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MMORPG Evolution
1up.com has a piece looking at how Massively Multiplayer Online Games have evolved from the days of UO and Meridian 59. From the article: "As far as the genre has come, though, MMO gaming has still only barely grown out of its infancy. Blizzard crows that 4 million users globally are hooked to World of WarCraft-but that leaves 6-billion-plus people on Earth yet to be reached. Are MMOs doomed to continue fishing from the same pond of players over and over? Major publishers are asking themselves that very question right now. So are we. Developers must do six very real things to make MMO games reach out to even more people: rethink monthly fees, manage in-game economies in new ways, explore new worlds and themes, use new technology to change the way people access games, weigh the balance between structured storytelling and open worlds, and foster a better sense of community among players."
This article sets up an absolutely ludicrous comparison - "yeah, sure, you're four times bigger than any other MMO EVER but you don't have the rest of Earth's population yet! So you SUCK!"
I think that WoW proves quite clearly that there's plenty of players to tap and that the market is in its infancy. All you have to do is play the right cards, something WoW has done/is doing quite effectively.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
The argument about MMORPGs all drawing from the same pool of customers and simply trading them around in accordance with the latest fads is, and has been known to be for some time, complete and utter rubbish.
MMORPGs are the fastest growing genre around, from what I can see. Go back a couple of years and you've basically got UO and Everquest with about 400,000 players each, and a couple of others, like Anarchy Online, hovering at their heels with 200,000 players max. These days, You've got World of Warcraft with millions, Final Fantasy XI with a significant fraction of a million, Everquest and Everquest II both with 400,000 plus players, City of Heroes with a good few hundred thousand and Guild Wars (which arguably doesn't count due to the lack of a subscription model) with loads as well. This is before you even move onto the dozens and dozens of smaller MMORPGs, such as Galaxies, Eve Online, Matrix Online, Planetside, Dark Ages of Camelot, etc, etc, etc. In short, there are both more and bigger MMORPGs.
I think what you've really seen over the last few years, particularly with franchise MMORPGs (WoW, FFXI, Galaxies etc) or niche MMORPGs (Planetside, Sims Online, Eve etc) is new players being brought to the genre through bridges from elsewhere. Want to hazard a guess at how many people play World of Warcraft because either of the Warcraft connection, or the Diablo/Blizzard connection? I've not seen any figures, but I'd guess it's a significant part of the player base. Galaxies was, by all accounts, a pretty appaling MMORPG when it was launched, but it was reasonably successful due to the franchise drawing in fans of other SW games and has survived long enough to develop into something worth playing.
I suspect that over the next few years we'll see other genres moving into the MMO world. We've already seen Planetside have a stab at a MMOFPS and although it's not been a wild success, it's done some important and useful proof of concept work. I suspect that RTSes and, in particular, Sports Games will be the next to go MMO in a big way. You could almost argue - although it might be pushing things a little - that the online career options in Forza (popular X-Box racing game, a la Gran Turismo) already have most of the elements of a MMOG.
... they were called MUDs.
Let's not forget our roots!
Developers must do six very real things to make MMO games reach out to even more people:
rethink monthly fees
I think the game should be handed out for free (or minimal charge of $9.99 for shipping you a live copy). That's the main gripe I hear from a lot of players and friends: that we need to pay to get the game AND pay each month. Of course, after a year, you forget that you even paid for the game...
manage in-game economies in new ways
I think WoW is doing just fine with that. So far it's not like Everquest where within a year you were pretty much useless unless you had platinum pieces.
explore new worlds and themes
Isn't that what City of Heros/Villans does? WoW? Final Fantasy? Star Wars? Sims Online? WTF do you want, a Dukes of Hazzard MMORPG?
use new technology to change the way people access games
Until someone invents new technology for ALL of us, you're just gonna have to use a computer and an internet connection to play. Duh. This statement, to me, is pointless.
weigh the balance between structured storytelling and open worlds
Call me crazy, but I think WoW does a fine job of this.
and foster a better sense of community among players
Humans are humans, and when they get into an online world, they act stupid. There's little accountability for their actions. Again, I think WoW has done a good job of controlling camping (though ninja looting can be a problem, but that's the fault of the player), providing instanced raids for mass amounts of people, faction vs. faction battle, etc. Not sure what the other games are doing, but I think this evolution is happening.
