RPG Devs Should Beware MMOGs

CVG is reporting on comments made by Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart. In an interview with the site, he points out that traditional PC RPG developers are in danger of permanently losing out to the developers of Massively Multiplayer Online Games. "He believes it's key that developers of non-MMO RPGs look closely at what the genre offers over MMORPGs to ensure the RPG genre doesn't lose out to the increasingly popular massively multiplayer online world. 'I think those of us that make non-MMO RPGs need to look at what a single-player/small multiplayer RPG can do that MMOs can't and spend our time and effort on those things', Urquhart said. "

Comments

Not the same market!

[Mishotaki]

The MMORPG and the RPG genre are completely different, one is for socialising with people in a vast world with only a backstory guiding them while the other is more oriented to dicovering a story by yourself....

Re:Not the same market!

[blincoln]

single-player, non-linear RPGs, however, do not. Elder Scrolls, I'm looking at YOU!

That's an interesting statement, given how successful Oblivion was.

I liked Oblivion, but I hate online games. I can't be the only one. I like having a sandbox to play in that has no connection to anyone else. I don't want to have to worry about people cheating, or bad behaviour from other people. Conversely, I want to be able to cheat and use the world editor to change or screw things up as much as I like without causing problems for other people. I also want to be able to install the game at some date in the indeterminate future and have it still work.

Advantage

[laffer1]

The biggest advantage is the lack of 13 year olds whining and asking for help. Just focus on games targeted to mature gamers.

RGP vs MMOG

[bobo mahoney]

For me the biggest reason to play a single player/ small group games vs. an MMOG is that I can play in smaller bouts. It is a bit of a waste to play an MMOG for 20 minutes, yet it works OK to play 20 minutes at a time in a single player game. Two year olds tend to dictate when you can and can't play.

Coming from OBSIDIAN!?

[SpeedyDX]

NWN2 and KotOR2?

I think it's key for Obsidian to develop games that don't have 50 bugs around every corner. I started the first act of NWN2 5 times, and they all ended up with corrupted save files after crashing, before I gave up on it. For KotOR2, I lost both my main save and my back up save to some weird bug.

Maybe they should worry about ironing out their bugs before they worry about competing with MMOs.

Quick tips for Obsidian

[wooden pickle]

Probably the first things Obsidian should worry about are: 1) Releasing products that are finished. Hi KOTOR2 2) Releasing products with an adequate amount of performance optimization. You shouldn't have to turn NWN 2 settings down to the point of making the game look 6 years old in order to make it playable.

Re:Isn't this a no-brainer?

[fitten]

mmorpgs offer never-ending opportunities for character advancement and development.

Never ending trips into UBRS, LBRS, MC, BL, Strat, Scholo, ZG, etc. does not equate to never-ending opportunities for character advancement and development.

I Agree!

[Senjutsu]

After playing my first MMO, a non MMO seems rather "lonely" and "empty", and I am not even that social. I think that will be hard to overcome. Why, just the other day I was playing Final Fantasy XII, but had to shut it off out of sheer loneliness. It just felt so empty; whither the naked people running around and dancing for no discernible reason? Whither the messages asking me "u want 2 bai goldz"? Whither the people 40-levels above me challenging me to duels every 3.5 seconds in between inquiries into whether or not I am "sum kinda fag"?
 
Without those things it hardly felt like any kind of immersive story-telling experience at all.