Icecrown Citadel coming next patch 3.3. Blizzzard has updated the Euro Wow site with a plethora of information. Everything sounds incredible, finally we get to face the Lich King himself. Here is the quick rundown of what we know at the moment;

Icecrown Citadel will feature a massive five-player dungeon sprawling across three wings of the citadel’s foundation. While the Lich King’s attention is focused on the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade ripping through the front gates, players will be tested as they assist Jaina Proudmoore (Alliance) and Sylvanas Windrunner (Horde) in infiltrating the citadel through an alternate entrance.

An epic quest line will present adventurers with the task of weakening Icecrown Citadel’s forces, requiring that players defeat the challenges in each dungeon wing before venturing into the next one. Normal and Heroic versions of the dungeon will be accessible to players, although each wing will be considered a separate instance; therefore, on Heroic difficulty, each wing will have its own separate lockout timer. All-new rewards — including item level 219 (normal) and level 232 (Heroic) loot — will be offered to those who destroy some of the Lich King’s most formidable allies.

The Forge of Souls

Serving as the first wing in this expansive dungeon, the Forge of Souls will quickly put players to the test of carving through the Scourge stronghold into deeper, more treacherous locations. Jaina will command Alliance forces, and Sylvanas will direct Horde forces. The goal is to ruin the twisted engines known as soul grinders found in this portion of the citadel, and then players can advance — that is, if the Horde and Alliance forces can overcome the foes who confront them.

Bosses

• Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls: An instrument of reckoning, Bronjahm watches over the engines in the Forge of Souls. He must be killed if the soul grinders are to be destroyed.

• The Devourer of Souls: As the chief operator of the engines found in this wing, the Devourer stands guard over the souls stolen by the Lich King.

Pit of Saron

Accessible only to those who have laid waste to the Forge of Souls’ unholy operations, the Pit of Saron will bring Horde and Alliance forces deeper into the Lich King’s domain. Players who venture here will immediately be confronted by the lord of this lair, Scourgelord Tyrannus. But defeating him will not be as easy as it seems. Before they can present a threat to Tyrannus, the adventurers, instructed by their leaders, will need to free enslaved allies who have been trapped by the Scourge. Until that happens, Tyrannus will leave all adversaries to his minions, workers of the citadel’s mines. Perhaps the challenges here will lend clues as to the whereabouts of the Lich King’s private chambers outside of the Frozen Throne, deep within the Halls of Reflection.

Bosses

• Forgemaster Garfrost: A master of Scourge weaponry, the forgemaster hauls stocks of saronite ore and other precious materials to the cold forges where the mechanisms of death are born. With a host of rime weapons and exotic alloys at his disposal, it could get cold in here.

• Krick and Ick: Zombies serve as mindless muscle in the Pit of Saron’s mines, stockpiling metals for Forgemaster Garfrost, and Krick — a devious leper gnome — supervises the operations from atop Ick, Krick’s ghastly means of transportation.

• Scourgelord Tyrannus: Tyrannus is a terrible force who will no doubt demonstrate his powers to those brave enough to enter the Pit of Saron. The scourgelord must die if players hope to make their way into the third and final wing of this dungeon.
  Halls of Reflection

With Jaina and Sylvanas leading the way, adventurers who make it as far as these frigid halls will quickly recognize the weapon that lies ahead: Frostmourne, the corruptive, legendary device of the Lich King himself. The Lich King’s private chambers are within reach, although they may be the death of anyone who ventures there.

Bosses

• Falric and Marwyn: Captains for Arthas Menethil in life, Scourge commanders for the Lich King in death, Falric and Marwyn will be summoned to the Halls of Reflection for one purpose: destroying all intruders.

• The Lich King: Sylvanas, thirsty for vengeance against the corrupted prince who sentenced her to an existence as an undead monstrosity, and Jaina, eager to find a flicker of Arthas’s soul locked somewhere within the Lich King, have brought their hand-picked allies to this final confrontation. Arthas’s true power may only now be discovered. Is there any hope in this mission, or does only death await?

