snobbery
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The Daily Grind: What game sounds do you like the best?
Sounds may always get the back seat to graphics and animation in MMOs, but in my opinion they're just as -- if not more -- important than what you see. If you'll allow for a bit of cultured snobbery, a game with lackluster sound effects are just so... so... pedestrian. Common gutter trash, even. I'm always keeping an ear out for great sounds in the games I play, such as the meaty thwack of a sword slamming against a mutated iguana or the sonic boom of a misfired mage spell. One of the things I love about RIFT is how the sounds are muted when you're underwater or near death; it's a small touch, to be sure, but it helps to pull me into the world even more. Are you somewhat of an audiophile? Then today tell us what MMO sounds you love the best. Are they spells, attacks, NPC noises, ambient sounds, or something different completely? 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 Soapbox: Time is money, friend
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. MMOs are plagued by nasty -isms. Racism. Sexism. Nationalism. Ageism. Orientalism. Homophobia. Misogyny. OK, so those last two aren't really -isms, but you get my point. No matter how much we want our fantasy games to be zones of escapism, these prejudices chase us there. Sometimes we bring them with us as unwanted baggage that spills out in chat channels and character choices. And sometimes they're inherent in the game design itself. Classism is one such problem you'd think the internet would reduce or conceal, but the divide between the haves and have-nots is stronger in MMOs than ever. To illustrate that point and how it affects us as gamers, I'd like to talk about another set of games ruled not by skill or talent but by money.
Are games Art? It doesn't matter
Something I keep hearing and reading in my favorite gaming podcasts and blogs is the notion that our beloved industry will finally have 'arrived' when games are taken seriously as works of Art. That somehow, the media will stop vilifying our favorite pastime and welcome us with open arms and hearts if only we could justify our hobby by making it more palatable to the public, under the imprimatur of Art. Jim Preston at Gamasutra takes this idea on by suggesting that the 21st Century's idea of what Art is is so disparate and devalued that the term itself bears no particular cachet. It's a great piece and deserves your eyeballs, but I'd take it even farther: Not only is it unimportant for games to be considered Art, but that the concept that Art is something that should be valued for its own sake is completely meaningless.
Your favorite music
Madmarv thinks that there might be a relationship between WoW players and metal or rock music, since everyone he knows that plays the game listens to metal or rock, and lots of videos use the same. But other players quickly prove him wrong-- not everyone listens to or even likes metal or rock music. And since we've got these nifty polls, why not figure out exactly what you do all listen to?Of course, if metal/rock doesn't win (and I suspect that it won't-- my guess is you all are a pretty eclectic crowd), then the question remains just why all that crazy rock keeps showing up in your PvP vids anyway.%Poll-8623%
