According to Mike Smith, of Yahoo! Games, World of Warcraft may just be the largest corporation on the planet. Many of you, of course, are looking at that statement and quietly laughing to yourself, but does it actually hold any merit? When you look at WoW from afar you’ll notice that it shares very little with corporations. In fact, much of the article seems to point WoW in the direction as being compared to a nation, as opposed to a corporation. So where does this logic come from?

Well, as Mike states, you can actually invest in the game from a character side of things. This basically means that when you create a character on a WoW server you are actually investing time into what could become a potentially profitable margin. Look at it this way: the World of Warcraft is the largest and most successful pay to play MMORPG ever. As such there is a high demand for the game and for the game’s commodities. Even now you can go to any number of websites and buy gold with dollars, euros, or pounds. This means that the WoW gold actually has a worth value amongst regular society. So, when you are out farming for gold in the Burning Steppes you are actually earning, essentially, money. Anything that can be converted into money as as good as money after all.

However, that said, the article faulters on actually convincing me that WoW is more of a corporation than a nation. You see, in WoW, the players are more like citizens. They live in a world and pay a certain amount per month (just like citizens who pay taxes every year). Also like a nation, the WoW community makes and sells things to each other; just like the grocery store down the street, who gets it’s vegetables from farmers a hundred miles away, will sell you those same vegetables. In a corporation, the entire workforce is making/producing items to sell to an outside entity. The World of Warcraft players are not selling anything to people who don’t play. Based on these observations, you’d be hard pressed in convincing anybody that WoW is a corporation…

Regardless of what WoW actually is (corporation, nation, game), the article is still a fascinating read. I urge you to check it out and to comment back here with your own ideas and thoughts on the matter. Is it completely silly to be comparing WoW to any of these extra-bodily organizations? You tell me…

Thanks for reading!

You can check out the full article HERE.

There are two major pulling factors in my life right now (outside of work): my girlfriend and videogames. I may just be a sucker for pretty eyes, but when it comes down to it my girlfriend always comes first. If she wants to watch a movie and I want to play a game we will watch a movie. Call me a romantic if you must, but I would rather spend more time with her than a videogame. Come to think of it that is probably why she puts up with my gaming so much. She knows that she comes first and that it works out.

Unfortunately, not all couples are like my girlfriend and I. Many relationships have broken apart because of videogames, namely MMORPGs. Of course, it’s not always as simple as “put your girlfriend first.” Some people just don’t like videogames and if you are in a relationship with that type of person then you are definitely going to have an uphill battle in managing the two of them. It just so happens that my girlfriend is also a gamer, she just didn’t realize it until we met.

Believe it or not, a lot of girls do enjoy gaming. Some more than others, obviously (not everybody is going to take to videogames, guys included), but, in general, most people can find some sort of enjoyment out of them. When my girlfriend and I first started dating she only liked playing word games and Tetris. Now, however, we play all sorts of games together, including Pirates of the Burning Sea. Hell, she is even a higher rank than me! The trick was playing the games with her and making it a cooperative effort. Games are typically more fun with your friends and the same holds true with your girlfriend.

Bottomline, if you really like your MMOs then your chances of having a stable relationship are probably going to depend on your girlfriend’s willingness to accept, and maybe even participate in them. I’m not advocating putting your games before your girlfriend, but I also won’t advocate you giving up your favorite hobby for a girl either. Like most things in a relationship, compromise is the key to success. Even in videogames…

Oh and wear deodorant.

P.S. The girl photo’d is not my girlfriend.

There are a whole lot of MMOs out there today. WoW, EQ2, EVE, Final Fantasy XI… the list goes on and on and on. Of course, an MMORPG is nothing without it’s players. Which begs the question: what do you do when you can’t find anybody on your server to play with?

This may not seem like a huge issue with some of the aforementioned MMOs but with many others it is a considerable cause for concern. Games like Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Matrix Online, and even City of Heroes (some servers) can suffer from a severe lack of players. I don’t know about you, but when I can’t find anybody decent to play with on my current MMO of choice I usually abandon the cause. There is no reason to play, let alone pay to play, these games when you aren’t getting the most out of it (i.e. multiplayer). Never fear though, by following a few precautionary steps you can very easily avoid wasting money and time on games that have too little of a population.

