| Storyboard: Operatic soap Posted: 21 Jun 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous If you've never watched a soap opera before, you owe it to yourself to do so at some point. I don't just mean a single episode; I mean spending a month or so really following a show, unraveling the plot and character interrelationships, and trying to really get what's going on. Let me tell you, these things are crazy. Silver age comics crazy. And they're dying out, so you want to catch them before they're gone. Despite that, I generally use soap opera as a pejorative term because while the shows might be entertaining, they're not good at character development or drama or nuance or most of what makes RP enjoyable most of the time. They're well-written only insofar as they're written to convince you to watch the next episode, not in the sense that they form any sort of overarching narrative. And while RP can creep into that territory at times, that's generally a problem rather than an acceptable endpoint. Continue reading Storyboard: Operatic soap  Storyboard: Operatic soap originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Jun 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| MMObility: Bridging the gap between mobile and client-based MMOs Posted: 21 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Free-to-Play, Browser, Mobile, Casual, MMORTS, Wizard101, MMObility, PlanetSide 2 A mobile MMO is a great thing. A mobile app, one that acts as an extension of an existing game, can be an odd thing. Do players really use mobile apps to access information? Speaking for myself, I tend to use mobile apps to do particular things. I like to check up on PlanetSide 2 to see how the battles have gone while I've been away, for example. I can see a time when mobile apps play a much more important role in the world of client-based gaming, but what would those apps look like? A few developers seem to have the right idea. Instead of releasing apps that concentrate on imitating the core game, these developers have released an app that is a game in itself, one that results in loot or goods that are redeemable in the standard game. Let's take a look at some of those developers and apps, as well as look for an example of some designs that we might see in the future. Continue reading MMObility: Bridging the gap between mobile and client-based MMOs MMObility: Bridging the gap between mobile and client-based MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Jun 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Eden Eternal celebrates second anniversary with The Reawakening update Posted: 21 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT |
| Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online, the non-MMO MMO Posted: 21 Jun 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, New Titles, Opinion, Consoles, The Elder Scrolls Online, MMORPG, Tamriel Infinium Bethesda revealed an exorbitant amount of information about its MMO The Elder Scrolls Online at E3. With this being the year the game was originally slated to release, I was not surprised. Of course, Massively reporters could not keep their hands off the game. Staffer Jasmine Hruschak and freelancer Andrew Ross both spent some time behind the keyboard stealing cabbages and talking to a dog. I'm not quite sure about the dog thing, but they apparently had fun. In fact, I think Jasmine penned the most revealing quote about the game: "Their dialogues were interesting and well-acted enough to make me curious. This stuck in my mind because it's completely opposite my typical MMO playstyle. I skip cutscenes, I don't read quest text, and I go to new areas as soon as possible." Of course, I'm excited about the release, and despite being an avid MMO fan, I do appreciate the idea that ESO might not be as much of an MMO as we had originally thought. In an interview with Gamereactor, Creative Director Matt Firor stated, "This is more a multiplayer Elder Scrolls game than an MMO." Although this might turn off the standard MMO crowd, I do believe that his curbing our expectations might be a lesson that more MMO developers should learn from. Continue reading Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online, the non-MMO MMO Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online, the non-MMO MMO originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Jun 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| The Daily Grind: How complex is too complex for MMOs? Posted: 21 Jun 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Path of Exile I'm a huge fan of isometric clickers like Diablo, Torchlight, and Titan Quest, so I admit to being secretly pleased when pseudo-MMOs like Path of Exile were approved for coverage on Massively. In fact, I jumped into Path of Exile this past weekend to give it another spin. And as soon as my new character got her first skill point, I gleefully clicked over to the skill panel, only to be confronted with the game's notorious and glorious SKILL TREE TO END ALL SKILL TREES. It's not even a skill tree. It's a skill maze. A skill constellation. A skill galaxy. The screenshot above isn't even half of what's available. It's overwhelming at level 2 to say the least. I like complexity in character development, but I had forgotten how over-the-top Path of Exile really was, and I had to wonder whether this sort of complexity-dump scares off newcomers to the genre, or indeed, whether it's intended to scare them off, convince them the game is harder-core than they are, or possibly just entrap them with poor early game decisions. Doesn't the skill avalanche just drive gamers to tab out and look up guides, and is that really the best idea for retaining brand-new players? How complex is too complex for MMOs and pseudo-MMOs?  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: How complex is too complex for MMOs? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| The Guild Counsel: So you want to be an officer Posted: 20 Jun 2013 07:00 PM PDT |
