Welcome to the very first issue of “Good Idea, Bad Idea!” This article series is pretty much self-explanatory. It’s an opinionated discussion of gaming’s good and bad ideas, be it from the past, present or future. There will, of course, be facts presented, just to enlighten the readers about the background of a certain game or system or whatnot.

In this debut issue, we tackle the MMO world’s good and bad ideas for a game. What games should be out there? What games should not be lifted off the drawing board? This article also lists down some “stalemates,” ideas placed in between good and bad, ideas that are neutral because of the balance set by the good and bad reasons.

Please do note that this list is very much limited. Surely, I cannot list all the possible good and bad ideas in one go. You can add your own good and bad ideas related to this topic by posting it as a comment down below.

Before any bashings about this article, the existence of my genitalia, my sexual preference, or the existence of my brain, please read this disclaimer:
Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect that of MMOsite or anyone else’s. This article

2008 has been a year full of expectations, innovations, impressions (both good and bad), and admiration. This year-ender article looks back at the glory and despair of MMOs in the past year. Sit back, relax, and keep your rage to yourself for now. Here’s the best and worst of 2008’s MMO world!
(Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect that of MMOsite. Games included in these lists may still be CBT, OBT or commercial status prior to this article’s completion.)

Top 10 Best MMO Games of 2008
Battling for the top spot has never been this tough. This year’s games have been absolutely captivating and has reeled in more players, both newbie and veteran, than ever before. The games listed below are a must-play for anyone!

10. Rohan: Blood Feud

Although Rohan went open last May 2008, the game’s shining moments mostly occurred in the following months. With heavy PvP orientation and smooth graphics, Rohan is currently one of the most challenging MMORPGs today. Still, that’s all the game can offer.

9. Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE

Atlus and Cave’s online lovechild never arrived into the international scene until Aeria deci

Runes of Magic Review
 

Strap thine armor and sharpen thy sword! Embark on a journey of discovery and peril in this recently opened MMORPG, Runes of Magic. The medieval lands of Taborea await thee!  

Epochs of Lore
Runes of Magic has an in-depth lore that takes you back to the time of Taborea’s creation. It all started when Ayvenas created a book in the shape of the world and recorded the origin of life. This was known to be Taborea. Taborea and the inhabitants underwent many different changes, good and bad, as millennia passed by. Each chapter of the book was called an “Age,” and further subdivided into Epochs. The inhabitants fell and rose time and again because of their advancements, failures and sins. This is until we reach Taborea’s epoch of discovery, the game’s setting and timeline. This is an era filled with uncharted lands, monsters, and numerous discoveries waiting to be revealed. And that‘s where your journey begins.

Magically Surprising
Runes of Magic has top-notch visuals. Maps are highly detailed, from the wee little grasslands to enormous stone and marble cities. Day and night effects are amazingly portrayed, having beautif

Trolling the WoW Clone meme
 

This article is in connection with: “The Art and Science of Trolling.”

The phrase “WoW clone” has been a rampant comment or reply to numerous articles from gaming websites, like MMOsite.com. It has been a running discussion in many BBS / forum sites ever since World of Warcraft went online a few years ago. Despite the numerous rebuttals from WoW fans, newbies and veteran gamers alike, people trolling the “WoW clone” meme does not show any signs of dying down. Thus, this article is to answer, or scratch the surface, of the popular meme known as “WoW clone.” We might not be able to completely stop it, but we can at least shed some light into this topic.

This article shall discuss the meme by answering the following questions:
What, When, Where, Why, Who, and How.

What are the terms concerned with this article?
First of all, let us define the following concerned words.
Troll: According to Dictionary.com, a troll is “to utter a posting [on Usenet] designed to attract predictable responses or flames.” See the article on trolling in conjunction with this article.
Meme: Wikipedia defines a meme as

The Art and Science of Trolling

This article is in conjunction with “Trolling the WoW Clone Meme”

The vast virtual world of the internet houses not only the greatest minds, but also the most cunning pranksters. These pranksters are those who deliberately stir up heated arguments for personal pleasure. Others would consider this attention-seeking method a lifestyle choice. We call them trolls, anonymous people geared toward inciting numerous reactions from the other readers.

The object of this article is to define the incidence of trolling. Many would recognize trolls as a nuisance to the virtual society. Many would consider trolling as a violent way to keep discussions alive, avert readers to a different topic or kill a certain thread altogether. But regardless of justifications, trolling is in itself an art and a science. Not everyone can be a successful troll. It takes the right response and audience to create a highly-flammable discussion and get away with it.

