Recognizing 2007: Devs, Bloggers, and Others who scarred my brain

The ultimate trackback circle-jerk, thanks for the hoots, hollers, laughs, and all the scars.

  • Scott Hartsman is something else again Year after year, I am impressed by his actions. But what’s he up to in 2008? Persistent and unfounded rumors suggest that he is going to 38 Studios. These rumors stem from the large amount of SOE/EQ2 talent that defected to 38 Studios. I don’t know where Scott will end up, but I think any company who grabs Scott is very lucky to have such a talented and dedicated individual.

  • Damion Schubert’s insight continues to blow me away. Zen of Design, was my favorite Dev blog in 2007. Downside: He doesn’t blog enough. haha. I’m glad he is lead combat designer on Bioware’s MMOG. It probably helps I agree with his views on combat systems and classes.

  • Best downfall of the year goes to Brad McQuaid. Witnessing his plummet from desperation to bat shit craziness to abandonding the Vanguard team was hilariously sad. I still feel sorry for all the people that lost their jobs over his incompetence. Keep in mind when SOE relocated the Vanguard team to San Diego a shit load of Devs got axed as well. That’s the nature of the biz, but if I were to point a middle finger, it’d be at McQuaid and not SOE.

  • Raph Koster’s blog shifted. Raph really stood up for Web Based MMOGs and Virtual Worlds, sort of becoming a black horse amongst his staunch traditionalist peers. I remember skipping over a lot of virtual world news blurbs. I thought all was lost, but he came out with some great posts in December. It was like reading old Raph again, well it was, because he’s already written about this stuff in the past. Haha. As for Raph’s big project, MetaPlace, I’m all for it. I’d rather see Raph develop this toolset than a traditional based MMOG (which he may do with the toolset) because I believe the genre, well; the web for that matter really needs something like MetaPlace.

  • Jeff Freeman is crazy as ever, but in a good way. I sort of get the feeling he is bored or has a lot of free time when he should be working on whatever it is Spacetime Studios is doing. I just hope Jeff really isn’t going crazy, otherwise he will invent some alien language that no one will be able to understand and build a UFO made out of silly string and kidnap Angus and all our women and beer and move to some other Universe.

  • Scott Jennings posted a lot of news crap last year, but its okay because he’s freakin hilarious and is excused from the no reblogging clause.

  • I agreed the most with Cameron from Random Battle fame. My favorite MMOG player blogger from last year. The problem was I agreed so much I didn’t leave as many comments as I would’ve liked. Get out of my head, dammit.

  • I agreed to disagree with Tobold the most, not vocally though. I’m lazy. But why did I disagree with Tobold more than any other blogger? I think that’s probably because Tobold did the most theory-crafting last year. He also called me out. I called him out. It was fun. People laughed, but mostly everyone said wtf is with the blog lol’z dramaz. Good times.

  • We’ve lost a lot of great bloggers over the years, and in 2007 I actually found that I missed reading The Cesspit. Haha, yea, I know. I know, but Abalieno has an unusual insight you don’t see on any other MMOG blog. It would be a bit soul-crushing if Mark Jacobs called me a lunatic and said my ideas were rubbish and not worth piddly-shit, which is what he more or less told Abalieno on F13. Abalieno still didn’t give up until his passion was impinging on his real-life, and Jacobs is actually wrong about the rubbish part. Abalieno is blogging again, but about books this time around.

  • Paul Barnett is a funny bloke and the best promoter in the biz. Still no WAR invite… So shut the hell up please, and stop making me want to play your game. Haha.

  • J.’s knowledge on developers and their history still scares me to this day. All devs should be afraid of his photographic memory and story-telling skills.

  • I have mad props for Jeffrey Kaplan for doing an insane amount of interviews. He was the most visible and accessible Blizzard developer. Poor bastard.

  • Yearly reminder goes to Tom Chilton.: Don’t touch another PvP system ever again.

  • Richard Garriot: Why dude, why? You had five years, don’t blame the beta man. I think the problem has to do more with Tabula Rasa’s subscription fee than anything. You gave some good talks. I hope you get to catch your space rocket and go on crazy cool adventures with Astronaut Jones, but I don’t think it should be on NCsoft’s dime — Lum’s MMOG needs those funds!

  • John Smedley gets some nod here. I may not agree with you on RMT and some other things, but you are at least being honest with SOE’s direction. You really should blog more if you can though. We love flaming you.

  • The official SOE Podcast was a nice surprise. Cat baked lots of delicious treats and then taunted everyone with them, they looked yummy. No link though, she has plenty of stalkers. Cat knows martial arts, and I’m surprised Brenlo is still doing the podcast.

  • Prolifically for the win! Tobold, TAGN, Keen and Graev, and Nerfbat. These guys turned out reams of quality content last year. Well, content I liked reading anyway! I prefer reading diverse MMOG commentary more than specific content focused around one MMOG.

  • One *grins* of my favorite new MMOG blog goes to Elder Game! Thanks you two for such awesome quality content.

  • Jeff Gertsmann showed grace in the midst of a huge shitstorm when he could have came in with a flamethrower and burned the whole damn house down. Good for you man, good for you. Gamespot blows. Important sad truth realized yet again: You can’t fully trust most game reviews.

  • Kyle Orland: You sir are an inspiration. You are a true gaming journalist. This is not an easy accomplishment and we are lucky to have you!

  • Kotaku: … There’s still a love / hate thing that went on. Some days I loved it, others I want to nuke it off the interwebs.

  • Penny Arcade: I love what you guys do for charity. On the flip side, I really don’t think your comic is that funny: 1 in 20 strips maybe, ouch. Trust me; I have a sense of humor. I’m just not ten years old anymore. Well, I did love the Dickerdoodles, maybe I’m a 13 year old trapped in an old woman’s body. Tycho writes extremely well, duh.

  • Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s Zero Punctuation is the best thing ever. I’m sad fat man. I must have my weekly ZP on Wednesday. I count that shit down. It is the big hairy ball sacks fun: great humor, excellent writing, and superb delivery. I have sex with his reviews playing in the background, with myself. Best pontificator of the year!

  • Massively: About damn time!

  • TenTonHammer: Still the best.

  • MMORPG: At least the ads are MMOG related. I envy that.

  • EVE Dev Blogs: Best Official Dev Blogs. Good guys even if the Trinity Expansion killed Windows XP installs. I got a shirt out of it though. Sweeeeeet.

  • Brent, stuff, good, yes. But I think Virgin Worlds is the worst name ever. I still <3 you. Yea Plaguelands isn’t much better. I’ll let you kick me in the balls if we ever meet up in first life. I’ll be sure to wear a cup.

  • I liked Coyote’s pictures. Coyote made me feel like a huge perv often sometimes skipping the articles for the pictures. He is also a funny mofoe.

  • All the unknown MMOG devs that don’t get the credit they deserve. Thank you, for ruining our lives. I owe you all many beers and bearded midget hookers.

    • I’m missing a lot more, but, that’s all I got ATM. I read to many blogs, I hate you all.

    About this entry

    You’re currently reading “Recognizing 2007: Devs, Bloggers, and Others who scarred my brain,” an entry on Plaguelands

    Published:
    01.02.08 / 8pm
    Category:
    I reckon punk