I don't subscribe to the theory that gamers are anti-social nerds who hide in their basements and have no real friends. Too many MMORPGs seem designed around that cliché, that we're loners who need new introductions in order to play a social game.

Leveling systems are used as motivation for players to push through content. But players of disparate levels don't mesh well together, so grouping with your existing friends is usually tossed aside in favour of constantly finding new ones. Grouping and guild tools operate as a social introduction system, trying to integrate you with others at the same level.

It was understandable a decade ago. Back when Everquest was released, it was unlikely that your real-life friends would be playing an online subscription game, so you needed mechanics that helped you group with strangers. But now this genre is mainstream and even if players aren't together with their local buddies, they're bound to have strong bonds from other games as they migrate to the newer MMOs. Cross-game guilds are becoming commonplace.

Some games even require a large diverse population for the content to work correctly. WAR is the biggest example so far: if players aren't active and working together in any given area, the content just doesn't work. Players are sorted into level tiers, realms and racial pairings, so new bonds are needed between players even more, if only temporarily for the task at hand. This is supposed to be 'epic'.

But I already have friends.

I'm okay with adding a few new friends now and then, but I don't need a pool of hundreds of them. I'd rather concentrate my time with a few close friends that I can relate to. The 'epic' crowds are more of a sideline interest, I like them there, but not at the expense of my primary enjoyment of simply playing together with my friends. Most of the group and guild tools aren't helping that.

The number one reason I enjoy Endgame is because eventually I end up on even strength as my friends and only then can we enjoy challenging game content together. Unfortunately, most Endgame content then shifts to even larger groups (raiding, warband sieges, etc.), presumably to reinforce the need for yet more new friends.

When Cryptic created their Sidekick / Mentoring system to allow players to pair up and balance their level differences, I thought it would be a paradigm shift for all MMORPGs. I was shocked that Blizzard didn't implement the feature for World of Warcraft's release. I was also disappointed that Age of Conan gave barely more than lip-service to mentoring, it was poorly implemented and quickly nerfed because it didn't match their content. WAR has similar features automated within tiers for Scenarios and RvR, but again it's a limited and half-assed implementation that doesn't come anywhere close to resolving the essential problem while leveling.

I have friends. I'd like to play with my friends, not just chat with my friends while I play.

No wonder Left 4 Dead has had phenomenal pre-order sales, it's a game focused on small groups of players cooperating together. Friends. It's a a shame the MMORPG genre hasn't learned from the popularity of small-team coop games.

MMORPGs should focus on content that allows players to get together in small groups of their own choosing.

Please give me more tools and content to play with my existing small group of friends.

Now is the time when the collective MMO blogosphere takes a step back. After a rash of criticism towards game mechanics in recent games and upcoming expansions, we feel like we've been a bit harsh. After all, we love these games don't we? We have to prove we're not just critics.

In true passive-aggressive nerdcore fashion, we look inward.

It's time to wax philosophical about us gamers ourselves. What motivates us? How many problems in these games are caused by us, the gamers? How well do we treat each other? And what makes us so important anyway?

There are other, far more important things happening in the world, right? The world markets are hurting (don't say collapse). It's election day in Canada. Led Zeppelin isn't really getting back together.

We're just little squigs specs in this great big ol' Universe.

But dammit, joy and creative urges are the best things to live for. Gaming is part of that for me. If anyone asks me to look at a greater perspective, that's my take. So excuse me if (after voting) I queue for some Scenarios.

Now I just need to remember to kill the dude with the thing.

Stargate Worlds is launching its Beta on October 15th, which I think will be the first serious look into this game beyond a handful of screenshots.

As much as I like the TV series and the license itself is promising (coordinating teams is as natural to their storyline as a Star Trek MMO), this game falls into the category of shooter MMORPG and sadly I think it will suffer in the same ways Tabula Rasa has. This sub-genre overlaps too much with hugely popular FPS games, it's unlikely to hold up well against the likes of Halo, Unreal Tournament, CounterStrike, etc..

There's also been those pesky rumours of cash-flow problems at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment.

We'll see though, maybe they'll exceed my expectations, but honestly right now I'm enjoying WAR too much to take a deeper look into Stargate. I hope they do well with their beta and come out of the gate with a good alternative to the myriad Fantasy MMOs.

