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General: Putting an MMO out of its Misery
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
In this week's column, Garrett Fuller discusses the life and easy death of MMOs in the current marketplace.
The life cycle of development for an MMO is risky. Game developers, publishers, and investors can look at the rewards all they want with years of revenue and subscriptions stretching out into the future, yet they have to build the game first. MMOs have a strange existence in the world. Developers secretly build them over with years of work. Marketing teams look to push announcements to build hype around the game and develop a following of fans and players to show to investors or publishers. Players get excited with years of announcements and hype surrounding the launch of their favorite IP as an MMO. Then... the cookie crumbles. The MMO is launched to the world with a sink or swim approach. Many MMOs die, but not every MMO gets to really live. Let's try to discover when development is too much and the game does not live up to the hype. Or even worse, when a game has lost its fun and should just go away.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
they could certainly start by putting the NGE out of its misery.
I just bought a brand new 20 gauge shotgun I was going to do some duck hunting with soon. When Spare (no Idea who this is but Garret does) decides to put a round or two into SWG(NGE) I want in on that action. Closure is a good thing, right?
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
When can we put WoW out of its misery??
Part of the problem with WoW's battleground PVP has been the enormous amount of honor/tokens you have to grind to get anything useful. It's even worse when your faction never wins. This leads to people botting their character or getting frustrated and quitting. Replaying the same content over and over becomes drudgery and then it feels like work.
Once you get to max level, you really don't have all that much you can do solo or as a small group, except grind honor or daily quests. The inventor of the daily quest should be drawn and quartered.
And that makes 4 very public negative critiques of SWG in one month! Where was all this anti-NGE speak years ago?
While not a bad read, I would have hoped for something with a bit more... bite. This entry is basically a better-worded long forum post of the kind that we have seen a lot in recent months and years. Why not list a few candidates? Why not go out on a limb and say in your opinion, which hopefully is somewhat informed, Game X and Y should die, while Game Z would have deserved to live? Which MMOs were killed by marketing, which by bad design, which were cut short in the last months, released too early, or forced a late change of direction?
Your 2 examples are sound, but there plenty more. There are also several different reasons why MMOs get killed off.
I think this topic has a lot more to offer yet.
When Star Wars: The Old Republic comes out, it will be the last nail in SWG's coffin. So in about a year or so, the NGE will be out of its misery.
When we get back from where we are going, we will return to where we were. I know people there!
Not going to happen for a long time. Blizzard is making more money from it than some small nation states have. Just so long as it keeps raking in millions and millions of dollars, its not going anywhere. Nor should it. Its a good game up to level cap.
As for the NGE...Please don't get me started on that...
It is now pretty save to critique SWG by a MMO news website since you are not going to offend many fans and SOE is not going to retaliate.
If on the other hand they were to write a scathing expose on AoC, WAR or a newcomer like Aion, they would offend the fans of those games and the companies publishing them might not be as fortcomming with previews, interviews or other perks.
It is now pretty save to critique SWG by a MMO news website since you are not going to offend many fans and SOE is not going to retaliate.
If on the other hand they were to write a scathing expose on AoC, WAR or a newcomer like Aion, they would offend the fans of those games and the companies publishing them might not be as fortcomming with previews, interviews or other perks.
You said it. I didn't ;-)
Wow I couldn't agree with you more. No matter how good the story or graphics are the one main question is does it all come together to make the game FUN. Are the players being entertained at every step of the way in their MMO world so that they never want to leave or do they have to do so many tedious and time consuming tasks that it becomes a choir to play. Make a truly fun MMO and you will literally have millions of players returning again and again, but make one that looks good or sounds good and has very little fun as a result of its complexity or design then you will see subscribers coming and going never to return.
It's the truth that so many publishers/developers seem to just not get. I was a game developers conference a few months ago, and there was a lecture by some high up marketing/research fellow who literally thought he had the equation for fun! Turned out the guy was giving us the equation for what perceived as the 'metacritic code', which many game execs see as the holy grail.
