The Untamed Frontier: Net Neutrality


FEATURE

If you're reading this, you're obviously on the internet. Each and every person who has come to the site is an internet user and each of you were given the same priority to get here. This then is a quick chat with you about that and about Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is one of those topics that really has all sorts of people wrapped up in it. Any of you who get involved can be sure that I won't be calling you liberal nuts or saying that you should go to North Korea. Honestly none of that helps.

MMO Leaders: Never mess with the Capabilities of a Gamer


FEATURE

What does it take to lead a pack of blood thirsty Orcs in the midst of battle? Is your Racial Archon a leader in real life? It's amazing how players can exercise leadership through MMO games. Whether it's war, raids, or simply PVE, there will always be a player who's calling the shots. Could it be because he is quite knowledgeable about the game, or is it because he just knows how to pull a group together? As far as IBM (a computer company) is concerned, MMOs are actually one of the best ways to prepare a leader for the real world, given a good real-time simulation of actual planning to exercise their leadership capabilities.

Divide And Enjoy: is IP Blocking And Localizing Necessary?


FEATURE

One of the biggest problems interfering in the life of MMO gamers worldwide is the games ability to block players from certain countries. In a way, the implementation of IP or region locking can be a big help to MMO players everywhere (will be discussed later). One simple reason would be the lag, as servers are most likely to lose their stability once the population exceeds its saturation point. Another thing would be to support their franchisers. Surely there would be no point in establishing local servers if players can still play on international ones, yes?

Funding MMORPGs – What Are The Options?


FEATURE

Developers are known to implement cash shops, power ups and other premium features to fund their free MMORPGs. After all, how can you expect games that give a huge chunk of their content away for free to survive? Today, subscription numbers are falling on many of the more popular pay-2-play MMORPGs. Is it time for even well-known publishers to begin including additional money making systems into games for a much needed cash injection?

Games That Should Be Resurrected


FEATURE

Throughout this article, I will go over some of the games that had amazing potential but were shut down. Out of the many games suggested by our community, I have chosen Survival Project, Kart Rider, Tabula Rasa and Gunster. Thank you to all members of our community for offering their opinions, suggestions and information on these games.

Real life MMO Monster Manual Chapter 1


FEATURE

Ever had your party PWND by a boss? Ever faced vermin without the proper gadgets and weapons? Here I present the first ever "real life" MMO Monster Manual, a volume of information dedicated to helping real life raid members with the bosses and instances of their mundane lives. It's a lot more complex out there than you think J Much like in a MMO, the real world also has its fair share of class archetypes, and just like raiding and boss battles, every class is required for a party to besolid. Here I will show you how to deal with the mobs, adds, and bosses that makes it harder for you to enjoy your favorite MMO.

Interview With A Casual Gold Farmer


FEATURE

Ah, Gold Farming, the ever so familiar pair of words in the MMO industry. We've seen them in a lot of MMOs and hated those large groups of spammers whose sole purpose in logging into the game is to say in the trade channel "WE SELL <insert game name here> GOLD AT AFFORDABLE PRICES!"

In-game Currency for Cash Anyone?


FEATURE

Trading in-game items and currency for cash is a story we MMO gamers are all too familiar with. It may be through legal means (buying premium items from the game publishers) or the alternative, (buying items from third-party groups or players) trading cyber items for cold hard cash is already part of an MMO's daily routine. The only way for game publishers to protect themselves from players taking the alternate route, and getting their characters rich through third parties, is the game's End-User License Agreement (EULA) where it explicitly says that players who have been caught doing Real Money Transactions (RMTs) will have their accounts permanently banned.

MMO Things You Wish Were Real


FEATURE

Due to the many limitations of reality, one can't help but want to access things born in the world of fantasy. This brings people to new adventures such as LARP (Live Action Role Playing), but what if you could actually design life your own way by picking an array of MMO features to customize it? Are you sure you want to ride that bike for the rest of your life? You have a car you say? What about an epic black dragon mount (would save you gas)? Enclosed is a list of things that would definitely make life more awesome. The world needs a lot of adjustments, and gamers have a lot of ideas what they should be. Join me as we check MMOs for features that could be awesome in real life.

Snail Games USA: The Inside Story


FEATURE

Snail Games USA (SG USA), the US branch of China based game developer Snail Games has officially opened its office in Playa del Rey, Los Angeles. We were given a chance to have a chat with CEO Scott Miller (no he's not the Scott Miller of 3D Realms, the developers of Duke Nukem Forever mind you) who was more than willing to share not only the lowdown on Snail Games USA, but I was able to get him to spill a little something about himself as well.