Leaderboard

Permadeath is one of those game mechanics that seems destined to forever be nibbling away at the fringe of the MMO genre than invited to the cool kids' table. Many players find themselves aghast at the notion of losing all their hard-earned progress with one untimely demise, and it seems like game developers agree with them: Very few MMOs have any sort of permadeath option.

However, this most-severest-of-severe death penalties does persist. Some players elect to form guilds and meta-groups to pursue a permadeath lifestyle in their games. A few upcoming titles, such as Salem and Wizardry Online, have permadeath as a core mechanic. Even the recently released Diablo III has a "hardcore" permadeath mode for the brave at heart.

The question we put before you today is yet another nibble that may never be noticed by the mainstream, but it's important to consider: Is permadeath worth including in MMO design, even as an optional mechanic or server, or should this brand of death penalty kick the bucket once and for all? Vote after the jump!

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Everyone loves player housing, right? Oh, quiet you in the back. Look into my eye: Everyone loves player housing. It is the number one most requested, demanded, and mandatory feature of every MMO. In terms of priority, "having monsters to kill in the game" is lower than giving us sweet pads to decorate. This is the way the virtual world should be and always has been.

Well, now that I've dipped into the well of delusion, it's time to emerge with my hair sopping wet and my mind open to the possibility of a player housing revival. With the advent of Aion's 3.0 update, players in this now-free-to-play game can move into a suburban dreamhouse and spend countless hours figuring out the exact decor to match the subtle majesty of the bathroom's toilet.

But is it enough to challenge the de facto leader of player housing, EverQuest II? Mountains of novels have been written on this game's housing system, novels that were then used to construct a giant book fort in the middle of the grand ballroom. Because that's just how flexible that system can be.

So pitted against each other in an interior design contest, which game would emerge triumphant? Cast your vote after the jump!

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I have both a desktop and laptop computer that I use regularly. My desktop is my mainstay; a gaming fortress with loads of power and storage space with a 22" screen. My laptop is the best portable gaming machine that $650 could buy, which was surprisingly quite a lot. While it doesn't have the muscle of my desktop, it will run most everything just fine -- and let me do so while I'm reclining on the couch, in bed, or in line at the DMV (their wifi is awesome).

It strikes me that there's no gold standard when it comes to gaming platforms for MMOs. Excluding mobile and console devices for the moment, I'm vastly curious how many of you prefer to game on a desktop or a laptop. Do you enjoy the extra bang for the buck that desktop machines give you, or is your trusty laptop with its size and portability all the technology you'll ever need?

Let's hash it out on the Leaderboard today: Is it better to go with a gaming desktop or laptop? Vote after the jump and then back up your opinion in the comments!

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Two vs. three: It should be a cut-and-dry affair. After all, three is always better than two? Maybe... but maybe not. When it comes to factions in MMOs, the line seems to be split between two and three, and I think a good case can be made for both.

Two factions is the majority approach for MMOs that have them, and it's easy to understand why. We can comprehend an "us vs. them" mentality in almost every walk of life. If you're not with us, you're against us -- that sort of thing. Two factions draws a line in the sand and requires little explanation for people to understand that one side is naturally better than the other.

Three factions, on the other hand, is a godsend for PvP in particular. By having a third faction, it's much less likely that one side can dominate the battlefield eternally, as the other two sides can team up to put an end to that nonsense. Three factions also offers more variety and arguably stronger factional identities.

So what say you? Two or three? Cast your vote after the jump!

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Believe it or not, there are actually loads of incredible MMO soundtracks. Oh, I know we all bellyache about the repetitive music and how we turn it off and just listen to speed metal or Justin Bieber while we grind boars, but the scores are often wonderful when removed from infinite looping.

Today we're going to pit two of the greatest MMO soundtracks against each other as they vie for your approval. In the first corner is Age of Conan's score, which was composed by Knut Avenstroup Haugen. It's not only award-winning and famous outside of MMO circles but hauntingly beautiful to listen to as well. In the other corner is Mr. Jeremy Soule's epic Guild Wars soundtrack (we'll lump all four of them together for this poll), which many claim to be just as memorable as the game's visuals.

It's the cream of the audio crop presented for your judgment: Age of Conan's score vs. Guild Wars' score. Give each one a listen and then let us know which you'll vote for after the jump!

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We shorties have been looked down upon our entire lives, so it's not without some sympathy that I champion the cause of the shorter races in MMOs. Happily, there are a lot of them, and they have their ardent supporters, with the added bonus of seemingly irritating the "Tallies" around them.

