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[The Soapbox: Tunnel vision]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/20/the-soapbox-tunnel-vision/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/20/the-soapbox-tunnel-vision/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/20/the-soapbox-tunnel-vision/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Remember how WAR was going to bury WoW? Yeah.
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

As everyone knows, social gaming is doomed to failure. Mindless, repetitive drivel like FarmVille is just an enormous waste of time and clicking with no actual gameplay aspects involved, and there's no real depth to keep someone hooked. It's not even remotely close to an MMO, and obviously pretty much everyone will get bored with it and stop giving Zynga money in a couple of months.

The only thing that stands in the way of that clearly correct opinion is the piles of money it continues to make.

Of course, the above is what several gamers have been stating ever since the first seemingly innocent Facebook game came around. I'm restating it here not because I'm talking about social games but because it's a symptom of a larger problem. As gamers, we love to predict which MMOs will work and which ones won't, but we're also suffering from a terrible sense of tunnel vision that makes us really awful at that.

Continue reading The Soapbox: Tunnel vision

MassivelyThe Soapbox: Tunnel vision originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>affectionbad-gamesculturefeaturedgood-gamesindustrymmo-industryopinionpredictionssoapboxthe-soapboxtunnel-visionTue, 20 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Anti-Aliased: Five free to play MMOs that are ahead of the class]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/30/anti-aliased-five-free-to-play-mmos-that-are-ahead-of-the-class/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/30/anti-aliased-five-free-to-play-mmos-that-are-ahead-of-the-class/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/30/anti-aliased-five-free-to-play-mmos-that-are-ahead-of-the-class/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,


Times are tough, the wallet is tight, and you still need a game to play. But what free games can you wrap your hands around that just don't suck, right? That seems to be the trouble with free to play games -- many selections all with very low quality.

But the market is not as bad as you might think. There are certainly some gems out there in the free to play market, just waiting for you to wrap your hands around them and play. Finding them however, hasn't always been easy, until now.

With the recommendations of my colleagues here at Massively, and my own personal experience, I've complied a list of 5 free to play games that are worthy of your play time. In advance, however, I wish to apologize to Chronicles of Spellborn, Wizard 101, and FusionFall. All three of these games made our favorites list, but I'm skipping them as their focus is more of a "freemium" experience, where massive areas of the games are locked out until a subscription is purchased. This column is only going to concentrate on the free to play, item mall driven games, just to clarify for all of you readers out there.

So which games made the best of the free to play list? Continue reading and you'll find out.

Continue reading Anti-Aliased: Five free to play MMOs that are ahead of the class

MassivelyAnti-Aliased: Five free to play MMOs that are ahead of the class originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aeria-gamesanti-aliasedcombatdungeon-runnersfeaturedfree-to-playfungood-gamesjoystiqfeaturesncsoftshin-megami-tensei-imaginetop-5Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:30:00 EST