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Storyboard: The infinite sadness of Aunt May

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Lore, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard

For the five people who don't know the reference, Aunt May is the mother figure in Spider-Man's life. She provides him with several important functions, such as being frail, threatening death, and getting kidnapped whenever his motivation for fighting crime starts to flag. She also dated Doctor Octopus, but that was just strange. The point is that she represents one of the most important part of any character's storyline -- the people you associate with other than heavily armed mercenaries (or the local equivalent) who just provide mundane functions in your life.

This doesn't just cover your ailing kidnap-bait aunt. It covers your childhood friend who decided to go into real estate instead of demon-slaying, your mother and father who still want to make sure you're wearing a coat when you abscond to the frozen wastes to slay a dragon, and the one-eyed bandit whom you've sworn to kill at the first opportunity. They're all massively important to your character's identity, but they suffer a very big problem in an MMO roleplaying environment. Even by the rather liquid standards of MMOs, these characters aren't real.

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Storyboard: The infinite sadness of Aunt May originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMOrigins: MUD on the tires

Shawn Schuster — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Culture, Opinion, MMOrigins

Welcome to MMOrigins, a new weekly series here at Massively where we take a look at what makes us who we are as MMO gamers. Much in the style of our Redefining MMOs series, several members of the Massively team will have their chance to take a look back at their influences, favorite classic games and what got them to where they are today. Then, as we've done before, we'll ask you to compile your own blog posts on the same topic and we'll showcase it for the finale.

So I thought I would kick this new series off with my own influences and origins in gaming and what molded my current enjoyment of MMOs. As anyone who grew up in the 1980s might know, the dawn of personal computer video gaming was an exciting time. With inexpensive hardware such as the Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64 and 128, you didn't have to always get your mom to drive you to the arcade to play some good games.

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MMOrigins: MUD on the tires originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earthrise lead technical artist Ed Mattinian discusses visual influences

James Egan — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, Earthrise

The Bulgaria-based developer Masthead Studios is hard at work on their first massively multiplayer online game Earthrise, a title that's equal parts sci-fi and post-apocalyptic. Nolvadex from the Italian MMO news site Gamesource spoke with the game's lead technical artist Ed Mattinian about the look of Earthrise.

Mattinian discusses balancing form with function when it comes to how technology is depicted in the game, trying to create a futuristic world that's not simply cold and sterile. He says, "I'd say that technological products have their own beauty to them. It's all about function and how that 'product' -- be it a weapon, a craft, or a teleporter - is designed for its function. That's the beauty that we're looking for."

Continue reading Earthrise lead technical artist Ed Mattinian discusses visual influences

Earthrise lead technical artist Ed Mattinian discusses visual influences originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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