In this short-but-sweet edition of MMOWTF, Dan Fortier takes a swing at what he calls "kiddie MMOs", friendship meters, decorating contests and the like.
That’s right...I said it. Happy Games make me want to kill. If that isn’t clear enough let me put a finer point on it: Games that involve cartoon characters, emasculated male avatars, sparkly music and non-violent ways to compete with fellow players send me into a murderous rage that typically involves turning green and huffing paint. There is just something about really big eyes and a small mouth that gets my adrenaline pumping and makes me want to inflict serious virtual damage on people and property. This week, I take my impotent aggression out on kiddie MMOs and the adults who keep them profitable. Yar!
It seems that a month doesn’t go by in which an MMO that caters to kids (and the people that stalk them) is released. A fair portion of these titles are imported from counties that literally crank out these games in a non-stop stream. The ones that make it to our side of the pond are usually poorly translated and virtually carbon copies of each other minus a title and a quickly assembled backstory pasted haphazardly onto the genre of choice. Is this some kind of payback for something we did wrong in a past life?
Read it all here.
