This month’s local game developer meeting (open to everyone!) promises to be a good one. I’ll have to see if I can come even though I have family out. The authors of Grand Theft Childhood will be presenting! The gathering will take place at The Skellig in Waltham on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 7:00PM. More info on the Boston Post Mortem website.

Man oh man, has it been a while since my last good, solid rant. Ranting is generally a lot easier when you’re pissed off about something, and I’m not. Well, not really. But it does really irk me when designers try to pass off time as gameplay. “Hey buddy old pal, I need you to take this to some random place 15 minutes away.” *30 minutes later* “Thanks for taking that to the random place! Here’s a crappy reward that is worth less than if you’d decided to grind for 30 minutes instead of wasting your time!” Continue Reading »

It seems like every damn week a new massively multiplayer game is announced. Sometimes they are seriously valid potential entries into the marketplace. Most of the time, the games aren’t even going to make it out the door or, if they do, they will be piles of junk. It seems like half of the new companies making an MMO were founded by “Blizzard superstars,” aka people who once consulted someone in overseas tech support about what to eat for dinner. It’s starting to melt my brain. Continue Reading »

Why do I have to spend so much time and effort to progress? What’s with the repetitive, uninteresting gameplay? Why can’t they come up with anything but kill quests? Familiar words to many of you, I’m sure. I’ve read those words. I’ve said those words. Why does every MMO in existence have a grind? Why don’t they just get rid of it so I can get down to having fun? Continue Reading »

“Holy crap, how on Earth could the Grouchy Gnome rant about Custom User Interfaces? They are God’s gift to gamers!” Yes, I did just quote exactly what was in your head when you read that title. I am a seer. Also, I love customizable interfaces. They are awesome. What isn’t awesome? Requiring a custom UI for base functionality I expect in every MMO ever. Continue Reading »

I’ve played a lot of massively multiplayer games. I think my MMORPG play count is somewhere in the mid dozens at this point, ever creeping toward triple digits. Back in the day, I was willing and able to max characters out–I had the time and dedication to do so. I was willing to get through all of the mid levels and soldier to the end game. But, you know what? At this point in my life, I’m only playing through those levels if they don’t suck. Continue Reading »

I love making my character look unique. If you can identify me as “Blackguard” or “Luckbad” or any of the other characters I play immediately because you’re a friend of mine in a game, I am happy. Many games have professed to have better character creation than every else. Interestingly enough, ignorant people have agreed with them even though they are completely wrong. I will go on record today and say that I. Hate. Sliders. Continue Reading »

Have you ever played an MMO in which it was apparently determined to be okay to scatter rats, snakes, bears, boars, and wolves throughout every level range of the game? Perhaps the better question is, have you ever played a fantasy MMO in your entire life? If you have, then you know exactly what I’m talking about, and you may very well be as tired of this crap as I am. Continue Reading »

I love quests. When they don’t suck. Unfortunately for people like me who like quests that don’t suck, most quests in MMOs totally suck. They are uncreative and are only worth doing because they break up a little bit of the monotony of grinding the same mobs over and over, even though the quests specifically task you to grind the same mobs over and over for only a tiny amount more experience than you’d get by grinding them without the quest. Continue Reading »

… When I can make them myself?! Um, because you don’t deserve to be making games unless you learn from the mistakes of others. I’m tired of seeing mistakes repeatedly repeated. How many games have you played that had the same idiotic mistake that could have been avoided by looking at roughly any other game out there? Probably a few. Probably a bunch. Continue Reading »