For many players, in-game holidays and live events are an integral part of the MMO experience. Are we really getting what we paid for?

I have a confession to make. Actually, it's more of a guilty pleasure. I love MMO holidays. Those damn events get me every time. Most MMO players are familiar with them; especially World of Warcraft players. In-game holidays and live events existed in MMOs long before WoW, but Blizzard pushed the notion of celebrating real-life holidays more than most developers. In fact, one of the largest and most-popular holidays in WoW is just around the corner; "Hallow's End" is Blizzard's equivalent to Halloween, many gamers' favorite real-world time of year.

Since Wrath of the Lich King's release, Blizzard has taken what I believe to be a step in the right direction by adding a little content to its existing World of Warcraft holidays, and even adding a few new ones to its roster however small they might be, like the upcoming "Pilgrim's Bounty". But could the developers, or rather, should they be doing more? Sure, we've seen a few of our favorite WoW holidays get facelifts throughout the years, most of which came as welcome changes. For the price we're paying as subscribers—not only for WoW, but for other MMOs as well—are we entitled to more holidays and live events?

It's important to discern the difference between MMO "holidays" and "live events." Typically, in-game holidays are celebrations or festivals based on a real-world activity or event, or sometimes, the game's own lore. In WoW, Hallow's End is based on Halloween, while the "Harvest Festival" draws inspiration from Warcraft lore. Usually though, even the holidays based on real-world equivalents borrow elements of both, to help the player "stay in character."

Live events are a different mechanic entirely; rather than an annual celebrations or festivals, these events supplement the MMO's ongoing story, giving players a chance to take part in the game's unfolding history. They are usually isolated, one-off events reserved for pivotal story arcs or to introduce new content in a game world, but they can also be as regular as a semi-weekly dragon battle. In WoW, one of the most memorable live events ever created was the "Corrupted Blood incident" back in 2005— more on that later.

While live events attract almost every kind of MMO player out there, in-game holidays can be a bit different. Most role-players love them to death, eliciting frequent /facepalms and /rolleyes from hardcore raiders. That's not to say role-players are the only people who enjoy MMO holidays, but they definitely aren't for everyone.

When my buddy and I came back to WoW for the second time in 2007, it was early February and "Love is in the Air" (a Valentine's Day-themed holiday) was just beginning. This was the first time I'd ever been a subscriber in WoW during an in-game holiday, so I ran around like crazy, collecting quests and buying worthless trinkets from vendors. Like many others, I'm not a role-player, but I get a kick out of anything special or outside the norm in MMOs. On the other hand, my buddy couldn't have cared less, and laughed his ass off as I stood near the mailbox in Orgrimmar asking nearby players for a "Friendship Bracelet to fix my broken heart." Different strokes, I suppose.

Judging by the number of players I see participating in MMO holiday events, though—not to mention the walls of text about them on the forums—I'd venture to suggest that the majority of players enjoy these events to some degree. I believe that's a fair supposition to make, and it's one that I'll return to shortly.

Trying to judge the popularity of live events, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. Depending on the player, they can come as either a blessing or a curse, especially in WoW. Consider the "Corrupted Blood incident," meant to introduce WoW's first 20-man dungeon, Zul'Gurub. Faithful to the lore, Blizzard unleashed the highly-communicable Corrupted Blood disease on the player base, via the Zul'Gurub boss Hakkar. The disease gradually reduced players' hit points, and it had the nasty side-effect of spreading to lower-level players outside the dungeon, killing them en masse. As you can imagine, many players weren't thrilled with the event after they kept contracting the disease unwillingly.

Ironically, Blizzard created a similar live event called the "Zombie Invasion" in 2008, in preparation for Wrath of the Lich King's launch. This time, players unwittingly transformed into Scourge Zombies after a single bite or claw from anyone infected. Millions of players—including me—loved the event, but a substantial number loathed it as well. I suppose that's the problem with live events that force the player into participating, and there's no way to fix it; there will always be some people who just don't want to be a part of it.

Non-compulsory live events are much more common than these examples though, and those are the events most MMO players look forward to. Early examples would be Ultima Online's "Lord British Assassination," Asheron's Call's "Shard of the Herald" and EverQuest's "Death of a Sleeper."

Of course, some of the most popular MMO live events weren't scripted or intended by developers. The infamous "Funeral Raid" by WoW guild Serenity Now went on to become a viral classic, and the whole "Leroy Jenkins" fiasco turned into an Internet meme virtually overnight. EVE Online has seen its share of epic heists organized by clandestine players over the years, and some people are writing their way into history by making millions in RMT-based games like Second Life.

Generally speaking, though, it's the developer-created live events that many players yearn for. They help move the story along and usually introduce new content or game mechanics. More importantly, they just break the monotony. In today's overflowing MMO market you'd think more developers would rely on live events for customer retention, instead of uninspired referral programs and the like. To some extent, the same is true of in-game holidays; they might not progress the story, or your character, but at least they mix things up a bit and give players something new to play with.

Avid role-playing guilds often create their own live events, similar to the pen-and-paper RPG adventures created by Dungeon Masters back in the day. They might not have control over the environment or the game, but that doesn't get in the way of these guilds trying something new.

As odd as it might be, though, role-players are a minority in MMOs these days, especially in behemoths like WoW. In a perfect world, your average MMO developer should be releasing new live events on a monthly basis. Many games have recurring"mini-events," like weekly PvP tournaments or monthly player gatherings, but these pale in comparison to the caliber of live events we know the developers are capable of.

I'll concede that many developers, especially the smaller ones, just don't have the time or resources to create and maintain a new live event every month. But what about developers like Blizzard, NCSoft, SoE and others? Expansions and new content patches are great, but don't we deserve a little more for our money? A little icing on the cake, so to speak? I realize Aion has only been out in North America for a couple weeks now, but the only piece of holiday event-related info I could come up with for the new MMO is the"Solorius Festival," with a handful of Christmas-looking gear.

Coming full-circle back to WoW; I mentioned earlier that I am impressed with Blizzard's increased development speed, and that it's finally started sprucing up those aging holidays (Noblegarden, Winter Veil). But come on…stuff like Pirate's Day? That's the best Blizzard can come up with, in all its trendsetting glory? The company has proven it has no problem coming up with its own original, lore-based holiday events; why aren't we seeing one or two per month by now? Not only would they add an additional layer of perpetual depth to the game, holiday events give more incentive to players to stick around between major content patches.

Live events are even more important. They're part of the lifeblood of any quality MMO.  Live events should be even more commonplace than holidays, yet they're few and far between in many MMOs, including WoW. Live events offer all the benefits of in-game holidays, plus more. They pull the player community together for a collective purpose, advancing the story and offering a dynamic gameplay experience. This"dynamic gameplay" also happens to be what so many MMOs fall short on; whether it's grinding, questing or raiding, it eventually become a tired mechanic until new content is released.

Some of the most fun I've ever had in MMOs was during live events, especially when they were well-scripted and engaging experiences that made me feel like something was finally happening in this "massively multiplayer world." Admittedly, some developers are much better at offering a relatively steady stream of live content than others, and it might seem as if I'm unjustly picking on Blizzard. On the other hand, WoW is the biggest MMO in the world, and in many ways, it's a benchmark that lots of other MMOs are compared to. I think it's a question worth asking; why can't the most-successful MMO developer of all time offer its customers a more-engaging—and more frequent—array of live and recurring in-game events?