The second-best part about running a blog is that it acts as an archive of your thoughts. I can look back over the entire year and see every single stupid thing I said about Gods and Heroes or Fury reflected back at me with crystal clarity. Of course, looking back, I also see a few things that weren’t so stupid. In fact … to toot my own horn a sec … there were a couple of fairly decent posts on MMOG Nation this year.

This post is meant to highlight those articles, with an eye towards the longer, more thoughtful work I’ve done. Yes, there is more than one post here like that. Shocking, I know. I’m also going to link back to some work I’ve done on other sites, while trying to provide a little color commentary about every link I offer.

The ‘best’ thing about this site, though, is how it’s grown from my voice in the wilderness last year to an actual conversation over the course of 2007. I don’t really care about my site stats, but I do want to share one: over 1,100 comments have been made on MMOG nation since January 1st 2007. That’s fantastic! I find it really hard to believe that you folks find my drivel interesting enough to talk about, and yet you keep coming back.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Please enjoy this ‘very special’ post, and your last day of 2007.

Face the Nation – I was lucky enough to sit down with a few folks to chat this year; and thus, the Face the Nation feature was born. This year I spoke with Scott Hartsman, John Smedley, the guys behind Guild Wars, the Gods and Heroes folks, and Mark Jacobs. I also had the awesome experience of chatting with Paul Barnett, something I’m going to single out as my favorite feature on the site this year. It was a blast and a half, and I really hope I get to do it again in 2008.

Editorial Commentary

• January – I spent a few minutes complaining about the way Betas are run, something that’s come full circle at the end of this year with the admission that they’re basically marketing events now. I also had some nasty things to say about SOE’s use of adverts on their corporate page. Silly idea. I did a bit of digging and clarified eBay’s new policy on virtual currency and such … which, 12 months later actually seems to have worked out, somewhat.
• February – One of the most interesting things I did all year was dissect the SOE white paper for Gamasutra. I also tackled some of Psychochild’s homework to talk about the lack of resolution in Massive games.
• March – The Station Access rate increase prompted me to break down what was wrong with their current offering, and what they should be giving us. Because I’m obviously a business analyst. :) Nine months later and we still don’t know what that extra money is for.
• April – Have I mentioned I don’t really think I’d make a good designer? April was the month where I noted that in as many words … though I guess I’m more open to the possibility now than I was then. Moreover, I am actually starting to think I wouldn’t make a terrible community wag. I’m not planning to quit my day job. I also voiced an opinion on the concept of ‘balanced opinions’ on the internet, and ran down the good and the bad of the LOTRO launch.
• May – May was a busy month on the site, as in between opinionated posts I did some off the cuff designing for Star Wars Galaxies, and then sat down for a talk with the Producer of the game. I gabbed with Scott Hartsman about EQ2, and put some snark down on why WoW is more popular. And then I made a really cool map!
• June – What a strange month. I spent my time borrowing other people’s words to meta-comment on issues, letting you peek in my window, and wearing my cranky pants. I did manage to get in a good chat with some industry wags about the console war, and the last of my SOE Gamer’s Day coverage went up. Oh! And that cool ‘Massive in the Morning‘ podcasting story went up on the Escapist. Almost forgot about that.
• July - A couple of pretty good editorials this month, if I do say so myself. I chatted about why I love questing and quests, spitting in the faces of the naysayers. I jumped all over the topic of why WoW is good for other MMOGs (because it really really is) and laid out a list of five industry folks I really admire. I also talked about my terrible case of MMOADD, which is still a post that I referenced every once in while, and put forth my vision for an ‘old world’-centric WoW expansion. I still want to be able to play a goblin, dangit!
• August – As the summer came to an end, thoughts turned to the City of Heroes. I ran down some thoughts on why I like the game so dang much, and why the Lich King announcement just didn’t grab me. I chatted with Corey Bridges about Multiverse and then squee’d all over the place at the announcement of D&D Fourth Edition.
• September – I managed to get really really sick for my 27th birthday, but World of Warcraft kept me sane. Otherwise my September was pretty much a wash.
• October – Feeling much better in the month of pumpkins and ghosts, I played a whole bunch of WoW. Brewfest was the first festival besides Lunar fest that I really got into. I also played some Portal and sat in on my first GWJ Conference Call. In more serious pursuits, I catalogued one man’s attempt to play his game, and finally wrote up my notes from my AGDC meeting with the SWG guys.
• November – In and around Turkey Day, I put up a sort of off-the-cuff review of Tabula Rasa, played a little more WoW, and then lost my shit over the Jade Raymond thing. Good times.
• December – Despite a slow start to posting, this hasn’t been a bad month. I sat in on a Joystiq podcast, and won an award. I got cranky over the definition of cheating, and finally hammered out that MMO/Viva Pinata post I’ve had in the back of my mind forever. And, of course, I put forward my Christmas Wish List, looked back, and then peaked ahead. All in all, a good month.

Guild Wars – I actually wrote quite a bit about Guild Wars this year. The announcement of Guild Wars 2 is possibly one of the most popular discussions we’ve ever had on the site … mostly because for a long time my post here was the first link in Google on the subject. Then in August I headed Seattle-wards for the first ‘official’ MMOG Nation coverage-thingie: the Eye of the North press event.  Since this is my chance to pimp my own work, I’ll just go ahead and say it: I think my interview with Mike O’Brien and Jeff Strain is one of the most comprehensive visions we as players have seen of Guild Wars 2 yet.

Massive Update – This year some folks at Ziff Davis gave me the amazing chance to stand out there and shout the MMOG news at the top of my voice in a very public forum. I’ll be honest: it was really, really, really hard work. It was also intensely rewarding, and I’m very proud that six months of this year can be easily catalogued and referenced from a MMOG news perspective thanks to my efforts. Thanks again to Sharkey, Klepek, and Parish for giving me the chance to break my fingers typing.

MMOG Nation (the GameSetWatch Column) – There weren’t a ton of GSW posts in 2007; most of my MMOG Nation column ran during 2006. Just the same, I did manage to eek out a few opinion-laiden pieces over there before turning to Massive Update. It is always a pleasure working with Simon Carless, and he was nice enough to let me essentially resurrect my column for one post at the end of this year with my 5 MMOG Trends piece. It was a wonderful chance to write.

Massively – As a crazy capper to the year, I landed myself a brand-new writing gig all about MMOGs. Joystiq’s new sister site is still on the smallish side, I think, but we’re growing fast and making friends along the way. It’s amazing to work with communicative, passionate people on a subject that I myself am incredibly fond of. I’m looking forward to a great year of writing with these guys, and if you enjoy the recapped posts here I guarantee you’ll find something to like at the biggest little show in town.

EverQuest 2 Adventures – If you’ve been reading the site over the past year, you’ll know that every week myself, my wife, and two friends of ours get together for a static group ramp through the realm of Norrath. Recent Holiday timekeeping issues and no gaming PC for me (sob) have kept us away from the sweet xp and lootz, but the new year and my new gaming rig should ensure a return to the adventures of those Wacky Evil Gnomes(tm) soon. The full course of our epik journey has been catalogued on the site, if you’re interested in some hilarious replays.

Thanks for reading all year!