https://massivelyop.com MMORPG news and opinions Fri, 19 Jan 2024 16:14:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/19/gdcs-2024-industry-survey-game-devs-weigh-in-on-ai-layoffs-unionization-rto-and-more/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/19/gdcs-2024-industry-survey-game-devs-weigh-in-on-ai-layoffs-unionization-rto-and-more/#comments Fri, 19 Jan 2024 17:30:01 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=476183 Every year, GDC conducts an industry-wide survey of game developers and compiles the results in its State of the Game Industry, the 2024 edition of which arrived yesterday. Right up front, the GDC minders address the elephants in the room: layoffs and concerns over generative AI have dominated developer worries over the course of the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/19/gdcs-2024-industry-survey-game-devs-weigh-in-on-ai-layoffs-unionization-rto-and-more/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/08/study-finds-social-media-game-ads-dont-properly-disclose-the-existence-of-lockboxes-and-in-game-purchases/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/08/study-finds-social-media-game-ads-dont-properly-disclose-the-existence-of-lockboxes-and-in-game-purchases/#comments Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=474579 A recent study conducted by legal expert and lockbox researcher Leon Y. Xiao has been completed and it finds that lockbox disclosures in social media ads for games with the monetization scheme are extremely low – a discovery that could have wider implications for game companies in terms of EU and UK regulation. Illegal loot […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/08/study-finds-social-media-game-ads-dont-properly-disclose-the-existence-of-lockboxes-and-in-game-purchases/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/27/a-look-back-at-the-mmo-and-gaming-science-topics-of-2023/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/27/a-look-back-at-the-mmo-and-gaming-science-topics-of-2023/#respond Wed, 27 Dec 2023 20:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=467742 This month marks MOP’s ninth consecutive year covering science-related news specific to MMORPGs and MMOs, but like last year, there wasn’t nearly as much as the flurry of papers and politics over lockboxes, gambling, and demographics has given way to fighting back against AI’s excesses and crypto’s abuses. Indeed, our own Lawful Neutral columnist Andy […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/27/a-look-back-at-the-mmo-and-gaming-science-topics-of-2023/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/08/video-game-trade-association-says-most-people-want-video-games-for-christmas-huh/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/08/video-game-trade-association-says-most-people-want-video-games-for-christmas-huh/#comments Fri, 08 Dec 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470384 When I asked my kids to write me out their Christmas wish lists this year, they both turned in lists with games and game currency on them. My daughter handed mostly a long list of bizarre toys with a few Switch cartridges on it, and my son chiefly asked for console games and Undertale swag […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/08/video-game-trade-association-says-most-people-want-video-games-for-christmas-huh/feed/ 9 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/01/whats-the-most-cost-effective-inventory-option-in-lord-of-the-rings-online-one-bloggers-done-the-math/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/01/whats-the-most-cost-effective-inventory-option-in-lord-of-the-rings-online-one-bloggers-done-the-math/#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2023 18:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=469524 Lord of the Rings Online blogger and guide-maker extraordinaire FibroJedi has pubbed a super useful post this week we just have to highlight because it ties in so perfectly with our recent conversations on hoarding in MMOs. Specifically, FJ has assessed all of the options in LOTRO for expanding and exploiting all of the different […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/01/whats-the-most-cost-effective-inventory-option-in-lord-of-the-rings-online-one-bloggers-done-the-math/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/28/quantic-foundrys-survey-examines-the-motivations-of-gamers-drawn-to-sci-fi-settings/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/28/quantic-foundrys-survey-examines-the-motivations-of-gamers-drawn-to-sci-fi-settings/#comments Tue, 28 Nov 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=468975 Quantic Foundry – aka the Nick Yee-backed analytics company that’s most well-known for its Gamer Motivation Model – has shared some responses from an optional survey run between February 2022 through October 2023, which has some interesting results when it comes to a game set in a sci-fi setting. The data show that sci-fi is […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/28/quantic-foundrys-survey-examines-the-motivations-of-gamers-drawn-to-sci-fi-settings/feed/ 