I have been a gamer since I was old enough to play them. At age 14, in 1986, I bought a Commodore 64 (most of you probably have no idea what I'm even talking about there...which makes me feel old) and played role-playing games (almost exclusively) for years. I bought an Atari ST after that, and then an IBM PC where I paid $200.00 to get an EXTRA 4GB of RAM, and have owned a decent gaming computer ever since....all of which to show that I've been playing games for a while. I, like so many of you, have played dozens and dozens of games, a HUGE portion of which has been MMORPG's....which for a long time, was AWESOME!!!
I remember the first time I saw an MMORPG, and was floored by it. The internet as a whole was still in its adolescence and the fact that we could go online and play role-playing games with/against other people from across the globe was astounding! It was a HUGE leap in the gaming industry with games like Meridian 59, Everquest, and Ultima Online etc. I played EQ and Ultima Online for YEARS.... but eventually, people get tired of just about everything...
We haven't really had any major breakthroughs since then. Yes World of Warcraft took what a lot of games were doing and made it REAL pretty and marketed it to perfection (I never played WoW very much), and many many other games have been developed and played since then, but nothing has blown me away since the first MMO's I mentioned above. Some company or game developers need to come up with something innovative to "Sweep us all off our feet" again...much like MMO's did to the gaming industry in the late 1990s. Will it be Holographic games?? Who knows... I do know that even now, as new games are developed and claims of innovation abound, nothing is different enough to entice me....
Its all so stale right now...
I had the Commodore 128 in 1986 I believe! Waste of money, should have just gone 64 - but it used 64 programs. Anyway, I can see by your history why you are thinking there's nothing around the corner - you weren't in the Dark Age of Camelot crowd.
We have the Asheron's Call folks - they love endless pve and GM run events (fun times I was there too)...
We have the Ultima folks (a lot of griefing pvp types and a lot of neat character development in that game /salute Lord British)
We have the Anarchy Online peeps - interesting group - went a variety of ways down the mmorpg road.
The Everquest folks seemed neat - I was on an RP server though so my experience was all about community. They love the open sandbox pve world (were you on a Zek server?)
Then there's the history buffs, the folks that love real world cultures and medieval warfare...ala the Dark Age of Camelot folks.
I am a part of the Dark Age of Camelot crowd. We have a three realm mmorpg in the works with Elder Scrolls Online. Folks who have no idea who Matt Firor is or how this kind of mmorpg experience will be different are making some pretty uneducated comments, assuming a theme park wow game with 1 more faction is on the way.
They are desperately misinformed. And I can't blame them. Look at the preponderance of garbage the developer community has fed players since 2004 (we can't do big pvp, we can't do lots of races, we have to mirror classes, we need to cross over the pve zones with the other faction to save money, and so forth)...We live in a time when developers can take the potentially most EPIC mmorpgs and just water them down into free to play nonsense:
Lord of the Rings Online should by all accounts be the mother ship of the industry (yes, more so that WOW). But they didn't even have the sense to build some of the most brilliant and ripped off races (orcs and so forth) into a separate faction. No immersion, no depth, some great pve for sure - but not enough to hold the crowds. So sad I won't even go into Age of Conan. The books were epic. The game, just gang banger factions with cosmetic races and classes.
Any company that says they can't do something great is lying in order to minimzie creativity at the cost of mystically increasing profits - not working is it?
The bar was raised in 2001 with the release of Dark Age of Camelot. It has never been met since.
So, Elder Scrolls Online which will be on PS4 and XBOX 1 as well as PC formats:
The moment you have been eagerly awaiting is finally here! Now is the time for future members of the Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant, and Ebonheart Pact to rally and show your support
If you want something more old school - Camelot Unleashed is in the works - they seem to be doing alright thus far, however, not a lot of info showing up here so you'll want to head over to City State Entertainment (just Google it)....Here's a tidbit from their kickstarter page (which was a total success):
Camelot Unchained is a counter-revolutionary RvR-focused MMORPG from Mark Jacobs and CSE set in a post-apocalyptic yet familiar world.
These games both count race and class as NOT cosmetic enhancements. Race and class, along with truly dividing factions means that the players can take these titles seriously.
I have been a gamer since I was old enough to play them. At age 14, in 1986, I bought a Commodore 64 (most of you probably have no idea what I'm even talking about there...which makes me feel old) and played role-playing games (almost exclusively) for years. I bought an Atari ST after that, and then an IBM PC where I paid $200.00 to get an EXTRA 4GB of RAM, and have owned a decent gaming computer ever since....all of which to show that I've been playing games for a while. I, like so many of you, have played dozens and dozens of games, a HUGE portion of which has been MMORPG's....which for a long time, was AWESOME!!!
