It's no secret that female armor in games can sometimes be ridiculous and unrealistic. The Repair Her Armor Tumblr recently put together a list of thirteen types of ridiculous female armor you come to expect in MMORPGs—the commentary being less serious than it is for fun. » 5/16/13 1:00pm 5/16/13 1:00pm

Oh, you like that Exotic weapon you've got? Yeah, but is it Ascended? That's the name of the newest sort of gear in Guild Wars 2, another addition to extend the MMO's endgame and give hardcore players more to do in the already gigantic game. » 11/14/12 9:00pm 11/14/12 9:00pm

Hell, it has famously been said, is other people. Play enough games online and you'll come to understand where Sartre was coming from. Many online games can feel a lot like No Exit—a world populated only by the meddling, the griefing, and the incompetent, where even death isn't an escape. » 9/21/12 4:00pm 9/21/12 4:00pm

Characters in Guild Wars 2 are good at lots of things: Fighting, spellcasting, animal-summoning. But they're also really good at standing still. No, seriously! » 8/27/12 7:30pm 8/27/12 7:30pm

According to a report at MMO Culture, a French gamer named Surfeuze has already hit the Guild Wars 2 level cap of 80. (See the lower-left of the screenshot above.) Yep: Someone has maxed out a character before the game has even been officially released. » 8/27/12 1:05pm 8/27/12 1:05pm

Gamasutra has a great write-up of a Game Developers Conference Austin panel wherein Tracy Seamster of ZeniMax Online and Steve Danuser of 38 Studios talk massively multiplayer online game writing. » 9/16/09 8:40pm 9/16/09 8:40pm

Gene Hoffman, CEO of Vindicia (a billing and fraud protection company), has some words of wisdom regarding the headache that is billing and payment for MMOs — be they the more 'traditional' subscription model or the free to play model. Obviously, there are benefits and downsides that come with each model, and companies … » 11/08/08 4:30pm 11/08/08 4:30pm

I had an interesting discussion this week on the topic of microtransaction models, East-West interaction, and the fact that few people pay much attention to such issues (or dismiss them out of hand); Games In Motion has a nice interview up illustrating the 'fly under the radar' nature of a lot of those microtransaction … » 10/25/08 5:30pm 10/25/08 5:30pm

Surprise! WoW » 10/12/08 12:30pm 10/12/08 12:30pm may be good for you (or rather, good for kids): LiveScience has a nice little piece up on the myriad uses of in educational settings, from getting kids to up their reading and writing ability to parents who use it as part of homeschooling. Constance Steinkuehler of Pop Cosmopolitanism organized a group…

There's an interesting article over at The Escapist » 10/11/08 5:30pm 10/11/08 5:30pm on the rights of players in virtual worlds — covering a myriad of issues (recourse for theft, ownership of items, DRM, etc) on a global scale, Erin Hoffman has a nice look at some of the issues that have been rearing their ugly heads and what players, companies, and…

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a nice interview up with Turbine producer Jeffrey Steefel, mostly centered on the Lord of the Rings Online » 9/27/08 3:30pm 9/27/08 3:30pm forthcoming Mines of Moria expansion — also discussed are things like how Steefel perceives 's performance, expansion features, and issues of designing for a license. While is wide open, …

The rights of 'avatars' — more to the point, the people who control them and their virtual assets — is an interesting and murky part of legal issues, EULAs, and player-company relations. Court cases have been tried over 'illegal' seizing of assets, and with the amount of time (and money) that people pour into their… » 9/21/08 5:30pm 9/21/08 5:30pm

Among everything else going on at the Austin GDC, an interesting panel took place on the issue of changing business models in MMOs — Free To Play has an easy to read, to the point summation of the panel, which included Robert Ferrari of Turbine ( LOTRO » 9/21/08 4:30pm 9/21/08 4:30pm), Hilmar Veigar Petursson of CCP (), Nicolay Nickelsen of Funcom…

Gamers can be a finicky bunch, moving from title to title in search of novelty — what does it take to keep players motivated and hanging around? Loot, says an essay over at High Dynamic Range Lying — that's right, the collective 'we' are a bunch of donkeys chasing elusive, just-out-of-our-reach carrots around. I'll buy … » 9/13/08 5:30pm 9/13/08 5:30pm