He was off his rocker btw. These people should stop looking at metacritic numbers and start reading the reviews which give the numbers weight. But yet, PLAY SOME F***ING GAMES! But I digress.
btw, the equation was something along the lines of 'x feature + y feature + z IP X better graphics = fun!'. He never mentioned releasing bug free code or polishing a game. Booo! Yes, these are the people making your games.
Here's some early shots and an article of Garriot's vision of Tabula Rasa. It was certainly changed!
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/tabula-rasa/512497p4.html
Are you stoned? You surely sound like it. Oh wait - I know... you failed at trolling. I get it.
Why else would someone suggest that a game with over 10 million CURRENT subscriptions should be put out of its "misery". Where, until recently, an estimated 3% of a countries ECONOMY is based off of selling items in the game world.
Seriously though, you're right. The misery of a game that makes about $150,000,000 A MONTH, is in horrible misery. Damn, just close the servers and delete the databases.. it's a horrible travestiy...
I hope nge dies...if the combat update goes away i might go back to it...
It's the truth that so many publishers/developers seem to just not get. I was a game developers conference a few months ago, and there was a lecture by some high up marketing/research fellow who literally thought he had the equation for fun! Turned out the guy was giving us the equation for what perceived as the 'metacritic code', which many game execs see as the holy grail.
He was off his rocker btw. These people should stop looking at metacritic numbers and start reading the reviews which give the numbers weight. But yet, PLAY SOME F***ING GAMES! But I digress.
btw, the equation was something along the lines of 'x feature + y feature + z IP X better graphics = fun!'. He never mentioned releasing bug free code or polishing a game. Booo! Yes, these are the people making your games.
Ahh yes. Fun.
The danger here is that you can take the whole concept too far. MMOs are interesting things and often what makes an MMO fun is a combination of elements including elements that are not fun by themselves.
As an example of the concept I like to use Silent Hunter III. It's not an MMO but it does demonstrate the point.
Travel in SH III involves physically sailing from port to your patrol grid and back again. Even with time compression this can take ages (hours). Boring stuff. Only it isn't. Because there is tension. Every time you see a ship, or get a sonar contact, or see an air craft there are choices to be made and the very real possibility that a wrong choice could spell "GAME OVER".
They could have designed the game to 'warp' you to your patrol zone and back again. But if they had done that the game would have lost something that gave the player a sense of attachment to his boat and his crew. So a boring element becomes 'fun' or at least contributes to it in a meaningful way.
Back to MMOs (one that should probably be on the list already and one that is sure to join if it is ever released)
PotBS and The Agency.
Pre release for PotBS I saw a video interview with one of the FLS devs (can't find the link now).
For that entire interview he rabbited on about "FUN!"
"We ditched this because it wasn't fun...", "...couldn't find a way to make it fun..." etc etc.
Right then I knew the game was in trouble.
Yes, they stripped out stuff that wasn't fun, and in doing so somewhere along the way they stripped out the game's soul.
What was left was a shell of an MMO that people just don't want to play.
The Agency is the same. Again I saw a video interview and saw the same idotic focus on "Fun, fun, FUN!"
Yes, this approach might work for a console game, but MMOs are a whole different style of game.
Sometimes it's the 'non-fun' elements that allow the fun elements to even work.
So the pursuit of fun can be a double edged sword.
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
I think investors should also acknowledge the time it takes to make a good MMO, rather than rushing a product out when "deadlines are coming up" just to see if they can get a return on their investment. They should see by now that a polished game has a greater chance of success than an unpolished game. As BloodNinja has said, "You can't rush good pizza" (if pizza was an MMO?) I don't know I felt like referring to BloodNinja since I been rereading his stuff lately. lol.
