The player’s are the best part of LOTRO.

Lord of the Rings Online is celebrating the second anniversary of the game.  They are offering a 2 week free trial, and bonus experience. I thought it might be a good time to write a short review.  I tried the game when it first came out, but due to lack of time, I put in on the back burner for later.

I recently started playing again. This time I began a new character on the Elendilmir Server, because I found out a good gaming buddy was playing there.  I was invited to join a pretty nice guild, The Knights of Amon Sul. They seem like a good group of people, with a strong leadership team.  They have been helpful in answering so many questions. (Thanks Kin!) Read more

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Best Player Housing - 2009

The following games were considered for this award:

Everquest 2

Ultima Online

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

Lord of the Rings Online

Star Wars Galaxies

Many other popular games could not be included, because they don’t have player or guild housing.

I decided to write an accompanying blog about what designers could do to make housing more fun and useful in MMORPG’s. I also detailed the shortcomings of current housing. For now, lets get on with the award for the BEST, at the current state of gaming development!

LOTRO came in dead last. The housing isn’t worth the time they put into developing it. Read more

Why have player housing?

Dear Designers,

Today I want to talk to you about player housing in MMORPG’s. Many developer’s have decided to ignore housing as unimportant, yet they spend thousands of dollars marketing to the female marketplace.

I will give you a hint. (some geeky programmers just don’t know how to get a girl) Give us a cute little apartment, complete with a way to do crafting. Throw in a few house pets, and a Christmas tree, and you will get the chicks! Read more

Keep your politics to yourself..

I am a very political person.  I will not talk about that here.  Period.  End of Story.

I don’t think political statements should be part of any website that is related to gaming. We play games to get away from real life for an hour or two. I don’t want to go look up a quest, and have political ads and banners all over the page. I don’t want to read a gaming forum, and have to scroll through pages of “Vote for —insert names –”. I go to a technical support forum to find out if anyone else is having problems gating home. I really don’t care who you are voting for. I don’t know what makes you think I do. Read more

U give me grp plz? I need this mob.

Dear Game Designers,

Please fix the current issues, with grouping in MMORPG’s.

It used to be, that grouping was something we naturally did. It was difficult to be in a world, wandering around getting jumped by orcs. We would form groups, and hunt together for the day.

Now, games are designed to guide us through the content, and level. People will come up and ask for a group because they need a certain kill, for a particular quest. They join, we kill the mob, and they leave. Read more

Grandma buys all the games…

I am on a first name basis with the manager of our local Gamestop. (Seriously–I am. This is Scott and his wife. He runs the local Gamestop)

He has so many games reserved for me, that it takes a Cray to manage the database.

He calls me when he gets news for hot pre-orders, and makes sure we get every cool promo item there is.

I have 7 grandkids. Six of them are already playing video games on a regular basis. (give the 2 year old another year) Read more

Older Players in MMORPG’s Clashing with Younger?

This morning, I was doing my usual thing. Drinking Coffee, and reading some of my favorite gaming blogs. Rob, over at MMOCRUNCH, wrote an interesting article about the Generation Gap in MMORPG players. Read more

New Bloggers Could Become Overwhelmed…

I am lucky that I have some computer knowledge. I have designed and maintained both static and content driven websites in the past.

Therefore I understand html, SEO, and most of the relevant things that would be needed on a website.

But blogging is a whole new experience. I have been trying to make the conversion, in my little brain …WOW. (ha,ha I am too old for this shit) Read more

The Internet is Too Distracting!

So as you know, I have been trying to learn all about this thing they call ‘blogging’. During my travels, I read many articles on “what every blogger should know.”

One told me that I really needed to register for Digg, so I did… What they didn’t tell me, is that I would end up wandering around the Digg site for three days, reading blogs and digging them. (so much for writing my own blogs) Read more

They Call This REALITY TV…

The reality is, that the circus has always had ‘freak-shows’. This is nothing new. (pssst. Don’t tell Hollywood!)

• In the 1600’s there was a set of siamese twins that toured all of Europe making money.

• In the 1700’s, at what is now, one of the finest Museums in Russia, they housed all kinds of rare human oddities.

• And in the 1800’s P.T. Barnum exhibited “Tom Thumb”, a man who suffered from dwarfism.

• From the mid 1800’s until the second world war, these kinds of shows were very popular in America. There were traveling shows that exhibited deformed animals, humans and otherwise unexplained items.

• Coney Island, has a ‘freak-show’ to this day.

If you are interested in more history of mans fascination with freakishness, here is a great site I found, called Sideshow World.

Over the years, these types of shows and establishments fell out of favor. Our information age, has made these folks less of a curiosity. Medical Science has advanced both the treatment and ‘thinking’ of all of us…

But now what? Humans seem to need to satisfy this curiosity for the odd-ball.

I don’t know if watching it, makes each of us feel more normal..or what? I was browsing some video’s on Youtube today, and found these two. Has Reality TV become our modern day freak show?

Check out these two video’s. Watch the faces of the crowd. We haven’t changed in 400 years.

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