Recent content by mszv

The game has to be what I call "believable", with its own internal logic and rules. Otherwise you can't immerse yourself in the virtual world or enjoy the game. The game world has to be a virtual place that it makes sense to be in. Of course time and space are compressed, athere have to...

The people in a company doing QA are different from volunteer beta testers. I thought most volunteer beta testers who don't work for the game company or are part of a testing service - I thought they played for free. It seems to me that there are several kinds of beta tests. There's the...

I don't understand why blasting someone with a machine gun is considered mature gameplay, but cooking or anything to do with fashion is not. Is it because there is a weapon? Look, I like casting my spells, wacking a sword and fighting the undead as much as the next person (not into guns)...

I realize it's tough to mix story with gameplay, but I'm not giving up on story. A good story, and interesting characters - it's what I remember about games. Note to self - I've got to play more Bioware games! I'm more of a fantasy MMORPGer myself, but I am interested in Bioware's upcoming...

Oh games expanding their reach to more different sorts of people - I want that because I want to see more people like me into gaming. Hardcore games are fine, intense shooters (so not me) are fine, games where you engage in combat are fine (I play MMORPGs) - I'm glad they are there, for other...

I consider myself to be a gamer, but I've never fit the definition of "hardcore" gamer. I don't fit the standard demographic. I'm not an action gamer, though I'm going to see if I can make it through Assassin's Creed, really appealing game. I started out with adventure games on the PC and...

What a great idea - expanding both game content and gameplay. Romance is fine, but, more than the idea of "romance", I like the idea of doing something different, in a game. If it can be done on the Nintendo DS, I don't see why it can't be done on other platforms. What a lovely idea -...

Great article, Shamus, and I agree with you. I think making things difficult for griefers should be part of the game design. Also, design for MMOs is ongoing - if something is not working, that doesn't mean that it has to not work forever. On spawn camping - looks like a design problem...

This helps me to understand what's going on. People think of online games in different ways. Some people think of an online world as a world where they can be annoying to people (I'm putting it mildly) "just because". Perhaps they think of it as part of gameplay - taunting someone in a pick...

I'm amazed at how accepting the people in the interview were to griefing, and how some of them were fine with what one of them called "griefing" another person - as an example, stomping on another low level person after they got to be high level, because "someone did it to them". The...

Having seen my share of "witch hunts" in forums, I'm uncomfortable with making a public spectacle of anyone, even a griefer. I've seen mob rule, and it's not pretty. I also think the author forgets about psychology. If you make a sport of, for want of a better word "torturing" someone, no...