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When it comes to my roots in MMOs, I actually have to start fairly early on with my general introduction to tech geekery. Growing up in my house was a somewhat strange affair. You see, back when computers used to take up entire rooms and ran on giant reels of tape -- later plastic key cards and paper tapes -- my father was working with them. Being part of our household meant one was essentially living with a highly technical mind that worked on and loved things like supercomputers. I experienced ideas and machines that many in the world hadn't, save in movies or on TV. It also meant that there were some pretty strange technical odds and ends floating around our home.

Continue reading MMOrigins: The play's the thing

Filed under: Opinion, MMOrigins

MMOrigins: The play's the thing originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've pretty much known about it for a while, but Star Wars: The Old Republic now officially has an Imperial Spy class. Granted, even before, we had a pretty good inkling that some kind of spy or rogue class was in the wings for the Empire players -- especially since the Smuggler had no logical counterpart.

So what's the big deal about an official announcement? A class page full of juicy information just waiting to be devoured by eager fans. The combat tactics movies are easily the most impressive section of the class page, simply because the abilities shown are exceptionally fun. We can't decide which we like more: the stun dart / targeted blaster strike or the orbital bombardment. Even the ability to throw down an energy shield in the middle of combat looks pretty cool.

Whatever your favorite ability or class happens to be, there's no doubt these new screens are looking better than before. We're always excited to see progress being made and it's heartening to have a visual reminder that Star Wars: The Old Republic is coming along.

Filed under: Classes, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

SWTOR's Imperial Spy gets an official reveal originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

Nestling somewhere in between MMOs and social networking, virtual worlds are a virtual sandlot for millions of kids worldwide. Think avatar-based chat and mini-games alongside other kids of the same age range and interests, and you'll catch the appeal of these kid-friendly destinations. While a gaming parent might consider virtual worlds mere training wheels for games still to come, kid-friendly virtual worlds seem to fit the attention spans, chatty nature and niche-y interests of kids to a T.

The sheer variety of worlds appealing to children makes it easy for kids to find a spot where they'll want to hang out. As of early 2009, kids could choose from 112 virtual worlds designed for children and teens, according to Engage Digital Media, with more than 80 new worlds under development. The numbers of kids who've found a virtual home in these worlds rivals even the fat figures of MMO big dog World of Warcraft. Research firm eMarketer estimates that in the United States alone, 8 million kids hung out in virtual worlds regularly during 2008; that number is projected to swell to more than 15 million by 2013.

Continue reading MMO Family: Virtual worlds for kids

Filed under: Club Penguin, There, Habbo Hotel, Gaia Online, Barbie Girls, Kids, Moshi Monsters, MMO Family

MMO Family: Virtual worlds for kids originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to Betawatch, Massively's weekly report on the state of MMO betas. In each installment, we'll report everything from the latest open betas, closed betas and even alphas in one convenient place. Plus, we'll make sure to include as much info on each game's current status, including projected release dates (if known) and links to the sign-up forms to get yourself into that beta you've been seeking.

We bid farewell and good luck to Bright Shadow -- they launched on Wednesday. Alganon makes the jump to the open beta list, and Allods Online and APB move to the closed beta list. (Check out our First Impressions of Allods Online!)

Follow along after the jump for the complete list.

Continue reading Betawatch: November 13th - 20th, 2009

Betawatch: November 13th - 20th, 2009 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aion has been out for roughly 6 weeks so we thought it might be fun to crunch some of the numbers NCsoft provides on their official North American website. We've taken a look at realm balance, class balance, and what level Aion's population is at. Data collection occurred on November 12 at noon Eastern. A spreadsheet containing all data can be viewed here.

Realm population balance (Elyos vs. Asmodian)

Realm population balance is 50/50 on 3 of 14 servers. The remaining 11 servers have the Asmodians ahead of the Elyos by a 51:49 ratio. It appears as if NCsoft's forced realm population balance mechanic is keeping things under control, but one wonders how rampant these disparities would be if character creation was unrestricted. We've seen unbalanced two-faction MMOs before.

It should be stated that these numbers only represent a tally of Elyos and Asmodians across all servers and not how organized or active each realm is in PvPvE.

Continue reading Aion live server numbers crunched

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, New titles

Aion live server numbers crunched originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free-to-play MMOs have been staking out an impressive share of the gaming audience, and one of their poster children is Runes of Magic. Frogster Interactive, is understandably pleased with the success that the game has enjoyed, so they've taken the time to share some interesting figures of the game's popularity.

The most recent chapter of the game, The Elven Prophecy, was released only a couple of months ago. Since then, over fifteen million quests have been completed (even more staggering when one considers that the game has recently cleared the two million mark for registered players). A quarter of a million bosses have been brought down in that span of time, as well as over sixteen million items crafted. Even allowing that some of those were likely craft grind fodder, those are impressive numbers.

Of course, one of the wonderful parts about any sort of free-to-play game is that any curiosity about the game can be satisfied by playing right away, which has no doubt contributed to the success Runes of Magic has enjoyed thus far. While it's not the biggest name in the industry, it's experiencing a groundswell of popularity, good news both for fans of the game and the business model alike.

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Game mechanics, Crafting, Quests, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic

Runes of Magic's milestone numbers originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the last of several Halloween events wrapping up, we figured we'd put out one of the last few screenshots for the recent in-game events folks have sent in to us. Today's One Shots comes to us from Grey, who captured this bit of silliness in Champions Online. Why silly when it looks relatively peaceful? Check out the note that came along with it: Hi guys. Thought this might interest you. Here is a screenie of my character, essentially a robot, musing under the red moon (not quite Blood Red) during the event in Champions Online. As the bard, Christopher Cross said, "If you get caught between the Bloodmoon and Millennium City, I know it's crazy, but it's true..."

If you've got a bad pun lurking in relation to one of your screenshots, get it out and into an email to us. Those things can hurt you if you leave 'em unpunned too long. Email the punbomb (and screenshot) to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll unleash the pun-ishment on the world and let them know it was all you.

Filed under: Super-hero, Screenshots, One Shots, Champions Online

One Shots: Full moons bring out the crazy originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, we asked for your Age of Conan questions, and you delivered. Although we only received seven usable questions (some were duplicates and two we combined), the answers given by Game Director Craig Morrison are candid and to-the-point. Funcom's steady push for new content and poised ear to the community shows that they're on board to keep AoC going strong for a long time.

Follow along after the jump for Craig's answers on changing Tortage, more PvP, opening the forums to everyone and more.

Continue reading Age of Conan community interview: Your questions answered!

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Interviews, MMO industry, Massively meta, Community Q&A

Age of Conan community interview: Your questions answered! originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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