UPDATE: We have run out of Alganon beta keys.  If we get more, we’ll let you know.

Today we are happy to announce  that we are giving away 20 beta keys to the Alganon closed beta.   So if you want a beta key, just leave a comment here with a valid email address and the first 20 people will receive a key.

In order to activate your beta account, please follow these instructions.

Activating your beta key:

1) A free MyAlganon.com account is required to enter your beta key. If you
do not currently have a MyAlganon.com account head to the link below and
create an account. 

http://myalganon.com/account/create

2) Once you have created and activated your MyAlganon.com account head to
link below to enter your beta key to activate it. 

http://www.myalganon.com/myprofile/index/enter-key

3) Once the your beta key is activated, sign into MyAlganon.com and select
the "Beta" link. Follow the instructions on that page to download and
install the Alganon beta client. (The beta link will appear  on
MyAlganon.com only after your beta key has been activated.)

I was perusing the shelves at my favorite game store and had decided I was going to finally buy a game for my Nintendo DS Lite. After much deliberation and some help from the patient staff at MicroCenter I found Chrono Trigger on sale for 19.99. I bought that and a Nerf case for it because I have big clumsy hands, I have dropped my iPod at least 5 times and I don’t think the DS can take that kind of abuse.

I played Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo many, many moons ago and I read good things about the handheld port of this console classic. It brought back fond memories and I feel that Chrono Trigger can stand alongside some of the most recent RPG releases. Chrono is a fun game that simplifies the Japanese RPG without giving up depth or breadth of the storyline. It might not have snazzy graphics but it has enough content to keep even the hardcore RPG player busy. After an hour or so of playing I was content with my purchase and thoutht to myself, “why I didn’t buy it sooner?” One reason is that I often get caught up in the Hype-O-Rama of the new game on the block syndrome that some of you can identify with. It is very easy to get caught up in the “new release” hysteria as you can see from some recent stories surrounding Aion and Champions Online.

There was a Time Machine hiding my storage facility.

Last week I had to stop in storage in search for some old paperwork. After thirty minutes of searching I opened some random box in desperation only two find not one but two Playstation 2’s inside. I was ecstatic because I thought I had sold them to Funcoland (life before gamestop) for new games. After further rummaging I discovered some games that were the most popular titles for that period; Socom 2 and 3, Final Fantasy 7, X, Final Fantasy XI and the original Grand Theft Auto III. They are not worth much selling on Ebay or back to G-stop and that is when it struck me, “If these are cheap then so are a lot of older PS2 titles!” This opened up a whole new avenue of gaming to me, for years I have been strictly MMORPG and PC game only; totally ignoring the console market has saved me from the red ring of death but I have also missed out on many good games. You can say I am trying to catch up with lost time.

Lease or own?

After spending a few hours on Final Fantasy X I found myself exhibiting the same habits as I would play an MMORPG. It was like soloing just without the chat box in the corner; I was micro managing equipment, looking up quest hints and even some grinding for exp. It was then that I was convinced it was time to stop looking forward to the next new, NEW thing that all the game studios are trying to cram down our throat. Instead I am looking for deals, classics and pure enjoyment all while keeping my gaming budget under control. I am still a poor college student that feels it makes better economics to own versus rent. For the same $15.00 that I pay for one month of “renting” time on a game, I can pay the same amount and OWN IT forever.

Doing some simple math, it would take 5 hours a day 7 days a week to finish Final Fantasy X in one month. In MMO terms that are usually deemed as “casual” playing, while “hardcore” players can rack up at least 40 hours or more in one week. I have read reports that FFX has over 100 hours of playtime built in without trying to get all the party members ultimate weapons. Now what dedicated MMO player would not try to get the best of the best equipment in the game? World of Warcraft was built on these standards. Yet I won’t be able to strut around the main city in my gear but there is still a challenge and the feeling of accomplishment that goes with it. That’s why we play MMORPG’s am I right? Don’t all agree at once.

I do miss the social aspect though. But I could always make a phone call.

Strut your stuff.