I remember the first time I saw an MMORPG, and was floored by it. The internet as a whole was still in its adolescence and the fact that we could go online and play role-playing games with/against other people from across the globe was astounding! It was a HUGE leap in the gaming industry with games like Meridian 59, Everquest, and Ultima Online etc. I played EQ and Ultima Online for YEARS.... but eventually, people get tired of just about everything...
We haven't really had any major breakthroughs since then. Yes World of Warcraft took what a lot of games were doing and made it REAL pretty and marketed it to perfection (I never played WoW very much), and many many other games have been developed and played since then, but nothing has blown me away since the first MMO's I mentioned above. Some company or game developers need to come up with something innovative to "Sweep us all off our feet" again...much like MMO's did to the gaming industry in the late 1990s. Will it be Holographic games?? Who knows... I do know that even now, as new games are developed and claims of innovation abound, nothing is different enough to entice me....
Its all so stale right now...
I think it's because every design and innovation was leading us to where we are in gaming today. The innovation in the online scene right now is focusing on bringing what single-player gamers have enjoyed for years, which has been devoid in this genre. Good visuals, better combat systems, new dynamic forms of content generation, etc..
Argue all you want that it's not what you personally want to see, it's these strides that have opened the genre up to a larger audience, which leads us to see what were seeing now with FFXIV and before that GW2 or TOR, etc. More people are playing MMO's now than ever.
Innovation comes in strides, years really hide that, that's what I've learned over them. What seems like it took a few years was many in the grand scheme of things. Before you can move on and expand a design you must first explore it full circle.
This genre just sees less releases per year than any other, making it feel all the slower to reach new levels of innovation. Every release is a lesson in some way to other teams. It's the way of the business.
As for the single player market being stale, I'll respectively disagree.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Comments
I had the Commodore 128 in 1986 I believe! Waste of money, should have just gone 64 - but it used 64 programs. Anyway, I can see by your history why you are thinking there's nothing around the corner - you weren't in the Dark Age of Camelot crowd.
I am a part of the Dark Age of Camelot crowd. We have a three realm mmorpg in the works with Elder Scrolls Online. Folks who have no idea who Matt Firor is or how this kind of mmorpg experience will be different are making some pretty uneducated comments, assuming a theme park wow game with 1 more faction is on the way.
They are desperately misinformed. And I can't blame them. Look at the preponderance of garbage the developer community has fed players since 2004 (we can't do big pvp, we can't do lots of races, we have to mirror classes, we need to cross over the pve zones with the other faction to save money, and so forth)...We live in a time when developers can take the potentially most EPIC mmorpgs and just water them down into free to play nonsense:
Lord of the Rings Online should by all accounts be the mother ship of the industry (yes, more so that WOW). But they didn't even have the sense to build some of the most brilliant and ripped off races (orcs and so forth) into a separate faction. No immersion, no depth, some great pve for sure - but not enough to hold the crowds. So sad
I won't even go into Age of Conan. The books were epic. The game, just gang banger factions with cosmetic races and classes.
Any company that says they can't do something great is lying in order to minimzie creativity at the cost of mystically increasing profits - not working is it?
The bar was raised in 2001 with the release of Dark Age of Camelot. It has never been met since.
So, Elder Scrolls Online which will be on PS4 and XBOX 1 as well as PC formats:
The moment you have been eagerly awaiting is finally here! Now is the time for future members of the Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant, and Ebonheart Pact to rally and show your support
If you want something more old school - Camelot Unleashed is in the works - they seem to be doing alright thus far, however, not a lot of info showing up here so you'll want to head over to City State Entertainment (just Google it)....Here's a tidbit from their kickstarter page (which was a total success):
Camelot Unchained is a counter-revolutionary RvR-focused MMORPG from Mark Jacobs and CSE set in a post-apocalyptic yet familiar world.
These games both count race and class as NOT cosmetic enhancements. Race and class, along with truly dividing factions means that the players can take these titles seriously.
Good luck!
I think it's because every design and innovation was leading us to where we are in gaming today. The innovation in the online scene right now is focusing on bringing what single-player gamers have enjoyed for years, which has been devoid in this genre. Good visuals, better combat systems, new dynamic forms of content generation, etc..
Argue all you want that it's not what you personally want to see, it's these strides that have opened the genre up to a larger audience, which leads us to see what were seeing now with FFXIV and before that GW2 or TOR, etc. More people are playing MMO's now than ever.
Innovation comes in strides, years really hide that, that's what I've learned over them. What seems like it took a few years was many in the grand scheme of things. Before you can move on and expand a design you must first explore it full circle.
This genre just sees less releases per year than any other, making it feel all the slower to reach new levels of innovation. Every release is a lesson in some way to other teams. It's the way of the business.
As for the single player market being stale, I'll respectively disagree.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson