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Bubble Bursting On the MMO Market?

Posted by Soulskill on from the how-many-rats-can-you-kill dept.

An anonymous reader writes "An article at Ten Ton Hammer has an interesting take on the current state of the MMO genre; not too doom-and-gloomy, but it makes some good points. Ultimately, it's about how games that foster community the most will stay strong."

8 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. A definite maybe by hat_eater · · Score: 5, Informative

    What a disappointment. It's little more than a fluff piece promoting Rift.

  2. And we should believe him - why? by DerekLyons · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pretty much the whole article is about how cool Rift is, how smart he is, and how cool Rift is. Other than being an unabashed Rift fanboy - the author's qualifications are what?

  3. Skinner Boxes by zwei2stein · · Score: 5, Informative

    People are getting disgusted with MMOs, it is inherently amoral business.

    Eventually, player realizes what excatly is being done to him:
    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2487-The-Skinner-Box
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber
    http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html

    Once you realize that, everything about MMO stops being fun, every reward is spolied because you know it is conditioning to keep you playing to get further rewards. Then you get slightly pissed at authors for abusing skinery-boxy mechanics of human psychology. And you quit for good.

    Changing MMO does not help: it is just differently colored lever you have to press to get pelets. Nothing devs can do can help past this point except abandoning notion of chaining player to game.

    --
    -- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
    1. Re:Skinner Boxes by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      By that same standard, just about ANY entertainment is equally immoral. Go read a book - whups, the author MIGHT be telling you that story merely to hook you and get you to read his next book!

      Seriously, you're 'discovering' the relationship between media, consumer, and producer that's existed since advertising was invented, but reached its zenith with free-broadcast TV: the programs are bait, to get your eyeballs on the screen, and your attention is being sold to the advertisers, the real customers in the transaction. When you say "there are too many commercials", that just means the bait is too small for the hook, and the fish are swimming away.

      So for MMOs, they continue to entertain you with a carefully-metered trickle of rewards to keep you entertained? So what? If you're paying to be entertained, isn't that the point? I can drop $15 on a month of an MMO, and have hundreds of hours of fun, or I can spend $15 on a theater movie (and get 90 minutes of entertainment, and perhaps a pop or popcorn), or I can spend $15 on a pro sports ticket and get maybe 15 minutes of a game. Which is the best entertainment value?

      For all the people complaining about being conditioned as a faux-excuse for their excessive gameplay: grow up, and either enjoy your hobby unashamedly, or (if you feel your focus on it is too excessive) just change your friggin' behavior.

      --
      -Styopa
  4. Rubbish by DerekLyons · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't get me wrong, 38 isn't too old to be playing MMORPGs

    Being just shy of 48 myself and an active MMORPG player, I should hope not.
     

    Perhaps the MMORPG bubble is bursting for almost 40-somethings like himself, the article would be more believable if it came from a 20-something with some actual numbers showing a decline in players

    And why would a 20-something be more believeable than a 30- or 40- something?

    1. Re:Rubbish by slackbheep · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Gamer in my mid twenties weighing in here to point out that if anything I'm more interested in what the beards have to say than another of my so called peers :P
      Lets put it this way, when was the last time you were looking for the guy with the LEAST experience for advice?

  5. Re:MMOs = communities by Tridus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's going to burst at some point simply because many of the people who joined the genre with WoW never play anything else. When they get bored with WoW (and given how badly Cataclysm is doing in North America, they ARE getting bored with WoW) they leave the genre entirely instead of going for another game. That spirals downward the same way it spiraled upward: as your friends leave, you have less and less reason to keep playing. So you leave. That in turn gives your friends who are still there less reason to play. Almost my entire network of friends is gone from the game now, and I didn't hold out all that long without them because farming loot with strangers who don't talk just isn't very interesting.

    You keep that trend going for a while and the whole genre shrinks. Which is probably a good thing. These games are a lot more fun when they're about doing stuff with friends instead of competing to get loot before some other random people. If companies don't all aim for 5 million subs we'd probably be better off.

    --
    -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
  6. How NOT To Treat People by Petersko · · Score: 3, Funny

    My ticket with Trion Worlds about RIFT:

    Me: "I installed the trial and played for a session, but did not get a chance to return to the game until last night. I connected, only to find there was a wait to log in to the server. It was only 50 deep, but it was so slow that by the time I had connected I had to leave. If I could have the trial extended for another week I would appreciate it. I have not made a decision to date on whether or not to subscribe."

    Them: "Thank you for contacting us regarding RIFT. I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue, I realize it's frustrating and I'm happy to assist you in this matter. I have inquired with our tier 3 support team, unfortunately we can not add 7 more days to your free trial. But I have been authorized to offer you 7 extra free days added to your account if you purchase RIFT. So if you purchase RIFT from (link removed) If you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let us know. Thank you for your continued support of Trion Worlds and for playing RIFT.

    Me: "I'm sorry to hear that. The extension was requested not because I care about 7 free days, but because I hadn't decided whether or not to subscribe. 7 days is worth about $4 and is not significant to me. Perhaps I chose a bad week for the trial, but I simply lacked the time. I'll pass on the offer. You may close the ticket."

    Shortsighted pinheads.