Yet out of all of the diminutive races in online games, two seem to stand out as the kingpins of the Shortie Empire. The first is Hobbits, the classic heroes of Tolkien's novels as well as Lord of the Rings Online. With their genial attitude, disregard for shoes, and fondness for multiple breakfasts, they've endeared themselves to millions and influenced the development of the RPG genre. The second is Gnomes, the tenacious inventors of the underworld who seem to pop up in every MMO that isn't afraid of a steampunk fringe.

So if a Hobbit and a Gnome fell into a pit together and there was only one breakfast to be had, which would go hungry and which would be satisfied? In other words, which race rules more than the other? Vote after the jump!

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I've noticed that whenever a studio is developing an MMO that features action combat (i.e., faster-paced combat that's more dependent on positioning, reflexes, and mouse usage), it acts as though it's developing the savior of the genre -- even though action combat is nothing new (just ask Dungeons and Dragons Online or Age of Conan). Instead of seeing it as a revolution that will bring us out of the supposed dark ages, I look at it as a different style of play that some prefer while others shun.

Both have their pros and cons. Hotbar combat allows for quick access to a wide variety of skills, levels the playing field for those of us old fogeys who aren't so tight in the reflex department, and focuses more on strategic thinking. However, it's typically slower and not as visceral as many non-MMO video games tend to be. Action combat, on the other hand, is certainly more in-line with its non-MMO contemporaries, with exciting pitched battles at the expense of time to think and a more limited selection of input.

So for today's Leaderboard, we're going to tackle the grand ol' staple of MMOs, hotbar combat, vs. the action combat upstarts. Will reflexes or brains win the day? Cast your vote after the jump!

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Back at the turn of the century, you didn't have the equivalent of cable's infinite choices when it came to MMOs. No, you pretty much had the standard Big Three of network programming: Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Asheron's Call. With the subscription model firmly in place, most players had to choose their loyalty and choose it well.

For today's Leaderboard, we're going to pretend that no other MMOs exist other than those three and see how the 2012 crowd divides up between them. Would you fly your banner for Ultima Online and its enormous sandboxy world? Would you cast your lots with EverQuest, the once great and powerful king of the genre? Or would you throw in with Asheron's Call and its monthly stories?

Call it a popularity contest, a trip down memory lane, or an all-out brawl between MMO senior citizens. It's a three-way title fight on this week's Leaderboard, and only one game will live to see next week!

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If you search the loftiest heights of fantasy, the dank dungeons of horror, the far-out locales of sci-fi, or the war-torn post-apocalyptic highways, chances are you'll stumble upon two creatures that are near-universal in MMOs. Whether you be swinging a sword or firing off compressed photonic bursts, chances are sooner or later you'll face off against a giant spider. And, later on, a giant pig.

Pigs and spiders, spiders and pigs: MMO devs do love both equally. They're convenient fodder for heroes to use as training on their way up to slaying dragons, as nobody likes spiders and everyone likes ham and bacon. And while they almost never stand a chance against the never-ending player onslaught, what would happen if spider fought pig in-game? Who would emerge triumphant and who would slink back to its trough/web in shame?

Take some time to weigh the pros and cons of each contestant, and let us know which you think would win in a one-on-one scuffle! (And for those of you out there itching to make a spider-pig reference in the comments, I'm preempting you. Booyah.)

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For many, betas are the apex of the pre-launch experience. After months and even years of hearing about a title, discussing it rabidly, and scouring the internet for information on it, fans are finally given the chance to try it out for themselves. For many, this is wonderful, a drink of water to a parched gaming soul. For many, but not for all.

You see, betas can be a doubled-edged sword, capable of hurting as much as helping. They can be a boon to those who truly want to help a game's development by testing for bugs, they can help players decide if this is a product worth purchasing, and they can assist in getting one's "game legs" before the main event begins. However, betas have been known to foster an environment of entitlement ("Why isn't this game 100% polished? I judge it fail!") while robbing the newness of an MMO that has yet to release.

So, overall, do you deem that betas are a boon to the community or a bust? Are they useful tools for both developers and players, or are they nothing but glorified demos that harm more than help? Put your vote where your opinion is after the jump!

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One gets the sense that gamers can't wait for the future to get here so we can all join roving packs of pulse rifle-toting goons fighting each other for a living, like the world's most awesome paintball match. To tide us over, several studios are working hard at fulfilling our fantasies in virtual space with MMOFPS PvP titles such as DUST 514 and PlanetSide 2.

