Karen Bryan
- Columnist -
Karen is a mother, guild leader, writer, podcaster, and gamer. When she’s not charging into battle with her guild, she’s usually talking about games on any podcast she can crash. She writes four columns for Massively: The Tattered Notebook, which covers EverQuest II; The Guild Counsel, which looks at common issues in guild management; Enter at Your Own Rift, a RIFT feature with Justin Olivetti; and MMO Family, a biweekly investigation of family-friendly MMOs.
Karen Bryan's Latest Posts
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The Guild Counsel: Managing the peaks of success
I'm a Red Sox fan, and if there's ever a team that can exemplify the ups and downs of running a guild, it's the Red Sox. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the team, and yet they're near the top of the standings, only a game and a half behind the Team that Shall Not be Named. Managing a ...
The Guild Counsel: How Stargell stars can help your guild
When I was a kid, I loved the Red Sox, but I was dying to get a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap. It's not that I was a fan of the team; I just loved the unusual look of the hat, with its pillbox shape, gold stripes, and most importantly, rows and rows of gold stars. Those stars were called Stargell ...
MMO Family: First Impressions of World of Trinketz
I have to begin this week's column with a disclaimer: I am not a fan of Facebook, and I'm even less a fan of Facebook games. The only one I found enjoyable was Ian Bogost's Cow Clicker because it was a giant middle finger to the bottom-feeding practices so commonly found in Facebook Villes. But ...
The Guild Counsel: Taking the reins and dealing with discipline
It's hard enough for any guild leader to enforce rules and take on problem players. But it's even harder for guild leaders who have stepped up to take over for one who has retired. Comparisons are made between how the old leader did things and how the new one is handling it, and some members might ...
The Guild Counsel: Why broken economies hurt guilds
I have to admit, I read the recent article by Ramin Shokrizade on the pre-endgame economy of Guild Wars 2 and shrugged. He made a lot of great points, but the problems with GW2's economy are really not that unique. One of the biggest dilemmas is the fact that dropped items, like weapons and armor, ...
MMO Family: Are video games stressing kids out?
Video games get blamed for all sorts of societal problems, particularly for young children. Violence, obesity, and laziness are just the tip of the iceberg. And a recent article from Amanda Enayati adds one more potential problem: stress. Growing up is complicated enough, but are video games ...
The Guild Counsel: Guild leadership isn't a job
Guild leadership is challenging, but as I've written before, sometimes guild leaders shoulder the burden of extraneous responsibilities and make the role harder than it should be. You'll often hear players referring to the leadership role as a job, meaning that it's work rather than fun. But ...
The Guild Counsel: Finding a guild with off-peak playtimes
One of the things that always makes me grumpy about MMOs is the number of game-imposed barriers to players doing things together. Levels, gear, skill points, group and raid caps, and prerequisites are just a handful of common game designs that make it hard to be social. MMOs are getting a little ...
MMO Family: Is it time to regulate MMO cash shops?
"I want it now!" We're all familiar with that screechy demand by Veruca Salt in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And for those of us raising children, it's an all-too-common request. When kids want something, they'll pull out all the stops, and for many kids, that brand-new video game ...
The Guild Counsel: Jumping from casual to endgame
It's a classic scenario that's all too common: A guild builds up a solid roster, with enthusiastic members, and decides to make the leap from casual to hardcore. But that leap can sometimes become a free-fall spiral and a potential guild-breaker. How does a guild shift gears and go from ...
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