A Casual Stroll to Mordor

CNN’s Geek Out blog has a new article out today called “The migratory patterns of MMO gamers”. In the article the author, Nikki Rau-Baker, talks about the pattern of MMO players to leave their game to try another game.

Last week Merric and I were asked to join Bill and Chris on an episode of the MMO Reporter podcast. Episode 22 has been released where the main topic we discuss is MMO Communities.

As a follow-up to our “Being a Girl Gamer” article we had a few weeks ago, we received the following email from a player who had a very distressing circumstance that started from showing her RL picture in a forum.

I have seen game mechanics and game features/system that have changed the way we play MMOs today. Features like the modern day Aggro Mechanic all the way up to LOTRO’s Cosmetic system. These unique ideas and features in games often become well known find themselves into other games in one form or another. This is how game development works and is a healthy part of how progress is made.

I came across this post on the official forums asking if it’s too late to start playing LOTRO. The poster was concerned that everyone was at end game and that the lower levels were basically a barren wasteland. I can understand the concern. I wouldn’t want to pay to play an MMO completely alone, either. However, I believe that this poster was pretty misinformed about the starting areas and about LOTRO in general.

This is a new more general mmo game podcast appearing on the scene is the Multiverse podcast. I thought you all may be interested in their latest podcast, Episode 2 where they have some topics that we’ve been discussing quite a bit lately.

I was reading a post in the forums where the discussion revolved around the changes with Mirkwood that have turned previously group activities such as the Lone Land changes that removed the eliteness of some of the monsters so they are easier for an on-level person to solo them. There of course are also the changes to the Volume I: Book 2 epic quests allowing you to complete them solo.

Is Turbine turning their massive multi-player game into massive solo-player?

In this episode of CStM we go over all the developer diaries, events and announcements we missed while spending Thanksgiving in Texas.

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This weeks poll is: Do You Play More Than One MMO?