1. Do your research. If you read about any possible financial trouble for the company that usually doesn’t spell anything good about the population levels for the game.
2. Starting near the beginning of a game’s life will usually ensure that a healthy population will be around for at least a little while. Case and point, City of Heroes had a much larger population back when it launched as opposed to today, as is typical of most MMOs these days.
3. Friends help. Can’t find anybody to play with in-game? Drag some of your buddies in with you!
4. Finally, the rule of thumb is that if an MMO is over five years of age chances are there won’t be a solid “newbie” population to play with. More than likely everybody will be at the higher levels at this point. There are servers on WoW that suffer from this.

So there you have it. I’m not trying to keep you guys from playing any specific MMORPGs out there. I am just attempting to help you avoid situations as such. If you are primarily a solo player then disregard this entirely. Just remember, if there is one thing that can ruin an MMORPG faster than buggy gameplay it is the community, and when there is no community there is no game.

Thanks for reading.

From Starwars Galaxies to Lord of the Rings Online, MMORPGs have allowed players to visit and explore some of the most famous fictional locations every created. MMORPGs created from an IP (intellectual property) that is beloved by millions of fans can be difficult for developers as they have to live up to fan expectations, but done right it creates an atmosphere that engulfs the player into that fantasy world.

For me, the first time this happened was with I played Starwars Galaxies and arrived on Tatooine. Like most players the first place I searched for was the cantina at Mos Eisley. I wanted to walk in and experience the same feelings that Luke Skywalker felt when he walked in and I wasn’t disappointed. On my first visit there were musicians playing for tips, bounty hunters resting, as well as a slew of other characters all visiting one of the most famous locations in the Starwars Universe. I swear, I think some people only played SWG to hangout at the cantina. Sadly I only played SWG for 3-4 months and didn’t get to visit many other famous locations as the game was seriously lacking and I decided to move on to something else.

Then there was Lord of the Rings Online. I really have to say they outdid themselves with the locations. Walking through the front gates of Bree for the first time felt like I’ve already been there. I knew that a bit down the road on the curve would be the Prancing Pony, the inn that Frodo and friends stayed at and if I traveled east I would eventually get to Weathertop and then Rivendell. Being a huge LOTR fan, it’s hard not to get excited when visiting one of these locations for the first time. And for those of you interested, yes I’m still playing LOTRO, just not much lately.

There are others like The Matrix Online, Age of Conan, World of Warcraft and I’m sure more that give players the opprotunity to visit famous locations based on movies, books or past video games. It’s really a cool feeling when you first visit a location that you already know about and you get that “I know this place” feeling.

There I said it… It had to be said and now I’ve gone and done it. No matter how many times Blizzard tries to adjust, tweak, alter, or change the druid class it will always be broken. Why? Because the fundamental principles on which the class is based are broken as well. In an MMORPG you simply can’t have a un-hybrid class such as the druid.

Before all you druid fanatics jump down my throat, allow me to say this: I played as a druid for nearly the entirety of my WoW career. I leveled him all the way to 70 (my one and only character above level 20) before I was done with the game for good (Naturehooves whoo!). I am not a hater of the class, but rather a critic of the way the class was mis-managed during the early stages of the development of the game.

There are many successful druids out there. By saying the class is broken I am not implying that it is also unplayable. However, that said the class also can’t ever be fully realized in the structure that Blizzard created for it. Created upon the theory that you can play as either a rogue, warrior, healer, or mage depending on what talent tree you decide to sink your points into, the druid arguably became one of the weakest classes in the game very early on in the development. While Blizzard decided to give the druid a bunch of “off-abilities” to make it mime a certain class they could never fully allow the class to become as powerful as any of those same classes. As such, druids are usually relegated to being an off-tank, off-healer, or off-dps.

Of course, this all sounds fine to an average MMO gamer. Sure it sucks that the druid won’t ever be as powerful as one of the mimed classes but it makes up for it in the fact that it can technically play as any of the mimed classes through its various shape shifting forms. This is what most players would logically think… they are wrong.

