Category: Columns

The Lost Art of Killing Ten Thousand Rats

Posted on March 20, 2026 by Fergus Sullivan

Somewhere along the way, MMOs decided grinding was the enemy. They were wrong. The grind was the game, and it worked when designers bothered to make it feel good.

You Log In. You Do Your Chores. You Log Out.

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Fergus Sullivan

Modern MMOs don’t ask what you want to do tonight. They already decided for you, and it’s a checklist.

Nobody Remembers a Convenient Death

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Fergus Sullivan

Dying in a modern MMO feels like blinking. The genre killed itself the moment it decided players shouldn’t lose anything.

The Auction House Killed the Bazaar

Posted on February 13, 2026February 13, 2026 by Fergus Sullivan

Modern MMOs gave us frictionless auction houses and took away the last reason strangers ever had to talk to each other. Efficiency won. Community lost.

You Don’t Remember Your Level 60, You Remember Getting Lost at Level 12

Posted on February 7, 2026February 13, 2026 by Fergus Sullivan

The moments that made MMOs feel like worlds happened when you wandered somewhere you shouldn’t have been. Every modern design choice exists to make sure that never happens again.