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Thank you all for leaving your thoughts on this topic. I was slightly concerned what the reaction would be when I began writing it, but felt there were some things that needed to be said. You have validated my feelings quite ably!

I'm not sure what the answer to true gender equality in video games is, but we're getting closer to it every day, and the players of today are the developers of tomorrow. It's like I always say: Put into the world the things you want to experience; only then will your views be represented. Keep dreaming the dream!

Haggard, thank you for your comment. I do think things are changing slowly for the better, and of course this article only covers a certain percentage of the total audience. I wish I'd had more room to talk about the positive direction a bit more in-depth. Thanks for reading!

Kaoy: Thanks for the details! The other Bartuk profession is Warrior, and Kruxena is the name of the cyborg race.

Brian!: I'm definitely interested in playing more of it, as I say in the final sentence of the first paragraph. I'm not that invested in too many games at once, but we'll see how far R:B takes me.

Tony: I know. Bloodymare is kind of stretching the motif, but hey, it's memorable!

Jeni: We just put up a producer interview today, with another coming tomorrow, and I'm about to start a series called 'Indievelopment', where I interview devs from the more fringe MMO universe, like Star Wars Combine and Pokemon World Online. We're on it!

Fantastic article; looking forward to more!

"Terrible, adorable agony" is the greatest phrase ever.

Petri: Why, so I am! My mistake, everyone. I was once again envisioning a world in which everything ties into everything else, happily, gloriously. I now take my Massive lumps!

Vincent, Trevel; thanks for pointing those out, but I should have been clearer. As I understand it, Achievement Points can be used to purchase additional downloadable content, not just for the game in question, but for other games as well. Also, APs can be used to purchase smaller games from the Live Arcade service. So, in the context of this discussion, I was saying that achievements for a particular game do not hold any currency outside of that particular game.

Wouldn't it be nice if your badges and titles could be used for something more than prestige in those games?

I did see the Diablo piñata and thought of including it, but it's not technically an MMO, so I left it out. That said, Starcraft 2 isn't an MMO either, but the Tauren angle made it irresistible!

See, now THAT'S the kind of thing I love to see! It's events like that that make gaming enter a whole new level of epic play. Just think of the stories you'll tell of the time you were possessed by a demon sword and forced to kill your friends until you were finally brought down by a hastily-assembled, ad hoc guild composed of both teammates and enemies!

Thank you for the comment!