Category Archives: Ultima Online

1997 all over again?

Posted on November 16, 2011 by SynCaine

Whether it’s at MMOCrunch, over at Keen’s site, or even here, a lot of people are expressing interest and excitement over the possibility of a more “open world” MMO. This confused me initially, considering WoW and other linear-world games are … Continue reading →

Posted in Asheron's Call, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Mass Media, MMO design, Rant, Ultima Online | 19 Comments

Mists of Pandaria is a great name

Posted on October 24, 2011 by SynCaine

On Friday I mentioned that it will be interesting to see how Blizzard and CCP differ in the next year when it comes to their flagship titles, but over the weekend, playing some EVE while thinking about Blizzard (I did … Continue reading →

Posted in Diablo 3, EVE Online, MMO design, Patch Notes, PvP, Rant, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 31 Comments

My genre can beat up your genre

Posted on October 21, 2011 by SynCaine

I’m melting!!! Wait no, that’s a pretty level graph isn’t it? So if the sky is falling, and I’m stable, does that mean I’m crushing it as hard as you suspected? I guess it does right? Epeen measuring aside (did … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, League of Legends, Lord of the Rings Online, Mass Media, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Rift, RMT, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 12 Comments

Bad content burns you out

Posted on September 28, 2011 by SynCaine

While talking about the fun curve, Tobold addressed something he and I have been going back and forth on for a bit: do you burn-out on an MMO, or do you quit because the game changed? Before we go on, … Continue reading →

Posted in Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, EVE Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 33 Comments

30 minutes to cap

Posted on September 23, 2011 by SynCaine

Tobold’s post today does a nice job of summarizing what’s gone wrong with MMOs in the last few years in terms of design. The best example is this part: If you consider a theoretical MMORPG with an infinite number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Conan, Asheron's Call, Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Rift, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 20 Comments

2000 hours with EQ, 5 minutes with the kids.

Posted on September 22, 2011 by SynCaine

2000 hours to hit the original level cap in EQ1 is not the reason EQ1 was ‘hard’ (not a great way to really look at this, but more on that later). A harsh death penalty wasn’t it either. Nor was … Continue reading →

Posted in Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, DDO, EQ2, EVE Online, Global Agenda, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 14 Comments

Twit generation is in my MMO

Posted on September 19, 2011 by SynCaine

First, can we please stop qualifying Facebook games? “Not bad, for a Facebook game”. We don’t do it with TV (oh that show was terrible, but it was on a 3rd rate network so it was decent), we don’t do … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, EVE Online, Global Agenda, iPhone, Mass Media, MMO design, Mount and Blade: Warband, Rant, Rift, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 28 Comments

Turning RPG players into MMO players: Solutions

Posted on August 8, 2011 by SynCaine

As first mentioned here, there seem to be a high number of RPG fans who turn to MMOs to get their gaming fix, yet most MMOs do a rather poor job of getting those solo-minded players into what really makes … Continue reading →

Posted in Asheron's Call, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 13 Comments

Consensual murder

Posted on June 3, 2011 by SynCaine

Is killing someone in a FFA PvP MMO a malicious act? Eliot Lefebvre’s Daily Grind post today asks if FFA PvP is a dealbreak in an MMO for people, and not surprisingly for most it is, but that one line … Continue reading →

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Mass Media, PvP, Ultima Online | 11 Comments

EverQuest: The first themepark

Posted on May 16, 2011 by SynCaine

I will say this upfront so we are all on the same page, the definition of a sandbox/themepark is more opinion than science. It’s more general approach than X+Y=Z. Its shades of gray, and themeparks can have sandbox features, just … Continue reading →

Posted in Darkfall Online, EQ2, EVE Online, MMO design, Ultima Online | 15 Comments