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 Secret World's Tornquist talks truth, pain, and non-combat gaming]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/07/the-secret-worlds-tornquist-talks-truth-pain-and-non-combat-g/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/07/the-secret-worlds-tornquist-talks-truth-pain-and-non-combat-g/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/07/the-secret-worlds-tornquist-talks-truth-pain-and-non-combat-g/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Rock, Paper Shotgun is back with part two of its interview with The Secret World's Ragnar Tornquist. Part one debuted yesterday and detailed a bit of the history behind the game's development as well as blurbs about factions, puzzles, and ARG thingamajigs.

Today's installment talks about everything from Tornquist's recurring real world/hidden world motifs, to the endings of Lost and Dreamfall, to unfulfilled fan expectations. As you might expect, the interview errs heavily on the side of the philosophical rather than delving into gameplay specifics.

Everything from the nature of truth, to Funcom's Secret World agenda, to the reticence of the gaming industry to evolve beyond kill-everything-that-moves is up for discussion. On this last point, Tornquist hints at the challenges inherent in designing non-combat gaming experiences. "It's difficult. You can't sacrifice fun. But then of course the idea of fun is ambiguous. Does it always have to be fun? Can't it be painful too?"

MassivelyThe Secret World's Tornquist talks truth, pain, and non-combat gaming originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>conspiracyfan-expectationsfantasyhorrorinterviewinterviewsnon-combatnon-combat-gameplayperceptionphilosophyRagnar-Tornquistthe-secret-worldtruthtswThu, 07 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The Mog Log: Level Y]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/25/the-mog-log-level-y/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/25/the-mog-log-level-y/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/25/the-mog-log-level-y/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Why are you leveling?

It's a fair question in Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV and really pretty much any MMO, especially because it's one of those questions you don't really ask while you're knee-deep in the game. You're just playing, you see that your level isn't at the level it could be, and you start doing what you have to do in order to make that number go just a little bit higher. By the classic model in Final Fantasy XI, you find a party, and in Final Fantasy XIV, you get some leves and head out to the races.

But that doesn't address the question. You know what you're doing, and I know what you're doing -- the question is why you're doing it in the first place. Even in a game without levels, you shouldn't be leveling. The answer to that question should always be confusion not over the reason but over the very concept.

So I'll ask again -- why are you leveling?

Continue reading The Mog Log: Level Y

MassivelyThe Mog Log: Level Y originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>columncontentfeaturedffff11ff14ffxiffxivfinal-fantasyfinal-fantasy-11final-fantasy-14final-fantasy-xifinal-fantasy-xivlevelingleveling-upopinionphilosophysquaresquare-enixthe-mog-logSat, 25 Jun 2011 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/massivelys-hands-on-with-rift-planes-of-telaras-dynamic-conte/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/massivelys-hands-on-with-rift-planes-of-telaras-dynamic-conte/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/massivelys-hands-on-with-rift-planes-of-telaras-dynamic-conte/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Just a few weeks ago, I was invited to attend Trion Worlds' Gamer's Day in San Francisco to get some hands-on time with a couple of the company's upcoming titles, including Rift: Planes of Telara. If Rift seems to have come out of nowhere, that might be due both to the acquisition of EverQuest II veteran Scott Hartsman to head the project as executive producer, and to a clever name change meant to reflect the team's shift in development focus.

In fact, that shift in development focus is precisely what I was at Trion's studio to test -- I got to check out the Rifts themselves in all their glory, in the context of the greater dynamic content system that the developers are so excited about. Massively's writers have been able to play and report on character creation and the starting areas of Rift several times over the last year or so, including earlier this summer at E3. But until today's embargo lift (coinciding with the reveal at Gamescom), no one had quite seen the fabled planar invasions and takeovers in action.

Now we have.

Continue reading Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content

MassivelyMassively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>achievementAchievementsaddonsalphaalpha-testbattlegroundsbuildscallingCapture-the-flagcharacter-creationcharge-barclericclunkcollectionCollectionscraftingdefiantDemodynamic-contentEarth-Elementalelementalistepic-mountfeaturedfootholdfootholdsgallerygloamwoodgraphicsgroupgroupinggroupsguardianhealershealinghell-levelsheroes-of-telaraholy-city-of-sanctuminstanceinstancesinterfaceinvasionjumpingjust-say-no-to-hell-levelslootmapmapsminimapmodsp2ppay-to-playpetsphilosophyplaneplanesplanes-of-telarapublic-questspvpquestingrealm-of-the-faerespecresurrectionriftrift-planes-of-telarariftsscott-hartsmanscreenshotsshadowlandssoul-walkSteamPunkstrategerystrategysubscriptionswimmingtalent-treestalentstavril-plazatelaratrailertriontrion-worldsUIvideowarfrontwarfrontsWed, 18 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Two sides to the story]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/28/a-mild-mannered-reporter-two-sides-to-the-story/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/28/a-mild-mannered-reporter-two-sides-to-the-story/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/28/a-mild-mannered-reporter-two-sides-to-the-story/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

I'm pretty excited for Going Rogue. Part of that is kind of inevitable -- I write a column about City of Heroes, I've tried to make a clear point that I'm a fan of comics in general, and quite honestly right now I'm in a bit of a video game drought and could use something new. But there's more to it than that, and it goes right back to my love of BioWare and the motivation to do speed runs of Silent Hill 2 just to see all of the various endings available.

