Still Logged In: What AR and VR Can Learn from MMOs

Games are networking the world. Titles like 'PokemonGO' are showing the industry how the world can be an MMO. Hardware coming from major companies is promising…

Raph Koster’s fascinating and chilling GDC 2017 talk about the responsibilities of designers and maintainers of virtual and social spaces. Modern games and services from Facebook to Pokémon GO are ignoring the many lessons learned in the early days of shared online worlds, and you don’t even have to be a player or user to be affected by the fallout.

Why I loved “Edith Finch”

I was chatting on Twitter with someone about narrative games, and What Remains of Edith Finch came up. It was my favorite game of last year, and I had written this little bit on it for a forum disc…

Raph Koster explains why everyone made such a big deal about What Remains of Edith Finch - it’s because it was a brilliant showcase of conveying story and emotion through gameplay.

Framing and World of Warcraft’s Rest System

One of my favorite things about human psychology is how a punishment can be turned into a reward just by changing the way it’s framed. A few years ago a friend of mine was serving on the boar…

One of the more famous psychology lessons from World of Warcraft - framing is everything. Players hated the “rest” system when it was seen as a penalty for playing too long; they loved it when it was seen as a reward for spending time not playing.

The Untold History of EA's Long (and Rich) Pay-2-Win Love Affair

This video started out as a review for Star Wars Battlefront II, but as I researched the commercials behind it, I began to uncover a consistent pattern from ...

Skill Up illuminates the history of the loot box from its surprising origin in a side mode in a soccer game to where we are today with the Star Wars Battlefront II backlash, as well as discussion of potential legal regulation of loot boxes as a form of gambling and why this is an existential threat to EA.

Q&A: Translating the humor & tone of Yakuza games for the West

"The humor of a Yakuza game is a fine line to walk," says localization producer Scott Strichart in this in-depth chat about localization, the Yakuza games, and the ins and outs of Japanese humor.

A look at the challenges of localizing the Yakuza series of games for the West and the strategies Atlus has developed to overcome them (in particular working with both editors and translators together). I was intrigued by how important it is to have editors with strong understanding of the characters.

Sequelitis - YouTube

Egoraptor analyses the intricacies of video games and their sequels, and also hopefully makes you bust a gut laughing.

Arin Hanson’s short but brilliant series on design evolution in game sequels. His insights are valuable and delivered entertainingly - in particular, he provides the definitive examination of the finely-crafted opening level of Mega Man X.