Filed under: Massively Interviews

Making it as an MMO blogger: The community manager interviews part 2

by Shawn Schuster Feb 5th 2010 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively Interviews

If you enjoyed our community management feature from yesterday, we present you with part 2!

What level of honesty should bloggers have regarding the benefits and flaws of your game in balancing the interests of the readers and the interests of your company?

David Bass: Bloggers should always be honest. But they should also be fair. Yes, game X might have some issues, but is the company consistently working to improve the game? Are you seeing excellent communication from the team? No MMO is perfect, that's for certain, but in addition to learning where our flaws are, we're also interested to learn what we're doing right. Bloggers aren't there to cater to us as a company, and if your blog is heading in that direction, most readers will notice that and may choose to shy away from it. If you stick to being honest on your blog, that's what will get the company to notice you.

Making it as an MMO blogger: An interview with top community managers

by Shawn Schuster Feb 4th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively Interviews

Ahh, that eternal debate about what differentiates a gaming blogger from a gaming journalist. We could go on and on about specifics on both sides, but the fact is, we all have the same goals in mind: writing about what we love.

Ravious at Kill Ten Rats approached us with an idea he's been working on for a few months involving MMO bloggers and their relationship with community managers. We thought this was a brilliant idea as a valuable hub of information for MMO bloggers, and offered to help him get it kick-started. So we sent off his questions to nine of the top community managers in the industry to get their take on how bloggers can establish and grow a favorable working relationship with them. With so much information here, we broke it into two parts: one today and the conclusion tomorrow. Follow along for their answers to part one!

Massively interviews PoxNora: Major updates and a website revamp

by Kyle Horner Feb 3rd 2010 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Patches, Free-to-play, Massively Interviews

It's been far too long since we first had the pleasure of introducing readers to PoxNora. So long, in fact, that we contacted SOE to see about speaking with the good people in Tucson, AZ about their strategy game that incorporates card collecting, online persistence and progression mechanics into a delightful cocktail of an online game.

There's a lot of changes coming to PoxNora, changes that for the first time will be revealed in this interview with SOE Community Manger Tony "RadarX" Jones. A new website, a new Rune Manager, a new Champions stat system, new maps and hints at the future of PoxNora are just a few of the topics covered beyond the break.

Did we mention all these updates are coming within the next few weeks? Oh, we've also got shiny imagery.

Massively's Black Prophecy Q&A: Mission Systems

by James Egan Feb 1st 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Interviews, New titles, PvP, Quests, PvE, Massively Interviews, Black Prophecy

Massively has been following the development of the sci-fi MMO Black Prophecy very closely, and was pleased that the title's developer Reakktor Media wanted to do a series of focused Q&As with us on several aspects of the game. Our last such Q&A started at the beginning with character creation, but in our second installment of the Black Prophecy interview series we discussed the game's mission design. To that end, we posed some questions to Lorenz Dames, the Lead Game Designer on Black Prophecy.

Lorenz explained a great deal about how Reakktor is approaching solo content vs. group-oriented gameplay. He also told us how Reakktor Media is merging the completion of mission objectives with dogfighting your fellow players through PvP missions, where other players will try to counter your efforts to complete goals. Our interview should provide Black Prophecy fans with a solid overview of the game's mission design, which will be an essential aspect of the sci-fi MMO's gameplay.

Gallery: Black Prophecy Gallery

Massively interviews All Points Bulletin's Chris Collins and EJ Moreland

by Kyle Horner Jan 26th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: New titles, All Points Bulletin, Crime, Massively Interviews

If you're anywhere as excited as us for All Points Bulletin you'll be happy to know we had the chance to ask Lead Designer EJ Moreland and Community Manager Chris Collins a bevy of questions, which they answered with supreme openness.

We've got the scoop on all sorts of topics, from Realtime Worlds' stance on community interaction, whether or not the game will have official forums, content updates post-launch and plenty more. We hope you enjoy reading the interview as much as we did conducting it!

CEO of SecurePlay discusses account security

by Rubi Bayer Jan 18th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Interviews, News items, Massively Interviews

Anyone even slightly in touch with the MMO community is aware that account security has been an even bigger concern than usual for the past few months. While it's more in the forefront of everyone's mind these days, it's important to remember that this isn't a brand new problem. It's very important for people on both sides of a game -- both the player side and the development side -- to work to make player accounts as safe as possible.

Steven Davis, CEO of SecurePlay and the mind behind PlayNoEvil, has been watching the events with interest and spent some time recently talking to us about his take on the situation as well as overall account security. Follow along after the jump and see what he had to say.

