Category Archives: MMO design

Rust is not an MMO

Posted on January 17, 2014 by SynCaine

Picked up Rust to play with some friends. So far (2 days in) it’s fun. Alright killed someone and had them rage in global, and yes, it’s ‘that type of game’. I also think Rust is a perfect example of … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Random | 1 Comment

The “Premium Theater” MMO

Posted on January 16, 2014 by SynCaine

Story time. A few years ago the local movie theater introduced the Premium Theater. It’s $20 a ticket, which includes popcorn and soda. The entrance to this area is separate from the general entrance, its 21+ due to the area … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Rant | 24 Comments

Taking genius for granted

Posted on January 15, 2014 by SynCaine

As I interact with MMO players across the genre in different games, a common theme has started to develop; either you are an MMO player with EVE experience, or you aren’t. And I don’t mean ‘EVE experience’ in terms of … Continue reading →

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design | 58 Comments

ESO: Beta impressions

Posted on January 13, 2014 by SynCaine

(If this post breaks the ESO NDA… um, sorry?) I got to finally play ESO this weekend, and more than anything it surprised me. I wasn’t blow away and loved it, but I also didn’t hate it. I wish it … Continue reading →

Posted in beta, MMO design, The Elder Scrolls Online | 25 Comments

Themeparks: Raid or die

Posted on January 8, 2014 by SynCaine

I’m on record here saying I have little interest in WildStar, but that from the outside looking in I think the game has a chance. One reason is the devs acknowledging that their game won’t be for ‘everyone’, and that … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, WildStar | 14 Comments

ESO: The “make a good game” problem

Posted on January 6, 2014 by SynCaine

Clearly a Forbes writer is a big fan of this blog, what with this copy/paste job of an article. I’ll excuse the lack of a h/t this time, but clean it up will ya? Anyway, since everyone is jumping on … Continue reading →

Posted in Mass Media, MMO design, The Elder Scrolls Online | 23 Comments

Closing out 2013. 2014 predictions

Posted on December 30, 2013 by SynCaine

2013 ends much like it began for the MMO genre, with a collective ‘meh’, and this blog overall has reflected that both in post volume and the number of posts about MMOs vs other games. My most played MMO this … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EQNext, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, SW:TOR, The Elder Scrolls Online, Ultima Online, WildStar, World of Warcraft | 22 Comments

Clones making clones

Posted on December 23, 2013 by SynCaine

Around this time of year, most blog authors will do year-end posts (hopefully I’ll get one up as well, but no promises), and I think a trend we will see this year was that 2013 was pretty blah for the … Continue reading →

Posted in MMO design, Rant, World of Warcraft | 21 Comments

DF:UW – Take care of the sheep to keep the wolves

Posted on November 27, 2013 by SynCaine

The biggest challenge for any PvP sandbox developer is figuring out how to keep the sheep around. The easiest challenge is figuring out how to keep the wolves. If you look at the history of this MMO sub-genre, it’s not … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP | 28 Comments

DF:UW – Economy, MVPs, and Forumfall noise

Posted on November 17, 2013 by SynCaine

Warning, the following is a long post centered around Darkfall, but in many ways applies to MMOs in general, and skims many concepts in order to prevent this from being an even longer novel. Apologies if I lose you along … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Rant | 25 Comments