Last week on Massively: Warcraft related stories
by Dan O'Halloran 
Dec 2nd 2007 at 3:28PM
Last week there were some complaints about "why are there WoW stories on that other site and not here"? The biggest reason is that many stories posted on Massively are WoW-related but not necessarily about WoW. Being the most popular Western MMORPG on the market, it is often used as an example when talking about player behavior or game mechanics.The other reason is that we don't tell our writers what to write. If a Massively writer wants to cover a Warcraft topic, they are free to do so. Also, you get this weekly recap right here to make sure you don't miss a thing.
And if you're really concerned about missing out on any WoW news, you can always set your browser to show you only World of Warcraft news on Massively.
Now, on to the good stuff:
Blizzard was only expecting 1 million WoW subscribers
Spotlight on an interview with former Blizzard producer reveals early plans of WoW's infancy.
Behind the Curtain: Evolving the World of Warcraft
Carl Whithers proposes a way to make the lore of WoW more meaningful.
Bioware likes WoW, but thinks it can do better
WoW did a lot of things right, but the time sink to progress in the game is still very large. Bioware thinks they can fix that.
Should there be better physiology representation in MMOs?
Specifically, what about more options for less than optimal weight or more deformities or even small breasts?
MMOGology: End game means game over for casual players
Mark Knotke continues his weekly column, this time exploring the exclusion of casual players from the endgame of most MMOs.
Gamer Interrupted: Gamers behaving badly
Our very own Robin Torres provides advice on dealing with the "funsuckers" of the online gaming world.
Building a better MMOusetrap: Buildings, barrens and beyond (Part 3)
Dave Moss continues his look at how architecture influences game play experience. This time he heads out of the player cities and into the wilds.
As the Worlds Turn: Gluttons for punishment.
Adam Schumacher delves into the mystery of why we put up with stupid quests in the game.
G4 writer: Every MMOG since WoW is an epic failure
Title says it all. But do you think it's true?
How much mini-management is too much?
Akela Talamasca gets frustrated with the high level of maintenance while playing a pet class. What's the appeal?
MMOGs: missing a sense of mystery
Another point of view about the interaction of lore in online games, this one talks about the value of the unknown.
Lore and storytelling in the MMO genre
How much impact can storytelling have in a persistant, but unchanging MMO world?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Glenn Dec 2nd 2007 4:49PM
This is a bit stupid, I can understand some of the stories on the above list not being posted initialy to WOW Insider, but "Behind the curtain: Evolving the World of Warcraft" and "Blizzard was only expecting 1 million subscribers" are should have clearly been WOW Insider posts. What this tells me is that you're teasing us onto your sister blog(s) through either poor editorial decision or slightly underhanded reader "direction" seemingly to bolster the numbers on your newest site.
And, wait a minute you're posting episodes of "The Guild" on massively but not on WoW Insider? 'cause you know, it's not like the show is specifically about World of Warcraft or anything.
For shame
I know you want Massively to rack up the numbers and grow the readership it deserves, but don't poach. Massively is a good idea and the content is nice, but for those of us who don't give a crap how bad Tabula Rasa sucks or that there are still 20 people playing The Sims online do us a favor and post the WoW stories on the WoW blog. At the least post them simultaneously. I for one don't like being bread crumbed through your insider network to chase down the WoW articles just so you can plump your ad views.
Matt Warner Dec 3rd 2007 12:19AM
Would you feel better if WoW Insider was rolled up into Massively? I'm kidding, that would never happen, but feel free to use that one when you put on your tinfoil hat next time.
The fact is Behind the Curtain is a Massively feature, not a WoW Insider one. Some of our writers may write some quality posts that relate to WoW, it's going to happen. Massively and WoW Insider may be part of the same network, and some writers may even write for both sites, but not all of Massively writers are under contract to write for WoW Insider.
It has nothing to do with plumping and pilfering readers. Although, that's a pretty good idea. I think I'll go write a series of kick ass WoW posts... (I kid, not tonight anyway) It's as Dan said, WoW will see a lot of coverage on Massively as well since it the most popular MMOG.
If you actually use a rss reader you can subscribe to the WoW only feed over on Massively so you won't miss anything at all. (no ads either unless you participate in the comments) As for news and stuff, all that should indeed be getting posted on WoW Insider, just my imo. But there will be a lot of quality and original content in regards to WoW that will never see the light-of-day on WoW Insider, which is why we have these posts.
Beaverius Dec 2nd 2007 8:46PM
My sentiments exactly!
Glenn Dec 3rd 2007 10:19AM
So on one hand you can post Warcraft entries on Massively because these are all under the same umbrella, but for some reason you can't post Behind the Curtain here? Why doesn't the street run both ways.
Folding WOW Insider into Massively, actually maybe not such a bad idea. You've created a problem for yourselves in that you began with a very targeted game blog and then started a far more general one. Perhaps you should just make WOW Insider one of the categories on Massively, it would make more sense than to attempt to justify why WoW alone gets it's own blog.
As you point out Matt using the RSS would allow us to effectively filter out the non WoW news on Massively and give us WoW Insider, so if we have that ability why not fold WoW Insider into Mass. Is it really that different, does the fact that WoW is the 800lb gorilla mean that is is somehow a fundamentally different game deserving of it's own news service?
Mass writers aren't all contracted to write for wow insider, (and i'm not clear if that distinction runs both ways) so why are they writing WoW Stories? And why aren't the editors saying "hey, thats a good post but really we have this dedicated WoW blog where this post would fit so much better. So we can either discuss recontracting you, or you could broaden the post subject to better reflect the attempted discussion of MMOs as a whole that Massively is working for."
Again, there is some slack editorial focus and communication here.
Matt Warner Dec 3rd 2007 1:11PM
Yes, the blogs you see on Weblogs INC. are under the same umbrella. What this means is each blog has their own writing team, goals, etc. Only writers contracted for a specific blog can write for that blog. Not every Massively writer can be contracted to write for WoW Insider and vice versa. Why not? Short answer: They just can't and it won't happen.
I could definitely sympathize with your complaint if you saw WoW Insider features being posted over on Massively instead – this isn’t going to happen, and if it does, feel free to give us a piece of your mind. I appreciate your interest in wanting to read WoW content all in one specific site, but there really is no other way around it unless you use the feed or wait for these cross-over posts. You really aren’t missing much.
WoW Insider will always reign supreme when it comes to reporting in-depth Azerothian news, WoW features, etc. Once in awhile, you may see a Massively only feature that relates to WoW, (usually these are theory-craft discussions and nothing in relation to specific classes or anything) and some WoW news on Massively may be reported their first, (however, we will go to great lengths to sound off the alarms to any WoW Insider writers) but in the grand scheme of things the WoW coverage on Massively pales in comparison to the coverage seen on WoW Insider.
I don't have the power to fold WoW Insider into Massively. It won't happen, so entertaining the thought is only futile. I personally wouldn't roll WoW Insider and Massively together because it would blow up the internets and there would be nothing left but silly lolcatz making catty wumpus. In fact, I hope some other MMOs can draw enough attention to warrant their own blogs someday. That way more writers can focus on a specific MMOG, as opposed to a similar sized writing team being spread out over several dozen MMOs.
Ghen Dec 3rd 2007 1:25PM
I love this series... "Last week on Massively:" is the best article on wowinsider just for the comments =)
Matt Warner Dec 3rd 2007 2:12PM
lol! Especially when I should be writing some posts instead of chatting with everyone in the comments. *gets cracking before Elizabeth finds out* :p