Posts tagged theme-park 
WildStar Wednesday tackles the sandbox vs. themepark debate
Sandbox or themepark? It's a never-ending debate around these parts of the internet. Carbine Studios knows both sides of the argument all too well, and it shows. Which side of the argument does WildStar fall on, though? If today's WildStar Wednesday dev diary is to be believed, the game ...
The Soapbox: The battle for story
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. When I was in grad school, one of my favorite classes spent a ...
Sony reinventing PlayStation Home to be more like an MMO
PlayStation Home was a hugely anticipated feature for console fans, one that ultimately garnered mixed reviews and apathetic affection. Due to the reception, Sony has decided to reinvent the game lobby-slash-virtual-world to incorporate the best of themeparks, MMOs, and social networks. When ...
The Daily Grind: What challenges have you added to your game?
I'm always fascinated with stories of players who deliberately add challenges to their MMO gameplay. Sometimes you hear about folks who try to get to the level cap without killing a single creature, or people who play with naked (unarmored) toons, or those who make it their mission to complete ...
The Daily Grind: Where would you vacation in an MMO?
MMOs are often the place we go to get away from the routine of life, where we can explore exotic worlds and cull all life from them in pursuit of the almighty ding. Even though this virtual exploration is fun, from time to time the locales call to us strongly. "Come!" they say. "Visit us! Ignore ...
The Road to Mordor: The final ding
It happened far sooner than I'd hoped. I tried to put it off, to ignore the creeping bar, to spend my days in frivolous activities instead of fighting evil -- but to no avail. It was a simple quest turn-in somewhere deep in Mirkwood, and with only two elves to witness the event, a stream of white ...
The Daily Grind: What are your goals in a sandbox MMO?
One of the main attractions to sandbox MMOs is the wide freedom of choice, of exploration, and of goals that you can accomplish. In games from Wurm Online to EVE Online, players have reveled in the ability to make their own stories and carve out a slice of the world for their own use. So if ...
Captain's Log: Will STO become a sandbox or remain a themepark?
Welcome back from the holiday, readers! I trust everyone has recovered from the excitement of a long weekend, a tasty Thanksgiving and a rabid Black Friday. By now you should have settled back into the slow, miserable slog toward more holidays. I know I have. For this week's Captain's Log, I'm ...
The Perfect Ten: Reasons why it's great to be an MMO fan today
After my last Perfect Ten list, I strongly debated creating a new one revolving around the issue of spiders and their relation to insects and gigantism, but my editor told me that that wasn't enough of an MMO topic to suit Massively's needs. So, bowing and scraping in apology, I must instead ...
Anti-Aliased: What happened to building worlds
I hope you guys have taken the time to check out our GDCO coverage, specifically our interview with Richard Bartle. If there's anything that has really been on my mind for these past weeks, it's been that. Dr. Bartle's approach to MMOs is very similar to my own personal approach to MMOs: these are ...
