Ask Massively

It's a running joke on Massively that some readers believe our lives are glamorous and that we sleep in beds made out of free video game swag. The truth is that video game bloggers are working in this field because they love the job. At least that's how it is around here. Or maybe writing in our pajamas is too posh to pass up. But people still believe we are loaded with perks just because we get to wear fancy hats that say "PRESS." Just kidding. There are no hats.

Here's a recent example from a reader named Will6:

Lucky you, getting to test drive the game. Everyone knows the press get instant invites because they are a free way [for studios] to advertise their game and get the word out.

It's time for "everyone" to be disabused of that notion.

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It's time for a grab bag edition of Ask Massively! A reader named Nicholas is up first:

I was wondering if you could help me remember a game studio that was developing a new Korean action- MMORPG game engine (and it wasn't Bless, Blade and Soul, or ArcheAge). In the tech demo, no environment was being shown; it focused on the combat aspect of the engine. All the combat took place against a white background, and it was combo-based and reactive to hits. I remember a slow motion scene with an NPC being punched in the face and the face distorting. At the time, there were no announced games using the engine; the video was just showing what tech the game studio had developed. If it helps any, I remember the comments saying that the engine was just going to be vaporware.

I think we might! Massively's Lis pegged it as NetEase's Dragon Sword trailer. +1 to Lis.

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Neverwinter soft launched this week. What's a soft launch? It's when a game really shouldn't be launching yet and knows it and yet has to launch anyway for reasons probably involving money. Soft launches are incredibly confusing to old school gamers who are used to a certain kind of testing and release cycle, the uncomplicated kind that involves, you know, some testing and a release. Soft launches make games writers uncomfortable too. Why won't your weird special snowflake of a game launch fit into our perfectly planned box?

Massively reader zmeul expressed his annoyance with us thusly: "I can't understand why some games get this 'soft launch' from you and others do not, even if the criteria are met."

It's a brave new world out there, zmeul!

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Last week, I promised you a second round of questions and answers regarding the types of calls Massively makes on which games and stories it will cover and why. Let's get to it.

Mike9 wrote, "I will play [State of Decay] because it looks awesome, but I never understand why Massively covers it; it is a single-player game, not an MMO by even the loosest of definitions, not unless Super Mario World is also considered an MMO now (well, I guess that did allow two players)."

I assume you're looking for a better answer than braaaaaiiiiinnnnsssssss!

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Welcome back to Ask Massively. We're all aboard the yacht this week, answering your questions while dressed like characters in Scarlet Blade. Because that's pretty much what the characters in Scarlet Blade should be doing rather than, you know, mortal combat in a thong.

Yes, today we're talking Scarlet Blade. In between all the crazed commenter ranting, several of you guys posed legit questions about why we covered it in the first place. Let me try to answer you without turning this into a debate about sexism. Why? Because it's not really about any one specific -ism.

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Google Reader might be on its way out, but old-school RSS is here to stay. If you haven't jumped to Feedly or some other RSS platform yet, July 1st is your doomsday. How is this relevant to your interests and why am I telling you this in Ask Massively? Well, many of you readers probably don't camp our front page, and if you're not into social media and the latest faceplustweet craze, RSS can help you keep up with the parts of Massively you want to read (and avoid the ones you don't).

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OK, AndyMonahan. You win. You broke me. This Ask Massively is for you.

AndyMonahan asked (approximately eight million times): It doesn't matter what games you cover as I can't spend more than five minutes on the site before my eyes bleed. Any news on a choice of background colour?

Do you really think you're going to like the only answer you know I can give?!

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Last week, Massively streamteamer Richie Procopio sat down to play Elder Scrolls Online at a press demo. Like most such "all-day" media events, the press demo was approximately four hours long -- four hours for Richie to see as much as he could and take notes to transform into articles worth reading.

"It must be so hard to write an MMO article based on four hours of gameplay," remarked a reader named Dularr.

It is and it isn't. Four hours is more than enough time to grok the basics. Of course, if you're expecting a detailed endgame critique after four hours, you're in for disappointment.

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Last week, Massively's Larry Everett finished off a miniseries of articles designed to help interested readers learn to livestream. Streaming has become a major part of Massively's purview; we stream about 20 hours a week. So why not use our expertise to help friends and potential future colleagues learn how to play for fun and profit?

Not everyone shares our idealism, apparently. In fact, one commenter told us we are ruining the internet.

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In the last few months, the Ask Massively inbox has received several letters about breaking into the games journalism industry and employment at Massively specifically. This first one came from a reader named Vernon:

I rarely see current journalists write or blog about their own experiences of getting into the industry. I always told myself I would try to figure out how to make a go of writing about games if the opera thing did not work out. So, how did you get there (Editor in Chief), and how do you get there now?

Short answer: the two skillsets rule.

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I have a dirty little secret: A few weeks ago when I was really sick and laid up on the sofa, I got addicted to Pawn Stars. It's a cheesy little History Channel reality show that tracks the exploits of a Las Vegas pawn shop and the shop owners' good, bad, and history-related deals. (I know, I know. I'm bad and I should feel bad.)

One lesson the boss repeats to his employees and the viewers over and over is that being rare isn't enough to make something valuable and that many valuable things aren't particularly rare at all.

This is not a lesson MMO players have learned.

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Massively's tipsters are awesome. You've probably seen acknowledgements of their contributions in posts like these. Without them, we'd be limited to just the research our fairly small staff can drum up on a moment's notice. The tipsters broaden our view and bring us news from games that might otherwise have gone overlooked. We love you guys.

We do get tips we won't or can't report on, though. And it's not because we hate you. I promise.

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Welcome back to Ask Massively! Today's readers don't want much. They just want to know all the things about all the games and then be told what to play. To wit, reader Lord Baron Xooper wrote in with the following request:

Hello, Massively people! I need your help; I have nowhere else to turn. I need a new MMO. I'm tired of World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2 and Champions Online. I'm curious whether you could help me find a sandbox MMO with a heavy RPing community. Thank you! Love, Lord Baron Xooper

No pressure or anything, yeah? Thing is, Xoops wasn't the only one with this question. We get it a lot. Maybe once a week.

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Welcome back to Ask Massively We're pleased you could join us on the deck of the Massively yacht for today's edition. You should really try a mojito. It's the best.

In between drinks today, we're talking about respect -- the earned kind, not the given kind. Don't worry; I'm not talking about respect you have for us or even for each other. (We all know that's non-existent.) I'm talking about the respect game studios have (and don't have) for MMO gamers in general.

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Welcome back to Ask Massively. This week, I'd like to address a common gripe about Massively's coverage of sunsetted games -- specifically, City of Heroes. Even before the game closed down, some commenters were expressing annoyance that we were daring to cover the closure. Now that it's gone, these same commenters are irate at the fact that we didn't seal up the coffin and pretend that the whole thing never happened.

That's just not how it works.

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