John Scott Tynes Legacy Author, Author at The Escapist

The Hard Problem

The Hard Problem: The New Concurrency

In an MMOG, “concurrency” refers to how many players are online at the same time. For games with multiple servers/shards/realms, this number is ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorFebruary 4, 2010

The Hard Problem

Faucets, Sinks, and Markets

I never thought I’d play a fantasy-adventure game in which I’m both an epic hero and a landlord, but thanks to Peter Molyneux ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorJanuary 7, 2010

The Hard Problem

Collection Progression

I’m a sucker for collecting crap in videogames. The universe could be perishing in fire and blood but if I haven’t found all ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorDecember 3, 2009

The Hard Problem

Videogame Sex

I would like to begin this month’s column by assuring you I do not get paid by the page view. This month’s topic ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorNovember 10, 2009

The Hard Problem

Too Many Buttons

The Xbox 360 controller, as an example, has thirteen different user inputs. That’s not including the Start, Back, or Xbox buttons, and that’s ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorOctober 8, 2009

The Hard Problem

Evolving the Superhero MMO

Cryptic Studios is taking a stab at evolving the superhero MMO with Champions Online this month, which means it’s a good time for ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorSeptember 3, 2009

The Hard Problem

Unfinished Games

It’s one of the dirty little secrets of the gaming hobby: a substantial percentage of players who buy our games don’t actually finish ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorAugust 13, 2009

The Hard Problem

The Hard Problem: Dynamic Content

It all went downhill when we started saving our progress in games. Whose brilliant idea was that, anyway? Once we introduced the virtual ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorJuly 2, 2009

The Hard Problem

Conversation

Most videogames follow Elvis’s dictum to the extreme: “A little less conversation, a little more action.” With the notable exception of Bioware’s games ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorJune 5, 2009

The Hard Problem

Good vs. Evil

Welcome to The Hard Problem, a new column where I’ll tackle a hard problem in game design and then solve it before your ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorMay 14, 2009

Wanna Be My Friendster?

The Contrarian: Growing Out of the Stone Age

In my last column, I wrote about roleplaying at the tabletop and online, and how the latter experience falls short of the former. ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorFebruary 28, 2006

Method Gamers

The Contrarian: Masks in the Woods

They’d gamed together before, this group. I’d never met them until that night. They were veteran tabletop roleplayers, passionate about their characters and ...

By John Scott Tynes Legacy AuthorJanuary 31, 2006

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