The full game is set to launch sometime in 2009.

Simple question:

Which archetype do you prefer? Melee or Caster?

I suppose it could be taken deeper with the whole Tank, Heal, DPS, Crowd-Control paradigm, but that could get really specific with pet classes etc..

For me, it's usually been Melee, but I've warmed up to Casters lately.

Michelle has tried to convince me to give Tabula Rasa a try. She was in the beta and she had some nice things to say about it, but my reaction is still: "If I'm going to play a shooter, I'd probably prefer an FPS."

I doubt I'm the only person with this mentality. Ever since the Doom days (Wolfenstein even), we've been blessed with high quality shooters. The FPS genre still dominates and it's been seriously refined, plus they've been multiplayer since practically day one.

Stargate Worlds looks interesting, but it's also a shooter.

Even if you compare casters in most MMORPGs, it's the AoEs that make those classes popular.

I don't think an FPS makes a good MMORPG because having your character on the screen is such a strong tangible factor. I'd guess the designers at both Tabula Rasa and Stargate Worlds would agree with me there, they both have third-person shooter designs. The thing is, they're directly competing with what's arguably the biggest genre there is.

Thankfully we have plenty of great FPS games to choose from, but that's a problem for shooter MMOs, isn't it?

I'm in love with the MMORPG genre, but it's so seldom that my tastes are met. Just taking a glance at some of the upcoming games and my personal reactions to them:

• Aion: Too anime for me. I don't mind anime itself, but the fanbase drives me bonkers. I think I'd poke my eyes out with a stick after the first day.
• BioWare's MMO: It's unnamed, that's mysterious and exciting, but if it turns out to be Star Wars I'll be disappointed, since I'm about as tired of Mr. Lucas' universe as I could possibly be. 2011 is a long time to wait anyway.
• Champion's Online: One superhero MMORPG is enough for me, City of Heroes was great but didn't have a ton of depth.
• Copernicus: 38 Studios' MMO in development, kinda early to tell but the idea of a game produced essentially by a fan of the genre is very intriguing. They've got some significant talent onboard too.
• Chronicles of Spellborn: It's supposed to be story / quest driven, but catchphrases like "What lies hidden must be found" do not grab me.
• Guild Wars 2: I got bored of the first during beta, it's certainly improved since then so maybe by the time the sequel comes out I might feel compelled to play.
• Huxley: It's sounds just like tournament FPS combat to me, "campaign mode" delayed for a 360 version? I suspect as an FPS I'd rather play Left4Dead.
• Stargate Worlds: I liked the movie, the tv show never caught my interest. Hard to get excited about an IP I don't care for.
• Star Trek Online: A theme of interstellar landing parties could work so well as an MMO. If Cryptic does confirm this rumoured revival of Star Trek as an MMORPG, they're the right peeps to do it IMHO.
• Warhammer Online: I've got a few Games Workshop items sitting in my closet, I've always loved the incredible artwork on the Warhammer franchise, but unfortunately that's exactly the part of the game I'm worried Mythic is botching, because they've turned it too cartoony. For gameplay though, WAR has clever quest tweaks and their take on faction-based PvP is being refined from Dark Age of Camelot. The smell of quality and confidence is exuding from Mythic. I'll definitely check it out, but I'm not drooling in anticipation like I was a couple years ago.
• World of Darkness: CCP Games are definitely on the high list of capable MMO developers, EVE Online has grown rather than shrunk over the years. I don't know much about Vampire: Masquerade et al other than it's always sounded hella cool.
• Wrath of the Lich King: Strictly it's an expansion for WoW and that about sums it up, I'm pretty much done with the game and its catering to some of the worst traits in western culture.

Feel free to point out any notable games I've missed that are coming down the pipe sooner or later.

I knew a lot of folks were unhappy with Hellgate: London, but I didn't think the situation was so bad. It's sad news to hear that Flagship Studios are basically kaput. It's a shame for the staff for sure and the players.

It does illustrate how some developers overextend themselves and then cannot recover unless they launch big. It's a greater concern in the MMORPG space, where us players do expect persistence, in fact it's probably the cardinal rule due to the amount of time and energy we invest in characters.

Since they've laid off the staff (which sucks), it's unlikely that the investors will keep the IP going. Just this news alone will probably cause a mass exodus away from the game, which may be shut down anyway.