“Stickiness” in MMOs… on Gamasutra

I’ve been reading Gamasutra since I was a nerdy little CS major dreaming of someday working professionally in games, and desperate to read anything published about the art, science, and business of games. Though it appears that the site has had its bumps through the years, these days I think its content and news are better than ever, probably thanks to an absolute killer staff led by, among others, Leigh Alexander (of the Sexy Videogameland blog) and Chris Remo (of Idle Thumbs insanity), both of whom I have serious crushes on.

Since no one actually reads this blog, I thought I would try my hand at writing up a blog article on a blog I started on their site, since they apparently offer that service now. I was thrilled to log on the next day and find that I had been flagged as an “Expert” blogger (though perhaps this just denotes than I’m an actual game developer and not, say, a student, or someone who stalks game developers). Moreover, my first post had been given a “Featured Post” flag – I think that means that it will show up in their weekly round-up of blogs. A very pleasant surprise, and an honor from a site that I respect greatly.

Here’s the first post: “Stickiness” in Games, or: Why you can’t beat WoW

And the follow-up: Levels vs. Stickiness, or: How WoW can be beaten

Yes I am attempting the “inflammatory/oversimplifying headline” technique of blogging.

I may start posting my game design thoughts on Gamasutra rather than here, and reserve this blog for more general ramblings and short posts. I’ll cross-post them here of course.

UPDATE: Huzzah, the second post has ALSO been marked as “Featured”!