10th special forces group

I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that everyone has at some point seen the xkcd called Isolation, but if not, there it is. No matter what the age and era, someone’s always preaching that people were more sociable in the long long ago. In this comic, however, Randall Munroe isn’t even contesting that. His point is basically no duh and so what. Yes, we become less sociable with random people in our immediate vicinity as we gain more and more access to ideas, entertainment, and people not in our immediate vicinity thanks to technology. Ultimately, replacing impromptu stranger interaction with the amusements of our choice appears to be what a lot of people wanted all along. MMORPG players surely see where I’m going with this because we have the same eternal struggle when it comes to in-game socializing, grouping, community, and stickiness, the tug-of-war between the people who want to play alone together and the people who think that … [Read more...] about Massively Overthinking: Alone together vs. forced grouping in MMORPGs

A History With Stars Wars It would be a slight understatement if I were to say that Stars Wars has meant a lot to me over the years.  It pretty much represents my childhood wrapped up with a neat little bow.  The earliest memory I have is of seeing Star Wars at the local drive-in theater sometime around age two.  I became absolutely obsessed with it, and according to my parents walked around the house pretending to be “Darfa Bader”.  If nothing else it was the toys that kept the fires lit for me from the moment I started watching through the end of the original trilogy.  I played and replayed the scenes from Star Wars so many times with the action figures, and in many ways it was my first foray into storytelling.  Sure I started by simply mimicking what I saw on screen, but quickly branched out into telling my own elaborate stories revolving around the cast of characters I knew and loved. I eventually moved on like all kids do to other … [Read more...] about The Force Awakens

How important is grouping in Saga of Lucimia? Very. In fact, it’s so central to the idea of what the devs believe MMORPGs should be about that they reject the idea that forced group content is hardcore. To illustrate that position, Creative Director Tim “Renfail” Anderson recounts a story about a player livestream of the game’s recent release in which some of the players participating were killed by overleveled content and struggled to recover their corpses and gear. “I was a bit amused at the amount of talk about how ‘hard’ the game was and how ‘frustrating’ it was and why was the streamer playing a game that was not ‘100% win all the time’ (paraphrasing a bit here, obviously),” he says. “I was also a bit confused the group hadn’t bothered to reach out to the community at large to ask for help; they were instead banging their heads against a brick wall of trying to go it alone.” He criticizes … [Read more...] about Saga of Lucimia chides MMO players for having ‘forgotten’ how to properly group and socialize

September may be halfway over, but Wizard101's decaversary celebration is still in full swing. If you haven't already, be sure to chat with Gamma to pick up a very special birthday-themed quest called "Time Has Come." When you complete it, you'll receive an anniversary statue that mirrors the one in The Commons. Speaking of, I think it's pretty crazy that after all these years; The Commons is still "the" community hotspot to hang out and make friends. Some things never change ... and sometimes that's a good thing.  advertisement  My last 10th anniversary post was an interview with the KingsIsle devs reflecting on the game's history and what's coming up. Although that was amazing to do, KingsIsle themselves aren't the only ones responsible for the game lasting a decade. The other half is you - the community. So, before we get hyped up about that new 3-year story arc that will be taking place after Empyrea Part Two, I wanted to do a community focused post. It's time for your … [Read more...] about Wizard101 10th Anniversary: A Community Perspective

Webzen has announced that its 3D MMORPG MU Online’s 10th Anniversary Celebration Event is now live in-game. 10 years ago today, WEBZEN published and began servicing MU Online’s global version, boasting 56 million registered users to date, on May 21, 2009. MU Online is turning 10 years old now and to celebrate they are not only holding an anniversary event in-game but also offering special time-limited packages. Starting today, until June 4th, the MU Online team is running various in-game anniversary events such as Evomon Hunting Event, Evomon Ranking Event, and Mystic Gift Box Event. First, players can collect Summoning Scroll Fragments by hunting monsters to create an Evomon Summoning Scroll. Once they drop the Evomon Summoning Scroll to the ground to summon a Lv. 1 Evomon and hunting the Evomon, they will have a chance to level up their Evomon or receive a dropped special reward box containing items including Jewels, (Hero) Bloodangel … [Read more...] about MU Online Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Gift Boxes and Events