For my part, if anything I used to be too positive. Back in the day I ran a fansite, of all things. But, as you said, I've gotten very jaded over the years, which to my mind was through no great fault of my own.

When it comes right down to it, I'm a gamer who enjoys talking about games, and I'd like to think that I give credit where credit is due. Maybe the fact that I haven't been giving out much credit lately is just a reflection of my opinion of the current state of the industry.

The gaming industry as a whole, and the MMO genre in particular, has been growing increasingly stale with each passing year. When budgets for games are skyrocketing past 50 million dollars, no one dares to take a risk on reinventing the wheel and losing that kind of money if they get it wrong.

As a result, long-term fans such as myself have essentially been playing DikuMUD over, and over, and over again, with a new coat of paint on it and some minor tweaks to the formula every few years.

But I respect your opinion that we should include more positive segments in the show, and if you have any suggestions on more cheerful items you'd like us to discuss, feel free to drop us a line at podcast@mmogamer.com.