As much of you said was true, I didnt really read anything on putting MMO's that are still wanting to be played, out of their misery. I have seen a few MMOs out there that were doing well, then they shut down unexpectedly. One example of which was Holic Online. This was a promising game to many, untill NetGame America decided to pull out which resulted in the closing of not only Holic, but two others as well.
Then we have to ask the gamers, is it worth keeping the game running with such a small populous, in hopes that it will grow and for the few devout followers who are enjoying it to keep gaming? Or should we just shutdown?
I dont think that I will ever understand the MMO buissness world, even with very descriptive discussions like this one. I'm not even sure if I want to understand. I'll just sit back -with controller in hand- and see how they handle it.
Sometimes, less-than-stellar games try to stay alive by reworking their content or their payment scheme.
I think TR and DDO are some pretty interesting examples of this.
TR was a fairly decent game that was simply NOT WORTH a $15/month subscription fee.
Ditto for DDO.
DDO is now converting to a F2P/MT-based payment scheme, something I wish TR had somehow been able to do. TR's devs tried and to some extent succeeded in making the game much better by the end than it was at its beginning, but it was the subscription payment scheme, imo, that really killed TR. It was always going to be a second-tier game charging premium-tier subscription fees. That's a prescription for MMO suicide.
Of the two games, TR was the better game, but DDO had the better idea how to stay alive. If BOTH games had somehow switched to a F2P/MT basis, I think TR had a really decent chance to not only survive but grow, improve, and eventually gain some serious popularity.
DDO, not so much, but we'll see. At least Turbine was willing to "think outside the box", payment scheme-wise.
All mmo's are dead. The idea has so many possibilities, but those infinate possibilites are killed by way too many un-related limitations. ex: money, production deadlines, corperate creative restrictions... ect... ect...
The ones that I see die most are the bland, recreations of already not to great games. (99% of the f2p games)
Nobody wants to play "World of EverGold 2, the Endless Grind".
Or maby you do... seeing has how WoW is still popular, witch always has looked like a giant turd of a game to me anyways.
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)
I have been looking for a new game to subscribe to for about a year now and all the games that have come down the belt have been very tack simplistic and of very poor quality
FALLEN EARTH this is my genra! without even hearing another thing about the game its allready has +2 on my score card only space and modernwarfare might rate higher. so when I say I am not following FE into live that means that it must fall very short of its potential.
CHAMPIONS ONLINE was kind of a back up runner up but when I tried the very short open beta (like 4 days?) I also found it also seemed to be of very poor construction and had no relation the the PnP version of the game when it came to power rules.
to me it seemed a poorly discuised COH wannabie
I did beta with SEED which ALL the beta testers posted the impending doom to deaf ears and it folded like a month after release the seed theme DESERVES another chance but with a real engine and content and it WOULD FLY (its theme was a crashed teraforming ship on a new world massive potential)
game designers have lost the knowlage of what is fun and interesting falling back into the tank and spank with combat oriented economies they dont acknolage all the other playstyles except as an after thought
WAR MONGER likes non stop action
ACHIEVER rank levels awards
EXPLORER: the world as well as the game mechanics
SOCIALIZER: they sometimes come into the game and can sit and do nothing but chat with friends or strangers
ROLEPLAYER: they love to delve the depths of their charactor and the race histories and motivations and alignments
RIDDLER: they love solving riddles puzzles languages misteries translating runes
BUILDER: these players tend to love building and crafting from swords and armor to whole castles and city walls and bridges that ma forever change the world some are artisans that just dont want to craft a basic war sword they want to be able to create nearly one of a kind works of crafting art.