From reading the summary and glancing at the article, am I the only one here wondering if these people have even PLAYED an MMORPG recently?
It seems like OpenMetaverse would get some more developers with the popularity of this stuff. I never found a server that worked.
I believe monthly fees (or, at least, high fees like WoW's) are going to be the main stumbling block for the developing MMORPG market. If people are going to be paying for a game five times over in a single year, they're going to buy fewer games. Right now, I play WoW and it's the *only* thing I play because I want to get my money's worth out of it. Not many people will want to pay for three of four MMORPGs at $15/mo because the fees will simply be too high.
Unless monthly fees are drastically reduced to a reasonable level -- say, $2/month (especially if you have to drop $50 up front) -- there will simply be less of a market for more than a handful of MMORPGs. There are not 6 billion more people ready and waiting for new MMORPGs to hit the market.
Reasonable pricing models will ensure everyone gets a piece of the pie. Obscene pricing models will guarantee one or two major games will dominate the market. I don't know about you, but I would prefer more variety in my online gaming.
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
I really couldn't care less about MMORPGs. I used to play MUD, but quit shortly after they started charging a monthly fee. I'm much happier playing single player games that I purchase for $20-30 as opposed to paying for the same game repeatedly.
I've played Legend Of The Red Dragon and Trade Wars on the ole 9600 baud up through the Realm and now long time Final Fantasy fan. On FF when I look for a party its not even generaly with people from my linkshell, just a couple of random strangers. Most of the time there are people who don't even share a common language as me. I'm not a hardcore gamer at all, i've had it 3 years and i'm only level 53 rank 5. I look at it just like any other medium, be it dvd, book, whatever. I tend too want too buy stuff from the same fantasy worlds i'm allready familar with.
For me, an accessible console rendition would get me to try one. Sitting in a chair for that many hours isn't something I'll trade my single player experience for. And no, FFXI on the 360 doesn't count...I would want something closer to Guild Wars, City of Heroes or WOW.
Way back, when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth, I used to play muds religiously - Sanctuary, Armageddon, 3K, I loved them all. Lucky for me, my roommate failed out of college due to mudding, which caused me to take a hard long look at my life and come to the realization that while I wasn't failing, muds were certainly keeping me from excelling. I dropped them cold turkey, which was probably one of the best things I've ever done. I've always followed the MMORPG scene quite closely and have always wanted to get back into it (especially since I had a number of friends who played Everquest). Finally when WoW came out, I decided that I was at a good place in my life and career and, after a long talk with my wife, I bought the game. At first it was great - the quests didn't take too long, I could play an hour or two a night without any problems, and I had a great time. Unfortunately, I quickly got to a point that if I wanted to accomplish anything at all in the game, I'd have to sit down for a solid three to five hour stretch (sometimes for several days in a row depending on the raid dungeon). That simply isn't practical. Additionally, while I enjoyed the social element, you simply can't walk away at any time - to an extent the game dictates when you can quit. I finally quit WoW when it became clear that I'd never see the new content that was being released as all of it was catered to the hard core player.
Is it possible to appeal to the casual player? I believe so. For example in Guildwars, you can hire henchmen which allow you to play by yourself when needed and still progress in the game. The MMOs out there demand that I work my schedule around them; instead I need the games to work around mine.
I honestly don't see why so many people get upset about these... they're getting their money's worth (NOTE: I don't play any MMORPG's, and never have)... I mean, updates for the MMORPG's are HUGE, sometimes adding all sorts of new content. On top of that, you've got GM's and such who keep an eye on the players and try to make sure no major cheating is going on. SOMEONE has to pay for those servers, and I'm sure that no one wants to pay > $100 for a computer game, up front.
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Eve Online. Sci-fi Space themed MMOG with no level/no grind, excellent player based market, balanced semi consentual pvp.
You can do anything you want when you want without feeling like your falling behind.
