Justin Olivetti is Massively Overpowered’s resident Game Archaeologist; he never lets a good old game stay buried. [Follow this column’s RSS feed]
the game archaeologist
The Game Archaeologist: Lifestorm, Japan’s first MMORPG
In comparison to how widely that China and Korea's game development studios embraced MMORPGs right from the beginning, Japan's been curiously low-key in creating...
The Game Archaeologist: The ballad of Fansy, EverQuest’s famous bard
It was summer, 2001. EverQuest had just rolled out Sullon Zek, a no-rules "penal colony" server where the realm was as lawless as the...
The Game Archaeologist: The online world of Diablo II
Most of us probably weren't expecting to see Diablo II once again propelled into the spotlight in the year 2021, but the BlizzCon announcement...
The Game Archaeologist: EA’s Motor City Online
When we use the shorthand "MMO" for online games, it's always assumed that we're talking about swords-and-sorcery or sci-fi RPGs. However, the massively multiplayer...
The Game Archaeologist: Lost Continents, the Jules Verne MMO we never got
If you're looking for an alternate vision of futuristic science fiction, you would do well to dive back into the worlds of 19th century...
The Game Archaeologist: Free Realms
Its very name was a declaration of rebellion against the status quo. In an era that had yet to shift from a subscription-only model...
The Game Archaeologist: Seven ways EverQuest reshaped MMO history
To many veteran MMO players, the opening horns of EverQuest's score are enough to trigger vivid memories, violent hallucinations, and an unstoppable desire to...
The Game Archaeologist’s ultimate MMO archives v4.0
By far, my favorite column to write here at Massively OP (and the one that always takes the longest) is The Game Archaeologist. I've...
The Game Archaeologist: Fallen Earth
I remember back when Fallen Earth first came out, I had some friends who were raving about it and doing everything in their power...
The Game Archaeologist: Deadlands Legends, the western MMO that never saw the light of day
The saying goes that there is nothing new under the sun. So while you probably can't write an original setting that's never been seen...
The Game Archaeologist: The short ride of Auto Assault
When you think of post-apocalyptic video games, what comes to mind? Most likely it's a crawl through a bombed-out or zombiefied landscape as you...
The Game Archaeologist: Mirrorworld
In this column, we have previously journeyed to lands where you saw not with your eyes, but with your imagination. I speak, of course,...
The Game Archaeologist: Flagship’s Mythos
Whenever the topic of Flagship Studios comes up, usually it's in conjunction with Hellgate: London. And while Hellgate certainly was a huge and ultimately...
The Game Archaeologist: Clone Wars Adventures, the Star Wars MMO everyone kinda forgot
Whenever the topic -- the argument -- of Star Wars MMOs arises, the debate is usually between the merits of the sandboxy Star Wars...
The Game Archaeologist: World War II Online
The 1990s saw the rise of flight simulators that thrived on detailed, complicated controls and handling. Such games threw out accessibility and casual-friendliness for...
The Game Archaeologist: When World of Warcraft opened Ahn’Qiraj’s gates
This past month, Blizzard has been testing what might well be the milestone moment for World of Warcraft Classic: The Ahn'Qiraj gates event. In...
The Game Archaeologist: The virtual worlds of the 1990s
With the increased speeds of modems and the move into 3-D space in the 1990s, some game designers thought it was a logical conclusion...
The Game Archaeologist: Were sequels ever a good idea for MMOs?
From movies to books to video games, sequels (and all related spin-offs) are a common sight when a property is sufficiently successful enough. Even...
The Game Archaeologist: McDonalds’ McWorld MMO is a thing that existed
If you thought that it was strange for MTV to create its own virtual world, then you probably are forgetting how desperate companies always...
The Game Archaeologist: The rise and fall of Landmark and EverQuest Next
The year was 2013. Sony Online Entertainment was still a functioning and seemingly robust MMORPG studio, and its yearly SOE Live convention was a...