What I'm getting at here is that I'm a big fan of any game that offers me morality or lets the game shift depending on my choices. So when Going Rogue had its two factions explained, I sat up and took notice, because the morals at play are certainly not black and white. No, they're grey and gray -- if not closer to blue and orange -- and that led to the inspiration for what I believe to be two of my most popular columns. And wouldn't you know it, even with both columns written, there's still more to be said.

Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Two sides to the story

MassivelyA Mild-Mannered Reporter: Two sides to the story originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>biowareblack-and-whitechoicechoicescity-of-heroescity-of-heroes-going-roguecity-of-villainscohcovcoxemperor-colefeaturedgoing-roguegood-versus-evilgovernmentgrloyalistmild-mannered-reportermoralityparagonparagon-studiosphilosophypraetoriansresistanceshades-of-greyWed, 28 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Online developers speak about player-elected councils]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/28/eve-online-developers-speak-about-player-elected-councils/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/28/eve-online-developers-speak-about-player-elected-councils/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/28/eve-online-developers-speak-about-player-elected-councils/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,


The sci-fi game EVE Online is unique among the massively multiplayer online games on the market in that it has a form of player governance, which allows for a new channel of communication between the subscribers and developers -- a council of representatives of the playerbase. Players are not selected by CCP Games, the creators of EVE Online, they're actually elected by the game's subscribers themselves. Those elected form the Council of Stellar Management (CSM), delegates who represent the interests of the players and deal directly with CCP Games. It's a bold idea and certainly one that many MMO developers would shy away from, particularly in that the CSM has input into the game's development pipeline.

CCP Games felt what they're doing would be of interest to other people in the industry, and gave a presentation at GDC 2009. The session was titled "The Council of Stellar Management: EVE Online Bridges Worlds for a Society". Two speakers from CCP Games presented: Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, EVE's lead economist, (also known as Dr. EyjoG) and Pétur Jóhannes Óskarsson, a researcher at CCP whose work has been integral to making the CSM a reality.

Continue reading EVE Online developers speak about player-elected councils

MassivelyEVE Online developers speak about player-elected councils originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccp-gamescouncil-of-stellar-managementcsmdr-eyjogelectionseve-onlineeyjolfur-gudmundssongame-mechanicsgdc-2009governancemmo-industrynew-edenpetur-johannes-oskarssonphilosophypoliticssci-fiTue, 28 Apr 2009 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The state of nature: Philosophy applied to EVE Online]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/22/the-state-of-nature-philosophy-applied-to-eve-online/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/22/the-state-of-nature-philosophy-applied-to-eve-online/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/22/the-state-of-nature-philosophy-applied-to-eve-online/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,


EVE Online, in short, is constant, controlled chaos. Alliances are made daily, are trained upwards, and ultimately fall. It's all just a question of when they fall that really differentiates them. Yet, amazingly, out of this controlled game of warfare comes a spark of philosophical intrigue -- the concept of state of nature.

Steven Croop from the Warcry Network has written a feature article discussing the states of EVE Online's types of government versus the old philosophical concept. He theorizes that the same state of self-preservation, noted in the original philosophical concept, does make an appearance in EVE. While the state has changed from its original form (struggle for survival versus struggle to not lose expensive stuff) it still drives the individual of EVE to seek out forms of government for protection, such as corporations and alliances.

Interested in the full read? Check it out over at Warcry and get your dose of philosophical goodness.

MassivelyThe state of nature: Philosophy applied to EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>alliancealliancesccpcorporationcorporationseveeve-onlinegovernmenthobbeslockephilosophical-discussionphilosophyself-preservationstate-of-naturesteven-croopwarcryWed, 22 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Pumping Irony gets philosophical on patchers]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/03/pumping-irony-gets-philosophical-on-patchers/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/03/pumping-irony-gets-philosophical-on-patchers/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/03/pumping-irony-gets-philosophical-on-patchers/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Patchers. The upside and downside to online gaming. Sure, they bring you oodles of new content, but they can also result in wait times before you get in to play you favorite game. But did you ever stop to think about the difference in patchers across the genre? The subtle difference that's exhibited in each company's updating program, like logging in before downloading your update, or the amount of updates in a game?

Pumping Irony did. That's why they sat down and looked at the patching process amongst different games and began to get philosophical on your favorite (or most hated) launching device. Is requiring a player to log in helping you with your download times? Or is it just another barrier to keep you waiting longer before you get in to play, which may offset companies getting subscribers back into action? These questions and more are described within, and it's certainly worth the read for any MMO junkie.

