UPDATE #1!  The EverQuest Next Landmark NDA has been lifted! John "Smed" Smedley, SOE's president, tweeted: "The nda is lifted but you will still see the physical nda until we can yank it from the process"

UPDATE #2! Another tweet from John Smedley! If you're unsatisfied with the alpha (for any reason), you can ask for a full refund.
 

CC: "Reporting in LIVE from San Diego is our Managing Editor Ann Hosler! Welcome, Ann, what's the word from Sony Online Entertainment?"

AH: "The EverQuest Next Landmark community event is currently underway and we are fortunate enough to be on-site. We'll give you a full report next week, but here's the breaking Landmark news: Alpha is anticipated to begin for Trailblazers and Explorers this evening! "

The last week of January is almost upon us! SOE is hosting an EverQuest Next Landmark Community Celebration next Friday and David Georgeson's twitter feed is awash with teases. Winter is here. Alpha is coming.

As this is potentially the last 'Your Next' before the servers go live, here is something to keep in mind:

We are going to be participating in the development of a game that will be used as a tool to build EverQuest Next.

What a privilege, and what an opportunity for all of us. If you had told me 15 years ago that this would be happening I simply would not have believed it. From the level of skepticism we have seen about the promises of both games, it seems there are many who still don't believe it.

In this new era of game development, where designers are turning to their players and communities more and more, we have the chance to help shape EverQuest Next into something really special. How appropriate that it should be the franchise that stood on the strength of its community and the boldness of its vision that once again leads the way.

So yes, I'm excited for alpha. It's felt like time has frozen recently as more and more tidbits of information are let out of the black box. This week I was particularly impressed with Developer Michael Mann’s Lead System Designer diary. If you missed it, you can watch it here and read our summary here. 

Sony Online Entertainment has released their latest Developer Diary video for EverQuest Next Landmark, this time touching on the subject of crafting. Landmark's Lead System Designer, Michael Mann, dishes out the information on where, what and how to craft in the game.

This year marks a huge milestone for Sony Online Entertainment. Its flagship title, EverQuest, will turn 15 years old in March, and in early November, EverQuest II will celebrate its 10th birthday. To add to the celebrations, EverQuest Next Landmark will soon launch into its Alpha testing phase.

SOE will host a public celebration event on January 31, 2014 at its headquarters in San Diego. Developers will be on site to chat with players, a 15-minute demo of Landmark will be available (be prepared to sign an NDA for it, though), there’s been talk of SOE building tours to see where the devs work, and the community team will be livestreaming the event for those who cannot attend in person.

We got the chance to chat with EverQuest Senior Producer Thom Terrazas, EverQuest II Senior Producer Holly Longdale, EverQuest Next Landmark Senior Producer Terry Michaels and the EverQuest Franchise Director of Development Dave Georgeson about what players can expect to see in the coming months.

As the MMO genre has grown and matured, demands for convenience have seen massive increases in solo-able content. Instant group finders abound, and community ideals erode in the glare of instant access group content, designed to be completed without any need for communication.

Many people see this as a problem, the strength of the MMO genre is the persistent nature of the experience, what good is it if all its parts are disposable?

What is the answer to this problem? Many think it is to wind the clocks back to a pre-World of Warcraft state, but this is simply not possible. The realities of making online games has changed dramatically, playing with other people over the internet is now no longer a novel concept. This was a time without YouTube, when social media was in its infancy and people thought Steam was something that came out of a kettle.

This evening's EverQuest Next Landmark livestream was helmed by Senior Brand Manager Omeed Dariani, Community Manager Colette "Dexella" Murphy, Senior Producer Terry Michaels and Lead Designer Darrin McPherson.

Colette encouraged those attending the EverQuest Community Event on January 31st to email communityevents@soe.sony.com to let them know where you're coming from and how many people are coming with you. Demo and on-site tour participation require an NDA, and those who are under 18 must have a parent or guardian present. 

Terry and Omeed went on to discuss the alpha, stressing that the game will be in an earnest alpha state with it estimated to only be about 65% or so complete. Alpha testers will be integral to assisting with not only finding bugs, but also helping to shape the game. A "DevTalk" feature will eventually be introduced, enhancing the dialogue between developers and community in-game.

Join SOE on Twitch TV on Wednesday, January 15 at 4pm PT (7pm ET) as they discuss claims in EverQuest Next Landmark!

It's time for the first livestream of 2014! We're excited to be back on Twitch TV, sharing Landmark news with all of you.

On Wednesday, January 15, join Colette "Dexella" Murphy (Community Manager), Omeed Dariani (Senior Brand Manager), Terry Michaels (Senior Producer), and Darrin McPherson (Lead Game Designer) as they discuss the Landmark Community Celebration on January 31 and delve into the details of CLAIMS - How big are they? How do they work? and more.

Make sure you log in and join us live in the chat room on our official Twitch channel!

Join EverQuest Next Landmark Associate Producer Eric Smith as well as Lead Building and UI Designer Jake Sones as they show off the advanced building tools in the latest developer diary!

Like over 900,000 other people around the world, I have been celebrating the New Year with the alpha release of DayZ, the zombie themed survival sim from the imagination of Dean 'Rocket' Hall.

In DayZ, players are thrown into a hostile environment with no direction or encouragement other than their own will to survive. A gaming experience like no other, DayZ forums have been full of player stories since the first days of the Arma 2 mod version.

This is exactly what sandbox games are all about, emergent experiences that come about through players interacting with the game and each other, creating pockets of narrative as spontaneous as they are unique. These are the stories we remember most vividly, even in games that weren't designed to include them.

Players are demanding ever-increasing levels of agency in their games; we want our actions to impact our environment in meaningful ways. But what if we, as players, don't know what actions we can perform? 

There are many things that go into making a great game. Story, art, sound and mechanics come together to create wonderful backdrops and tools for us to live out great adventures in an artistic medium quite unlike any other. But as MMO gamers, we know none of that matters if you don't have Endgame.

It is Star Wars: The Old Republic's second birthday this week, and it's pretty safe to say it's not been as smooth a ride as many expected, though I will hastily add that I understand why many people like it and continue to play it.

SWTOR was sold to us with the promise of grand, fully voiced story that would lead us across the galaxy we traversed so many times in our imaginations. A grand ambition for any developer, being able to achieve this in an MMO setting pushed even Bioware's abilities to the limits. And by golly, they pulled it off. The stories were compelling, the characters were rich and the settings were well sculpted and felt authentic. Only later did we realise it was all for nothing.

In single player games, a lovingly crafted interactive experience can be an absolute joy. I could have cried at the ending of Telltale's The Walking Dead (though of course I didn't as I'm a big tough guy), and the world of Fallout has been my home for more hours than I care to think about. But MMOs are not bespoke solo adventures, you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.