Broken Toys

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Scott Jennings

NEW YORK TIMES DISCOVERS MMOGS, WOMEN, THINKS BOTH ARE NIFTY [Author: Lum the Mad]

Today’s NYT has an article (free registration required to view) featuring that rare species, women in MMOGs who actually are, you know, women in real life, highlighting such well known luminaries as Heather of Cove Merchant’s Guild. The (only shallowly explored, unfortunately) thesis of the article is that

I HATE YOU, I HATE EVERYTHING YOU’VE DONE, I HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR! HERE, HAVE SOME MONEY. [Author: Lum the Mad]

(*SPLAT* “Soooorreeeeeeeeeeee!”) Anyway, today I’m thinking more of a trend almost as surrealistic – hating game companies. In particular, Origin and Verant. (Turbine being excepted from this, since they can do no wrong and Asheron’s Call is perfect and if you don’t play on Darktide you’re not

WE’RE GONNA TALK ABOUT GAMES AND STUFF [Author: Savant]

Some of the notable discussions are: “The Computer as Storyteller: Procedural Narrative” Games such as Sim City and Black & White use computers to create dynamic, behavior-based story environments. These techniques supplant the outmoded notion of “non-linear” narrative, with its constrained interactivity, in favor of a highly involving

YOU’RE IN OUR TEXT WORLD NOW [Author: Savant]

…or graphical games like EverQuest and Ultima Online, which are mostly combat-based with a smattering of role-playing thrown in. Yes… and that’s the fault of the system and game type, not the players. Mmm. I hate to break it to this author, but the only way to

PATCH DAY COMETH [Author: Savant]

Wintersebb, the new server, will open. New servers are a good thing. No unbalancing items, a fresh start for those of us who have become slightly jaded, and the overall impression that AC’s popularity is steadily growing. The Overlord (best loot dropper in the game) will become less campable.

HEY, I KNOW, LET’S LISTEN TO THE PLAYERS, GUYS! COME ON, IT’LL BE FUN! [Author: Lum the Mad]

Demonix was the first to point this thread out to me (and also asked for mad pr0pz0rz – consider yourself madly propped). Of course, since I was swamped all day, you don’t get to read about it until now, after it’s been on every other EQ news site. But

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM ANARCHY ONLINE [Author: myschyf]

Tommy Strand speaks out on what to expect in Phase III of the beta — which he expects to start in a few weeks. There’s not a lot here, its mostly a teaser for the next phase of the beta so those of you hoping to be picked can start