Second hand games is what made Gamestop what is today, building an empire on the phrase, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Games like Gran Turismo are a joke at $3.00 but that is still a lot less than you will pay for a new title. I’ve got my eye on a copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES, I have been meaning to test the Free to play MMO and Persona is one of a long line of JRPG games that was the predecessors of the online MMORPG.

I spoke to some of my scattered gaming group and the attitude was split, “why do I want to play old games when I can play something state of the art.” Some just want to play the new stuff like Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and some don’t mind hopping on the time machine to revisit some old favorites. I’ve grown tired of all the bashing, gnashing and trashing of newly released games. I am tired of being someone’s guinea pig, it is time to look towards something tried and tested, time to try out something old yet new.

What might be old to one person is still new to someone that has yet to experience the content. Take into consideration the latest announcement of Ultima Online’s new campaign: “Return to Brittania” as free to play until October 16th for returning members. I was just thinking about playing an older online game; Dark Age of Camelot came to mind but Ultima Online is the grandfather of MMORPG’s. This is a great time to give UO a try, there is a chance many of the old players will return which will mean a spike in server population. Empty servers is what has been holding me back from going back to my roots in Final Fantasy Online.

No, this doesn’t mean I am going to leave EVE, which has also been labeled an “old” game by some. I decided to try EVE because it has a long history, ambitious developers  and a dedicated fan base. This is what most mmo players really look for but are afraid to admit it.

Would anyone else like to join me?

Play safe,

Frank

Today Turbine announced the release date for Siege of Mirkwood, the second expansion for Lord of the Rings Online which is set for release on Dec 1st, 2009 for $19.99.    Along with the release date they also announced the following pre-launch offers that are posted below as well as a set of brand new screenshots to wet your appetite.

· The LOTRO Lifetime Membership is now available for $199.

· Any current or former player who renews or upgrades their subscription to any multi-month plan by October 31^st gets the Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion for FREE!

· All players can pre-order the new LOTRO Adventurer’s Pack which contains 2 character slots and one shared storage slot that allows players to share items with all of their characters on the same server for $19.99 and get the Harbinger’s Cloak which provides 8% speed boost and the Dusky Nimblefoot Goat mount for FREE!

· Starting today, existing Lifetime Members who pre-order the LOTRO Adventurer’s Pack get the Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion plus two in-game items (Harbinger’s Cloak which provides an 8% speed boost and a new mount) for FREE!

To help celebrate Ultima Online’s 12 year anniversary, today EA has announced the Return to Britannia campaign.  The new campaign will make Ultima Online free to play until Oct 16th for all players, closed accounts in good standings will be re-activated so they can partake.  Below is the press release with more information about the Return to Britannia campaign.

New content available to returning players through the Return to Britannia Campaign includes Mondain’s Legacy, the 7^th UO expansion which introduced the playable Elven race and dangerous, new dungeons to explore. Mondain’s Legacy was made available at no charge in August 2009 to existing subscribers and to new players as part of the Ultima Online 14-day free trial.

“We’re hoping that, as part of the Return to Britannia Campaign, former players will once again rediscover the joys of Ultima Online,” said Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer for Mythic Entertainment. “UO was the first love of many MMORPG players, and it still holds a special place in their hearts after 12 glorious years. I think returning players will be pleasantly surprised to find a thriving and vibrant community from around the world ready to welcome back their former compatriots and include them in their ongoing adventures.”

Players returning to Ultima Online through the Return to Britannia Campaign can download and install the UOclient for free at: http://www.uoherald.com/trial/. Players who no longer have access to their Ultima Onlineusername and password can retrieve their account information at: http://support.ea.com.

Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss, the 8^th expansion was released earlier this month and revolves around the introduction of the playable Gargoyle race. Players will also find expansive new areas to explore, including Ter Mur, the Gargoyle homeland, and the Stygian Abyss – the largest dungeon area ever introduced to Ultima Online. This sprawling dungeon contains new boss monsters of unparalleled difficulty, including the Medusa, Primeval Lich and the Stygian Dragon, as well as Player vs. Player zones where adventurers are turned against one another. Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss is now available at UOGamesCodes.com and the EA STORE for $29.99.

