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A history of griefing: gamers who ruin your day for kicks Sometimes it’s purely for fun, sometimes it’s to make a point, and sometimes it’s even to make a profit.
You’re in the zombie nightmare of DayZ and about to be eaten by one of the charging undead when suddenly a helicopter appears. Its pilots – and simply owning a helicopter lets you know they’re big shots – gun down your pursuer and offer you a lift. What you don’t know is that instead of flying you to safety, your destination is the tiny, featureless Schadenfreude Island some 15km off the main coast of Chernarus. The only reason they’ve saved you is for the amusement of knowing you’re condemned to stand there until you waste away, and that they were smart enough to fool you. Griefing: it comes in many…
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The Mission: the most bizarre soccer game ever made "Once you have acquired the ball it is used as your main weapon against the Ninjas."
“Taiwan #1!” AngryPug hilariously trolls Chinese H1Z1 cheater "Japan number two, China number four!"
Under the thumb: the evolution of buttons How the buttons we press daily were formed over many decades.
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Eve Online developer under fire for banning real-world politician "Spaceships have never been seriouser business."
Eve Online studio CCP Games has come under fire for banning real-world GOP politician Brian Schoeneman. The veteran politician and Eve Online player ran for a seat in Eve Online’s in-game representative council and won, but was removed and banned from the game after CCP Games said it received evidence showing that the Schoeneman, who went by the name Brisc Rubal in-game, had breached a non-disclosure agreement with the studio. Schoeneman denies the allegation. The massively multiplayer game has been the subject of many a write-up about its in-game politics and its unique gameplay, which encourages players to devote hundreds of hours every year to building a virtual community. The…
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The World of Warcraft legacy server that is no more In closing Nostalrius, Blizzard finds itself the bad guy despite having the law on its side.
Ventrilo Harassment: Arnold ruins a clan meeting Mission objective: Infiltrate and harass.
No, game journos, Grand Theft Auto doesn’t make you sexist False interpretations of already worthless and pseudoscientific studies. But hey — narrative.
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The largest ever MMO battle—3000 players!—was an accident Someone forgot to pay rent, resulting in a space battle involving over 3000 players and $300k worth of the game's currency gone forever.
MMOs have been fairly run-of-the-mill ever since Blizzard achieved its massive success with World of Warcraft. One MMO that somehow managed to survive the influx of casual play and generic fantasy races is Eve Online, the space sim that has regularly been likened to playing a spreadsheet rather than a game. While that assessment turns out to be true more often than not, another thing Eve is known for is truly massive player-versus-player battles. It seems the game sets a new record for the scale of online battles every year now, and though this year has only just begun, Eve is at it again. This time around, the battle appears to be the crux…
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5 plot twists that would have made great games even better When done right, a twist can be truly spectacular. Here's what they should have done...
10 hilariously offensive Steam games you aren’t allowed to buy any more In memoriam the best of the worst banned games in Steam's storied history.
The world of video game vinyl Down the video game record collection hole.
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What your MMO says about you We've got you figured out.
MMO’s like World of Warcraft are everywhere, sucking up time we would otherwise be wasting on meaningful, human contact. But when’s the last time meaningful human contact got you Shalug’doom, the Axe of Unmaking? Probably barely ever. To the casual internet user you might think World of Warcraft is the be all and end all of MMO gaming, but in truth it’s merely the tip of the iceberg. There are literally dozens of other ways you can eschew reality and pretend to be a hero or super powered villain without ever having to stop eating corn nuts or face the sun. And with all those choices, surely there’s something to…
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Woke at the GDC The Game Developers Conference is now about how games are to blame for every social ill — real or imagined.
Metroid Prime like you’ve never seen it before An extract from the new issue of Heterotopias.
Back on the flight deck: an interview with Wing Commander’s Chris Roberts Why he got into game development, why he left, why he's ready to come back, and much more.
