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Every Sunday we bring you an article from our archive, either for you to enjoy for the first time or for you to discover again. This week, with Blizzard's latest World of Warcraft expansion going strong and as we await the launch of Elite Dangerous, we return to John Bedford's opinion piece from 2012 on how to build better worlds.There's an oft-heard argument that surrounds the launch of any big-budget MMO - one that inevitably involves a reference to World of Warcraft, and centres around the idea that comparisons are unfair due to the seven years of content and polish that particular game has enjoyed. It's predictably raised its head again in the inevitable is-it-WOW-with-lightsabers-or-isn't-it post-launch analysis of The Old Republic.
It's born partly of the natural frustration we all feel whenever given staples of the genre - a robust economy and UI modification to name just two - fail to materialise at launch and, yes, partly of multi-year PR manipulation that leaves us emotionally invested in the promise of the end-product. Previous evidence to the contrary should, but rarely does, caution us all against all of this.
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