I can't tell what the point of this article is. It looks like the author was pissed off by how long the Vanguard beta sign up form was and decided to rant about it. The few points he makes are wrong, anyway.
Sigh... now all of the good articles about VG beta won't get airtime. For shame.
I hereby dub the author of that article Mini_Jack_Thomson_09572, for his ability to say nothing useful yet still get media attention.
I was fascinated when I first heard how well Guild Wars was doing. They seemed to have broken the MMOG pricing model wide open; this is not the first article that marked their success.
It still hasn't been tested by their expansion model, though. For the game to survive long term, they need to sell those expansions, and they need to keep doing it for years.
I'm skeptical whether that will work or not, but we'll see. I'm rooting for them, and not because I play the game (I don't), and not because I think this model is any better than the subscription model (I'm on the fence about that). I'm rooting them because I love MMOGs, live them, and anything that shakes up the MMOG paradigm is a good thing. The market has begun to stagnate as it moves closer and closer to Hollywood budgets.
This pricing model has the potential to allow more newcomers in the field, if it works. Not everyone is a MMOG nut like me, tossing out dollars for subscriptions without even thinking about it. I think a large part of the market is still scared of subscriptions. If this pricing model reaches those people, the whole industry benefits.
If the allmighty dollar is going to dominate this market just like it does everything else, anything that attracts more allmighty dollars is a good thing-- there's a higher chance some of it will reach a good developer.
"Megabyte", "kilobyte" and "gigabyte" are not jargon. Not understanding the difference between them is like driving a car and not understanding the difference between the gas and the brake. People who don't know the difference between gas and brake aren't allowed to drive cars-- it's pretty simple. If you still haven't learned the difference between MBs, KBs and GBs by 2005, you should not be allowed to use a computer in the workplace. And by that I mean you shouldn't be allowed to touch the power button, or remove the protective cover you find in some offices.
Since everyone else has covered the details of the game well enough, I'd like to contest the article's last assumption about Vanguard: "If the game were coming out this year, I would have higher hopes for it, but I feel it may get lost behind the mass of other fantasy-themed MMORPG titles."
That won't happen unless the game is never released. Here are some good reasons:
Word of mouth. Much of the hardcore MMOG community is watching this game, including many community leaders. In the past two years, V:SoH has seen lengthy writeups from sites like/gu comics, other game developers, many prominent guild leaders, and other outspoken members of the MMOG world. The people who help make MMOG news are talking about it. Whether the consensus ends up being positive or negative, people will hear about it.
It has sparked healthy debate (including right here at slashdot). People don't debate about what they don't care about. Scour your favorite MMOG forums-- the ones that people are flaming each other over are the ones whose releases will not be ignored.
It has the Microsoft juggernaut at its back. Like it or hate it, MS has an investment in this game, and some speculate (including myself) that promotion of Vanguard may tie in with promotion of the next Xbox; there is good evidence that it will be released for Xbox:360 as well as the PC. There have also been hints that it may tie in with other MS products like Messenger, allowing players to communicate with people outside of the game through text messenging and email.
By promoting this game, MS will be promoting other MS products, and that makes their investment more than just monetary. But even if none of those things are true, MS is still a powerful ally to have when promoting your software.
It just got slashdotted.
So, say what you will about the game itself, but it will not go quietly into the night.
Slashdot Mirror
Sigh... now all of the good articles about VG beta won't get airtime. For shame.
I hereby dub the author of that article Mini_Jack_Thomson_09572 , for his ability to say nothing useful yet still get media attention.
It still hasn't been tested by their expansion model, though. For the game to survive long term, they need to sell those expansions, and they need to keep doing it for years.
I'm skeptical whether that will work or not, but we'll see. I'm rooting for them, and not because I play the game (I don't), and not because I think this model is any better than the subscription model (I'm on the fence about that). I'm rooting them because I love MMOGs, live them, and anything that shakes up the MMOG paradigm is a good thing. The market has begun to stagnate as it moves closer and closer to Hollywood budgets.
This pricing model has the potential to allow more newcomers in the field, if it works. Not everyone is a MMOG nut like me, tossing out dollars for subscriptions without even thinking about it. I think a large part of the market is still scared of subscriptions. If this pricing model reaches those people, the whole industry benefits.
If the allmighty dollar is going to dominate this market just like it does everything else, anything that attracts more allmighty dollars is a good thing-- there's a higher chance some of it will reach a good developer.
We'll see.
The world needs ditch diggers too.
That won't happen unless the game is never released. Here are some good reasons:
- Word of mouth. Much of the hardcore MMOG community is watching this game, including many community leaders. In the past two years, V:SoH has seen lengthy writeups from sites like
/gu comics, other game developers, many prominent guild leaders, and other outspoken members of the MMOG world. The people who help make MMOG news are talking about it. Whether the consensus ends up being positive or negative, people will hear about it.
- It has sparked healthy debate (including right here at slashdot). People don't debate about what they don't care about. Scour your favorite MMOG forums-- the ones that people are flaming each other over are the ones whose releases will not be ignored.
- It has the Microsoft juggernaut at its back. Like it or hate it, MS has an investment in this game, and some speculate (including myself) that promotion of Vanguard may tie in with promotion of the next Xbox; there is good evidence that it will be released for Xbox:360 as well as the PC. There have also been hints that it may tie in with other MS products like Messenger, allowing players to communicate with people outside of the game through text messenging and email.
- It just got slashdotted.
So, say what you will about the game itself, but it will not go quietly into the night.By promoting this game, MS will be promoting other MS products, and that makes their investment more than just monetary. But even if none of those things are true, MS is still a powerful ally to have when promoting your software.