Meet the Team

Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team.

What do you do for Massively.com?
I'm the game lead for Lord of the Rings Online and Guild Wars. This gives me the responsibility of focusing on these two games with interviews, dev tours and feature articles. I'm also a general blogger, which basically means I handle news for the ever-growing list of games I feel comfortable writing about. I also co-host and edit the Massively Speaking podcast.

What's your favorite MMO?
Right now, it's LotRO. While it's not the one I've spent the most time with, it has most of the features I would consider for my Holy Grail of MMOs.

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Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team.

What do you do for Massively?
My task is to write a column on in-game economics and crafting. Though I do not cover news about economics, I tend to analyze the aftermath of changes. I analyze a range of games, usually those I play. They include City of Heroes/City of Villains, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Runescape, and sometimes EVE Online (though I don't play that one much).

What's your favorite MMO?
I have a long-standing affection for Ultima Online: Renaissance. It was my first MMO (thanks to my then-SO) and drew me in. It also relied on a less structured group mentality for conquering larger challenges, which I thought was fascinating. And there was no end. Because there was no "leveling up" type of dynamic, you could train skills and stats to respec your character and take on enemies without having to worry so much about reaching the endgame content.

One other aspect of UO that I enjoyed was the in-game housing. OK, so there was limited real estate... and housing was terribly expensive... but that housing was worthwhile to hold on to. You could set up crafting stations like forges and anvils in your home. That's something I miss in some of the current MMOs that have housing. The functionality seems to be limited to storage and a place to teleport to.

Gallery: Meet the Team

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Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team.

What do you do for Massively.com?
I'm a general writer, which means if I'm awake and stuff goes down, I cover it. Or I pass the buck to someone who knows more about that particular game than I do. I focus on City of Heroes/Villains, since I know it pretty well by now. I think I'm also the token 'guy who's never played World of Warcraft', but that's not an official position.

What's your favorite MMO?
It's still City of Heroes without a doubt. I'm really enjoying Warhammer Online and Age of Conan, but there are many aspects of CoX that just aren't like other games, and keep me coming back. The community, for one; people remark that the community is one of the friendliest and most helpful of any MMO, but then, you have to remember that many of them are people who initially signed up for a game where the whole point was to be a hero and help people, so it's perhaps not all that surprising, really.

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Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team.

What do you do for Massively.com?
I'm a general writer, though I act as the team specialist for collaborative virtual worlds (particularly Second Life), and legal analysis. I help brainstorm and do some proofreading, and examine the philosophy of MMOs and virtual environments.

What's your favorite MMO?
I spend more time with Second Life than anything else -- but NCsoft's CoX and Turbine's LotRO tie for first place for my MMO gaming time.

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Starting this week, once a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team.

What do you do for Massively.com?
Currently I contribute features and guides, and have just switched my main focus to Warhammer Online.

What's your favorite MMO?
I'll give two answers here. I think it's always hard to beat someone's first experience in an MMO world, which is why EverQuest has to be right up there with my all-time favorites. Looking at more recent times though (in the last few years), although it's early days I think that WAR has a lot going for it and will remain my current favorite for some time to come.

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