The newest ‘MMOG Nation’ column is up on GameSetWatch, entitled “When is a Game not a Game?”

Spaces like Second Life aside, there are very few ‘virtual worlds’ out there that can legitimately claim the title. In my mind, that’s a good thing; we refer to them as Massively Multiplayer Online Games, MMOGs, or MMORPGs, for a reason. The example I point to most often when discussing this topic is Sony Online’s Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). I’m harsh on the game for many reasons, but at the root of the problem is the fundamental question of identity. Galaxies launched trying to be a world, when what all the people logging in were looking for was a game. Today I’m going to talk about how SWG launched differing from more game-oriented and successful MMOGs, how the recent changes to the game illustrate the need for ‘gamey-ness’ in a Massive space, and why the concept of a ‘virtual world’ is inherently flawed in the first place.

So, I should point out that I see these columns as good places to raise issues and maybe get some people who wouldn’t otherwise think about Massive gaming to do so. In other words, I don’t always believe what I’m preaching. In this case, I mostly agree with what I said, but I thought I’d point it out just the same.

Finally! FINALLY I hear something about LotRO that seems interesting. Damion pointed it out; there’s an update on the official LOtRO site about PVP Monster Play:

Players will have a chance to take on the role of a minion of darkness, a dark creature such as a goblin, orc, troll… or maybe even something fouler!  Your monster player character is temporary – as a monster player, you have quests to complete, but you don’t level up as an orc.  At launch, this is the only method by which players will be able to play as a member of an evil race.

This seems much more interesting that the fascinating, but ultimately poorly concieved, ‘monster quests’ added to Everquest with the Depths of Darkhollow expansion. I have to give the Turbine folks credit, this seems like a really great idea. It definitely fits with the world, is a new twist on the standard, and allow players tired of the grind to shake things up a little bit. Good deal.

Now, what would be interesting was if they’d allow players to participate more fully on the evil side of things. They mention the concept of ‘monster points’, earned during play time as a monster. You can turn in points to get access to more powerful creatures, and to improve your main character. Now, spending your time in the game leveling up as a monster, that would be excellent. You start off as a goblin, say, and work your way up to a cave troll.

I’m reaching, obviously, because I want to like this game.  /me shakes his fist.

Because, somehow, I’d managed to miss the announcement of Marvel Universe Online prior to the X06 keynote, I had a pleasant surprise when I saw the trailer. In point of fact, my jaw dropped.

With a day’s worth of thought behind me now, I began to wonder what this would mean for Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. Comments from Positron make the whole thing out to be a great opportunity for gamers, no troubles at home at all.

We at Cryptic want to assure our loyal players that we and the good folks at our publisher, NCsoft, are fully committed to City of Heroes and City of Villains. We have a full team of programmers, artists, designers, and producers devoted to creating and maintaining the best experience in the “City of” world of games. This team is, and will remain completely separate from other teams working on other games at Cryptic. Like fantasy, sci-fi, and simulation, comic book heroes is its own genre, capable of supporting multiple titles.

It’s all well and good to say that … but, I dunno.

I’ll say it up front: I love City of Heroes/Villains. My local gaming group really got behind both games when they came out, and it was a trip to be able to save the day with folks I know IRL. That said, I fear that CoH/V will become the aging aunt in the attic when the shiny new Marvel title comes to town. Let’s keep this in perspective, too, there’s actually two Massive games coming to market wearing costumes. SOE’s collusion with DC Comics will be yet another viewpoint on the capes-and-cowls set. Though I agree the genre is ‘capable of supporting multiple titles’, I’m not sure I think that it can support three.

My two-bit, no information hope is that CoH and MUO come out the winners. Outside of the Justice League cartoon, I’ve never been a big fan of DC’s work, and in a coin-toss between Cryptic and SOE I’ll call dibs on Emmert any day of the week.

It is exciting, though. They’re definitely not going to topple WoW, of course, but we finally have what looks like a real battle brewing up in the Massive space again. Is this what all the future buzz regarding MMOGs will be like? Small operations fighting over the niches not occupied by orcs and elves? Interesting stuff, and I’m looking forward to filling out my score card.

The results from the XFire World of Warcraft Machinima contest were awesome; I particularly enjoy Illegal Danish: Super Snacks. So, when the results from a SWG Short Film contest were posted, I had high hopes. You can check out the ‘winners’ on Atom Films, but there are precious few efforts there that I would consider a win. I can attest that ‘The Adventures of Hap Hazzard’ is worth watching, if only for the great editing. I guess when you have something like 20x more players, the pool of creativity is larger too.

My alt reintroduction to WoW has spread all the way up the line to Grodin, my first character to 60. Despite what you may have heard, Paladins not only don’t suck, the gameplay has actually grown on me while I was away. I’ve been particularly enjoying my time slugging it out in the Arathi Battleground. It doesn’t even matter that Alliance sucks at Arathi (because they do); I’m having a good time anyway.

Paladins, for better or worse, are kings of one kind of play in Arathi - defense. I usually try to squat Mine or Lumber Mill, because they tend to be the suburbs of the Battleground. Out of sight, out of mind, easily capped. I have particularly come to appreciate the combination of a Paladin and a stealthed Hunter or Rogue. The enevitable Tauren Warrior come lunging in, stuns me, hits me a few times. I recoup, hit him a few times, and then *bam* Hammer of Judgement. The rogue unstealths and one/two/three dead. It’s a thing of beauty.

Because of a previous aversion to the Paladin gameplay, Grodin wasn’t even MC attuned until this past Monday. Got that accomplishe, and managed to pick up some nice turn-ins for Argent Dawn faction at the same time. I’ll have him ready for Naxx and Ony before you know it.

Damn lady. The 16th Episode of WoWCast has been sitting on my hard drive since early in August, and that is some powerful stuff. Alachia, hostess of the show, had a bigtime crisis of faith earlier this year. The result is an introspective, intelligent analysis of her addiction to the game, how she dealt with it, and her new way of looking at WoW. I highly recommend giving it a listen.

I’m headfirst back into World of Warcraft. Part of the reason I’m enjoying myself as much as I am this time around is that it’s a highly augmented experience. Y’see, there are these mod things … a new way to look at the world of Azeroth and all that. I’m shvitzing.

Here’s what’s been making me happy:

• ClearFont - OMGAwesomez. This is one mod that I’m going to make sure to always keep updated. I never realized, until I saw an alternative, how eyestabby the default WoW font is.
• OneBag - All of your bag slots in one big frame. It sounds stupid, but it’s actually really nice not having to play with seperate bags.
• Discord Action Bars - Completely customizable, resizable bars. If you’ve seen an interface for WoW and gone ‘Hey, that looks neat’, it’s probably because of this mod.
• Auctioneer - You use the mod to scan the AH, and it figures out appropriate prices for stuff … to put on the AH. Very useful.
• MonkeyQuest - Highly detailed Quest window. Not a requirement, and I’m not sure I’m going to keep it.
• MobInfo - Details on monsters, such as class, hit points, damage output, and such. Usefultastic.
• Atlas - Better maps.
• Gatherer - Places nodes on your map for gatherable resources, like ores and herbs.