7 https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/28/diablo-iv-serves-up-nightmare-fuel-audio-experience-in-order-to-induce-thematic-lucid-dreaming/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/28/diablo-iv-serves-up-nightmare-fuel-audio-experience-in-order-to-induce-thematic-lucid-dreaming/#comments Sat, 28 Oct 2023 18:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=464239 The marketing team behind Diablo IV continues to prove it’s either extremely creative or taking some extremely powerful substances. The latest marketing stunt from Blizzard’s OARPG is literal Nightmare Fuel, a long-form audio experience that’s supposedly been designed to help induce lucid dreaming, albeit with a more Sanctuary bent to it. “Slip the world of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/28/diablo-iv-serves-up-nightmare-fuel-audio-experience-in-order-to-induce-thematic-lucid-dreaming/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/10/lawful-neutral-reverse-engineering-world-of-warcrafts-subscriber-numbers/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/10/lawful-neutral-reverse-engineering-world-of-warcrafts-subscriber-numbers/#comments Tue, 10 Oct 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=461001 Do you know what time it is? It’s almost quarterly financial report time! We probably won’t see a full quarterly report from Activision-Blizzard as it will be going through the motions of being unceremoniously devoured by Microsoft; indeed, it’s been a very long time now since we’ve even seen a proper investor call. But it’s […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/10/lawful-neutral-reverse-engineering-world-of-warcrafts-subscriber-numbers/feed/ 17 https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/02/mmo-business-roundup-my-games-ceo-valves-antitrust-fine-and-research-on-chinas-gaming-regulations/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/02/mmo-business-roundup-my-games-ceo-valves-antitrust-fine-and-research-on-chinas-gaming-regulations/#comments Mon, 02 Oct 2023 18:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=460240 Welcome back to another quick roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent business news. Numbers numbers numbers. In fact, this edition has the whole trifecta: business, law, and science in one go. MY.GAMES – Remember last December when MY.GAMES responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by restructuring out of the Russian market, but then it came […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/10/02/mmo-business-roundup-my-games-ceo-valves-antitrust-fine-and-research-on-chinas-gaming-regulations/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/29/hunters-lead-the-pack-for-deaths-on-world-of-warcraft-classics-hardcore-realms/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/29/hunters-lead-the-pack-for-deaths-on-world-of-warcraft-classics-hardcore-realms/#comments Fri, 29 Sep 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=459877 All right, how many of you found out the hard way that Feign Death turns into actual death if you don’t interrupt it before it finishes? We’re not mad. The World of Warcraft Twitter account posted the death stats of WoW Classic’s Hardcore realms, and there are a whole lot of dead Hunters; we’re just […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/29/hunters-lead-the-pack-for-deaths-on-world-of-warcraft-classics-hardcore-realms/feed/ 9 https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/23/eve-fanfest-2023-eve-players-will-help-cure-cancer-with-new-project-discovery-minigame/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/23/eve-fanfest-2023-eve-players-will-help-cure-cancer-with-new-project-discovery-minigame/#comments Sun, 24 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=459055 Back in 2016, EVE Online developer CCP Games announced an unusual partnership with scientific research organisation MMOs and the Human Protein Atlas. They created a new minigame inside EVE named Project Discovery that asked players to spot features in images of cells in exchange for in-game rewards. Over the years this minigame has been used […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/09/23/eve-fanfest-2023-eve-players-will-help-cure-cancer-with-new-project-discovery-minigame/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/30/unity-adds-ai-tools-to-its-asset-store-while-electronic-arts-reasons-ai-generation-is-a-co-pilot-for-artists/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/30/unity-adds-ai-tools-to-its-asset-store-while-electronic-arts-reasons-ai-generation-is-a-co-pilot-for-artists/#comments Fri, 30 Jun 2023 14:30:48 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=447003 The fresh blood in the games industry water continues to be AI generation tools for art assets and writing. This time we zero in on efforts by Unity and an outlined stance by Electronic Arts, with the former introducing some new AI tools to its storefront and the latter sharing remarks on the technology from […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/30/unity-adds-ai-tools-to-its-asset-store-while-electronic-arts-reasons-ai-generation-is-a-co-pilot-for-artists/feed/ 20 https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/09/lawful-neutral-how-might-the-so-called-ai-revolution-affect-the-mmo-genre/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/09/lawful-neutral-how-might-the-so-called-ai-revolution-affect-the-mmo-genre/#comments Fri, 09 Jun 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=443658 This article has been rolling around in my head since ChatGPT rocketed into the public awareness a few months ago, and just in the last few weeks, there’s been slew of developments of AI in gaming from the likes of Blizzard and Nvidia that give us a peek at where our industry is headed. The […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/09/lawful-neutral-how-might-the-so-called-ai-revolution-affect-the-mmo-genre/feed/ 56 https://massivelyop.com/2023/06/01/world-of-warships-kicks-off-ocean-conservation-charity-collab-with-popeye-for-force-blue/ Thu, 01 Jun 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=442384 This might just be the weirdest thing we’ve ever gotten in the mail at MOP, and I say this as someone who once inexplicably found a mini fridge from a game studio on my porch. It’s a can of spinach, and it’s from World of Warships company Wargaming, which is collaborating with Popeye the Sailor […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/26/preserving-worlds-is-an-indie-tv-docuseries-about-preserving-classic-mmorpgs/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/26/preserving-worlds-is-an-indie-tv-docuseries-about-preserving-classic-mmorpgs/#comments Fri, 26 May 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=441647 So here’s something fun we just learned about thanks to a friendly tweet: Preserving Worlds is a 2021 indie TV show on Means TV that operates as a documentary exploring MMORPGs and specifically the preservation of, well, “beloved aging virtual worlds.” “Virtual worlds are delicate things, and they can vanish with hardly a trace. Under […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/26/preserving-worlds-is-an-indie-tv-docuseries-about-preserving-classic-mmorpgs/feed/ 2 https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/25/vague-patch-notes-why-do-people-remember-an-mmo-past-that-didnt-exist/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/25/vague-patch-notes-why-do-people-remember-an-mmo-past-that-didnt-exist/#comments Thu, 25 May 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=441707 Let’s just start with the premise out of the gate. World of Warcraft launched to sales of 240,000 units on its first day. The best sources I can find gave it 84 servers on launch day. If you assume that every server had the same number of people on it, that everyone who bought the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/05/25/vague-patch-notes-why-do-people-remember-an-mmo-past-that-didnt-exist/feed/ 85 https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/10/raph-koster-predicts-the-future-of-the-metaverse-is-a-virtual-machu-picchu-that-you-can-leave/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/10/raph-koster-predicts-the-future-of-the-metaverse-is-a-virtual-machu-picchu-that-you-can-leave/#comments Mon, 10 Apr 2023 15:00:50 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=434843 If you’re not exhausted of seeing the word “metaverse” just yet, MMORPG developer Raph Koster has published a blessedly brief whitepaper on the evolution of online spaces like MMOs into metaverses – and by extension why we don’t have one yet in spite of billions of dollars wasted and endless babble from tech companies. In […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/04/10/raph-koster-predicts-the-future-of-the-metaverse-is-a-virtual-machu-picchu-that-you-can-leave/feed/ 60 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/for-science-crit-rate-is-another-survey-driven-attempt-to-match-gamer-personalities-to-games/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/for-science-crit-rate-is-another-survey-driven-attempt-to-match-gamer-personalities-to-games/#comments Thu, 23 Mar 2023 15:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=432202 I have to admit I almost deleted the press release for this story without reading it, but my finger twitched, and let me tell you why: One of the most common Reddit threads I see and one of the most common emails we get here at MOP can be boiled down to “what MMO should […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/23/for-science-crit-rate-is-another-survey-driven-attempt-to-match-gamer-personalities-to-games/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/17/could-an-ai-bot-do-a-better-job-as-a-games-company-ceo-than-an-actual-human/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/17/could-an-ai-bot-do-a-better-job-as-a-games-company-ceo-than-an-actual-human/#comments Fri, 17 Mar 2023 15:30:04 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=431310 That headline’s not an idle question: Chinese gaming company NetDragon decided to give it a try. Last