Random Dialogue: The Past is Prologue (Part II)
Dialogue, 2004-09-20

For the past six month or so, I've been working with a group of writers on an O'Reilly Books project which will happily be published next month. The book, Gaming Hacks, is their latest in the Hacks series of books. These books look at a particular topic in detail via a large number of short information heavy articles on the subject. Thanks to that writing gig, last week I was offered the position of sectional editor at the Slashdot Games subsite, and as of this weekend I've already had stories posted under my other frequent pseudonym "Zonk".

Thus, I'll be moving on to Slashdot Games from my position here at MMORPGDot. I'll be very sad to leave for many reasons. The RPGDot and MMORPGDot folks are incredibly kind, intelligent folks, and it's been a pleasure working with them. Ekim and Hyrrix, the old guard of MMORPGDot, over the course of writing here have been especially excellent to work with. They've been professionals through and through, and were always very understanding when a column or review was a little late in getting published. Moriendor, Dhruin, and the news posting crew deserve mad respect for their work as well. Without their work the site wouldn't be the dynamic, up-to-date news reference that it is.

In writing here I've had a chance to see the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to Massive Gaming and online spaces. We've seen Mythica, Dragon Empires, Warhammer Online, and the second UO all cancelled. The spate of new MMOGs being announced has slowed to a trickle, with those not cancelled often being delayed. Only a few games currently on the block are looking good to reach retail release, such as DDO, EQ2, and World of Warcraft. I've also had the chance to check out some truly awful worlds, such as the sub-par Endless Ages and the joke of a massive space "There". There's parent company, since my review, has changed it's name and begun to look elsewhere with the technology they've built. The Sims Online, a game I've thankfully never had to review, is the only Electronic Arts massive space still out there. Lineage 2 got off the ground, but the US market seems to be (sensibly) leery of a pking robot fest inhabited by roaming PCBang gangs. Earth and Beyond crashed and burned after its subscriber base fell below a certain line. Horizons: Empires of Istaria got out of the gate, but thanks to gross mismanagement it looks like that game is going to hit the dirt as well.

On the other hand, there have been some really uplifting moments in the last year as well. City of Heroes launched in one of the most successful and stratospheric moments in MMOG history. It doesn't seem to have lost momentum as it moves from one successful update or feature enhancement to another. NCSoft in general seems to be doing well, despite the fact that it's other launch this year doesn't seem to have the appeal of the first Lineage. They have three more massive games on the burner right now. There were several expansions this year, for the likes of EQ, FFXI, DAoC, and soon even Star Wars Galaxies. Sony Online's customer service reputation really began to rebound after taking the history making step of publicly soliciting community input into their gameworld. The results of the Guild get-together had a direct impact on the Omens of War expansion, something unheard of until this point. Finally, the World of Warcraft beta opened. If anything, the Beta test and Stress test seem to be building anticipation for the game even more than a hush-hush development might have.

When I originally started the column, I was hoping I'd get a chance to talk more about game design. As the months have gone by it's been harder and harder to concentrate on that as fascinating things (and a busy RL) have distracted me. In the end, I didn't get to even half the topics I wanted to. Just the same, I'd like to think that I've been able to provide some interesting material to you folks over the past 11 months. One of the most interesting things I've experience working here has been your reactions to stories and things I've written. I've gotten angry, furious, curious, thankful, incredulous, and exasperated letters from you throughout my tenure here, and every one of them made it easier to do the job. If there's one thing I want to say before I head out the door, it's that reader feedback is really what makes this site run. If you like (or dislike) something we write or post, please please please send feedback to one of the number of email addresses or forums we have here on the site. RPGDot and MMORPDot are small families, and it's really easy to make a difference if you just speak up.

With that, I don't have much else to say. Many thanks to reading my sometimes babble, and I hope that I've been able to give you a unique perspective on Massive Gaming during my tenure here. Well Met, stranger.

- Michael "Dialogue" Zenke