M$ it's whats for diner!!!!!
Are MMOs doomed to continue fishing from the same pond of players over and over?
While World of Warcraft did take some players away from other MMOs it's success is also due to the fact that it significantly increased the number of MMO players. It made MMOs far more accessible, especially to casual players. In short, it grew that "pond". There is no reason to think that the pond cannot grow some more, it is just a matter of someone introducing something that non-MMO'ers would find a fun use of their time.
But you have to ask yourself: how big do we need MMOGs to get? The movie Titanic broke box office records, but it was a steaming pile of shit.
Wow has set the bar, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a good bar. It's a healthy bar. 4 million is a damn healthy bar. If you want to go more mass-market than that, you have to go into areas that don't appeal to me as a MMOG player.
At some point, you have to say, "We're making enough money to satisfy our art", and leave it at that.
I don't think I want to see the MMOG that attracts 1 billion subscribers.
My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!
I agree with a lot of what you said, but I think the point should be changed to "End game isn't friendly to the casual player." I think that is where they have the hardest time striking the balance between rewarding those that are dedicated while letting those that don't have hours to play enjoy themselves as well.
I thought World of Warcraft did a great job of making the beginning of the game as painless as possible for new people. My girlfiend, who is no avid gamer, was able to easily get into Warcraft with very little help from me. I also noticed noticed (which actually further proves my point) that she starts a new character once the old one reaches around level 40ish because "the grinding quests are boring."
it's always the same. i can remember, some years ago, people were complaining about the dullness of computer games, no innovations and all that kinda stuff. then, an innovation actually happens, like todays mmogs. now? people keep complaining and want the next (r)evolution.
putting all the nuisances (like monthly fees) aside, WOW indeed is a game that never had happend before, and 4 million subscribers is also a thing that never had happen before. and now?
yeah, 4 millions is ok, but we've got 6+ billion people on earth! man, that's just stupid. what do you say when all the 6 billions are playing mmogs? 6 billions is ok, but there may be other civilizations in outer space?
On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.
WoW is successful because for the first 30 levels you can accomplish something every time you log in. I realize that they follow the skinners box method of making things more difficult as you go along to keep you hooked, but I think MMORPG's will succeed when their gameplay (combat) is a compelling enough reason to play, rather than just grinding out for the next level/epic item.
"For example in Guildwars, you can hire henchmen which allow you to play by yourself when needed and still progress in the game. The MMOs out there demand that I work my schedule around them; instead I need the games to work around mine."
Then obviously an MMORPG isn't for you.
I see these same complaints all the time - Wah! I bought a MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER game and it isn't any fun playing solo! No shit, Sherlock. I bet if you bought any board game intended for 2-8 players it wouldn't be any fun solo either - you have to wait until your friends are ready to play, too.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
My 2 cents on monthly fees is that they are completely craptastic for the Hardcore Casual Player like my self. I really do enjoy these games but I find the payment structure asstastic if you only spend 3-4 hours a week playing.
While perhaps not completely sane, it would be great to if companies could institute a per minute billing scenario. It would not be that hard to do as the game already tracks your logging in and out. So very much like cell phones that have payment plans that can be filled up, something like this used in the MMO world would go a long way to get more casual gamers into it I think as they do not have to commit to a monthly fee and perhaps not use all the time.
As well there could always be restrictions on the Hardcore Casual accounts in that you could not exceed a certain number of hours per month if you choose to pay per minute, that way those that buy bulk time (reg monthly fee) dont feel they are being ripped of.
Now I know some people will say that the monthly fee is low and it should be no problem to pay it, but that is just not always the case. 3 kids, a new house and a 2nd car all cost money and take away from paying out to things like MMOs and not getting my bang for my buck (that is low hourly play per month) is not always the best way to spend money.
Yes this might sound crazy but I think it is time for a change in the structure of MMO payment. Even if they went for a first 3 months bulk (to get there capital intake they need to keep the game running) then gave the option to pay a different way that would be super fantastic to as far as I am concerned.
Just a though.