The druid is not a hybrid class, but rather, a class that can assume the role of whatever the person/party needs for the time. This all largely depends on two things: gear, and talents. Without the right combination of each you aren’t going to do a very good job at whatever class you decide to mime. Hell, even with the best equipment and perfect talent spec you’ll only be as good as an average person of the mimed classes. Of course, if you gear/talent up for one specific off-class you are also completely and totally gimping yourself for all of the others. Afterall, bear druids do not make good moonkins…

I haven’t played the game in a while. In fact it’s been many a month since I have wandered the green pastures outside of ThunderBluff. Having said this I do not know exactly how the druid class plays anymore. I keep up with the updates and haven’t noticed any spectacular alterations that would change this fundamental flaw, but maybe there is something you only notice when you are actually playing the game. In anycase, I stand by what I said: World of Warcraft’s druid class is broken.

Oh… please, for the love of god, no “learn2play” type of comments. I was probably one of the most successful druids on my server and when I played the game I knew the class better than the back of my own hand.

Single player RPGs are few and far in between these days. Even those RPGs that do come out, most now have online game play, which it seems is where gamers want to be. So what’s an RPG do? Unfortunately there isn’t much that can be done. The online revolution is in full swing and has been for some time. Gamers not only want an immersive storyline, but they want to be able to interact with real people while playing and single player RPGs just can’t deliver.

Since Microsoft launched Xbox Live on its console, casual non PC gamers have had the opportunity for the first time to game online with friends and more importantly strangers. With its success Sony has followed with online play and even Nintendo is joining in.

Not only does it seem that gamers want real interaction, but there really isn’t much incentive for studios to make a single player RPG. RPG’s are massive undertakings to create, requiring years of work by huge teams, unlike FPS where you can just pump out a sequel ever year. No, RPGs need characters with voices, thousands of quests, a crafting system, training systems, as well has dozens of cities and towns that all must seem to be alive. With all the work to create an RPG, why NOT make it a MMORPG, where you can generate a stream of revenue for years to come? There are still some very succesful single player RPGs out there, but I wonder how long will it be before they too cross over to become MMORPGs.

There is a lot to be said for user generated content these days. It has basically become the king of the internet, actually. People generally like to create their own stuff, and see their ideas come to life (as long as it’s not too hard to achieve). So why are MMOs still so reluctant to give us the same freedom that websites like MySpace or Facebook have, or games like Unreal Tournament and Oblivion allow?

One of the main ideas behind the MMORPG is to have a persistent world. A world where players can interact with other players and the world will generally react back to them as well, typically through quest lines. For example, if you kill x boss you will then restore y king back to power, or some such nonsense like that. The world will progress through you. An interesting concept, but one not without its own flaws.  One of the flaws being that this does not allow for any sort of user generated content. My character can complete quests on behalf of NPCs, however he can’t make his own quest. He can live through the pre-set storyline, but he can’t forge his own story. An interesting problem…

Of course, that’s not to say nobody has tried. Today you can log onto Second Life and proceed to make all sorts of things (as illustrated by the castle above). However, Second Life also doesn’t really have a story line. You can make things but they really have no affect on the world because Second Life isn’t really a world, not in the same sense that WoW is. Another example is the Saga of Ryzom, while it doesn’t exist anymore, the game once provided a content update that allowed for users to create their own stories and scenarios. Unfortunately, I never took the time to test it out, but it is definitely something that sounded interesting.

MMORPGs are much like the internet was 10 years ago. The provide a function, and are generally liked by a good deal of people. However, they aren’t mainstream yet. The World of Warcraft is a huge game, but it could be bigger. As people slowly move toward more and more user generated content websites they are going to start looking for that same functionality within other parts of their lives, including MMORPGs. While it may sound like a challenge now, it’s gotta happen eventually. Nothing escapes consumer apathy. If you give people the tools to make their own toys, you’ll be much more popular because of it.

Bring on the user-generated MMORPGs.

There is a little known MMORPG in the works over at Funcom. As I am sure everybody knows at this point, they are the same company who is currently developing the extremely hyped Age of Conan MMO, which in all fairness does look absolutely awesome. So what about their other project?

