MMO Rants Get Heated at AGC

Well, the crew's out in Austin right now dodging Texas police, leaving some to hold the proverbial fort. Such as yours truly. I'm not bitter, though--not at all! Anyway, speaking of Austin, the MMO-focused conference got into full swing with the "MMO Ranting" panel. Head on over to Gamespot to read an in-depth synopsis of what happens when some of the big players in the MMO industry get together.

"Obliging the attendees were NCsoft designer Scott Jennings, BioWare Austin co-studio director Richard Vogel, Sony Online Entertainment studio technical director Lorin Jameson, and a pair of consultants with lengthy histories developing MMO games: former Turbine Entertainment executive producer and creative director Jessica Mulligan and Ultra Mega Games founder Matt Firor, formerly of Mythic Entertainment. Firor was a last-minute replacement for EA Mythic general manger Mark Jacobs, who missed the conference with an illness. Each panelist was given five minutes to rant, with an audience Question and Answer session filling up the rest of the hour."

The topics discussed in the various rants include a lack of innovation in design, a lack of quality in the lack of innovation ("We're not only thieves; we're bad thieves," quipped Mulligan), and the problems with service after the sale (Blizzard, we're looking at you!).

If you like MMOs (and I'm fairly sure most of you do,) the AGC is worth following, so check it out at Gamespot.