The one thing that the monthly fee absolutely wrecks is the gaming hiatus. Say you want to take a 6 month break from a game, then hop back on with full access to all your characters and items. This is something that most MMORPGs don't support, and even the ones that do support this it require more than the minimum effort of clicking on an icon to resubscribe to the game. However, in a game with no monthly fee, you can keep coming back to it years later as long a minimum of activity is maintained. For instance, I recently picked up Diablo II again after a year-long hiatus. My characters are all still "living" (thanks to logging in once every three months to reactivate them), and delving back into the world is as simple as clicking on an icon. A partially massive online game like Diablo II or Guild Wars has a chance to capture a huge initial market of cheapskates (like me) that fee-based games will never see. Also, using an advertising based system of revenue (like battle.net does), you will continue to see profits from these users that log back into your world years after first playing the game through.
only one everything
I'd like to see a game using a fully realtime 3D engine to present a world that appeals to me.
Ultima Online was great and I completely understand the limitations of 2D and the dialup Internet of 1997.
Star Wars Galaxies, for example, has the benefit of an exponential increase in processing power, line bandwidth, and even community experience. Yet, we're stuck with the same obstacles of UO and even a few more.
1) Awkward and uninituive controls that harken back to Resident Evil on the PSX. Would it have been so hard to implement something more free like Mario 64? Not singline out SWG, I ask this about loads of games every year.
2) Point and click attacking and autodefense instead of any real control. This is why people moan so loudly about unfair imbalance...the whole fight is determined by statistics and the items they're derived from.
3) It just gets too grinding too fast and for too long. If you learned anything from UO, it's that people might play for more than a month or two. Realtime control would put more emphasis on learning technique and less on grinding for skill points and camping for stat boosting items.
That and the upfront fees are steep. It makes me think very hard about whether I purchase a game. Rather than the possibility of a fun experience $9.99 at a time for 4 years, it's easy to see the waste of $59.99 if it turns out to be bad. The end result is that I never (well, save the bomb that was SWG) buy an MMORPG at full price, if I even get around to doing it at all.
This isn't a difficult concept. Every single piece of the puzzle's been done. It's just a matter of taking the risk of putting them all together and raking in the exploding profits that result.
"In reality, people jump off one MMO in favor of the newest release."
Maybe that's because no MMORPG company got off its ass and upgraded their experience with the loads of money they get from the game. Hey we're making millions, lets all buy yachts now. Tomorrow comes: well, we made our money, so I guess we should be happy. Realistically speaking, if one MMORPG decided to invest 5% of the money it profitted back into the game, it'd last 30 years. Of course, the industry... failing to realize this... always gives an indy developer a shred of hope in becoming the behemoth that is bound to emerge.
God spoke to me.
I used to play muds religiously - Sanctuary, Armageddon...
Armageddon? As in the RPI? Hahaha... oh man. That is so funny. You think you can quit. No my friend, you just take breaks. You know Allanak is calling you back... you crave talking your way out of a Templar's grips... loading up on spice from Kurac... going on missions in the Byn... and dodgy fucking 'rinth elves everywhere. Stop fooling yourself, reload zMUD, and come back home. Muhahahaha!
I would add to this that MMOs, as they exist now, aren't suited to keeping skilled players entertained either. There is no reward for being a good player.
All of the content that has been added to WoW, with the exception of Dire Maul, has been geared toward large raids which take little skill for individual players to complete -- instead, it's just a matter of getting enough people together and then getting them to do their jobs. A large group of very average players with a couple skilled individuals at the key positions can handle the raid instances easily.
Because of this, the only way to get the best gear in the game is to repeatedly farm a raid dungeon until you get lucky and get something you need. Or to repeatedly farm the PvP battlegrounds until you gain enough rank to get the best stuff. Absolutely none of the best rewards in the game have any skill requirement attached to them.
I can go 5-man the Baron in Stratholme (something that most people can *not* do) and get my Argent Crusader, but it's junk compared to that epic that someone happened to get in Molten Core.
That's what's got me bored to tears with WoW -- where's the challenge? The logistics of coordinating 40 people to just get them to do what they're supposed to do isn't an interesting challenge. Where are my 5-man-only quests that are extremely difficult to complete that yield worthwhile rewards?