In my last post, I noted that the Champions Online forums were awash in bile — whine posts, “I Quit” posts, angry rants against the devs and predictions of doom are commonplace. I understand that Aion has had its share of ugly posts on its forums due to the server queue madness experienced by its players… and a quick tour shows lots of deleted posts, a sure sign of active moderation. Non-game specific forums are even uglier than official ones with every new game being touted as the next “Epic Fail”.

For the purposes of this discussion, let’s ignore the craziest and the rudest posts. Regardless of the forum or the topic, there is a certain type of person that thrives off of forum drama and that type of person is going to troll, cry doom and flame. If we cut those posts out, I still perceive that the MMO community at large has taken a big turn toward the negative. When things aren’t changing in our game of choice, we moan about how slowly bugs are being fixed and the lack of new content. When things are changing, we howl about the changes and how they are ruining the game. Heaven forbid something goes wrong, like a bug is pushed through, or there is significant downtime. If I contrast the MMO communities of today with those of five years ago, I see that we have become less patient, less civil and frankly, meaner.

I know that the internet and society in general are becoming less civil, but these aren’t political forums. We are hobbyists talking about our common hobby… games. Moreover, these are games where we are often working together to overcome common challenges. You need people to play with and to team with and you need the ability to coordinate and get along. On the surface, it would seem that MMO forums should mirror this atmosphere of cooperation, but sadly they do not. So what’s going on?

One culprit is that you are still anonymous on an internet forum, or an MMO. If you make a nasty forum post, no one knows who you are in game. If you are nasty in game, people might remember you, but all it takes is one new character and all of your sins are erased. Champions has an interesting solution to this. In Champions, you have a global name that is tied to each of your characters, and your forum account. If I ingore you on the forums, I am also ignoring you in game and vice versa. As our MMO universes become more toxic with regards to peoples’ behavior, I think you will see this solution more often.

Antoher possibility is that the games have changed. Games used to be team-centric and the few classes that could solo usually did so only by sacrificing the quality of loot and leveling rate. Now, almost every MMO that is released is hyped as being “solo-friendly”. Even in games that focus on end-game raids, you can usually solo to the level cap without a hitch. Everyone wants to be Wolverine and no one wants to be Cyclops. Now, I like solo-friendly games, but they do promote a “lone-wolf” mentality. Why care about the fact that the healers are having problems if I am not a healer and in fact, I don’t need a healer? Even worse, if healers are doing better than I am, that doesn’t help me… they ought to be nerfed. When I was a teacher, we used to call this “Center of the Universe Disorder”. You can see this attitude all over the forums. Everyone is under the delusion that their experience of the game is somehow the only experience. Their perceptions and preferences are that of the entire community and their opinion is the truth. If you disagree, you are a whiner, a fanboi, and/or an idiot.

Another possibility is that MMO gamers have become jaded and cynical toward their games and game-makers. They might have put up with bugs, imbalances, downtime, nerfs, economy problems, etc. in the days of Ultima Online and Asheron’s Call, but in this day and age, they expect a more polished experience. Or, because of the huge success of World of Warcraft, is it possible that there are now an entire generation of gamers that have never played any other game. More importantly, is there a large group of gamers that have only played WoW and have joined in the last three or so years?

If so, this would be a group of gamers that has never played a game in “release state”. They never had to deal with server queues. They have never played a game that was missing significant portions of content, that had huge class issues, where large numbers of quests and abilities were bugged. They have never seen their favorite game closed, or changed so massively that it was unrecognizable. These folks would lack the perspective that MMOs generally suck at launch… that “OMG, I am paying for beta” is a meaningless statement when the game they are playing is changing week to week, patch to patch. This group would be quick to jump onto a new game, be overwhelmed by the numerous “serious problems” they see, and complain how the game is just not ready for prime time.

Regardless of the reasons, we aren’t doing ourselves any favors with our posting habits. MMOs are still made or broken based on their community and the forum is one of the most visible representations of that community. Make a commitment to being polite, positive and informative when you can be and when you can’t… go read a book.

