Tag: free-to-play

Launching today is my first entry in Massively’s newest opinion column, called Why I Play, in which we tell you… well, why we play certain games, as it says on the tin. I chose City of Heroes first, since it’s one of those mid-2000s games that’s had some staying power but is far from being the new shiny, and hey,…

Most of the reviews I’ve read of Glitch have been relentlessly trendy, evoking poetry, trying to find deep meaning in a Flash game that involves tickling pigs and drinking cocktails and wise-cracking with magic rocks. Beau even called the game hipsterish, but honestly, I don’t see it. It’s a cute game. It’s a crafting sandbox. It’s what FarmVille would be…

Lord of the Rings Online is one of my favorite MMOs. Hobbits rule. I love my pony; I love farming (real farming) and crafting dyes and weapons and food things that actually sell on the auction hall. I have a lovely house at 1 Wending Way, Pearbridge, The Shire. I counseled Frodo and took a screenshot of my character dancing…

I spent last weekend trying to decide the best way to end it all — in Star Wars Galaxies, that is, which we learned will be shutting down in less than six months. Star Wars Galaxies was and is a brilliant sandbox game, which I loudly proclaimed in “The Uncle Owen Paradox” Soapbox rant column just two days before I…

I want free-to-play games to succeed. The F2P model allows small, untried, risky game companies to produce small, untried, risky games, widening and introducing new ideas and challengers to a market otherwise dominated by slow, lumbering AAA titles that have little incentive to change the system. They also allow players to sample the game before plunking down $50 and finding…

That’s how my husband said I should feel at last night’s Marvel Universe Online event in San Francisco. He meant it as a compliment! Of course, I’d rather be Inara, but I suppose I’m going to have to settle for Kaylee in my big floofy maternity dress, surrounded by geeky dudes all talking shop, several of whom (shout out to…

During our trip to Arizona over the summer, Paul and I stayed at the Ritz Carlton at Dove Mountain, a resort and spa that was every bit as glamorous as it sounds. Because of that glamour, I wasn’t quite prepared for the nickel-and-diming that goes on at joints that charge $800 per night for a basic room. The parking lot…