Definition:
Dictionary.com defines a troll as: “to utter a posting [on Usenet] designed to attract predictable responses or flames; an individual [who chronically trolls in sense] regularly posts sp

Record of Lunia War
 

After a couple of server transitions, Record of Lunia War, more commonly known as Lunia, is returning for another chance at MMO supremacy. The game has the look and feel of an arcade beat-‘em-up, much like Gauntlet Legends, mixed with the RPG feel. Others might agree that Lunia can be a top contender if the game was released in the coin-op or console market. But is the game good enough to live as an MMORPG?

Lost in Lunia
The epic of Lunia begins with the gods of Rodesia Continent. The gods – Lunia, Foriel, Ceres and Wlydur – created their own respective races (humans, elves, hobbits and orcs) to inhabit the land of Rodesia. These gods gave divine protection towards their created races, and in return, they needed their race’s faith and worship to maintain their divine power. In time, the races conflicted with each other due to differences in religious beliefs, causing an all-out war. Upon the end of the war, the gods agreed to tone down the attributes of each race to prevent further conflict. Many years later, the dominant races are on the move again. To what purpose it will serve, no one knows.

The story is typically based fro

Project Powder

Attention, snowboarding afficionados -- Outspark's Project Powder trailblazes the online world as the fastest and wildest snowboarding game today. Its snow-melting gameplay, easy-to-pull tricks and powdered-up race tracks will have you shredding to the last snowflake. But wait... it's an online game? 

Snow Business

Project Powder is a game for both snowboarding pros and newbies alike. It contains the basic features to satisfy any snowboarder-wannabe. You're stuck with choosing from only three snowboarders, not really a superb lineup for an extreme sports game. The characters' fashion can be customized in the mall section of the game using coins you earn from all the game modes. A variety of shirts, jackets, shorts, pants, shoes, decks and headgears are available for "rent." The apparel you purchase is sadly limited to a number of days. If, however, Project Powder only had a select few rentables and more of the permanent apparel (like the rented ones have stat bonuses, while permanent ones are just eye candy), you won't have to feel the guilt of wasting time not playing the game just because all your items are ticking away. Money is hard t

Allow me to start this article with a short story. This uneventful situation happened a couple of days ago, one that sparked interest in writing this article.

I visited a game store to browse through their "old games" bin, meaning discounted prices on games released in 2004 or earlier. I was lucky enough to snag Clive Barker's Undying and Thief: Deadly Shadows for half their original prices. I approached another rack and found the Online Games section. I was feeling lucky, seeing a boxed set of Final Fantasy Online (with all the expansions) was on sale for 30% less the actual price. I continued browsing for new stuff like some PSP and NDS games before I decided to pay for what I got. It was then I had noticed a boy, probably 10 years old, and his father enter the store. I saw the little kid reach for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I quote from the child: "I wanna play this, daddy. I saw <insert some name here> play and it's fun!" The dad gave some money and notioned this child to send the game to the counter. I, being the courteous one, let the child first in the cashier before me. What followed after piqued my interest. The sales guy didn't accept the chil

After more than 7 years, Jagex still gets things right.

Runescape

One of the highly-populated, highly-immersive MMORPG games to date, Runescape, still never ceases to amaze even after so many years. The game is expansive, stimulating, and addicting. It’s seriously one of the best games I have ever played.

 

Forsooth, brilliance is thine!
Runescape does what every amazing game should do: iron out bugs and glitches, smoothen the gameplay and graphics, while continually offering new content to improve the already incredible game. And to think this masterpiece is actually browser-based.

For players of Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, Runescape would feel very familiar – point-and-click gameplay, the default isometric view, numerous different locales, and dozens of hours of gameplay. Then, you’ll reconsider the thought… Runescape isn’t as similar as these games! Runescape is an entirely different gaming universe! Within the first few minutes (or hours), you’ll find that this game stands tall on it own as a fun MMO with an amazing story and unique gameplay. 

Runescape partly has the looks of a typical MMORPG. Aside from the usual M

Perfect World

Welcome to the oriental side of the MMO world, where Chinese-made games outmatch brains and brawn against their Korean and Western predecessors. One of which is Wan Mei (Perfect World Co. Ltd.) and one of their grandest opus, Perfect World. Wan Mei’s masterpiece unfolds in a grandiose way, an MMORPG that offers a touch of everything from intimate social interaction to vengeful yet sweet wars. In its grandiosity, the game tries to attain perfection by taking bits and pieces of ideas from different MMOs and mixing them together in an oriental blend, with a dash of their homemade sweetener. And there you were, just yesterday, assuming that the last Chinese myth-based MMO had just washed its cup off of the tea leaves from its last serving.

Perfect Tea Blend

To sum up the story, the god Pan Gu had a vision of creating a perfect world and its inhabitants able to cultivate the perfect land. Thus, he used his powers to cleanse out the forces of evil and formed the land exactly as he had foreseen. In this land, three dominant races emerged, the humans, winged elves and the beast kind. Pan Gu gave these three races the great responsibility of cultivating and caring for