I find it funny how the word “trial” can be taken in two ways. There’s the positive side – being able to sample something or try it out before you commit to it. After all, we all want something for free and being able to try a bit of it for free sounds almost as…
Category: MMO Musings
Karma As A Mechanic
Eurogamer recently did an interview of Will Wright, which I’d have missed completely if it wasn’t for a gem pointed out by Rock Paper Shotgun. It turns out that he’s working on a game with a strong karmic theme, using smartphones, tablets and Facebook as the platform. The concept of the game is based on…
PC Gaming Is Dead
Looking at the PC section of my local video games store is a depressing sight. The shelves that were once pride of place are now consigned to the back, flanked by preowned console games. The content of these shelves isn’t much better – it’s full of “safe” titles. Sequels, sure-fire hits and money spinners. When…
Warcraft, Rift and Fun
I’m not sure if I announced this anywhere, but back in March I took a month long holiday from Warcraft to play Rift. I felt a little jaded from the game and needed to take a break, much like I occasionally take time off from my real-life job. I think its a healthy thing to…
Sony MMOs: An Uncertain Future
The last two weeks have been a difficult time for Sony. The PlayStation Network has suffered some two weeks of downtime, initially thought to be some form of emergency system maintenance. The followed the announcement that the Network had been hacked, exposing the personal details and passwords of some 77 million gamers and users of…
Designing My Own MMO
A while back I was challenged on Twitter to design my own MMO. I can’t remember exactly who threw down that gauntlet, but I have a feeling it was Razorbug. In the weeks that have passed I’ve been kicking the tires on this idea, thinking of how I could make a game unique enough to…
Playing Cards at the Carnival
Confession time: I like to take my time when levelling characters. I’ve tried levelling at breakneck speed and it just isn’t for me. Nowadays I prefer to take things at my own pace – I have a bunch of alts that still aren’t at level cap in Warcraft, while in Rift I’m only about two…
Cheering the Armchair Designer
The Warcraft community is huge. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people writing, drawing, sharing or discussing something about the game every single day. That’s a staggering amount of people all talking about one game made by a single company. Having such a vocal community can be a bit of a double edged sword….
Bribes, Karma and Recommendations
Patch 4.1 is approaching, although when it’ll actually arrive is currently anyone’s guess. Content and changes are being crammed in on a regular basis, making predicting the arrival date sheer guesswork at the moment. Call to Arms is one of the latest features to be squeezed into the patch. Essentially the change amounts to a…
An Appreciation of Developers
Earlier this week I stumbled on a brilliant idea from Scarybooster. For a couple of years now he’s been running Developer Appreciation Week, a chance for us to say thanks to all those in the video games industry who make our lives that little bit better. I know I’ve been a grouchy malcontent recently, poking…