| SMITE unveils Hun Batz, the new monkey god Posted: 20 Jun 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, MOBA The most recent SMITE patch did not add a new god so much as it monkeyed around with an existing one. Sun Wukong has been removed from the game for the time being and replaced with the Mayan monkey god Hun Batz. While Hun Batz has a similar overall set of abilities, he's undergone some tweaks, so even veteran Sun Wukong players will still have to take the simian out for a stroll to understand how he works. Hun Batz features several abilities to close range and deal area damage, while his passive ability ensures that each strike after an ability is more vicious. He also inherits any skins owned by players for Sun Wukong, so you don't need to go bananas over lost cash. Whether you were a big Sun Wukong fan or are just happy to get that monkey off your back, you can try out Hun Batz now with the latest patch. [Source: Hi-Rez Studios press release] Continue reading SMITE unveils Hun Batz, the new monkey god SMITE unveils Hun Batz, the new monkey god originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Sony Online Entertainment announces the winner of the sixth G.I.R.L. scholarship Posted: 20 Jun 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO Industry, News Items, Miscellaneous Today's students of game design are tomorrow's designers and developers. Esther Wu is proof of that fact, as she's just received a $10,000 scholarship toward tuition and other educational expenses courtesy of Sony Online Entertainment, as well as a 10-week paid internship at SOE's San Diego headquarters. She's the winner of the sixth annual G.I.R.L. (Gamers in Real Life) scholarship, a program designed to help encourage young women to pursue design and development careers in the game industry. Wu, like all competitors, was tasked with submitting concept art for either EverQuest II or PlanetSide 2 along with an essay about the state of women in the game industry. She currently attends the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. Our congratulations go out to Ms. Wu and her fellow applicants, and we hope that all of those involved pursue careers in the industry in the future. Sony Online Entertainment announces the winner of the sixth G.I.R.L. scholarship originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| PlanetSide 2's Game Update 11 goes live, makes pilots happy Posted: 20 Jun 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, PlanetSide 2 PlanetSide 2's Game Update 11 is now playing on an Auraxian server near you, and SOE creative director Matt Higby dropped by the game's official forums this week to bring players up to speed. Higby says that SOE asked players for feedback in terms of what to focus on for GU11, and the dev team received "an absolutely massive list of requests ranging from minor nitpicks all the way up to fundamental game changing suggestions, and those requests have guided how we've approached and prioritized the changes for this update." You can see a brief synopsis of the patch highlights -- including more piloting XP -- in Higby's original post. You can also view the full patch notes via the PlanetSide Universe wiki. PlanetSide 2's Game Update 11 goes live, makes pilots happy originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| The Summoner's Guidebook: Selecting a League of Legends jungler Posted: 20 Jun 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Free-to-Play, Guides, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook As sometimes happens in The Summoner's Guidebook, one of you asks for a more in-depth article on a particular subject. This time I was asked to look more at character selection for junglers. As we've already discussed, the jungler is frequently the leader of a League of Legends team, but as the reader mentioned, the character you choose makes a big difference in what you can or can't do. If you're thinking of getting into jungling, the first character you buy for the job is important. Who you pick determines a lot about how you go into the job, what types of skills you develop, and how you think about the entire jungle concept. If your first jungler is a speed-clearer like Shyvana or Master Yi, you're going to look at things differently than if you choose a powerful ganker like Nautilus. Regardless of the character you select, the jungler is a playmaker. If he's not making plays that get his team ahead, he is going to hurt his team if the enemy jungler is. Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: Selecting a League of Legends jungler The Summoner's Guidebook: Selecting a League of Legends jungler originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Second Life readies for 10th anniversary, celebrates a million active users per month Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Real-Life, Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items, Second Life, Sandbox, Anniversaries Second Life hasn't gotten much respect in MMO circles since the genre went mainstream (yes, yes, get a first life, aren't you clever!). Still, Linden Lab's virtual world is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary on June 23rd, and it boasts user numbers that most MMOs can only dream about. An anniversary infographic says that Second Life has amassed 36 million registered users as well as more than 400,000 new accounts per month. Oh, and don't forget "a million monthly active users," according to Linden CEO Rod Humble. Those users typically rack up 1.2 million virtual goods transactions per day and have accounted for $3.2 billion worth of transactions over the life of the game. You can find more nifty stats like those on the the graphic after the break. Continue reading Second Life readies for 10th anniversary, celebrates a million active users per month Second Life readies for 10th anniversary, celebrates a million active users per month originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Puzzle Pirates premieres promptly on iPad Posted: 20 Jun 2013 02:00 PM PDT |
