There has been quite a lot happening in the MMO landscape recently. For me, two events in particular stand out:

1.) Sony Online Entertainment has been hacked and I find myself uncomfortable with the idea of using their services. In fact, as a matter of security (and arguably, my sanity) I have discontinued using their products and services, perhaps permanently.

Which leaves a void in my gaming life, so I decided to fill it with…

2.) Rift is a fairly recent entry into the MMO genre. From what I can gather, Rift differentiates itself by offering greater flexibility in terms of character customization and development, along with dynamic world events happening around the clock. This is a nice change from the relatively static content you see in DDO, LOTRO, or WoW. In particular it’s nice that if I see something happening in the “world” I can just run in and join the “Public Group” fight.

While it’s too soon to declare the downfall of WoW or that Rift is an “instant classic” I think Rift differentiates itself enough from WoW to have a unique niche; they even managed it without an epic novel/movie series to define the content (which is a HUGE accomplishment). I can also see where Rift fixes a lot of the small-group annoyances for those that have limited schedules (#work, #realLife) and don’t want to deal with the attitudes that you encounter from “experienced pro” (elitist jerk) WoW players.

In short, Rift lets me do some quests, craft, and participate in ad-hoc groups to get currency for really nice items. I can be as social (or anti-social) as I want without forfeiting access to game content and items. It’s even better now that Rift is offering free trials so you can spend a few days seeing if Rift is right for you. Until next time, hope to see you online.

-“Beazst”

P.S.- Since gaming is undeniably part of who I am, I’m going to roll this content into my personal blog. It’s becoming a bit too much work to maintain separate “gaming” and “personal” blogs.