August, NetDragon, which runs multiple MMOs including Eudemons and Conquer Online, appointed “Ms. Tang Yu” as Rotating CEO of subsidiary Fujian NetDragon Websoft in an effort to “pioneer the use of AI to transform corporate management and leapfrog […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/17/could-an-ai-bot-do-a-better-job-as-a-games-company-ceo-than-an-actual-human/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/07/the-daily-grind-do-you-experience-mmo-expansion-endorphins/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/07/the-daily-grind-do-you-experience-mmo-expansion-endorphins/#comments Tue, 07 Mar 2023 13:00:04 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=426592 Back in December, MOP’s Justin wrote an article about being excited to play World of Warcraft Dragonflight, and in that piece, he wondered whether he was merely experiencing the effects of “expansion endorphins,” a phrase he says he’s heard before – but I never have, so you know we gotta talk about this. Endorphins, I’m […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/03/07/the-daily-grind-do-you-experience-mmo-expansion-endorphins/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/17/leaderboard-do-you-prefer-first-person-or-third-person-perspective-while-gaming/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/17/leaderboard-do-you-prefer-first-person-or-third-person-perspective-while-gaming/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2023 17:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=426900 Quantic Foundry, the team behind the Gamer Motivation Model and the modern gamer profiling test, put out a dev blog at the end of January homing in on first- vs. third-person perspective. According to the model, which is based on thousands of surveys of gamers, our preference for camera perspective is somewhat predictable, and it […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/02/17/leaderboard-do-you-prefer-first-person-or-third-person-perspective-while-gaming/feed/ 34 https://massivelyop.com/2023/01/20/gdcs-state-of-the-games-industry-survey-once-again-demonstrates-dev-skepticism-for-metaverse-and-blockchain-hokum/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/01/20/gdcs-state-of-the-games-industry-survey-once-again-demonstrates-dev-skepticism-for-metaverse-and-blockchain-hokum/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2023 15:00:43 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=423150 This year’s State of the Game Industry from GDC – its 11th since beginning the project – delivers a range of insights from the 2300 game devs surveyed. Let’s dig into the highlights, shall we? Developers are “wary” about the metaverse; in the question about companies and platforms that are “best placed to deliver on […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/01/20/gdcs-state-of-the-games-industry-survey-once-again-demonstrates-dev-skepticism-for-metaverse-and-blockchain-hokum/feed/ 9 https://massivelyop.com/2023/01/04/for-science-new-research-tries-to-link-game-choices-soft-skills-and-career-paths/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/01/04/for-science-new-research-tries-to-link-game-choices-soft-skills-and-career-paths/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2023 01:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=416754 I suspect most long-time MMORPG gamers can point to a useful skill, contact, or experience in gaming that helped them in their careers or lives at some point, or maybe it even influenced our choice in job, but we might be tempted to dismiss that as anecdotal or insignificant. Maybe we shouldn’t: New research published […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/01/04/for-science-new-research-tries-to-link-game-choices-soft-skills-and-career-paths/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2022/12/28/a-look-back-at-the-mmo-and-gaming-science-topics-of-2022/ Wed, 28 Dec 2022 21:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=415755 It’s hard to believe, but 2022 is actually the eighth year in a row we’ve been tracking science stories relevant to the MMO genre. It’s one of my favorite topics, frankly, and this year was an odd one for it – the shortest yet. Perhaps the most interesting science-related thread we picked up this year […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/12/07/activision-blizzard-releases-its-year-to-date-diversity-statistics-showing-an-increase-in-underrepresented-groups/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/12/07/activision-blizzard-releases-its-year-to-date-diversity-statistics-showing-an-increase-in-underrepresented-groups/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2022 20:00:55 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=418029 Activision-Blizzard’s general issues with diversity and representation have prompted a number of changes within its corporate structure, and one of those is the company’s ongoing reports and dispatches about corporate diversity. The company has just released its 2022 YTD report, which shows that compared to the company’s 2021 data the