We recently got a closer look at both of these games at GDC, and it's safe to say that not only do they each come from experienced pedigree -- CCP and SOE -- but they're both highly anticipated by trigger-finger monitor mercenaries.

But we all know the sacred rule of MMOs, which is that there can only ever be one. There can only be one victor and one success -- and all the rest are doomed to languish in whatever the virtual equivalent of a compost heap is. So tell us true right now: Which will be more successful, DUST 514 or PlanetSide 2? Register your vote so that you'll be able to come back, months from now, and use this as proof that you knew better than all of the other fools out there!

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It amazes me that I still get weird looks/comments in 2012 whenever I mention that I typically play a female character even though I live and breathe pure testosterone. My wife used to rib me about it, but then she rolled a male Sith Warrior in SWTOR, decked him out with tattoos, and said, "This? Here? Is a REAL MAN. And now I'm going to spend 300 hours with him." This will probably come up in our marriage counseling sessions at some point in the future.

In any case, I thought we were past the era when rolling a character of the opposite gender was an oddity, but these discussions over whether or not this is appropriate or weird roll through the community more regularly than the tide. Some people simply identify more with an avatar of the same gender, but some enjoy roleplaying into a different sex entirely.

So today's Leaderboard is real simple-like, see? Are you compelled to roll your gender in (almost) every game, or do you more often than not take walks on the wild side of the bathroom stalls? Let's hear it for the boys! Or girls!

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While the concept of lockboxes -- or gift boxes, or super packs, or whatever nomenclature you prefer -- is certainly not new to MMOs, it seems like they're finally making headway into some of the biggest free-to-play titles as of late. From Star Trek Online to Lord of the Rings Online to City of Heroes, games are making beaucoup bucks from hosting these mystery treasure chests that cost real-world money to acquire or unlock.

Some players love them and some despise them, but the truth is that they're incredible moneymakers for companies. But money isn't what Leaderboard is about; we're in search of public opinion. Do lockboxes have an acceptable place in MMOs? Not only would finances seem to suggest so, but the psychology of these goodie bags offers euphoric rushes that normal monster looting does not provide. Sure, maybe it's gambling, but nobody's forcing you to buy them -- and if you do, you're guaranteed to get something somewhat useful if not incredibly rare.

Should lockboxes be shunned and boycotted in all MMOs? Are they ruining the reputation of F2P? Are they representative of the worst mentality this business model has to offer? Do lockboxes kill koala bears and deforest Brazil? Has a lockbox been the cause of one or more breakups in your dating life?

Let's put it to a vote: lockboxes yea or lockboxes nay? Keep in mind that if you've spent money on one or more in a game, then you don't want to come across as hypocritical in this poll!

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It's the eternal debate that's occupied our attention on so many episodes of Massively Speaking that we had to bring it to you, the impartial judges and juries of the MMO world. What is better and more enjoyable: the leveling journey or the endgame activities?

In my opinion, it's all about the journey up through the levels. You're constantly traveling through new regions and vistas, watching your character increase in power and abilities. It's almost like a movie, in which the young inexperienced hero heads out for a life-changing quest.

But others claim that the endgame is where the true MMO experience lies. It's here that your character finally has a full range of his/her/its abilities and is able to tackle the toughest challenges and most epic confrontations in the game.

So let's see how this pans out in the public arena. Which aspect of MMOs gets your motor running? Which is where the true spirit of gaming rests? Vote, and live a life free of regrets!

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While often seen as a symbiotic pairing against the greatest threats the video game world has ever known, tanks and healers have nevertheless fostered a rivalry of sorts. Both see their role in a group as being paramount to success, but which is more vital? Which takes more skill? Which is under-appreciated by fellow teammates?

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "This is a chicken-or-egg scenario! How can I choose when both are vital to survival? I love both! Don't make me pick!" Now you're lying on the floor, cradling your head and whimpering.

Seriously, stop being a Charlie Brown and take a side! Are tanks more important due to their scarcity and skill that it takes to juggle aggro and take all the pain meant for others? Are healers the mostly unsung heroes of raids, forced to stare at shrinking green bars instead of getting to eyeball the action?

Let's put this bickering to rest, daddy wants to take a nap. Have it out after the jump: tanks vs. healers. I expect that this will put an end to centuries of violence surrounding the subject.

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