And so another year draws to a close, a year which, by most Normal People’s standards, I’ve essentially wasted playing computer games. Personally though, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, and since I’m off for the seasonal hols today, and won’t see you all again until 2006, what better way to end the year than a gratuitous highlights flashback episode! One of the neat things about a blog, is that the back issues are all filed away automatically, requiring no extra effort on my part. 2005 then – click randomly in the Archives (left), to play along at home…

  • January: SOE offer the Station Pass, an ‘eat as much as you like for $20’ buffet of all their online titles – good news for many gamers, but bad news for SirBruce, and his SOE figures are never quite the same again. World of Warcraft enters final EU beta, while Wish dies in development.

  • February: The month of /pizza. Meanwhile WoW goes on sale this side of the pond, and sells more copies in one day than the entire previously estimated European MMO market. Meanwhile, I begin to ponder the true costs of Online Gaming Addiction, something that is never far from my mind from that point.

  • March: This month was a good one for point at laughing at Online Gaming Culture, as we see a real-life revenge ganking in Korea, some flouncing elf-fetishist who did manage to breed, name their child after an Everquest goddess and a comic… er…’graphic novel’…publisher gets an attempt to sue City of Heroes over their character creation options thrown out of Real People Court. We also see the first signs of impending doom for Asheron’s Call 2, as its servers begin to merge.

  • April: A busy month. I begin to dabble with features, and after seeing a whole 18 Everquest 1 servers merge, revisit a game I’d not seen in a long time, finding an almost totally different world, with the same basic problems as always. Elsewhere Anarchy Online pioneers in-game advertising, SOE release their ‘Worlds’ magazine, and also announce the Station Exchange service, and a mounting outrage at the trend towards ‘additional revenue streams’ causes me to devote the next few months to spitefully not paying for MMOs, and ‘Operation Cheapseats’ is born. Star Wars Galaxies gets a retooling it will never forget (until the next one), in the form of the Combat Upgrade, Guild Wars is released – the first major release since WoW went live, but fails to be anywhere near as successful or enduring. Meanwhile I play and review the Neocron 2: Beyond the Dome of York free trial, finding it interesting, but not something I’d want to subscribe to.

  • May: The shockwaves of the CU continue to be felt this month, signalling the beginning of troubles which exist to this day for SWG. Meanwhile, SOE continued to attention-whore with a ‘Search For An Out Of Work Actress’ beauty pageant. I try, and greatly enjoy, the Saga of Ryzom free trial, win my first medal in Planetside, and then lose my favourite spaceship in EVE Online, having resubscribed after some time off, to find it a lot tougher than I remember. I also attempt to confront my PvP demons, trialling Shadowbane, which failed to appeal, but ironically, for totally un-PvP related reasons. May also sees the first Carnival of Gamers, which is still going, and at Kill Ten Rats next.

  • June: I finally admit that I haven’t played Everquest 2 in months, and quit, and get all maudlin about the apparent hidden harshness of EVE Online. I then fall in love with Puzzle Pirates, and immediately after discover that I have a potentially fatal allergic reaction to Project Entropia, which makes my mind bleed.

  • July: There is no July. Hit by a combination of RL difficulties, and MMO disenchantment, I disappear without a trace for a month. You’ll be pleased to know that the aforementioned RL difficulties are much better now, and my gaming mojo seems as healthy as ever now. Not a great deal happened this month anyway, as far as I can remember.

  • August: About eight months after everyone else, I discover World of Warcraft and find that there is a good reason that so many people play it, as it is actually very good. I also finally play the SWG Combat Upgrade, and am made very cranky by the whole thing. Planetside adds medals for support activities, and I gain three in the first night of play, and then I go off one when they bizarrely add adverts for Duece Bigallo 2 to the bases. (Satisfyingly enough, this film bombed spectacularly at the box office. Score one for our team!) Asheron’s Call two is finally taken off life support, a few weeks after releasing an expansion, and is announced to close, while in China, the government steps in and makes PvP illegal for minors.

  • September: The month of anecdotes, as taken by WoW’s instances, I give pick-up grouping a proper go and write about it in The Ranterbury Tales featurette (left). WoW becomes my main obsession and I move from Alliance Warlock to Alliance Priest to Horde Warrior, but I also manage to find time to become a fully qualified Hairdresser in post-CU, pre-NGE Galaxies.

  • October: My WoW obsession continues, and I take on the Battlegrounds and Taren Mill Zerging, finding at last, PvP I can cope with and enjoy. This has taken me at least six years. Meanwhile, Star Trek Online makes slow progress, and a new ‘Erotic MMO for Women’ is announced, and justly ridiculed up and down the internet. Ultima Online announces Elves as a new playable race….aww…bless!

  • November: The Star Wars Galaxies ‘New Game Experience’ is announced, and then implemented within the space of a fortnight, causing all manner of fuss, which is largely drowned out by the sound of thousands of tiny feet scurrying off the ship. Matters are not helped by the timing – a few weeks after releasing an expansion which is now rendered partly useless by the NGE revamp, and SOE are forced to offer refunds for it. November also sees the Xbox 360 go on sale, and simultaneously sell out in the US, a court case against Blizzard for the death of an avid WoW player, and I become hopelessly obsessed by the least game-like game I’ve ever played, Second Life.

  • December: December sees me lost in the land of pine building blocks, and teetering on the edge of becoming a Game Dev in my own right. We also see the Everquest 1 Premium ‘Legends’ wound down, the latest in a wide variety of WoW inspired SOE panic responses, and the End Of Days approach in Asheron’s Call 2.

Which all brings us to the Ghost of Christmas Future’s turn.

The big events of 2006 look to be the long awaited World of Warcraft expansion, which can only do good things for a near-perfect MMO which is still not slowing down on initial box sales yet, and the much anticipated Dungeons and Dragons Online, currently in various beta stages, and thought to be the only serious contender for WoW’s current crown for some time to come. Other highlights to look out for include Auto Assault, Lord of the Rings Online, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard Saga of Heroes, the Ryzom Ring DM toolkit expansion, and more, so interesting times ahead. Of course next year won’t be rosy for everyone, and we’ll see a few cancellations and abandoned projects too no doubt.

End of Year Report Card:

EQ2: Lv23 Swashbuckler
WoW: Lv39 Warrior
PS: BR25, CR1
EVE: ~11 Million SP
SWG: Master Image Designer
Puzzle Pirates: Skilled Bilger

Overall: B-
"Van Hemlock is a bright child, but easily distracted, lacking the necessary determination to get on with any given task for any length of time. While he grasps new concepts easily, he lacks the drive to make any significant progress in any specific area. His behavior around other children has improved however, and is he no longer an introverted loner hiding in the back corner of class. Good work, must try harder."

So anyway, enough blathering for one year; I’m off to aggro rare-spawn relatives, grind turkey, camp the Christmas tree and ‘Become better at Alcohol Tolerance! (3)’

Merry Christmas all, a Happy New Year, and see you all bright an early for the start of spring term! May all your presents be Epic Drops!