Today’s article is a guest post from Bordy. Patch 4.3 in WoW will introduce the long-heralded art of Transmogrification; the ability (at a cost)to convert the look (but not the stats) of your current kit to match that of other kit that you own. Why though is this welcomed by so many? Is it because…
Month: September 2011
The Brutal End of MMOs
There was no Armageddon The camera plays over a derelict ruined city, buildings half-buried in the sand, bleached dune grass desperately clinging on. The dry wind howls. We saw the end coming. Those who could leave did so. Those who thought they could defeat it perished in their idiocy. A different city scape, different architecture….
MMOs: Heading in Three Directions
One of the allegations I often hear thrown at the MMO genre is that it’s become stale and generic, with newer games rushing out to mimic the most common or popular features instead of innovating and looking at new ways to progress the genre. Over the weekend a group of us headed out to the…
Claiming Sanctuary From Griefers
One of the parts of MMO content that I often overlook are in-game events. These small pockets of in-game happenings can last anything from a couple of hours to a few weeks, providing players with an alternative to other activities. Whether they’re the seasonal events that are loosely tied to real-world ones, dynamic events as…
What Is Skill?
There’s an argument kicking round at the moment that MMOs require no skill in order to play them. This statement is both completely correct and utterly wrong. How can a statement contradict itself? Let me try to explain. If I take a carving knife to an MMO then the prime rump is usually the levelling…
Smile Week: Gold-Plated Memories
It’s been a week since I started talking about the things I find great about MMOs. In that time I’ve looked at a whole bunch of stuff from how the games are built to how they’re supported. In the final post for the week, I wanted to talk a bit about one of the things…
Smile Week: Supermassive Systems
Previously on Smile Week I’ve talked about how MMOs are changing mobile gaming, how the developers are more open with the community and how much work they put into art, music and worldbuilding. Today I’m going to talk about something a little closer to my heart: the nuts and bolts of an MMO and how…
Smile Week: Atmospherics & Acoustics
How many times have you been playing through your favourite MMO, only to pause for a moment and say “Oh, wow…” Screenshot Likewise, how many times have you been in a quest, dungeon or even a raid and caught a moment of of stirring music. You remember – the kind that has you muting everything…
Smile Week: Dialogue Options
Today’s entry in Smile Week is a bit of compare and contrast. As MMO gamers we’re a bit of a fortunate bunch when it comes to developers and publishers. We’re looked after, listened to and cared for much more than our single-player brethren. What do I mean? Let me show you. A single player game…
Smile Week: Incredible Ubiquity
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how I was going to kick off Smile Week. About which ideas I’d pull together and what stories I’d share. Unfortunately I’d spent a lot of time thinking and not very much writing, which isn’t very helpful. As I sat on the train between Manchester and…