You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually introduced any of the links I whimsically refer to as ‘Monster Hunters’, over on the sidebar there. Terribly rude of me. As the term implies, these are all people who like me, follow the goings on of MMO gaming; be it as players, journalists, developers or mere academic interest.
Of course hardly any of them are paid to do so, and they are only human after all, so levels of interest and writers block come and go. I don’t actually know any of these people – at least not in the conventional ‘Normal People’ sense, but have stumbled across their websites, and often found their work insightful, useful, or just plain funny. Incidentally, my blogging Difference Engine here seems stuck in Alphabetical Lists, so their order should not be taken as an indication of preference.
AFK Gamer: Run by the no-nonsense Foton, this refreshingly vitriolic journal is mostly about World of Warcraft – hell, what isn’t? He calls it like he see it, and often cuts right to the heart of many of the complex problems of MMO design in a way that many game devs could take note of. Also has a sharp eye for gaming news, something I’m always a bit slack with.
Aggro Me: A very Everquest-centric blog, yet Aggro manages to avoid the trap of simply banging on about his favourite game in a manner impenetrable to anyone who has never played it, something I try to emulate here. He also has a highly amusing long running Friday Humour feature, and has lately started doing some very good interview pieces with people in and around the industry.
Broken Toys: Run by Scott ‘Don’t call me Lum The Mad’ Jennings. I think this is here mostly for sentimental reasons – the old Lum the Mad site was something of a founding father for the MMO Critique Blog in the days of Ultima Online, and I always enjoyed lurking there. Scott was then hired by Mythic (Dark Age of Camelot), and the blog had to go, for obvious reasons. You can’t bottle this stuff up for long though, and the new blog is devoted in equal parts to MMO Gaming (in a slightly less libellous key), Politics, and humorous Magic the Gathering themed Photoshop Beatdowns.
GUComics:Old when I was new to Everquest, Woody’s ‘one-frame, one-kill’ style of art is often incisive, sometimes bizarre and always raises a chuckle. The early works centre almost exclusively around Everquest, but over recent years have branched out to encompass pretty much anything absurd in the MMO genre.
Kill Ten Rats:Originally the work of Ethic, this more journal-styled blog follows the passions and hates of the gamer at a more ground-level. Ethic has recently opened up submissions to a circle of similarly obsessed MMO-folk, and this has widened the scope of the thing considerably – offering all sorts of perspectives on all sorts of games. Ethic also sports a truly impressive link list, making this site an invaluable hub for the MMO Ranting Community.
MMOGChart:Home of the work of SirBruce, a long time MO pundit, this site isn’t so much a blog, more an interesting reference work. Using a variety of sources, he attempts to publish the numbers that MMO companies generally won’t, and the charts here provide a kind of MMO historical tapestry of at least ball-park accuracy, showing who did what, when, and how well it was received. Currently on hiatus, the site is still worth looking at for the historical data there. Fascinating stuff.
MMORPG.COM: A comprehensive MMO news site. Run on a professional basis, rather than the half-arsed amateur operation I have going here. A pretty good source of industry and title-specific news, if you can wade through the adverts to get there. It also sports the most comprehensive list of currently available and upcoming MMO titles I’ve seen anywhere; regularly updated and rated.
Penny Arcade: More of a general gaming site, rather than MMOs specifically, this highly successful web comic offers an edgy, witty and surreal look at the various news of the day. Both Gabe’s art and Tycho’s writing make the place shine, and their occasional scrap with crazy anti-gaming lawyers just adds spice. They also do a fantastic job with their Child’s Play charity drives, raising quite mind-blowing amounts of money for toys and games for children’s hospitals, so bravo there.
Psyae’s WoW Et Cetera: A long running World of Warcraft blog run by Psyae who, like Aggro Me, often opens her scope out well beyond the mere game itself. Some fascinating article-type posts there, in an accessible style that doesn’t require two years of prior WoW experience to appreciate.
Slashdot Games: A sub-site of Slashdot, this is a good place to get breaking gaming news, MMO or otherwise. Lots in there about console wars, gamer’s rights, retro gaming and the occasion longer article piece. Be wary of the comments threads though – they bite. Everyone should have a few different sources for their news…this is good one to add.
Stratics: Another good MMO news portal site. The frequency of news depends largely on the popularity of each title’s sub site, but of particular note is their series of ‘House of Commons’ IRC chat sessions, regularly held, with various MMO dev teams, and questions from the floor. A good way to find out what is in store for your particular obsession.
Terra Nova:A somewhat arcane blogging collective of diverse MMO Great Thinkers. The real meat of this site is not in the articles, but the comment threads; the place really does seem to operate more like a debating forum than a newspaper. Fascinating stuff, if a little on the academic side.
The Carnival of Gamers - HQ Page:Hosted at Buttonmashing.Com, this is a regular event that aims to widen out the gaming bit of the blogosphere a bit, by hosting submissions from various gaming bloggers in one magazine-like article. Not exclusively MMO, but still a good way to find new blood for the RSS reader. The first edition got somewhat bogged down in a ‘Main Stream Media vs Bloggers’ flamefest, which was unfortunate, but now the novelty has worn off a bit, it’s largely unmolested, and serves it’s original purpose admirably.
Tobold’s MMORPG Blog: I’m fairly new to this one, but was impressed with Tobold’s depth of insight and engaging writing style. Tobold, like me, seems to drift from one game to another as his interest dictates, but also covers offline gaming too – something I only do when I have no internet access. An excellent gamer’s eye view blog.
Virgin Worlds:A comparatively new blog, Prognosticator seems to be focusing primarily on MMO Betas and Coming Soon titles, something there is definitely room for. I’ve often thought that trick to a good blog is to pick a focus and stick to it, rather than randomly jumping about subjects. This works well at Virgin Worlds, and I can fast see the site becoming an invaluable reference tool for ‘What to play next’.
Of course this list changes now and then – people get bored and move on, other people take up the torch. For once, I’m actually going to encourage comment spam! Got an MMO blog I’ve missed and should see?