MMOCrunch is proud to offer its readers access to Dragon Oath’s closed beta by offering 500 beta keys starting today.   Closed beta starts today at 1pm PST. Availability and more information can be found on our Dragon Oath’s Closed Beta page.

All players who participate in the Closed Beta will receive a Novice Gift Pack valued at $25.

Novice Gift Pack Includes: Traveling Bag, Grid Box, Luxury Blue Capsule, Silver Gourd, Squirrel Egg, Pet Life Tonic, Mount: Ostrich, Riding: Ostrich, Dragon Sphere, Rudy, Baby Pet Book and More!

It has passed the test server and is now live, WoW patch 3.22 is here. A couple of nice additions in this patch; Onyxia raid is back. She has been remade, revamped and ready to take on level 80 players. Onyxia’s loot has been updated to the new levels. The next item that grabbed my attention was the daily PVP battle ground quests. Players over level 11 will be able to take PVP quests for the battle grounds they are eligible. Full patch notes can be found Here, or for the lazy;

Continued…

Nexon America announces that Dungeon Fighter Online has finally entered its Open Beta phase.  The Nexon-developed pseudo-MMORPG (there’s no large scale raiding type of content) is now available to all those willing to test the brawler out.

Each of the five classes – Fighter, Gunner, Mage, Priest or Slayer – is available now.  It’s quite clear that the classes offer highly diverse fighting styles after spending quality time with them at PAX 2009.

In addition to your typical side-scrolling brawler gameplay and boss fights, but controlled with your standard MMORPG User Interface, the game offers PvP challenges.  Players can participate in numerous PvP endeavors including 1v1 – 4v4 skirmishes, and even eight player free-for-all combat.  PvP XP is awarded, rather than your standard XP, and contributes to a player’s Arena rank.

Now that Dungeon Fighter Online has become open to the public I guess those DFO Early Access Beta keys I handed out via Twitter don’t seem as cool.  What with the fact that you can sign-up here just as easily.

If you’ve read my last couple of posts, you know that I am currently playing Champions Online pretty heavily. I am having a lot of fun, and while there are issues, it is a blast and I am enjoying myself quite a bit.

One aspect of CO that I haven’t enjoyed is the forums. The forums for Champs are about as ugly as I have ever seen — filled with bile, rants about how the game sucks and the ever ubiquitous “Look at me, I quit!” posts. Launch-time was the absolute worst, with people clamoring for Cryptic to reinstate the discounted lifetime subscription option just before launch, and then just after launch, yelling just as loudly to be allowed to cancel those same subscriptions. Then a patch went wrong and the game was down for the better part of a day… more yelling.

Certainly, Cryptic brought some of this onto themselves, especially with their now infamous “Launch Day Defense-Nerf”. People see their characters nerfed and they get upset. Once they get upset, they realize that they are paying a monthly fee for this abuse and then they start to get all “The customer is always right…” on the boards. And they might be right, but you can be right, and still be acting like a jackass.

So, in honor of righteous forum rage everywhere, let’s take a tongue-in-cheek (and a little ranty) look at a few signs that might indicate when you’ve crossed the line between incensed consumer and bonafide forum whiner…

1. You Quit!!! – The “I Quit!!!” post has been a favorite since the advent of the MMO forum. In fact, I have it on good authority… let me find that Wikipedia page… hmm… nothing? Oh well then, I have it on great authority that the MMO forum was designed specifically as an outlet for the rage quit post, which becomes a powerful form of therapy allowing you, the disgruntled player, to vent your frustrations instead of doing something silly or productive like… actually quitting the game. Instead you pour your heart into a twelve-point manifesto in which you detail the myriad ways in which this game is poorly designed, has failed to meet your lofty expectations, and causes children all across sub-Saharan Africa to weep.

