If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you may recall the series I ran over at the GameSetWatch blog called (inventively) MMOG Nation. I touched on a number of MMO-wide issues there, and had an absolute blast talking about the ins and outs of the genre. I closed up shop over there when I started doing the Massive Update column for 1up, and today I talk about MMOs every single day over at Massively. So … life’s pretty good there.

In a sort of strange full-circle motion, though, I’ve come back to GameSetWatch with a new column focusing in on everybody’s favorite genre superpower: World of Warcraft. Called “World of Warcraft: Exposed”, it’s going to attempt to convey some of the game’s hawesomeness to folks that might not even play. Topics are going to alternate between the slightly ‘how-to’ (What to know before you make your first character, Learning to Love the Grind) and the social/cultural elements behind the title (WoW’s Most Noteable Player, The Lore of Warcraft).  Right now it’s slotted to run Wednesdays, but I think you can expect a move to Tuesdays before long.

The first column attempts to codify why exactly it was that WoW hit it big where others … not so much.

We know WoW has hit it big. What we don’t know – what we don’t think anyone could claim to know for certain – is why exactly Blizzard’s behemoth was the one to break loose from that nerd stigma. World of Warcraft’s launch and subsequent popularity is a singular event in the history of gaming. Why this game? Why not titles that went before it, like the comic-esque title City of Heroes? Why not Star Wars Galaxies, a title with a huge built-in fan base? Why not WoW-launch contemporary EverQuest 2, the successor to the original MMO superpower?

It’s great to be writing with that site again, and I hope even some of you die-hard players get something out of my screeds.

The Gamasutra network is hosting a thing I wrote up looking back at the year in MMOGs. I just had to be all ‘me too’ with the top-5 thing. Raph gave it a once-over and found my list not terrible, which I appreciate.

A few notes:

• The pejorative ‘little’: I am (correctly or otherwise) generally of the opinion that most Americans still don’t know what MapleStory is – even despite the weird commercials. Hence ‘little’ when referring to non-AAAs. Of course, on that note, I’d bet most Americans have never heard of Tabula Rasa.
• I didn’t combine the failures and the ‘Titans’ in the w/u because I felt it important to note that big businesses are still investing, despite the setbacks. That said, I think it’s a valid point. I think if I’d combined them I think the fifth trend would have been something about the inclusion of big media into new Massive spaces (MTV, Games, Movies) or the public consciousness about non-game virtual worlds.
• There’s actually a Satellite network called ‘GamePlay’ that focuses on real games events (as opposed to G4), like the Guild Wars World Championships or the WSVG. I think an ongoing design/debate series there would be awesome. First one would definitely have to be Koster vs. Jacobs, rematch-style.

People have been nice things about my work, and I wanted to make sure to thank them. Van Hemlock gave the Massive Update a big shout-out on his blog, and it’s very much appreciated. It’s been great to see an overwhelmingly positive reaction to a concerted effort at covering Massive news on a mass-market site; getting a thumbs-up from someone whose opinion you respect is all the more gratifying.

Sez Hemlock:

Of course this is partly shameless reciprocal backslapping backlinking, as he seems to link to yours truly on an alarmingly frequent basis, down there in the ‘What People Are Blogging About’ bit, but also I can’t help be impressed at an objective level, as these weekly roundups seem to contain staggeringly comprehensive and detailed lists of pretty much everything that’s gone on in almost every MMO during the week; news, updates, patch notes, the lot – along with podcasting and blogging notes too. I can only imagine how much work this must take, and hope a nervous breakdown isn’t in the post.

I’m trying to make the blog/podcasting sections of the Update kinda egalitarian, but they’re usually the last part of the post I do; as such I go for quality. The best win out, and Hemlock is definitely one of the best. I’m hoping along the same lines with the nervous breakdown. Keeping track of that much stuff … can get grating.

And, of course, this week is E3. :D

He mentions having troubling permalinking to the posts, which is odd, but if you’re wanting to follow the post series, I would refer you to my 1up page or the Massive Update topic here on MMOG Nation. Both of these should be running references to the articles as they go up on the 1up site.

More locally, Dan Dormer over at the Videogame Media Watch site was nice enough to include me on a list of his top gaming blog picks. The list was prompted by MTV Games’ list, which Dan thought overlooked a couple of people.

About the site, he says:

To go a little more off the beaten path, let me recommend MMOG Nation, penned by Slashdot’s Michael Zenke. Focusing solely on MMO titles, Michael does a wonderful job going in-depth on issues surrounding a number of virtual worlds. With only a passing interest in some of the games he discusses, I still find myself reading each post because of the passion he has for the topics.

