Happy New Year to all the uplifting things in MMOs, 2022 edition

It’s our tradition to bundle all the reasons we can’t have nice things – all the worst things that happened to the MMORPG genre over the course of that year – and figuratively burn them in the New Year’s Eve bonfire. We did that last night. Sorry not sorry about the creepy pic.

But as MOP’s MJ is fond of reminding me, we cover a lot more than trash deserving of a good charr. We cover thousands of articles every year, and among them, some are really prove that gaming is pretty great, actually. Gamers can be good. Studios can be good. We can do a lot of good here!

So to usher in 2023, we’re recapping some of the happy MMO news that 2022 delivered to the genre and our wider gaming community, from charity efforts for Ukraine to memorial funds for fallen devs.

Happy New Year to all the uplifting things in MMOs, 2021 edition for 2022

Star Trek Online community podcast Priority One Podcast decides to wrap up after 535 episodes

Global Agenda is back from the dead at least temporarily, Hi-Rez confirms

EVE Online player sets a new speed world record for visiting every star system in the game

Massively Uplifting: MMOs show true love through helping kids, planting trees

Star Citizen fans announce the return of the Crux Cup endurance race event on March 20

Elder Scrolls Online players stage in-game peace walks through Cyrodiil in support of Ukraine

Wargaming pledges aid to Ukrainian Red Cross, sacks pro-invasion developer

Conan Chop Chop launches today as Funcom donates $100K of its proceeds to Ukraine Red Cross

Neverwinter parent company donates $2M in aid to Ukraine, IGDA calls on industry to condemn invasion

Zenith’s Ramen VR joins chorus of MMO studios donating to support Ukraine

Black Desert marks two years of console cross-play as players are married in-game and real life

Activision-Blizzard cuts sales to Russia, pledges support for Ukraine

Star Trek Online shares a mini-documentary all about the canonization of in-game ships

Isometric MMO Broken Ranks lays out content roadmap, raises funds for Ukrainian relief

Itch.io’s Bundle for Ukraine, Cyberpunk 2077 review-bombing, and Twitch withholds pay to Russian streamers

EVE Online studio CCP Games will run a PLEX for Good charity campaign for Ukraine

LOTRO opens Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra T3 this week, plus check out this amazing player-made map

Destiny 2’s Bungie halts sales to Russia, Gamigo begins Ukraine charity initiative in multiple MMOs

Wizard101’s KingsIsle sells Ukraine charity bundle, proceeds to reclaim EU publishing

Square-Enix opens up a free YouTube repository for all the Final Fantasy soundtracks

Niantic suspends Pokemon Go and Ingress in Russia, donates to support Ukraine

EVE Online streamers organize an ‘EVE Blackout’ to protest CCP’s monetization of the sandbox

Fortnite’s new season adds Doctor Strange as Epic Games raises millions for Ukraine aid

Tour the sights of Elite Dangerous’ galaxy with this videographer highlight video

Fortnite’s profit donation efforts have already raised $50M for Ukrainian aid

Jamie Lee Curtis will officiate her daughter’s cosplay-themed wedding as Jaina Proudmoore

Fortnite and its community have now raised $100M for Ukrainian relief

EVE Online players raised over $500K to benefit Ukraine in latest PLEX for Good charity drive

Massively Uplifting: How gamers are bringing humanitarian relief to Ukraine

Trove kicks off this year’s Bunfest Easter event and releases a bundle to benefit Ukraine

Look at the cool things New World players are doing with their in-game houses

MapleStory SEA offers up cosmetics, pets, and mounts for blood donations

RuneScape details charitable bundles for mental health awareness, OSRS acts on Giants’ Foundry feedback

EverQuest guild woke the Sleeper on P99 Green – and all hell broke loose

Sony subsidiary Insomniac secures new policy, donations for reproductive rights

Destiny 2’s Bungie says it won’t be ‘muzzled’ by Sony when it comes to ‘standing up for what’s right’

Star Wars fan strives to create the definitive SWTOR documentary

RuneScape player creates an LED heart light to monitor his character’s health

Final Fantasy XIV’s band The Primals shows off its concert (and you can still watch it)

RuneScape celebrates Pride Month with a mini-event and a spotlight on a community parade

How a typo snowballed into the creation of a Guild Wars 2 in-game romance novelist

Star Citizen and EVE Online unveil a LEGO build-off challenge for prizes and charity

Tonight’s Champions Online official costume contest challenges players with creating a mascot

Trove’s environmentally conscious Trovin’ and Grovin’ event sees players plant over 800K in-game trees

