Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Steal this tape]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/23/a-mild-mannered-reporter-steal-this-tape/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/23/a-mild-mannered-reporter-steal-this-tape/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/23/a-mild-mannered-reporter-steal-this-tape/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

A while back, I took the opportunity to talk about things that City of Heroes would do well to steal. After all, there's no reason that you can't make an existing awesome game even more awesome, right? It was a fun article, if a bit silly, and it leads naturally into this week's outing, because I'm feeling just a little bit silly this week, and I'm looking at other games with amazement. So many of them just don't get it.

Seriously. City of Heroes is approaching its seventh anniversary, and so many bits of brilliance in the design are not found in every game in the world. To be quite honest, it's ridiculous. I'm not just talking about little bits of clever design like attack tags to help differentiate defenses; I'm talking about parts of the game that just run so well and so intuitively that it's a wonder everyone hasn't copied them. So let's look at the stuff that the game gets so right that everyone ought to just use it as a standard.

Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Steal this tape

MassivelyA Mild-Mannered Reporter: Steal this tape originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>a-mild-mannered-reportercity-of-heroescity-of-villainscohcolumncool-stuffcopycovcoxduplicatefeaturesgame-featureslaudable-featuresncsoftopinionparagonparagon-studiosWed, 23 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: Research: Tech 1 blueprints, page 2]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/13/eve-evolved-research-tech-1-blueprints-page-2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/13/eve-evolved-research-tech-1-blueprints-page-2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/13/eve-evolved-research-tech-1-blueprints-page-2/#commentsContinue reading EVE Evolved: Research: Tech 1 blueprints, page 2

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Research: Tech 1 blueprints, page 2 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>blueprintblueprintsccpccp-gamescopyeveeve-evolvedeve-onlineguideguideshighseclabmepeposresearchstarbaseSun, 13 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: Research: Tech 1 blueprints]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/13/eve-evolved-research-tech-1-blueprints/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/13/eve-evolved-research-tech-1-blueprints/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/12/13/eve-evolved-research-tech-1-blueprints/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,

While it's most often lauded for its PvP, not everything in EVE Online is about shooting people. Research and manufacturing are two of EVE's most popular PvE professions because of the small time commitments they require. A lot of things in EVE are built from blueprints and through research, you can be one of the people supplying those blueprints. Whether you want to improve your own blueprints to increase manufacturing profit margins or make blueprint copies for sale, it's worth looking into doing your own research. Jobs can be set up to run for days on end, taking you as little as a few minutes per week to manage. This can augment your income from active sources like mining, trading or mission-running.

In this article, I look at the basics of tech 1 blueprint research, the skills required to make the most of your time and how you could run your own research labs in the relative safety of high security space.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Research: Tech 1 blueprints

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Research: Tech 1 blueprints originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>blueprintblueprintsccpccp-gamescopyeveeve-evolvedeve-onlinefeaturedguideguideshighseclabmepeposresearchstarbaseSun, 13 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Player vs. Everything: The MMO clone wars]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/18/player-vs-everything-the-mmo-clone-wars/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/18/player-vs-everything-the-mmo-clone-wars/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/18/player-vs-everything-the-mmo-clone-wars/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


You can say a lot of things about a game you don't like. You can say that it sucks or that it's poorly balanced. You can say that the art direction is all wrong, or you can say that it's lacking in any number of features a good game should have. But sometimes a game takes flak for committing the most grievous sin of all: copying another game. One of the most commonly cited complaints about any given game is that they copied "feature X" from "game Y."

For some reason, MMOG players in particular just love to cite the classic "It's just a clone of (whatever)" when they're trying to challenge the very essence of a particular title. If a game is a copy (the reasoning goes) then clearly the designers are wholly uninspired, worthless, and incapable of creating anything interesting or original. It really seems to irk players who feel that their game is being somehow wronged when another game uses similar ideas. But is this really such a bad thing? Might cloning features, or even cloning games, actually be the best possible thing for the games industry?

Continue reading Player vs. Everything: The MMO clone wars

MassivelyPlayer vs. Everything: The MMO clone wars originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>city-of-heroesclonecloningcopyeverquestfeaturedgame-designgame-mechanicsjoystiqfeaturesmassively-goes-to-warmudmudsplayer-vs-everythingwarhammer-onlineworld-of-warcraftWed, 18 Jun 2008 14:30:00 EST