Announced last May, The Secret World is planned to be an action-packed MMO filled with mystery, intrigue, and horror. No telling yet what kind of horror, but one could assume, based off the concept art above, that it will be the same type of horror that can be found the famous Arkham Horror board game. That is to say: other worldly monsters, Cthulu, possibly vampires and lycan.

Unfortunately, there is no additional information on the game and any concept art is buried deep within a bunch of websites and puzzles. Not really worth the effort, if you ask me. I’ll be waiting for the real deal screenshots. However, for those who absolutely can’t  wait to hear about more of this MMO, they do have a forum set up, which includes a post about some very interesting articles, such as:

• Mention of the “Illuminati”
• Has something to do with the Knights Templar
• Possibility this has something to do with the infamous year 2012
• London, New York, and Shanghai are all destroyed?

It’s all very fascinating stuff and it gives me hope that we will soon be enjoying an occult MMORPG. Of course, as there is still a lot of mystery shrouding this game anything could change. We will definitely be keeping an eye on this one.

Puzzle can be found HERE.

Concept art can be found HERE. (Don’t click if you want to solve the puzzles yourself)

Forum can be found HERE.

With Starwars Galaxies not living up to everyones expectations and a Startrek MMO currently in the works, its not surprising that the next big space MMO would come from Battlestar Galactica. The announcement comes just a few days before the 4th season of Battlestar Galactica kicks off this Friday. I don’t know about you guys, but I love Battlestar Galactica. Without a doubt it’s the best Scifi show ever and probably one of the best shows in any genre of all time.

But enough of the show, Auran Games, creaters of Fury and the Battlestar Galactica flight sim game, will be working on this new MMO which will be published by Sierra Online. The game is currently in the very very early stages of development, but I was able find some info about it by speaking to Greg Lane, CEO of Auran Games.

The game will take place during the first Cylon War,which makes sense considering it would be pretty hard to do a MMO where there’s only 50,000 people and your stuck on a few dozen ships. Humans will be the only playable race, so if you were hoping to be a Cylon your out of luck. Thats basically all the info I was able to get, but I’ll be keeping in touch to provide updates.

Be careful fellow MMO gamers, Blizzard is on the prowl for some gullibles again this morning. Every year, on April Fool’s Day, Blizzard comes out with some awesome announcement of what they are implementing in this game, or that game. Does nobody remember the wisps?!

Of course, today, being April Fool’s Day, is no different and, as such, they have come out with a few awesome announcements in the hopes of suckering one of you faithfuls out there. Fear not though! We at MMOCrunch are here to keep you from straying to far and to keep your feet firmly on the ground. No developer will best us! Here are Blizzard’s “announcements” for today:

1. The Bard Hero Class. I almost wish this one was true, considering the lander page is so awesome. Who doesn’t want a talent tree titled “Punk Rock” after all? I loves me some Bad Religion. But alas, this one is a very obvious joke.There won’t actually be a bard class in WoW.
2. World of Warcraft Molten Core Console Edition. Are you console gamers ready to get your game on with some WoW? Well you had best keep waiting because there is nothing coming from Blizzard anytime now. Another April Fool’s Joke from Blizzard strikes again! I must admit, it’d be more convincing if they didn’t make any 8-bit graphics.
3. Tauren Marines in Starcraft 2. I think… this one actually might be real. Seriously… Are you kidding me of course it’s not real! Blizzard is a LIAR! As cool as the lander page, and even the shiny graphics and gameplay videos are this one is most definitely a joke to be played on you. Shame on you Blizzard, shame on you! We bovine-aficionados bid you good day sir!
4. Diablo 2 Loot Pinata. Are you ready to have a portable, lootable Lord of Terror? Well get ready because this holiday season Blizzard is NOT going to actually be selling this. As cool and hilarious as my next birthday party would be with it Blizzard is just trying to pull a nasty prank on my expense. Never again!

Well that’s it… this year. Remember Blizzard looks for new prey each and every year. Gullibles travel in packs so make sure if you find any to inform them of Blizzard’s evil ways. Also, while Blizzard is one of the kings of April Fool’s Day be wary of other smaller companies attempting to pull the same shenanigans.

Heed my warning…