MMOG issues

Based on what little experience I have of playing MMOGs, I believe that problems with the genre is would be the fact that of its multiplayer factor. Although it encourages interaction, cooperation teamwork, some games do not show those situation when the aforementioned traits will be in use. In this case, the game becomes little more than a place to yell at people, guard your 'territory' and in general be more stressful than even real life.

Games which lack situations which encourage interaction often end up being little more than a 'farm' for opportunistic players. These group of players do little more than play the MMOG as though it is work, and even sell in-game currency and items for real money. Such players hardly communicate at all, and when they do it is usually to insult someone or tell an intruder to get lost. They are also quite capable of using cheats and hacks to aid in their farming. Such player contribute to the breakdown of in-game integrity and solidarity, as well as real player's faith in a game.

Also, not all real MMOG players are exactly friendly. Although such grievers are few among countless good-natured players, they ruin the game environment and cause many people to lose patience. All it takes is a few grievers to turn a fanatic player to an ex-player of a MMOG.

Game Vs Story

To me a truly great game is one that has gameplay and story in a balance of sorts. The story would serve to excite the player to keep playing to find out what happens next, while the gameplay makes sure that the player won't get bored in the process of finding out what happens next. However, it is also seems that gameplay is rated higher than story, as most players play games for an experience. An good example would be BattleField 2142, where there are hardly any storyline other than what was said on the briefing screens, which has almost no link to the game during play, yet it was still a very successful game just like every other in the BattleField series. Most games nowadays focus on gameplay first with storyline left in a distant second and just to stitch the scenarios together, and this practice seems like it will continue for quite some time.

History of Video Games

The video game industry would celebrate its 41st birthday this year, and video games certainly have come a long way since then. Video games began with the arcade hit Pong game published by Atari in 1966, and the hit Pac-Man game which was also released by Atari in 1979. However after that the industry stagnated as no one could think up any more new and good games for the moment. The industry nearly died completely when the lead publisher Atari released two games (a horrible Pac-Man port that is a trainwreck, and a extremely buggy and rushed E.T game based on the movie) which are both so bad that the retailers thought that game industry is a goner and refused to sell them anymore. Luckily Nintendo managed to rescue the market with the extremely popular Super Mario, which is to date one of the most successful games ever sold. After that the video gaming industry grew leaps and bounds.

Munchkin

I love this game. In fact, I seriously considered submitting this game for my favorite game. The sadistic joy gained in harming your "allies" is a big plus to me. Also, planning your strategy properly, in order to win the game (which is a daunting task as how most players would do ANYTHING they could do to prevent you from gaining victory) is also a big part of the entertainment part of this game and the replayability. Also, as the title suggests, the players are strongly encouraged to play Munchkins the munchkin way, which is to try to be everything, fight everything, and have everything. This way of playing is strongly emphasised in the cards such as Super Munchkin and Half-Breed. Long live the Munchkin way of life.

However, no game is perfect, including Munchkins itself. The biggest problem is how the length of the game is directly proportional to how many players there are. Although the game is not too long if there are only 3-4 players, personally I believe beyond 5 the game becomes long (and boring) as the opposing players have more sabotages to prevent a player from winning. There is no real fix to the problem, other than perhaps controlling the number of people playing this game in the first place.

My Definition of Fun

My definition of fun is something that keeps you entertained and at least slightly amused by it.

My Favorite Game

My favorite game would be Monopoly. It is an extremely old board game that exists long before video or computer games ever did, and considering it is still selling like hotcakes, gives a sign about its quality. I love this game as it is relatively simple to play, yet difficult to fully master. The haggling and begging needed to obtain your title deeds, then slowly building up your property from houses all the way to revenue gaining hotels is a big part of the fun, in my opinion. This game exists before video or computer games, and it won't be surprising if it outlasts them both.