Oh Originality, Where Hath Thy Gone?!

HeGGeR86

Well first off, i'll just say this to get it out of the way, this may or may have not been brought up before, but i didn't see any topics about it on the first page, and wasn't going to hunt for it. But anyways,

MMo's...what happened to the originality? WoW is currently dominating the marketplace...and  what do we see the majority of developers doing? making Fantasy themed MMO's to try and take on WoW, save Tabula Rasa and a few select others, every other MMO in development is basically a Midevil type theme, swords and spells, armour, and steeds. I personally am getting tired of it...yeah age of conan looks like a pretty great game, but i can tell you right now, i'm never going to play it, because i'm sick of the same old game, with a few different mechanics and a few different features.

GIVE ME SOMETHING NEW!...and i think i speak for the masses when i say that as well...i think alot of us are sick of all these fantasy games, yeah they're fun, yeah they're fun to play, but don' t expect to win me over from WoW with a few different features, a different skin, and a snazzy title. give me something original, something different, anything thats not fantasy.

personally myself? at this point...i'm thinking an SWG II done right would be HUGE right now, because i think so many people are burnt out on fantasy, that to hop into the Star wars universe, and get away from chainmail and mauls would be a welcome change.

Game Devs. HERE MY PLEA! SAVE US FROM THIS REDUNDANCY!

ianubisi

If everything was original and new, nothing would be original and new.

Unique, original, groundbreaking things in whatever entertainment medium (movies, music, games) are rare. When you further consider the multi-million dollar operating budget and 5-year development cycle (not including conception and pitch time) you have to consider MMO games to be even less likely to be unique, original, and groundbreaking.

It's much more likely to consider that you'll have a truly genre-shifting release once every 10 years.

thepatriot

This has been the cry since the dawn of MMOs and long before WoW was out.  Fantasy has always dominated the market and originality has usually been rewared with bankruptcy.  Just look at the trail of tears left behind by startups that tried to do something original.  Of course most of the them failed miserably because they underestimated just how difficult their originality would be to make happen.  Those who did manage to publish simply weren't accepted by the general public.  The big company execs simply won't fund anything but a "sure thing" since it takes tens of millions of dollars to make an mmo and the small companies simply don't have the money.

paulscott

why should developers be original when a majority of people are going to buy and subscribe anyways?

Czzarre

Last I looked at MMORPGdata it was like 71% of MMORPgs were fantasy based and 15% were scifi, the remainder being other smaller genres (superero, pirate, sports etc) . I welcome any deviation away from the fantasy model. I honestly believe that Sci-Fi can and should obtain an equal market share of the industry. I wonder if the implosion of SWG caused its premature decline.

Torrential

Burntvet

It's only the small independent developers that take any risks any more. And as they get bought up by one of the bigger companies, they become massively risk averse. They stick to the "formula". Well, it's time for a new formula.

I am waiting for Fallen Earth, made by a company called Icarus Studios. Skill based sci-fi game (post apocalyptic), no levels, good crafting, no elves/dwarves/faeries. It will be entering closed beta soon and will be released this year.

It is different, and that's what I've been waiting for.

 

HeGGeR86

Good to see all the discussion, alot of valid points...i guess i just hate seeing no one taking any risks anymore...and it seems odd...they don't want to take risks, so they develop a fantasy game...but at this point, with WoW, and as big of hold it has on the fantasy Genre right now, instead of trying to compete against that directly, why not branch out and go a different genre?

i mean, i personally would think a game almost as good, or as good as WoW but isn't set in a fantasy setting would do better than the exact same game with a fantasy setting...

and yeah, dev time definately hurts, because i'm sure, some of the games released around the time of wow and shortly there after were already in the works before they knew the beast wow would become which is unfortunate, but you here all these announcements of new MMO's and they seem all to be in the Fantasy Niche...we need more games like City Of Heores...games that aren't afraid to step out of the fantasy shell...

napalmsweb

To me, the issue is not whether there are too many fantasy games out, but rather, that nearly every game feels exactly the same. Just about every MMO I have tried quickly becomes a grind or fedex quests and kill this, bring me that...it just gets really boring.

Where is the game where I feel totally immersed in the world? I want to feel like my actions make a difference, and I want a combat system that is exciting. Give me these elements and I don't really care what genre the game is set in...

Netzoko

There's a lot of new stuff coming!

- Tabula Rasa

- Pirates of the Burning Sea

- Jumpgate

- Darkfall

 

These all seem to really break the EQ formula that everyone is sick of.

Unknown

I agree an SWG 2 would be popular right now, albiet with more to the game then a big world and crafting (yes, you must have fun adventuring in a sandbox for it to succeed).  I certainly feel that SWG was ahead of its time, and now when we need "more" out of an MMO, it's no longer there for us.

However, AOC appears to me to be a lot more then a wow clone.  In fact, I'd happily play a fantasy swords and magic MMO assuming that it combines the non-raid fun of wow with the exploration and crafting depth of SWG.  So don't think that you're speaking for me at least when you say that people are sick of fantasy games.  I'm sick of e-z mode fantasy games like wow, not the genre in general.