Otherland, an early access buy to play MMORPG, based on the Tad Williams novels, is using paid fake reviews to spur interest for their game on Steam. I remember when I first played the game there were only a handful of reviews on Steam and the game was rated as "Mostly negative," and rightfully so. I had to make 5 characters [...]
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The enormously successful Pocket MapleStory launched worldwide recently and I had the chance to pose some questions to Nexon Korea. While the game isn't a direct port of the PC version it does embody the same charming aesthetic. The mobile edition of the game features many monsters to slay, ranging from cute to formidable. And what would MapleStory be without [...]
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Project Genom is the latest in a recent surge of MMORPGs that are challenging traditional tab-targeting combat systems by providing a non-targeting, action-based combat system. All of the familiar MMO systems are here—including strong elements of PvE and questing—but combat comes in shooter form. The question is whether the shooter and MMO halves form a cohesive whole or if they [...]
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I recently had a chance to sit down with Drew Jones and Larry Hummel of V²Leagues to talk about their current Kickstarter project, Realm Adventure League. They gave me a tour of the game and I asked questions as we went. Topics covered include the amount of characters, mashup leagues, the world model, and much more. Considering that the tour [...]
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Every time I read a comment proclaiming “the MMORPG genre is dead” I’m reminded of doomsday prophets proudly revealing some unspoken truth. But soothsayers don’t function in the present. And the market is far from dead—it’s booming. We are drowning in MMORPG’s and my swimmies are running out of air. But admittedly most titles fail to innovate, motivating commentators to [...]
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MMORPGs belong to a unique genre. We don’t just ‘play’ them, we get lost in them. A sense of immersion is not just a welcome extra but a key feature of a successful MMORPG. This sense of immersion is achieved through many means including art style, lore, a persistent game world, and can even be aided through a game’s soundtrack. [...]
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Thanks to debilitating internet speeds and a 4GB hard drive I arrived late to the MMORPG scene. A brand new Dell Pentium II one Christmas finally let me join my friends in Ragnarok Online. But we didn’t slaughter porings together on Gravity’s official server. A friend hosted a private server from his basement, where we each competed to see who could [...]
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In sandbox games one feature that seems to be held in particularly high regards is open world housing. The idea that in a seamless world players can just walk out of their house and go about their daily hunting is uniquely fascinating. However, I often find myself wondering if it really works. Between land rushes and empty shells of houses [...]
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Less players head to the store in 2015 as worldwide digital game sales reach $5.4 billion in September, according to SuperData Research. The market analyst firm provided an overall screenshot of the industry, revealing some fascinating facts. As expected the pay to play MMO market dropped to $213 million, an 8% decrease—reinforcing the MMOs.com assertion that free to play will become [...]
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With the popularity of the competitive eSports scene rising through the sky countless numbers of professional players have made a fortune claiming victory spoils. In the history of eSports Dota 2 has awarded the most prize money with over $50 million and League of Legends comes in second place awarding over $23.5 million. Thousands of players have reaped the rewards, [...]
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