MMORPG.com columnist Richard Aihoshi files his last column of 2009, taking a look at some of the various subjects that come to mind as the year comes to a close.

Since this is the last column I'll write in 2009, I'd like to take the opportunity to express my hope that all of you are having the kind of holiday season you deserve, and to wish 2010 will bring more of the same. As for what has caught my attention and been on my mind recently, I invite you to take a break from your festive feasting and to share some pot luck.

100K simultaneous users on a single server

This summer, I wrote a column discussing a couple of ways in which online poker might be seen as overlapping with MMOGs. To be clear, it would take quite a liberal interpretation of the category's boundaries to include poker. However, some interesting bases for comparison do exist. Another came up yesterday. The leading site, Poker Stars, attempted to break its own record for most players in a single buyin (pay to enter) tournament, which was set last year when 65,000 took part in a similar event.

Read Free Zone: Year-End Pot Luck.

Sorry about your cat.

I am so sorry to hear about your cat. 

Cat?

 Im hoping that great things come in 2010. I think thats assured if we all play are parts correctly and with duty and honor.

There's so much more to tap in with storylines. The depth of which all depends on our collective and creative intellect.

Thanks for the good words, the good work, and may your friend shine on- to ever greater pastures.

K

Sorry to hear about your cat!

Sorry to hear about your kitty. :(

Oh, Richard, I'm so sorry to hear about Punkin. :(  We also lost our cat just a few months ago. KittyKitty (our daughter named her when she was 2 years old, hence the name) was also 20 years old. We had had Kitty longer than our youngest son, in fact, he's only 19. Kitty was indeed part of our family.

Kitty, however, was not really a gaming companion to any of us, so while the family was very sad, we could at least all escape into our various MMOs and single player games without the constant reminder.

Again...I'm very sorry to hear that.

To a more wonderful 2010....

~L.

I enjoy your articles and look forward to them in 2010.

I am sorry for your loss. My cat, Strikes, always enjoys laying next to the computer for warmth and on my lap while I play. It is frustrating when she steps on the key board and autoruns me over a cliff to my death, but its funny and great. Do you plan on getting a new cat?

-Swoogie McDoogie

In relation to the article, I really look forward to more story-driven MMO's with less GET ME 5 WOLF PELTS!!!!! quests

Cats, we have just the one, when he's hungry he'll sit in front of the monitor until i feed him. im pretty sure he's supposed to be the pet.....

I lost my dog in january (he was 19 years old), i know the feel. Sorry for your cat,man. After all this time,a pet becomes family. A DEAR family member,for sure

=/ 

Who cares about F2P games, they are their own worst enemies. Funny you mention poker games and MMO's since there are a couple trying to have poker games for game money. If they would worry about things like customer support and a stable base instead of stupid gimmicks, we might see some progress. F2P's will for the most part probably be regarded as a joke here for the foreseeable future......

......Is what a I would say to a man who didn't lose his cat friend :(

I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry for your loss. Also had a pet (in this case dog) which also had a presence in my gaming "environment". It was never the same after my pet's death.

Well, I don't think Poker can fit as a MMO, along with all those lobby-based games. There has to be a line somewhere, and if it does not include any kind of the first "M" in the real gameplay (not just the waiting room, chat rooms, pacific outposts and cities), it isn't a MMO for me. Even if it has a player limit for an area à la Tabula Rasa, that's a valid way to prevent the unbearable amount of players in a same area that the game (along with current hardware and network limitations) was not designed to handle.

Anyway MMOs and Online Games live too closely nowadays, reason that allows us to see non-MMOs (and non-RPGs, heh) in MMORPG.com.

Sorry about your cat, Richard.

I haven't been in-game at all this month, so there isn't anythign I can say about holiday events.

Sorry to hear about your cat Punkin.

As for the rest of the article, Poker as an MMO?  That is a huge strech.  Other than that, I have high hopes for 2010, this last year was just a total bummer.

Sorry about your cat :/ - I lost my loved Hamu-chan (yeah yeah) a few years ago; went to work one day and came home to find him half in his food bowl, he just didn't have the energy to make it out I guess.

Anyway - regarding your part about writing; the main problem with story lines and writing in MMO's is that so few players seem to want to take the time to.. you know.. read it. Sure, you can have a huge budget and tons of voice acting like SW:TOR is supposed to come with, but in general too many players seem to be hell bent on getting to the level cap (for whatever reason) and don't care for the story. Lord of the Rings Online has a pretty good story written into it (not the best, no, but pretty darned good) but so many people just click through quest acceptance and run off to where the quest tracker tells them to go (the quest tracker being a result of this 'i dont wanna read' phenomenah).

I hope for better writing too, but I can sympathise with developers who don't want to put so much effort into something that so many people will just ignore.

Sorry to hear about your cat... seems like you have many memories... I think maybe I should invest myself into getting one.

I lost my seventeen year-old cat the week before Christmas. I'm 29. I had that cat for more than half my lifetime. I could hardly say she died young, but it still hurt. She really meant a lot to me. Hang in there, and know that a lot of us know how you feel.

I never participate in holiday events in MMO's, especially in December. Elf and orc Christmas is an even more tacky gimmick than the one IRL.

You have my sincere condolences for the loss of you cat.