number of women and nonbinary […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/12/07/activision-blizzard-releases-its-year-to-date-diversity-statistics-showing-an-increase-in-underrepresented-groups/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2022/11/11/for-science-new-study-finds-positive-association-between-excessive-gaming-and-kids-cognition/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/11/11/for-science-new-study-finds-positive-association-between-excessive-gaming-and-kids-cognition/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2022 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=411376 Academics offered up another good reason to play video games this past October: A new study of around 2000 kids found that video game play was positively associated with performance in cognitive tests of impulse control and working memory. The University of Vermont researchers on this paper analyzed a subset of 9- and 10-year-olds participating […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/11/11/for-science-new-study-finds-positive-association-between-excessive-gaming-and-kids-cognition/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/28/lawful-neutral-how-extremism-and-terrorism-slither-into-online-gaming/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/28/lawful-neutral-how-extremism-and-terrorism-slither-into-online-gaming/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2022 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=411442 Back in 2014, something happened in the gaming space, something whose impact was so damaging that even almost 10 years later, I realize that I still hesitate to use its name in print. It’s still a bit like playing Bloody Mary in the mirror, except you type this word out and you get a deluge […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/28/lawful-neutral-how-extremism-and-terrorism-slither-into-online-gaming/feed/ 61 https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/06/riot-games-sponsors-design-challenge-centered-on-making-online-spaces-safer/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/06/riot-games-sponsors-design-challenge-centered-on-making-online-spaces-safer/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2022 17:30:09 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=408512 Riot Games is not a gaming company most folks in our industry would consider a paragon of community in or off the court. The fact that the company has fostered demonstrably toxic gaming communities as well as egregiously awful studio culture over its lifetime – replete with lawsuits, sexual discrimination, and labor scandals that went […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/06/riot-games-sponsors-design-challenge-centered-on-making-online-spaces-safer/feed/ 8 https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/24/us-department-of-homeland-security-issues-a-nearly-700k-grant-to-research-extremism-in-gaming/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/24/us-department-of-homeland-security-issues-a-nearly-700k-grant-to-research-extremism-in-gaming/#comments Sat, 24 Sep 2022 22:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=406586 There are toxic people in games chat, and then there are people who use video gaming platforms as a ways to encourage extremism and domestic terrorism. That latter problem is one that’s prompting the US Department of Homeland Security to issue a grant of nearly $700K to a research group that’s looking to study the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/24/us-department-of-homeland-security-issues-a-nearly-700k-grant-to-research-extremism-in-gaming/feed/ 14 https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/22/bloombergs-twitch-report-exposes-a-platform-rife-with-children-and-predators/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/22/bloombergs-twitch-report-exposes-a-platform-rife-with-children-and-predators/#comments Thu, 22 Sep 2022 15:30:10 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=406506 Bloomberg has a deeply disturbing exposé this week on Twitch that demonstrates how the streaming platform intended for video games is being used by child predators to “find and exploit kids in real-time.” It should go without saying that the article is deeply upsetting, so don’t go clicking on it unprepared. Author Cecilia D’Anastasio shows […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/22/bloombergs-twitch-report-exposes-a-platform-rife-with-children-and-predators/feed/ 8 https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/25/star-stable-launches-new-charity-initiative-to-counter-negative-horse-girl-stereotypes/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/25/star-stable-launches-new-charity-initiative-to-counter-negative-horse-girl-stereotypes/#comments Thu, 25 Aug 2022 18:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=402553 A few weeks back I joked on the MOP podcast that I’m a secret horse girl, and it’s true in real life and in video games. But there’s no shame in it, nor should there be, and kid-friendly equestrian MMO Star Stable is making