I get it… I have read enough of these and have even penned one or two. The hope, of course, is that the devs will pick your post out of the trough, read your insightful criticism, change the game and then invite you back with a pat on the back and a special title, “Supreme Game Saver”, “Voice of Reason”, or “We Should’ve Hired You Instead of Brad” or some such…

Uh huh…

The old adage, “You cannot please all of the people all of the time” holds true here. MMO devs are aware that every change they make is going to make some players happy and make others angry. Of course, with your rage quit post, you are neither of these. Instead you put yourself into the category of “People We No Longer Need To Listen To.”  Think of it this way, you are sitting on the couch in your boxers, in your disaster of a man-cave, watching football on TV and drinking beer. Your girlfriend of three weeks, loudly storms out of your apartment, yelling about how she is leaving you because you are a slob and her old boyfriend is much more attractive and “team-friendly”.  What is the chance that you turn off the TV, put on some decent clothes and clean that apartment before that case of beer is finished?

Yeah, flowers are probably out of the question too. The point is, the devs are the slob and you just packed your panties, slammed the door and made a scene and the only people that care are the forum warriors who are going to reply to your post, telling you to “lrn2ply” and asking you for your stuff. Of course, since they disagree with you, they must all be raging fanboys, which brings me to my next point.

2. Everyone Else Is a Raging Fanboy — If I were standing on an elementary school playground… I would expect to be arrested, but ignore that for a moment. If I were standing on an elementary school playground, eavesdropping on a heated argument, I might expect to hear

“Lego Time Bandits is the coolest game ever!”

“Man, no it’s not. That game is stupid.”

“You’re stupid.”

“Well, your Mom is stupid!”

The 40-year old equivalent to the elementary school playground is the internet gaming forum, and “Raging Fanboy” has become the new “Your Mom!”  There was a time when the term fanboy meant someone who liked a game and was not willing to discuss any of the game’s faults. Now it’s used to insult anyone who likes a game you don’t like… or more to the point, the use of the term “Raging Fanboy” means, “I have nothing of value to say and no compelling argument, but anyone who disagrees with me must be a flaming idiot… and… Your Mom is stupid.”

We’ve lost the ability to reason and debate, so instead we yell and insult. Welcome to the forums, or the playground, or talk radio, or Congress… though in Congress, they cleverly replace the term “Raging Fanboy” with “My Esteemed Colleague” which makes them sound official. If you want to sound official you can always give…

3. The Expert Opinion — I am a table top gaming geek and have hung around on many RPG boards in the past. On table top forums, it never fails that as soon as there is a discussion about a game’s combat system, everyone I am talking to suddenly reveals that they have unique experience and amazing insight into combat that I cannot possibly have, and thus, their opinion on the game is unassailable. So, when on a game forum, I always follow the rule:

On an internet gaming forum, anyone you would ever argue with is either in the Special Forces, or is a ninja.

This rule has saved me from many a dead-end argument… and yet I have to admit, that it doesn’t apply as much to MMO forums. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure our favorite online games have ample population from the military and ninjutsu communities, but they just don’t seem to do battle on the forums so much. No, on MMO forums we have a totally different set folks delivering Expert Opinions and that would be the Gaming Industry Insiders and the Lawyers. So, instead of posts on how Game X sucks because it fails to account for the relative value of different weapon systems, or posts about how a ninja could kill you in your sleep by dripping poison down a thread into your snoring mouth… and thus Game X sucks, we get posts like

“As a gaming insider, I can’t believe, <Insert Company Name Here> would treat its customers like this!!” or

“As a lawyer, I ask <Insert Company Name Here> to reconsider their actions as what they have done here is a classic Bait and Switch.”

I outright disbelieve the posts that supposedly come from gaming industry folks, not because I think they don’t play each others games, but because I think it would be considered bad form to have any part in the gaming industry and yet be going onto another company’s forums and criticizing them. The lawyers… Now, I believe the lawyer posts. See, I live in America, where you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting two lawyers. The first one is filing the lawsuit for PETA on behalf of the dead cat and the second one was just attracted to the scent of carrion.

Great… so you’re a lawyer, or at least, you watch Law and Order and have access to Wikipedia. Big deal! The game companies have their own lawyers and those lawyers know how to use Wikipedia too so they have knowledge of what a Bait and Switch is. They also know that you signed away all of your rights when you clicked that “I Accept” button while you were “waiting for this freakin’ slow game to get through the load screen!!!”

