Author Archives: SynCaine

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About SynCaine

Former hardcore raider turned casual gamer.

Your role in the sandbox done right

Posted on October 8, 2012 by SynCaine

Recently I finished my first playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas (yes, 2010 does say hello, thanks), and in addition to being an amazing game, it shows how to do a player-story in a sandbox amazingly well. Possibly better than any … Continue reading →

Posted in Fallout 3, MMO design | 12 Comments

NFL Friday Blog War

Posted on October 5, 2012 by SynCaine

Nothing at all to do with MMOs, other than that this epic trolling would fit right into ForumFall (coming Nov 20th as well!) If the link did not make you laugh you either don’t follow football, don’t have a soul, … Continue reading →

Posted in Random | 10 Comments

AV confirms DF1 players will recieve DF:UW for free

Posted on October 5, 2012 by SynCaine

Aventurine today confirmed that anyone who had a Darkfall 1 account will receive Darkfall: Unholy Wars for free. Nice move on AV’s part, especially considering that those who played on the EU server had to rebuy DF to play on … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online | 6 Comments

China is a scary place for MMO gaming

Posted on October 4, 2012 by SynCaine

The China MMO market sounds terrifying. The whole video is almost an hour, but all of it just sounds awful. And not just because of the money issue, but because none of these games are actually designed to be fun … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random, RMT | 20 Comments

Xfire is pretty much the gaming equivalent of blackface

Posted on October 3, 2012 by SynCaine

How are people STILL confused by what Xfire represents? It’s not that hard, yet time and time again people get it so wrong it makes my head spin. So consider this the second blogging service post of the week. You’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Random | 23 Comments

The long list of mass market MMOs that everyone is playing

Posted on October 2, 2012 by SynCaine

So if you did not pick up on the fact that yesterday’s post was a long-winded setup to tell you that EVE is the best MMO ever, you are either new here or not paying attention. Also if you are … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Aion, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Fallen Earth, FreeRealms, Global Agenda, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Rant, Rift, SW:TOR, Vanguard, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 62 Comments

Defining Success in the MMO Genre

Posted on October 1, 2012 by SynCaine

How we measure success in the MMO genre varies from person to person. Or at least, what we call a success varies. Personal success, industry success, believing in success based on PR or ‘solid’ data; all of this gets mixed … Continue reading →

Posted in Random | 20 Comments

Pick a group, design for it, don’t get greedy

Posted on September 28, 2012 by SynCaine

When I see people write that no MMO can hope to retain people beyond 3 months now, like they did back in the big 3 days, I can only shake my head, laugh, and think about my recent two years … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Darkfall Online, EQ2, EVE Online, Guild Wars, MMO design, Rift, SW:TOR, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 21 Comments

Splitting the genre in two

Posted on September 27, 2012 by SynCaine

Let’s move past why GW2 sucks and onto a bigger topic; why so many recent MMOs suck, shall we? Chris thinks all MMOs are good for 3 months or less, and that’s just how things are today. Keen has a … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Fallen Earth, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rift, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 46 Comments

GW2: What he said

Posted on September 27, 2012 by SynCaine

If Guild Wars 2 is what MMOs should have always been, then I am very thankful that every other one I’ve played has done so much wrong. – Attic Lion Via KTR. Well said sir, well said.

Posted in Guild Wars | Comments Off on GW2: What he said