I have no interest in competing with people that have no lives for "most time played" -- and, unfortunately, that is the *only* measure that WoW actually rewards you for.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
I always aid I would never pay for a game montly but now I've been paying for eve online for 19 months and have 7 months of paid subscriptions already ahead of me, over the last few months eve has grown really fast and is getting more players ever week and alot of them are new people who've enver played an mmorg before and lots are x wow players looking for something new but before wow had never played an mmorg, the market is growing and its growing fast there loads of small mmmorgs out there now.
I am not exactly sure what their revenue model is, but Flyff is an interesting one--free. How do they do it? I can't speak for how good it is story wise since it was only just released yesterday, but interface and graphics wise, it is very nice. Still wondering how they are paying for it though. In case you want to see it (http://english.flyff.com./
WoW proves that innovation does not pay in MMORPGs. We are all doomed to vicious ding/grats treadmil quest for the next shiny for a long while. On a positive note, when we die and go to hell it will feel just like good old catass times, you just won't have to sock it unless they make you to.
Yes - 5 man content is definitely more fun and challenging than 40 man, however it is very difficult for the designers to balance 5 man content (think of all the different class mixes) than 40 man content. If you make 5 man content very hard, it will be impossible for some groups and trivial for others - look at the Shaman epic helm quest in Scholo. When I first started playing, I used to 5-man Strath / Scholo / Dire Maul / BRS with my mates. However, that eventually wore out. Now the fun for me is running my guild and organising 40 people at once; we just downed Garr yesterday for the first time and the fight unfolded like clockwork, as everyone knew what they were doing and did it well. That's now the buzz for me!
Please don't send a Word document when a text file will do the job.
Then obviously an MMORPG isn't for you.
Or for any of the other members of a vast, untapped, potentially extremely profitable market. Maybe someone should look into fixing this.
I see these same complaints all the time - Wah! I bought a MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER game and it isn't any fun playing solo!
Way to miss the point. There is no reason why "massively multiplayer" has to mean "massive and rigidly-scheduled time commitments". There is no reason why an MMORPG should not be friendly to the kind of person who wants to log on once a week, for two hours, and wander round town chatting to other people, maybe do a quest or two, then log off again and get on with real life.
The world is not made a better place by people like you ridiculing anyone who dares to suggest that such a model could, just possibly, attract more people than hardcore level grinds.
Well, then, since I'm so slow, maybe you can explain to me how WoW is not friendly to "to the kind of person who wants to log on once a week, for two hours, and wander round town chatting to other people, maybe do a quest or two, then log off again and get on with real life"
If you mean that it will take you 5 years to get to level 60 and all the really good loot if you only play 2 hours a week, how do you propose making it fair to people who are willing to play more?
Games like Everquest were absolutely impossible at the end-game without you and a large group of people being willing to make 24-48 hour continuous commitments to the game. WoW is nothing like that. You can get together and do a large instanced dungeon in less than 3 hours.
If you're having a hard time getting invited to groups like that, try not playing a Night Elf Hunter and play something in high demand like a Warlock, Mage or Priest. My lvl 60 priest can't log in for more than 2 or 3 minutes without requests from complete strangers to go spend time with them. I could do an instanced dungeon in 2-3 hours any day or night without even trying.
Go play Everquest, experience the wonders of waiting for the Frogluk King to spawn (24 hour timer in a non-instanced dungeon - that's right, you could wait 23 hours and 59 minutes only to see some creep run in and take the kill away from you at the last minute!) and then you'll know what it's like to have to put time into a game.
WoW is not my first MMORPG (Meridian 59, Ultima Online, Shadow of Yserbius, Never Winter Nights (the original $/hr on AOL, not the new one), Anarchy Online, Eve Online, Asheron's Call, Everquest, The Realm, probably other's I've forgotten) and I've finally done something I've never done before in any game - maxxed out my character, hit the level cap, maxxed out my crafting skills, etc. without even trying! I've never even come close before. WoW is almost too easy. Your claims that it's unfriendly to the casual player are baseless.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips