Best of luck to you!

On February 11, 2009, one of the more prolific and accomplished MMORPG bloggers accepted a position at Sony Online Entertainment. For a day or so, I struggled with my own selfish concerns that the blogosphere lost another top talent. Then, that disappointment turned to anger, as the company we love to hate (for valid, sane, logical reasons or not) made another personnel decision that left me scratching my head.

Why is it always SOE that snatches the top, public domain talent? Is that what happened to Cyanbane and EQ2-Daily as well, but we just haven’t learned the REAL truth? What right does SOE think it has to just yank away one of our few well-reasoned and talented writers? I mean, we see what happened after Zenke wrote about the coup that was the hiring of Dave Christensen. A little over a year later, two of my favorite games have the wonderous, capitalistic boondoggle that is Station Cash. What a public relations nightmare!

And now the mystery is, what are their plans for ‘ol Zen? First, they pull away one of the few dedicated, consistant critics of all MMO’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Schuster follows close behind, as his constant (although validated) gushing over LotRO can NOT be good for SOE. Secondly, I simply am dumbfounded by the continually stupid decisions of SOE in their hiring decisions. Game Designer? Zenke? He advocates FTP games! I mean, that is the path to the utter destruction of the MMO community. His idea to lower the barriers for entry, lowering the learning-curve, and making MMO’s more accessible to all gamers, will only serve to taint the new games with millions of NEWBS. God save us.

So I conclude with yet another reason to rant on SOE. Why do I continue to send my monthly subscription fee in their direction? Well, it just might be, that for some bizzare twist of logic, I am attracted by this company that continually pisses me off. Many will take offense to my next comment, but unlike Blizzard, they aren’t the Microsoft of MMO’s. They take chances (and WOW is Zenke a BIG chance!). They snatch up games that were sure to die quick, painful deaths, allowing us to sail the open sea or to adventure in massive, unzoned worlds. They piss us off constantly with questionable decisions, yet amaze us with written and artistic content that goes above and beyond anything we had played before.

So maybe that is what their doing with Zenke. What might make me really angry now, might cause me to zombie at my computer in a year or so, totally enthralled with the captivating content in DC Universe. I only hope so. Otherwise, we have only suffered greatly with the loss of one our community’s best talent.

Good Luck MZ, and safe travels. Say hello to Brenlo and Ashlanne, and please convince them to have Fan Faire in the Upper Midwest soon! Thanks for the years of enjoyable reading.