Final Fantasy XIV fans and official talents join together in singing ‘Close in the Distance’

From the Depths: Fun World of Warships warships that actually existed

Modders are making Morrowind and Skyrim into multiplayer co-op titles

MMO Business Roundup: Preservation, charity, modding, memes, and Microsoft’s merger

This year’s Bungie Day celebrates the playerbase of Destiny 2 with cosplay spotlights and emblems

Family of former Ultima Online lead designer and game academic opens college memorial fund in his honor

Lord of the Rings Online’s player-run Weatherstock music festival returns July 16

Skyrim Together Reborn multiplayer mod officially releases and earns itself over 100K downloads

Destiny 2 celebrates summer as Bungie addresses healthcare, racial justice, and its acquisition by Sony

TennoCon 2022: Digital Extremes’ annual charity focus Indspire supports Indigenous education

Lord of the Rings Online’s Weatherstock community concert drew 22 bands this past weekend

Blaugust returns for 2022 with achievements and prompts to encourage the MMO blogging community

NCsoft West and ArenaNet’s DEI committee members talk about company diversity in a video

RIFT fansite posts detailed timeline of the Gamigo era

EVE Online and Star Citizen’s Battle of the Bricks LEGO spaceship build-off concludes today

City of Heroes: Rebirth rogue server adds cel shading and four new powersets

Vanguard Saga of Heroes’ community-run emulator had over 100 players this past weekend

Fan site compiles a list of every MMORPG rogue server and emulator still running

Meridian 59 developer reveals secret ‘Easter egg’ room of statues that was made back in the ’90s

Massively Uplifting: WoW players break barriers, Bungie and ZeniMax raise money to help children

Warcraft Adventures fan remaster project reaches completion after six years

Path of Exile studio took on hosting duties for the player-run wiki

Final Fantasy XIV player develops a functional book controller for playing Scholar

New World shares a lore post as players raise $2300 for St. Jude’s in a player-run fishing tournament

Final Fantasy XIV plans a week of special farm streams in anticipation of Island Sanctuaries arriving soon

EVE Echoes launches a Project Discovery science initiative, EVE Online preps for next Alliance Tournament

Elite Dangerous players rediscover a unique gas giant that has been missing for seven years

Star Stable launches new charity initiative to counter negative ‘horse girl’ stereotypes

Red Dead Online has an in-game equestrian group that’s over 1,600 players strong

Bethesda and id software turn on old official servers for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

Check out these amazing World of Warcraft tableaus made for tabletop Dungeons & Dragons

A YouTuber is archiving every single portion of The Secret World

City of Heroes fans have (mostly) restored the game’s original 2012 forums

Warframe discusses Halloween, Frames, cross-play, and charity initiative

Elder Scrolls Online players stuck on Stadia will be able to transfer to PC with all their stuff

Riot Games sponsors design challenge centered on making online spaces safer

One of Wizards101’s most iconic voice actors passed away last week

MMO studios and publishers large and small come together to support Extra Life 2022

Guild Wars 2 promotes this weekend’s Pink Day in LA fundraiser for cancer charity

Jennifer Hale returns to Guild Wars 2 to voice a child character based on a real kid for Extra Life

Guild Wars 2 outlines the boosts and bundles being offered for this year’s Extra Life charity drive

Epic Games MOBA Paragon is resurrected as Paragon The Overprime under Netmarble’s oversight

Black Desert is canceling its Halloween events and sales following Itaewon tragedy

Guild Wars 2 is about to kick off its Extra Life charity stream – and the patch with April!

Guild Wars 2 players raise over $100K for Extra Life and unlock all collection hints in the process

Bungie will donate sales of its Destiny 2 pride pin to benefit a transgender charity all month

EverQuest’s returning Raid Raid Raid event tasks players with slaying giants and dragons all month

DC Universe Online devs and fans honor the passing of Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy

Ashes of Creation condenses the antics from its 24-hour Extra Life charity livestream in a video

Lord of the Rings Online’s community goes bonkers for a boulder nicknamed Dwayne Johnson

Hundreds of QA workers at ZeniMax – including Elder Scrolls Online’s ZOS – are preparing to unionize

Fan creates an elaborate mod for building bases in No Man’s Sky

Pirate101 and Wizard101 highlight a charity speedrunning event for the holidays

See how Lord of the Rings Online’s map expanded over 15 years

Massively Uplifting: A season of gains and losses in the MMO world

Blizzard-owned studio Proletariat announces plans to form a union

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