that point with its new #YesImAHorseGirl initiative, which seeks to “redefine […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/25/star-stable-launches-new-charity-initiative-to-counter-negative-horse-girl-stereotypes/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/16/eve-echoes-launches-a-project-discovery-science-initiative-eve-online-preps-for-next-alliance-tournament/ Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:30:05 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=401282 Regular players of EVE Online are likely very familiar with the game’s Project Discovery “citizen science” initiatives that let players help out scientific research, but now players of the mobile MMO EVE Echoes will get to help out the needs of science with the launch of the game’s first Project Discovery event. Players who want […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/07/29/axie-infinity-ceo-caught-shuffling-3m-in-the-games-crypto-tokens-before-announcing-its-620m-hack/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/07/29/axie-infinity-ceo-caught-shuffling-3m-in-the-games-crypto-tokens-before-announcing-its-620m-hack/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2022 19:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=398751 No matter how decentralized cryptocurrencies claim to be, there’s always going to be a paper trail to follow, and one such trail was left behind by Axie Infinity CEO and co-founder Trung Nguyen, who had apparently moved $3M worth of the game’s AXS cryptocurrency from its ecosystem to Binance just hours before announcing it was […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/07/29/axie-infinity-ceo-caught-shuffling-3m-in-the-games-crypto-tokens-before-announcing-its-620m-hack/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2022/07/27/eve-onlines-fanfest-data-dump-shows-a-surprisingly-wide-range-of-player-types/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/07/27/eve-onlines-fanfest-data-dump-shows-a-surprisingly-wide-range-of-player-types/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2022 19:30:30 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=398447 EVE Online is going full science fair mode with the release of a whole suite of fancy graphs and data collected and presented during Fanfest 2022. The presentation is full of player data trivia in visual form, including number of alliances, number of hours a character has been in-game since its creation, a highlight of five […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/07/27/eve-onlines-fanfest-data-dump-shows-a-surprisingly-wide-range-of-player-types/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2022/06/17/for-science-new-research-affirms-online-friends-provide-emotional-and-informational-support/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/06/17/for-science-new-research-affirms-online-friends-provide-emotional-and-informational-support/#comments Fri, 17 Jun 2022 19:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=391933 You’ve probably seen the declaration that “online friends are real friends” somewhere on the internet a few times, and while that can seem pretty obvious to most, there’s now a new scientific research to back up the claim. A new paper in the Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds asserts that online social groups do […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/06/17/for-science-new-research-affirms-online-friends-provide-emotional-and-informational-support/feed/ 2 https://massivelyop.com/2022/06/17/the-daily-grind-should-mmo-pvp-matchmaking-focus-on-challenge-or-engagement/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/06/17/the-daily-grind-should-mmo-pvp-matchmaking-focus-on-challenge-or-engagement/#comments Fri, 17 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=390248 MOP’s Sam recently stumbled across an MSM article that quotes multiple streamers and esports players essentially complaining about matchmaking systems in competitive games. The streamers, of course, want to win for their viewers, while the esports pros were upset because the matchmaking algorithm was so good it was pairing them against genuinely good opponents and […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/06/17/the-daily-grind-should-mmo-pvp-matchmaking-focus-on-challenge-or-engagement/feed/ 17 https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/17/the-daily-grind-are-you-playing-a-morally-disengaged-murder-hobo-in-mmos/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/17/the-daily-grind-are-you-playing-a-morally-disengaged-murder-hobo-in-mmos/#comments Tue, 17 May 2022 12:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=386322 The Psychology of Video Games podcast recently did a bit on “murder hobos,” and yes, Dr Jamie Madigan does point out that the term is insensitive, but it’s also shorthand for the type of players who allow their characters to kinda just roam the world and do whatever they want without much of a moral […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/17/the-daily-grind-are-you-playing-a-morally-disengaged-murder-hobo-in-mmos/feed/ 