I’ve already commented about how I think Public Quests in Warhammer Online will be underutilized to the point that they’ll have to be changed after launch. What I didn’t talk about at the time was how this theoretically social game mechanic — this savior of cooperative play in MMOs — promotes subversive, antisocial behavior. Continue Reading »

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 »