MassivelyPumping Irony gets philosophical on patchers originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 03 May 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>blogsdownloadmmo-industrynewspatcherphilosophypumping-ironySat, 03 May 2008 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[How Lila Dreams was able to do a lot with a little]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/how-lila-dreams-was-able-to-do-a-lot-with-a-little/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/how-lila-dreams-was-able-to-do-a-lot-with-a-little/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/28/how-lila-dreams-was-able-to-do-a-lot-with-a-little/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Here at Massively, we're slowly becoming bigger and bigger fans of Lila Dreams, a tiny little MMO with some big ideas so far. The latest post over at the dev blog talks about how they made the best use of things that would normally be thought of as limitations in MMO design, and actually came out of it with more creativity than if they'd used more traditional MMO technology. The game is built in Java and Flash and is only 2D, but instead of settling for cheap animation, the designers actually used the drawback as a benefit, and designed a 2D scheme that lays down a set of bones, which can then be customized with any art that the designer wants to put in. What that means for players is customization -- the animation is designed around movement, not specific art, so lots of clothing or items or shapes can be put in their places, and the animation will still work.

It also means, they say, that anyone can be designing animation, since instead of drawing frames or creating movement, you're just dragging keyframes around until they look right. The idea itself isn't necessarily new (lots of designers have used this "paper doll" philosophy, and of course letting anyone do animation doesn't guarantee that Lila Dreams will be anything special), but it's a good sign of the creativity of the Lila Dreams team that they took what most MMO developers would see as a negative (the limitations of Java and Flash), and made something interesting out of it. Can't wait to see they game they're cooking up.

MassivelyHow Lila Dreams was able to do a lot with a little originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>2dbrowser-basedcreatrix-gamesdesignflashjavalila-dreamspaper-dollphilosophyFri, 28 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[On MMOs, cakes, and sand castles]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/19/on-mmos-cakes-and-sand-castles/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/19/on-mmos-cakes-and-sand-castles/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/19/on-mmos-cakes-and-sand-castles/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Most MMO blogs that we read are very upfront about the immediacy of their concerns. Are Druids getting nerfed in the next patch or not? How soon will it be before we can finally use a Personal Armor Unit? Is Warhammer Online going to ship before it's complete? It's not every day that we scroll through our RSS reader and see a blog entry that really attempts to approach higher thinking. While we have always had a tremendous amount of respect for the bloggers over at Kill Ten Rats, we were still a tad surprised to see a post Zubon made a little over a week ago where he waxes philosophic on the illusion of permanence in the MMO genre.

He questions whether accomplishing things in an MMO is like baking a cake (not a lie) or building a sand castle; they're fun enterprises, and can be very fulfilling accomplishments for their time, but their very existence is fleeting. Are our nightly accomplishments in MMOs any less transient? The ultimate answer, if you were to ask this blogger, is that everything in life is ultimately ephemeral, it's just a question of shelf-life. But then, this is the sort of talk that we'd expect to hear from somebody on the verge of quitting MMOs, which we sincerely hope isn't the case. Ephemeral or not, MMOs still let us meet and keep in touch with friends and unwind after a long day's work. There's an undeniable value in that.

MassivelyOn MMOs, cakes, and sand castles originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>cakeillusion-of-permenancekill-ten-ratsphilosophysand-castleszubonWed, 19 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[A developer's comments on Philip's Second Life vision]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/25/a-developers-comments-on-philips-second-life-vision/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/25/a-developers-comments-on-philips-second-life-vision/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/25/a-developers-comments-on-philips-second-life-vision/#commentsFiled under: ,

Nicholaz BeresfordTateru commented on Philip's blog post about the road ahead for Second Life, and generated some interesting thoughts. She is not the only one to so comment. Nicholaz Beresford, the "mad patcher" of the Second Life client, and the man indirectly responsible for most of my current viewer configuration (I also use the visual interface patch to have a green skin, it is restful to my eyes, and they mostly work well together) has also commented.

His thoughts? Well, speaking as someone with a strong daoist leaning, they make a lot of sense to me. Why do I like his patch? They focus on getting a lot of the little things right, right now. The Linden Lab developers are focussed on getting things right at some future date. Even things marked "resolved, internally fixed" on the JIRA take some time (at least a month as far as I can tell, sometimes longer) to get out of the internal fix into the main client. That means, for a month, we, the users, are still complaining, whilst the developers are saying "No problem any more." Of course there must be some delay for QA in the main client, but it seems like a way to distress the users unnecessarily. Read his thoughts, think you own, let us know. Should Linden Lab release more "bleeding edge" clients with un-QAed bug fixes so we can get that bug fix we really want at the risk of less stability?

MassivelyA developer's comments on Philip's Second Life vision originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bug-fixingJIRANicholaz-BeresfordPhilip-RosedalephilosophySecond-LifeSun, 25 Nov 2007 15:30:00 EST