36 https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/14/activision-blizzard-creeps-out-the-internet-with-its-diversity-space-tool-as-union-busting-continues/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/14/activision-blizzard-creeps-out-the-internet-with-its-diversity-space-tool-as-union-busting-continues/#comments Sat, 14 May 2022 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=388087 Friday afternoon, Activision-Blizzard proudly trotted out a dev blog talking up the creation of a “Diversity Space Tool” that the company has apparently been developing since 2016, described by King Globalization Project Manager Jacqueline Chomatas as “a measurement device, to help identify how diverse a set of character traits are and in turn how diverse […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/14/activision-blizzard-creeps-out-the-internet-with-its-diversity-space-tool-as-union-busting-continues/feed/ 84 https://massivelyop.com/2022/04/28/troves-new-player-survey-nods-to-quantic-foundrys-gamer-motivation-model/ Thu, 28 Apr 2022 22:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=385845 Gamigo did more than just update Glyph this week; it also posted a survey for Trove players to “share [their] thoughts and help shape the future” of the popular blocky voxelbox game, which has now survived both the implosion of Trion Worlds and Gamigo’s gamepocalypse. Make sure you set aside a bit of time to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/04/07/an-esports-pro-is-developing-an-ai-system-to-help-game-devs-track-and-address-in-game-toxicity/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/04/07/an-esports-pro-is-developing-an-ai-system-to-help-game-devs-track-and-address-in-game-toxicity/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2022 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=380825 You’d be forgiven for believing that reporting someone’s behavior through in-game tools simply sends that report directly into some unseen void that devs don’t pay attention to, and while plenty of studios have tried to combat toxic behavior in-game, nobody has come up with a suitable solution. Enter Dennis “Thresh” Fong, a longtime esports pro […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/04/07/an-esports-pro-is-developing-an-ai-system-to-help-game-devs-track-and-address-in-game-toxicity/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/31/gdc-2022-control-revenue-scarcity-ethics-and-the-human-challenges-of-the-gaming-metaverse/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/31/gdc-2022-control-revenue-scarcity-ethics-and-the-human-challenges-of-the-gaming-metaverse/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2022 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=381099 While some panels at GDC 2022 have been deeply disappointing, the panel titled “A Brave New (Virtual) World: Ethics and Governance of XR and the Metaverse” was most definitely not among them. While it was a bit heavy at times and a few speakers occasionally sounded like they might wear tinfoil hats in their free […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/31/gdc-2022-control-revenue-scarcity-ethics-and-the-human-challenges-of-the-gaming-metaverse/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/30/gdc-2022-how-game-stressors-mix-and-match-for-repeatable-content-development-in-mmos/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/30/gdc-2022-how-game-stressors-mix-and-match-for-repeatable-content-development-in-mmos/#comments Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=380929 Continuing our GDC 2022 coverage of Bungie Principal Technical Game Designer Alan Blaine’s talk on building challenges and reusable content in Destiny 2, we’re going to take the stressors he defined, modified for MMOs, and consider how developers can use them for tuning content and making repeatable content. While most of our readers are not devs, having […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/30/gdc-2022-how-game-stressors-mix-and-match-for-repeatable-content-development-in-mmos/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/29/gdc-2022-learning-from-the-seven-game-stressors-in-destiny-2/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/29/gdc-2022-learning-from-the-seven-game-stressors-in-destiny-2/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=380716 GDC 2022 coverage has a bit slow this year thanks to virtual tickets being kind of a misnomer (if the panel isn’t live and interactive, it’s just a recording, folks!), but there are still some panels that certainly turned out to be worth the wait. Bungie Principal Technical Game Designer Alan Blaine came to talk about […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/29/gdc-2022-learning-from-the-seven-game-stressors-in-destiny-2/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2022/02/24/massively-on-the-go-how-pokedex-building-could-be-used-for-server-wide-science-questing/ Thu, 24 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=373348 Well, I’m sorry to report to multiplayer gamers that despite having online features