A while back I wrote about the possibility that Titan, Blizzard’s next MMO, would feature a real money auction house. This followed on from Diablo 3, which introduced the concept in order to provide a safer alternative to the grey market that emerged around item trading in Diablo 2. The main argument at the time…
Tag: design
Time to Change Quest Mechanics
I’ve recently started playing Rift again after taking a break for about four months. It’s impressive to see how far the game has progressed – talents and abilities have been revamped, the artwork has been improved and a ton of new features have been added. The guys at Trion have been hard at work. Then…
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….
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…
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…
In Defence of the Trifecta
In almost every MMO that I’ve played there have been three classic roles to choose from. A tank is the one who soaks the damage for a party, a healer keeps the party standing and the DPS are there to deal damage. I like dealing damage. I don’t know if I have a thing for…
The MMO Blueprint
The recent game conventions have shown us that there’s a collection of top-tier MMOs heading our way over the next two years. It’s a great time to be a fan of the genre as there are some really interesting concepts emerging, both in the game worlds we’ve seen and the mechanics that have been revealed….
Google Cannot Make Good MMOs
I’ve been mulling over a question for a few days about how we choose which MMOs to play. What draws us to one game world over another, how some attributes are more important to each of us than others. I’m going to be writing more about it towards the end of the week, but I…
Tired of MMOs?
There’s been a discussion kicking around Twitter for the past week or so, which seemed to end up with a single question. I think it was probably best said by Wolfshead: “is there anything left to say about today’s MMOs that hasn’t already been said?” If we’re talking about the current crop of MMORPG games…
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…