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Today we return to a debate that simply will not die. Gaming blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun -- a very smart blog that is a combination of progressive and traditionalist, if that makes any sense at all -- felt the need to defend itself after it previewed Warhammer Online and made numerous comparisons to World of Warcraft. It even inserted a WoW screenshot as a joke.

If you've been following this debate (which already reached a raging napalmic inferno of internet vitriol when Richard Bartle compared the games in an interview with us) then you know that RPS was just asking for trouble. And trouble it got, in the order of more than 200 comments.

The latest development: RPS blogger Alec Meer wrote a personal, diplomatic, and even impassioned post in which he attempted both to defend the comparison and to defend WAR in the face of said comparison. He also tried to explain why the connection infuriates WAR fans so much. The money quote: "Telling a WAR player that his game is similar to WoW is like telling a goth that he's emo." Needless to say, it's worth a read.

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	Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

In yesterday's meaty comment discussion that followed the news about Blizzard president Mike Morhaime's admission that Age of Conan stole away some World of Warcraft users, one Massively reader (Heraclea) brought up a very valid reason for leaving WoW -- "performance anxiety" in the endgame.

WoW is obviously not the only game with this problem; pretty much any MMO with a big raid focus (and maybe some others too) can be a bit too intimidating and demanding for folks who just want to play games to relax. This might be one essence of the hardcore/casual divide. Maybe hardcore types play to excel in competition, while casual players play just to unwind. Or maybe the problem is more complicated than that.

Let's get to the bottom of this! Are you turned off by raids because you get performance anxiety? If so, why do you think it happens to you? And for extra points (cause we totally keep track; okay, not really!): is there a way games can be designed differently so the endgame isn't so draining?

You see it all the time in forums and comments. Someone will come out against a game mechanic, or class, or quest, comparing it unfavorably to a different (and presumably better) game. Someone who loves the maligned game jumps in to defend it, frequently attacking the other game in retaliation. Then it's the initial attacker's turn to defend, rinse and repeat, ad nauseam.

After the dust has settled, however, is either party any the wiser for the exchange? Two extremes of opinion typically tend to cancel each other out, either side espousing their own beliefs so vehemently that no middle ground can be attained. In the end, does it really matter if someone else thinks your game sucks? Do you bother to defend your favorite MMO?

I'm serious as a raidleader on progression night-- if you haven't left a comment over on this WoW Insider Dell notebook giveaway, you better queue up and do it right now, because today's your last chance (the whole thing ends at noon). And if you have left a few already (the contest has been going for eight days), go leave your last one now (on that post, not on this post-- all this post gets you is on Santa's naughty list) because you get to post one per day.

Right smack dab at noon Eastern, WoW Insider's Dan O'Halloran is going to close the comments and choose one lucky winner to take home the whole package-- notebook, WoW schwag, FigurePrints figure, and those Blizzard beta keys. And if you did enter, check your email in the next 48 hours, because that's how he's going to make it the luckiest day of your life.

Yes, even luckier than that Tuesday you heard school got closed, and Blizzard decided not to do maintenance so you could play all day, and you discovered a whole six-pack of soda in the back of the fridge that you didn't even know you had, and the donut truck crashed outside your house, and the donut guy came knocking on the door asking you to help them clean up the donuts before they all went bad. Even luckier than that.

Do you all love this new site or what? We love it (we're biased, of course, but still), and one of the things we love most about it is that we've got a brand new, state-of-the-art commenting system. If you've ever commented on Joystiq, you'll probably have it all figured out already, but if not, here's a short guide to get you up and commenting (and moderating-- oh, the joys of comment moderation) with the best of them.

Your first comment

You've read something interesting, you've got an opinion on it, and you want to comment. Great! Click on the comments link below the post to go to the comment entry form, put in your name and email under "New Users" (your email is only used for verification-- we'll never spam you, ever, and the email is never shown publicly), look over the options listed and choose your preferences, and start typing. Then hit "Add your comments," and... your comment won't appear just yet.

We'll send you an email to verify that you are who you say you are, and then when that email shows up, you click a link inside it, and your comment will appear. There may be a short delay, but sit tight, it'll show up. Congrats! You made your first comment! But getting that email has another very important purpose, and that is that it will help you...