| Hearthstone's crafting turns lead into gold cards Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Free-to-Play, Trading Card Games, Crafting It stands to reason that Hearthstone players are going to end up with a mountain of cards that are either worthless, uninteresting, or duplicates. Instead of putting them in a virtual bicycle's spokes so that it sounds like a motorcycle when you pedal, you'll have the option to craft cards into new (and hopefully better) ones. Blizzard sees the crafting system as a better alternative to trading between players, since trading can lead to a pile of cards that nobody wants as everyone chases the most popular ones. With the crafting system, players can simply disenchant unwanted cards for arcane dust and then use the dust to purchase the cards they desire. You won't be getting a 1:1 trade for cards via crafting. For example, common cards disenchant for five arcane dust but cost 40 to purchase, while legendaries disenchant for 400 arcane dust and cost 1600 to buy. Gold versions of all cards give more and require more arcane dust with the crafting system. Hearthstone's crafting turns lead into gold cards originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| 'Orchestral battle' Anthymn needs money for the music Posted: 20 Jun 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, New Titles, Music, Crowdfunding "For the first time ever, players will shape an online world with music," promises String Theory Entertainment CM Daniel Marrable. He's referring to the MMO-in-progress Anthymn, which is currently in the throes of a Kickstarter campaign. Anthymn is a fantasy MMO that revolves around music for its classes, combat, and way of life. It's set in a land that's divided by musical races that are warring with each other for supremacy. A young maestro wants to create a national anthem that will not only unite his country but bring peace to the land. This quest will fuel players' adventures across the continent. String Theory wants to create a unique feel to the title, including systems such as rhythmic gameplay, apprenticeships, and community collaboration. If the concept art looks a tad familiar, it's because a few of the devs also worked on Guild Wars 2's art. Check out the video pitch after the jump, and drop a few bucks if you feel that Anthymn is a project worth supporting! Continue reading 'Orchestral battle' Anthymn needs money for the music 'Orchestral battle' Anthymn needs money for the music originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| ANet looking to avoid power creep with upcoming Guild Wars 2 trait tweaks Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:30 PM PDT |
| Neverwinter launches (again), reveals Fury of the Feywild module Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Launches, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, Neverwinter So, like, Neverwinter launched and stuff. And today it's launching again. Cryptic and Perfect World are actually calling it a launch this time, though, so there's that. What does Launch Day part deux have in store for the discerning Neverwinter customer? There's a new Alchemy profession, the new Caverns of Gauntlgrym endgame PvP and PvE potpourri, and permanent price drops in the Zen store. The devs have also revealed a bit of info on Neverwinter's first free module. It's called Fury of the Feywild and it will bring three campaign areas, three instances, new enemies, new loot, and a new dungeon to the live game. The official Neverwinter website says it's coming later this summer. Neverwinter launches (again), reveals Fury of the Feywild module originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Win trip to Gamescom in EU Dragon's Prophet costume contest Posted: 20 Jun 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Contests, Events (Real-World), News Items, Free-to-Play, Dragon's Prophet Calling all European Dragon's Prophet fans handy with a needle and thread (and hot glue gun and nail gun and whatever else): Infernum Productions has announced the Dragon Cosplay Summit 2013, a fantasy-themed fashion show to debut at Gamescom 2013. Think your skills are up to the challenge? To be a part of this event, designers must hand-make an original costume based on the Dragon's Prophet universe (it must include a prominent Mark of the Osira) then submit a photograph to be judged on craftsmanship, creativity, and relevance to the world of DP. The 10 best submissions will be put to a community vote, and the top three winners will win a trip to Gamescom to participate in the fashion show -- along with various other prizes including cash, artwork, and in-game rewards. First place will also receive an Alienware X51 computer system. The seven runners-up will receive a ticket to the convention along with other goodies (but no travel expenses). If you need some inspiration for your project, there's a large selection of armor and weapons pictured right on the contest's official page. The contest is not available to residents outside of Europe, and participants must be 18 years of age or older. For a full run-down of all terms and conditions, check out the official rules. [Source: Infernum Productions press release] Win trip to Gamescom in EU Dragon's Prophet costume contest originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments |
Download the next-generation podcast today!
Teach an old smartphone new tricks
Keep the bad guys at bay
Locked and loaded with half a dozen devices
