I said last week that this week I would be talking about the issue of persistence in massively multiplayer games. Last week, however, we all had something of a shock when Microsoft announced that Mythica was cancelled. As a result I feel inclined to discuss the death of a game that a lot of people were looking forward to. So this week: the death of Mythica, what Mythica was, and my thoughts on the reasons for the game’s cancellation.

Read more

A chilled alleyway laden with fog and teeming with chittering horrors. A desolate dirt street slung between two clapboard facades. A bustling seaside city has the very core of it’s economy shaken by raiding galleons and lawless sailors. Last week I spoke on Science Fiction and Fantasy as settings for MMOGs. Overwhelmingly, these two genres dominate the field. But what about other types of worlds? After all, there are plenty of stories that have nothing to do with space aliens or elves. Odds are that at least some of them would make good Virtual Worlds. Today I’m going to go over Horror, Westerns, and Pirate tales as genres to be incorporated into Massively Multiplayer games.

Read more

A lush continent of magic and mystery. A galaxy of planets to explore. A series of towering cities and barren wastelands. For the average player, Massively Multiplayer games are defined by their setting. For the designer the setting begins to define boundaries for the game. Teleportation may be a possibility in both a sci-fi or fantasy setting, but the mechanics of teleportation will differ greatly between the two. Today I’ll discuss some of the considerations that need to be taken into account for the two big setting types, differences between them, and some ruminations on setting decisions that currently released MMOGs have made.

Read more