A quick Star Trek Online PvP interview with Jack Emmert

by Kyle Horner Jan 11th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, Star Trek Online, Massively Interviews

We recently had the opportunity to ask Cryptic's Jack Emmert a few questions regarding Star Trek Online and its PvP elements. With the looming open beta (tomorrow!) and similarly imminent February 2nd launch, we consider ourselves lucky to get some fairly definitive answers on topics like the game's Cryptic Store and the Klingon faction's future -- including if deeper customization is in the wings or not.

It's a quick read, but with less than 24 hours until open beta kick starts, that's probably a good thing. We wouldn't want to take away from anyone's Star Trek movie marathon, which is obviously what everyone is doing the day before, right? Khan!

An interview with Allods Online: CBT4 and beyond

by Shawn Schuster Jan 11th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Massively Interviews, Allods Online

Allods Online has certainly gained some interest in the last few months since their closed beta began. Even if you've never played the game, you can't help but drool over the screenshots and videos we've been posting.

So what's the secret to their preliminary success? We contacted Darren Allarde, Associate Producer for Gala-Net Inc., and asked him a few questions. Okay, so we asked him more than a few, but we can't help it if we're excited to learn more about this amazing game! We learn why there is no mini-map, when mounts will be implemented, what Closed Beta Test 4 will bring and much more.

Part one of this interview can be found after the jump below, with a second part coming soon.

Massively's Black Prophecy Q&A: Character Creation

by James Egan Dec 19th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, New titles, Massively Interviews, Black Prophecy

Black Prophecy is one of the hotly anticipated games on the horizon that sci-fi MMO fans have been wanting to hear more about. Until recently though, Reakktor Media wasn't quite ready to reveal many of the specifics of what the game will offer. We've known that Black Prophecy's gameplay will differ from titles in the genre like EVE Online -- with Reakktor's game a bit more accessible in terms of learning curve and with a more dynamic feel to piloting space ships. Plus, if the screenshots and video footage are an accurate indication, Black Prophecy will be visually stunning as well.

Business-wise, things have recently changed for the better at Reakktor Media and the Black Prophecy project is once again moving ahead at full speed. More info about this title is on the way as well; Reakktor was kind enough to agree to do a series of focused Q&As at Massively about various facets of the game. Over time, this series will cover topics ranging from Black Prophecy's modification system to details about how players will build space stations. Since we're going to look at some of the fundamental aspects of Black Prophecy, it makes sense that we'd begin this series where the players themselves will begin -- at character creation.

In our first Q&A in this series, Massively spoke with Jens Kortboyer, Lead Artist on Black Prophecy, who walked us through the design decisions Reakktor made in creating the look of the Genides and Tyi characters, as well as the visual choices players will have when starting out.

Gallery: Black Prophecy Gallery

Bill Roper on Champions' free weekends, nemesis and content updates

by Kyle Horner Dec 8th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, News items, Massively Interviews, Champions Online

With two content updates behind the game and 2010 looming just over the horizon, we spoke briefly with Bill Roper on a multitude of Champions Online topics. Specifically, you'll find discussion on Cryptic's free weekends, Nemesis Confrontation and even a hint at future updates in the coming weeks and months.

So follow along after the jump for our talk with the executive producer, and be sure to keep up-to-date with the latest news on the game through our Champions Online page.

Massively's interview with Mythos: gearing up for launch

by Shawn Schuster Dec 1st 2009 at 12:00AM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Interviews, New titles, Mythos, Massively Interviews

Today marks another milestone for the almost-forgotten Mythos MMO. As we mentioned a few months ago, the Diablo-esque game has been resurrected and we can now report that it has been picked up by Redbana US. New closed beta registration was started in August and we're well on our way to actually getting this game launched. With this new information, we assembled some questions (thanks to former Managing Editor, Michael Zenke for most of these questions) for the Mythos team on this special occasion.

So the milestone at this stage of the game's life is a newly-revamped website, just released and announced today. Check it out for a teaser video, lore entries, their brand new forums and much more!

Developer round table: MMO betas

by Kyle Horner Nov 30th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, Massively Interviews

Is beta testing something of a mystery to you? Do you wonder about the how and why of a developer's beta process?

Well, you're in for a treat! We recently got in touch with several MMO developers to ask them each a series of questions about MMO beta testing. In this feature you'll find opinions from Cryptic Studios, Fallen Earth LLC, Mythic Entertainment, Turbine, Runic Games and Hi-Rez Studios. It's a four-page long read, but we think you'll find lots to enjoy within those pages. For commenting, hit up page four -- we can't wait to read your thoughts!