One of the worst things about coming back from a trip is all of the catching up you have to do — especially if you happen to have hundreds of blogs in your Google Reader. I tried my best, but after a day or so of scrolling I gave up and marked all as read. Ergo, this week’s /AFK is incomplete in a sense, as it’s both covering two weeks’ worth of posts and missing a bunch of those posts at the same time. Ah well!
Welcome back to /AFK, a weekly roundup of interesting posts that caught my eye:
- Untold Entertainment — How I gamed GDC’s top social game developers
“If anything, bucking convention and winning the coin game reminded me that the greatest gains are made by subversion, disruption, and going against the grain.”
- Procrastination Amplification — Ten bad things about RIFT
“Different soul setups really need to feel more different, not only to the player but also to other players in the group.”
- MMO Reporter — The naming of chars
“It drives me crazy to see someone play a rogue named ‘Death-Rouge’ or a variant of this, usually with loads of accented characters. To use your class as a name is wrong of itself, but to then misspell it?”
- Elder Game — The griefer with the coin bag
“When you have a griefer, you have to take stock of your game: is your game designed for griefers?”
- Epic Slant — PAX East 2011 in review
“This year I attended my first PAX and I have to say that in comparison to the other conventions I regularly hit it felt far larger and friendlier!”
- MMO Gamer Chick — My SWTOR bounty hunter origins demo playthrough
“The most impressive thing is the voiceover. They’re not kidding — the VO makes the game, I think.”
- The Ancient Gaming Noob — If you had asked me 12 years ago…
“I ran down to Fry’s on this date 12 years back, bought my copy of EverQuest, and went home to play it that night. I still have the receipt from Fry’s showing the time and date when I bought my copy.”
- Spinksville — 5 reasons why it’s good to play multiple MMOs
“Playing in a new game world, with different people, a different style of endgame, new character classes – it may relight the fire!”
- We Fly Spitfires — All excited for The Secret World
“Perhaps the biggest attraction of The Secret World for me is the fact that it’s got such a unique take on the traditional MMO genre.”
- The Pink Pigtail Inn — Why it matters so much to us what other people play
“We want our games to be crowded. And when we’re afraid that our world won’t be as crowded in the future as it used to be, we become worried and somewhat whiny.”
- Levelcapped — Don’t cry for me World of Warcraft
“But really, WoW community. You’ve had the cat-bird’s seat for many, many years. You can’t blame people for getting excited about an alternative – we might even whisper “competitor” if we want to fan flames, although I think it’s far to early for that discussion to be had in serious circles.”
- Casual Is As Casual Does — One of us and level ennui
“After months of gentle cajoling (which didn’t work), and more recently, letting him watch over my shoulder as I trudge through vanquishes, Zaishen bounties, and re-build my character stock in general, Mr. Randomessa has caved in and decided to give Guild wars another try.”
P.S. – Go check out Ferrel’s book on guild leadership! Way to go, man!
Thanks for the link love
I defintely know what you mean about catching up on blog reading. I’m having a hard enough time on a daily basis with that as it is. If you miss a week, it’s nigh-on impossible.
Thank you for the link love Syp! It was awesome to meet you at PAX! Hope to see you at the next convention too. More shenanigans must be had!
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Aww I want to come to PAX and meet everyone one day
You should make the trip sometime! It would be great to meet you!