BANKER: their goal is to gather valuables,, money property gems rare goods to become welthy whatever that is to the given game.
now everyone is all of these just they tend twords one or more of them more than others and there may be some ive missed im recalling this from a paper i did long ago
nearly all MMO have tended to focus only on the first and second one leaving the rest of the players with scraps,, starving for a game that will fill their desired game play.
example:: mmos place no importance on food and water so crossing a great desert is trivial.
example: national auctions means that a few masters are all that a game world needs and lesser crafters goods are worthless.
example: most MMOs have evenly distributed goods and resources so there is no market pressures no need for caravans to need to take pineapples up north to trade them for snow peas or fish from the sea to the iron mountains
example: vending machine merchants they have no other lives than standing and selling to players they also tend to buy and sell with infinity
example: food is unimportant and doesnt spoil which colapses reasons for several supporting crafts like basket weavers, potters meat smokers/dryers since there is no climate or seasons no need to collect wood for winter or store food
example: there is no real disease or pestilance on a large scale no famines or blights no goblins raiding the grain silos which all would make killer built in plot devices instead of generic kill 12/ collect 10 quests
example: there is no drama or bonding with the world players currently could care less if a game city is destroyed merchants are vending machines they dont even know our names or reputation
example: existing quests are predetermined one answer outcomes even the "evil" players must take a quest givers coin purse to the intended destonation instead of flat stealing it,, or you get to the chest in the cave you must kill all the orcs instead of sneeking or bribing or distracting so you do the quest BECAUSE it told you to not for any real or good reason.
example: you pop into the game allready a veteran you have no real life or family wife games should be a bit more raw and brutal to players have them enter the town as a pesant begging (or steeling) on the streets or scrounging behind inns for scraps let them get beat up by bullies or guards, let them get thrown into jail just along as its done fun! let them bond with bosses or teachers or gate guards they will begin to care if the city is attacked in the future. ((players will bond very strongly in times like these give them skills like throw object, cower, lol bite let them BECOME a fighter or mage vian a squire or apprentice if a game does it right it wont feel like some kind of tutorial, it will be just as fun as the rest of the game)
example organizations..churches there are no good religions in a game there are monks and clerics but no faith in which they belong no followers to convert, no collection plate, no temples its the same for mages or warriors they just dont belong to anything bigger than themselves WHY?
example the world is effectivly static its the same 1 month after release as it is 1 month before it folds unless there is a patch or expansion the players have no freedom to cause change to their world.. once a safe city allways a safe city forever.
players should be duel class an adventure class and a home class (i prefer a skill system hate to be limited by game saying that if im a blacksmith that for some reason im unable to comprehend how to fry an egg.)
make a world, not a game, we dont want another game.
Its time to put SWG out of its misery, the nge screwed over me, my wife, my guild, my friends and need to be put down hard.
Truthfully MMORPG did not have the infinite possiblity as people think even without the real life limitations.
it does have alot of potential, but it is no where close as having enough. MMORPG is simply RPG + many players all at once.
Whatever limitation apply to RPG applies to MMORPG. Only real difference is the MMO aspect can be developed a bit further than RPG themselves.
Not going to happen. For much the same reason that games using Gameguard aren't going to drop it. That would mean that some high placed suits have made a major mistake... And we all know how likely suits are to admit they made a major mistake...
World of Warcraft has not killed MMO's, nor has it ruined the style of other MMO's, nor is it the worst game pile of turds. WoW is the game responsible for breathing life into an otherwise tiny slice of video game players. If it weren't for WoW, I would not have any interest in an MMO. WoW is sort of the Gateway MMO that people play before getting into the harder stuff like EVE.
Had WoW not been created, or had it not been successful as it currently is, you wouldn't have so many new MMO's coming out. MMO's are not dead, they have evolved. There are of course the games that are being developed in the old style, but those are becoming more and more scarce. The fact is that if you don't like the way the genre has evolved, you honestly should not be complaining about how "In the old days we could pretend to write stories and declare war on others" because you all sound like people in their 80s talking about how Frank Sinatra was much better than the new style of music. And you probably shouldn't be on a website called www.mmorpg.com because MMO's are clearly not your cups of tea.
And yes, I would have loved to play a sandbox game, but I also am very interested in the new games coming out such as Aion, GW2, and SWTOR.