And heck, even if you do have a legal leg upon which to stand, the game companies don’t mind. Sue! Fire away! Their lawyers are on retainer, so they currently are paying them to golf and drink martinis. Whereas your lawyer is going to charge you double for the indignity of having to explain to the judge, “Your Honor, we aim to prove that Cryptic did indeed nerf my client’s Personal Force Field, and as a result, my client feels decidedly LESS SUPER.”

Unless you represent yourself, in which case the judge yells, “Your Mom is stupid!” and throws you into jail for impersonating a ninja.

4. The Ol’ Gaming Resume– I am sure there will come a day when your experiences in Ultima Online (pre-Trammel) will contain the valuable life lessons and historical significance of a Korean War Vet, or a survivor of the Great Depression. Until that day, pulling out your gaming resume simply tells us that you have wasted just a little bit more of your life than most of the other people on the forum.

Actually, that is a bit overstated. Your gaming resume can in fact tell us a great deal about you based on the context in which it is used. The first way in which a gaming resume is often used is to set us up for the poster’s Expert Opinion. If that is the case, then please get in line behind the lawyers and the gaming insiders because truly, no one cares. Your accomplishments on UO, EQ, Earth and Beyond, Meridian 59, Rubies of Eventide, or DIKUMud might give you some perspective, but don’t make you an expert on programming, quality assurance, or game design. If you fire off a gaming resume and then start talking about how you don’t like nerfs… then you have as much insight as the kid whose only other game is WoW… because he doesn’t like nerfs either.

The second type of gaming resume poster, I have a little more empathy for. This is someone who mentions their old games because they are desperately trying to recapture their experience with that “magic” MMO… which is typically the first MMO they played that actually hooked them. Now, they miserably shamble from game to game, almost enjoying them, but never quite getting the high they got from THAT game, which ultimately leads them to complain about THIS game. I have a friend for which City of Heroes was his first game and it was quite an experience for him. Now, no game can ever come close, so even though he is bored to tears with CoH, he can’t really get into other games because they don’t compare to the mythologized version of CoH he has playing in his head.

Of course, the irony here is that no game exists that can compete with that first game… not even that first game. Once you cut away that thick coating of nostalgia, most of these folks would go back to their perfect game, quit after a week, and post on the forums about how the game they remember had been ruined by some phantom patch. In reality their love for their game was based less on mechanics and more on the novelty of the MMO experience.

The third type of resume poster is the evil twin of the second. This type of person has BEEN THROUGH HELL and is here to tell us about it. You can usually tell this guy by his forum name… ScrewedBySony, or Flagshipped, or BradHatesMe and his message is always the same, “I played this doomed game before and I tell you this game is doomed just like that last game was doomed. We are all doomed, doomed I say!”  The reason for the doom is that some game mechanic is the same as the aforementioned dead game, or the publisher is the same, or that certain members of the dev team are the same.

We get it already! Age of Conan was a disaster at launch. Hellgate London was a failure. Vanguard disappointed you deeply. Darkfall made you weep. The NGE caused the thin veneer that separates this reality with the next to tear away leaving your fragile mind exposed to the shrill, seeping horrors beyond… and now you curl up into a fetal position every time you see a right angle, or a holocron. You know what? Software of this scale is complicated. Games of this scale are complicated. People screw up and sometimes they fail.

But they also learn from their mistakes and succeed. Age of Conan, Vanguard and Darkfall, for all of the bile and venom they generated, are still going. On the other hand, Hellgate is dead and Bill Roper had a large part in that failure… but previously he has also had a part in Blizzard’s success, having worked on the various incarnations of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. So hopefully, we are getting the guy with the talent that led the Blizzard team, with a dose of wisdom and humility from the failure of Flagship. That’s a good mix.

5. You Write a Blog Post Complaining About Complainers – Yeah, it is pretty pathetic, I know… now fight on forum warriors!!