I guess I should “Hi Dan!”, and thanks for thinking of the site. :)

Some of his other picks are much more must-read than mine, of course, and if you don’t follow GamePolitics, GameSetWatch, LevelUp, and Game|Life, I highly recommend them.

So. You’ve probably noticed that my ruminations on the GameSetWatch site have been absent from the site of late. The reason is that, following some discussions allll the way back at GDC, the ‘MMOG Nation’ column has found a new home. Now to be known as ‘Massive Update’, it’s going to try to be a slice of the previous week from the Massive perspective. Kind of like Brent’s VirginWorlds podcast, only in text form and thus less enjoyable without his voice.

This does, of course, mean that GSW will no longer be playing host to this site’s offshoot. The first column went up in August of last year, meaning I managed to contribute to one of my favorite gaming sites for some ten full months. Simon was always incredibly kind with deadlines and subject matter, and it was a pleasure to write for the site.

It will still feature my opinions, but instead of a grand subject I’ll be focusing on concrete things that have happened in the recent past. It’s going to break down into a few sections: one longer form piece covering the most important news item of the day and offering my opinion, a section doing quicker news briefs as short paragraphs with lots of links, links to any patches that may have dropped in games across the globe, and finally links to podcasts about Massive games that have updated since the previous weekend.

The keenest bit? Massive Update’s new home is the 1up network.

This first one covers most of the beginning of the month, and there’s likely to be another one this Friday about last week and this week. As you can probably tell, it was supposed to start last week and so all the references to ‘this week’ are now out of date. Bah. Starting next week the column should appear every Friday on the site, informing the general gaming populations about stuff they’d never have the chance to read. Examples of ‘never reads’ include the details on the Barbie MMOG and a Raph rant. Already have a bunch of stuff lined up for this week’s Update.

The header asks for feedback, and here’s hoping it’s positive. This is pretty damn cool, and I’d like to keep it up. :)

Oh the puns, I love them so!

Again with a Citizen spotlight, we head into the mmogblogosphere. Aggro Me goes under the magnifying glass today over at GameSetWatch.

Some of his words, from the interview:

I love horrible groups, because they give me ideas for humor columns. My worst memories in an MMOG are probably technical issues. I remember there was a named in Zek my group and I fought for literally forty-five minutes in the early days of EQII. The server went down when he had just a sliver of health left. It’s also incredibly annoying to have the server go down in the middle of a raid and be faced with a lockout timer.

Today (finally) had another GSW column go up. It follows on Raphs’ commentary at GDC and the CNN Money article on Webkinz/Club Penguin, talking about the dystopic future of kiddie-oriented Massive games.

I’m joshing you; I don’t think it’s all that bad of a thing.

Money is going to be a major sticking point with these folks, and that’s an issue that I feel will have to be addressed by subscription titles sooner rather than later. Within a few years, the newest crop of AAA players are going to find the idea of paying $15 a month for these services alien. They’ll consider it an affront, their access to a virtual world a default assumption. On the flipside, they’ll be completely unsurprised by the inclusion of advertising in a virtual space. They’ll be comfortable with the idea of being charged on a per-item basis, and won’t squawk if they have to pay a fee to get to ‘extra’ content. Once they are in the front door, they’ll expect to be charged; they will just expect the door to be left open for them.

Additionally … sorry Hemlock … I never mentioned my Citizen spotlight of the monster hunter that went up early in March. It includes what I think is kind of a cool/arty Van Helsing ripoff image.

Enjoy both, please, citizen.

Look for a bonus MMOG Nation column on the site this week (because I’ve been so slacky lately): another Citizen Spotlight!

MMOG Nation column up at GameSetWatch, a lot faster than I expected actually. I uhh, kind of went off on a rant. Sorry if it gets a little incoherent/preachy in there. After having an entire day or so to think about SOE’s White Paper, I decided the most topical thing for this week would be to get all of my brainstem swirlings out onto the virtual page.

Gaming is a hobby. I take it very seriously, as do a number of other people, but gaming is a big part of my job. For most players, for the average player, gaming is supposed to be about having fun. How is a player supposed to have fun if the same have/have-not bull that makes ‘real life’ so challenging intrudes on the game world? How will a casual player feel if he knows ‘all he needs to do’ is drop 50 bucks and he can be playing with his friends again? These kinds of questions are precisely why a lot of people play Massive games in the first place. Force real-world economics on most Massive players, and I think they’ll respond by just leaving.

I’d love to hear from folks what they think. Both on GSW and over in the comments on Raph’s site, I let my lid flip a little bit. I just … blarg. I love the business side of games as much as the next blogger/editor/journo/gamer person, but at the end of the day these vast virtual environments are nothing more than diversions meant to make people happy. Anything that gets in the way of that is (IMHO) academic, and I feel like sometimes that doesn’t get said enough.