World of Warcraft

I was grinding my way through the Howling Fjord quests in World of Warcraft today, just minding my own business, keeping an eye out for stray turkeys to kill (I don’t know why, @Longasc hinted that I should kill them). I’ve been staging a one-gnome assault on a nearby village of giants; I’ve fought their champions in the arena, stolen artifacts from beneath the noses of a hundred million undead, freed prisoners and in all ways made myself something of a pest. ...

Someone needs to tell the truth about MMOs. I guess it falls to me to explain to parents about the games their children are playing online with people whose idea of a good conversation opener is “I AM SO HIGH.” **World of Warcraft: Cataclysm by Activision Blizzard.[ ](https://chasingdings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/worgen_1280x1024.jpg)** In the original World of Warcraft, children could take the role of a virtuous human fighting on the side of the Church against the evil Horde. The Burning Crusade expansion revealed that the enemy Horde came from Hell itself, and the humans took the fight against the villainous Orcs and other demons to the lower realms. ...

It wasn’t the “Warhammer 40K MMO needs just one million of WoW’s players” line from Danny Bilson’s ebulliently gleeful speech about the game THQ plans to publish that caught my eye. Every game that comes out admits they’d be happy to get just ten or twenty percent of World of Warcraft’s player base. And if a million people each send me a dollar, I’ll send you all a little booklet explaining how to become a millionaire. (Please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope). ...

I was watching season 2 of Mad Men this morning, and I wanted to play a game that wouldn’t require much of my attention, one where I could just let my fingers play while I watched TV. I found myself at WoW’s character selection screen before I really gave it any thought at all. I followed the Quest Helper arrow, killed the stuff it told me to killed, looted any star-shrouded chests I came across, and honestly, I’m not sure I remember much about it at all. Stealth, distract, build combo points, finishing move, loot and move on. ...

We reach the end of the Internet Protocol Intellectual Property-based MMO list with the biggest MMO ever… and the one that promised to dethrone it. If you’ve missed the previous entries, here they are: Part 1 - Absolute Terror, Age of Conan, Champions Online, DC Universe Online, Toontown Part 2 - Dragon Oath, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Final Fantasy XI & Final Fantasy XIV, FusionFall, Hello Kitty Online Part 3 - Huxley, LEGO Universe, Lord of the Rings Online, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Playboy Manager ...

I logged into Ironforge and pressed the screenshot button. Didn’t move, didn’t turn. Three sparkly ponies! Suddenly my epic mechanostrider seemed rare and unusual. Vanguard may be the only game I have ever played that lets you make such elaborate ships. I believe Ultima Online let you make them, and I know Darkfall lets you, and of course Pirates of the Burning Sea and Florensia have ship building as a big part of game play, but does any other game let you launch your ship and then walk away, leaving it docked in the world? ...

Reader Velmonte asks: Tipa, what game would you consider for a person who is just breaking into the world of mmo’s? One of my friends, has been wanting to try one, but I need to suggest a game that has basic quests, but is still fun, colorful, and immersive. I was hoping you could help me out! Thanks! This is a really great question. With new MMOs coming out every day and hundreds to choose from, it can be crazy trying to find the perfect game. Fact is, maybe you can’t find the perfect game first try, or maybe after playing an MMO a bit, you find yourself ready for something new. ...

Click to enlarge You may want to check out your WoW Armory listing today….

I sat in front of my computer the other night, not really feeling a pull toward any MMO. I was watching Zombieland, and I couldn’t think of any MMO that would be more fun than watching the best comedy zombie movie since Shaun of the Dead. Blahblahblah. This isn’t a post about quitting MMOs. This is a post about WILLING IMMERSION. I talked a little about this yesterday. Immersion can seem like a quality of a game, but it’s really a quality of the player. Even the best game is nothing like reality; it’s as far removed from reality as anything can be. To make it important to us, we have to willingly fill in the lines, paint the walls, paper the ceiling and give it a place in our reality. You might argue that games can help immersion by having fantastic graphics, amazing sound design and killer animations, but I have been immersed in books before. I have immersion to spare; all I really ask of a game is that it doesn’t BREAK my immersion. ...

I am playing too many MMOs, it’s true… but there’s some good gaming out there. In EVE Online, the Ishtar Project saw a minor victory as I sold my two run Ishtar blueprint for 30 million ISK after only a couple of days on the market. That worked out incredibly well. In another stroke of luck, I put another Vexor blueprint in for invention and produced ANOTHER two run Ishtar blueprint. This one I will likely keep to make the Heavy Assault Cruiser of my dreams. ...