some have not. This often leads us to yearn for the old familiar features and mechanics we fall back on as a security blanket of sorts. What does the Massively staff see as the most important MMO feature or mechanic? Read along after the cut to find out, and be sure to let us know your own opinion in the comments below.
The Mog Log: A year of columns in review
Three years is not a lot of time to do anything. I'm continually surprised by the fact that I've been writing about video games professionally for three years of my life, which is admittedly only 10% of my life to date but still seems astonishing. This also marks the start of the third year of The Mog Log, which means that I've been talking about moogles and cat-women professionally for a tenth of my life. I use thoughts like that to keep me warm at night. As always, the anniversary mark is about the time when I look back at the column thus far and see how well it's done as a whole. Last year I wanted to really switch up what I did with my coverage for Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI, and I think that by and large it worked pretty well. So let's do the usual thing wherein I look back, you take a trip down memory lane with me, and we all walk away feeling smarter. Or, if that doesn't sound interesting, you could just go look at some cat pictures.
The Think Tank: Should the government regulate video game content?
While government regulation is welcomed in some corners of our lives, it's not always welcomed everywhere. After recent gun violence has been making headlines more than ever, U.S. President Barack Obama set out to "find the cause" through new funding for 23 executive orders that pertain to the origins of gun violence. Vice President Joe Biden then met with experts in the video game industry to discuss the possibility that video games themselves are the cause. And probably that rock 'n' roll music, too. Darn kids! Certainly we here at Massively have our own opinion on this matter, as video game violence legislation would affect us all. Read on past the cut to see what we have to say about government regulation for our favorite hobby.
The Think Tank: What elements make up your perfect business model?
The topic of the MMO business model is a hot one lately as studios are in the Wild West of experimentation, discovery, and limit-testing. New games are going free-to-play every week it seems, and we, as consumers, are accepting more and more as these business models become standard. But that's certainly not always the case. Among the Massively staff, pricing opinions run the gamut, and we're not afraid to tell you what we think. That's why this week's Think Tank column is all about how we would assemble our own perfect business models from the pieces of others. Who does it right? Who does it wrong? Read along for more on our thoughts for the perfect business model.
The Think Tank: Massively's 2013 MMO predictions
We're spending this edition of The Think Tank to explore our predictions for next year's MMO-scape. Which games will launch? Which games will be postponed or cancelled? Will we see any innovations in the MMO space? Remember, these are our own individual opinions and may not align with yours, so be ready for that. Also be sure to take a look back at the previous year's predictions and see how close or far from reality we were!
The Think Tank: What's your solution to save closing MMOs?
In the spectrum of entertainment, MMOs are still relatively young. When the original MMOs were created in the late '90s, I don't imagine the innovators thought much about what would happen if millions of people got hooked on these games, built solid relationships, put thousands of hours into their characters... and then it all went away. The consequence of that unique situation is a lot more painful than most early developers could have imagined, yet it's happening more frequently. With the closure of popular MMOs like Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes and more, some players are a bit irritated at the genre as a whole. Not too many other time-investment hobbies can completely go away as quickly as an MMO. So what does the Massively staff think is the solution? Do we turn to F2P publishers to throw some cash shop Band-Aids on the game and nudge it back into the wild? Do we bypass legal avenues and look at emulators? Is there even such thing as a solution?
The Think Tank: Is Kickstarter a fad or the new standard?
The funny thing about opinions is that everyone has one. While we celebrate that fact on an individual basis with our wildly popular column The Soapbox, often times the rest of the Massively team wants to weigh in on a particularly hot topic as well. Think Tank is a new column that will act as a roundtable of opinions from the Massively staff on today's hottest MMO topics. We're all MMO gamers, and we all love to talk about the genre, so this is our place to do it. And as always, you're welcome to share your own opinion and let us know what you think about the topic each week in the comments. For this inaugural installment, we're going to tackle the question of crowdfunding. Is Kickstarter just a fad, or will it redefine game publishing as we've known it?
Ask Massively: Site redesigns, editorials, and sandbox coverage
For those of you hiding out from family or working your brains instead of your stomachs on this sacred holiday on which we celebrate food or something, this edition of Ask Massively will mop up a few little questions and demands made in the comment section recently. We're addressing a potential site redesign, whether editorial articles really need a gigantic sign declaring the obvious, and whether the Massively writers are fake sandbox fans. Put down that turkey leg and let's get to it!
The Daily Grind: What vanity pet would you like to see in your favorite MMO?
Last week Turbine announced all sorts of huge updates for Dungeons and Dragons Online in 2012. Among exciting talk of expansions, Druids, and level cap increases, one little item may have slipped under some folks' radar. Vanity pets are coming to DDO in 2012 -- specifically, "fun and cute DnD critters," according to Executive Producer Fernando Paiz. Justin and I chatted a bit about that on this week's Massively Speaking, and Justin put forth the awesome idea of a tiny Beholder pet. I loved the idea and it set me to thinking. Vanity pets in MMOs are such a frivolous little thing, yet they're such fun to so many people, and it seems like everyone has a wish list of "wouldn't it be cool if..." vanity pets. So what's yours? Would you love a little Beholder in DDO? Would you love to see Fallen Earth offer a prairie chicken pet to go with your mount? Tell us what vanity pet you'd love to see trailing along behind your character! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Do you like need vs. greed loot distribution?
MMO gaming: It's all about the loot. OK, maybe not all about it, but there sure is a lot of thought and angst devoted to the items that fall from various AI-creature piñatas -- who got the best stuff, who didn't get any stuff, and how it's not fair that he got better stuff than you did. Different games may offer different methods of loot distribution, like a round-robin option or Guild Wars' pre-assigned drops, but need before greed is still a long-standing and familiar method. So what do you think? Does the system, which relies largely on players rolling fairly, still work well, or has its time passed? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Are you a part of your game's community out of game?
The foundation of an MMO is people playing together. While there are plenty of soloers -- and the smart developer will make content for them as much as for the group players -- there's a definite community inside of an MMO. That community often continues after logout, though. Thanks to forums both official and not, social media groups, IRC chat, and even real-world meetups, players can continue the social interactions beyond guild or group chat. Of course, that's if they're comfortable with it. Players vary widely on this, so where do you stand? Do your in-game friendships extend beyond the walls of Azeroth, Telara, The Wasteland, or Tyria, or do you prefer that what happens in game stay in game? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
