Vague Patch Notes is a meta design column by Eliot Lefebvre. [Follow this column’s RSS feed]
vague patch notes
Vague Patch Notes: Do you guys not make friends?
Every so often, MOP's Bree and I engage in a game that I like to call "She's Not Crazy" wherein Bree will talk about...
Vague Patch Notes: The late-game paradox in MMORPGs
I've been going back through a bunch of my older games lately, finishing titles I hadn't before, giving a second look to games I...
Vague Patch Notes: The complex feelings of a static MMORPG
Final Fantasy XIV recently finished up its crossover with Final Fantasy XI, and I have to admit that the very last shot of the crossover...
Vague Patch Notes: Stories in MMOs have always been here
When I started brainstorming my column for this week, the first thing I started thinking about was talking about the terrible yet wonderful story...
Vague Patch Notes: The bad data problem with MMOs
Do you want to know how many monthly active players Guild Wars 2 has? If so, I've got a math exercise for you. (If not,...
Vague Patch Notes: No, ‘foreigners’ are not coming for the American games industry
I guess last week I sort of committed to doing a two-part column on that wild piece by Dr. Joost van Dreunen regarding the...
Vague Patch Notes: No, Epic Games is not the bellwether of the game industry
So I had to read Dr. Joost van Dreunen's piece about Epic's recent layoffs for work, and I found myself yelling "citation needed" at...
Vague Patch Notes: The philosophies of player characters in MMORPGs
Today's Vague Patch Notes column, as the title implies, is going to be kind of abstract and philosophical. It is about the philosophies of...
Vague Patch Notes: Cringe is good
So in the wake of what appears to be going on with Lost Ark's layoffs and likely impending publisher handover, the MOP writers were talking...
Vague Patch Notes: In MMORPGs, one person’s rush is another person’s idle
So a new World of Warcraft expansion has arrived, and this means that as always, everyone has an opinion on how you are supposed to...
Vague Patch Notes: When the MMORPG is failing
I am in a hotel in California. I am talking with the folks from Carbine Studios who are at this event with me in...
Vague Patch Notes: Toxic anti-elitism in MMORPGs and the geek social fallacies
I had known this was going to be a difficult conversation before it started, but at the time I couldn't have articulated why. But...
Vague Patch Notes: Chill is a state of mind in MMORPGs
Let me start by asking a question: Is Final Fantasy XI a chill game?
I am willing to bet that a lot of people will...
Vague Patch Notes: MMORPGs are less different than you think
Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken was published in August of 1915, and it has endured an immense popularity since then. Many people...
Vague Patch Notes: MMOs can’t – and shouldn’t – use the same magic trick twice
If you ask most veteran Final Fantasy XI players to name the best expansion in the game's lifespan, I would bet good money that most...
Vague Patch Notes: Sifting through the Ashes of Creation
So Ashes of Creation has thoroughly imploded now. Bear in mind that when I say that, I don't mean that the whole thing has really...
Vague Patch Notes: You cannot make other MMO players play your memories
I'm really happy that my niece likes video games. Like, that's just an obvious thing for the two of us to share and try...
Vague Patch Notes: The question of the session in an MMO
The first time I stopped playing Final Fantasy XI, there were a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones was simply a matter...
Vague Patch Notes: The MMO you play is still subject to the MMO that was designed
So boosting, or one MMORPG-specific form of it, is back in World of Warcraft news because once again, Blizzard is very happy to sell...
Vague Patch Notes: The desire for novelty that MMOs can’t deliver
Every time people discuss new things they would love to see in long-running MMORPGs, I see at least a few people speculating about things...