like New Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Legends: Arceus is very much a solo game, aside from trading and (oddly) corpse runs, which only other players can do for you. It’s disappointing, as the open-world gameplay of Sword and Shield motivated even my friends who tend to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/02/22/how-video-game-player-data-collection-processes-have-expanded-outside-of-gaming/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/02/22/how-video-game-player-data-collection-processes-have-expanded-outside-of-gaming/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2022 22:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=376003 The EULA – aka the wall o’ text that we all blitz past in order to get to play the MMORPG or multiplayer title we just bought – will very often mention that user data is being collected for analytics. But just what is that data being used for? According to a recent article from […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/02/22/how-video-game-player-data-collection-processes-have-expanded-outside-of-gaming/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/20/gdcs-state-of-the-game-industry-nfts-the-metaverse-and-more-than-half-of-game-devs-want-to-unionize/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/20/gdcs-state-of-the-game-industry-nfts-the-metaverse-and-more-than-half-of-game-devs-want-to-unionize/#comments Thu, 20 Jan 2022 20:00:22 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=371545 Ahead of the annual Game Developers Conference, GDC organizers poll industry workers and release it all in a state-of-the-industry wrapper, which has landed in our inboxes today. A few notable stats we’ve pulled out of the doc: More respondents are working on games for PC than for any other platform – twice as many as […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/20/gdcs-state-of-the-game-industry-nfts-the-metaverse-and-more-than-half-of-game-devs-want-to-unionize/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/07/a-look-back-at-the-mmo-and-gaming-science-topics-of-2021/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/07/a-look-back-at-the-mmo-and-gaming-science-topics-of-2021/#comments Fri, 07 Jan 2022 20:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=364609 It’s now become a long-running tradition on Massively OP to track science stories that track with online gaming and MMOs – this is our seventh year, in fact! Last year, we noted that our pile of such stories was smaller than usual thanks to COVID, and I fear 2021 wasn’t any better. Perhaps the best […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/07/a-look-back-at-the-mmo-and-gaming-science-topics-of-2021/feed/ 2 https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/07/richard-bartles-new-book-seeks-to-intersect-theological-thought-and-mmorpg-design/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/07/richard-bartles-new-book-seeks-to-intersect-theological-thought-and-mmorpg-design/#comments Fri, 07 Jan 2022 18:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=369850 If you’re new to our genre, first of all welcome, and second of all you should be familiar with Dr. Richard A. Bartle, a pioneer who helped develop MUD1, inspired a gamer type test that bears his name, and has written about the design and creation of MMOs on several occasions, the most important of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/07/richard-bartles-new-book-seeks-to-intersect-theological-thought-and-mmorpg-design/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2021/11/16/playable-worlds-raph-koster-explains-how-feedback-loops-can-create-unexpected-results/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/11/16/playable-worlds-raph-koster-explains-how-feedback-loops-can-create-unexpected-results/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2021 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=362665 What’s a feedback loop? And, more importantly, why should MMO players care about them? According to Playable Worlds’ Raph Koster, this part of game systems is more influential in how titles are developed than you might think. Speaking with Game Thinking TV, Koster explained how feedback loops affect ways we interact with technology and computers. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/11/16/playable-worlds-raph-koster-explains-how-feedback-loops-can-create-unexpected-results/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2021/10/22/lawful-neutral-managing-toxicity-in-the-mmo-industry/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/10/22/lawful-neutral-managing-toxicity-in-the-mmo-industry/#comments Fri, 22 Oct 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=349239 When I’m playing games, I make a lot of use of the reporting function. If I see a moonkin zerg farming a spot in World of Warcraft, I’ll stop and report as many as I can. If I see toxic chat in an MMO or things I think would be offensive to me or others, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/10/22/lawful-neutral-managing-toxicity-in-the-mmo-industry/feed/ 15