Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Only 2-3 settings for AAA mmorpgs. Will it ever change?
adam_nox
Member UncommonPosts: 2,148
So far we have only two settings that have gotten serious dev teams and realistic budgets. There's high scifi, with wildstar, swtor, and defiance (not necessarily AAA but meh). Then there's of course all the medieval stuff. Then there's maybe a AAA game when you combine the various comic book mmos... of which at best there's DCUO now that CoH is out.
I don't really understand why this is it. Especially when the genre has become very competitive for dollars. Doesn't anyone from a business perspective see the ability to at least grab a niche? I think of table top games I've played. There's Vampire, there's Deadlands (old west), there's Shadowrun (cyberpunk is soooo not any of the current sci fi mmos). And all of these have been tossed around before, not to mention the Fallout online project that is in limbo somewhere.
After all this time, it's really just kind of sadly comical the way every big budget chases the same things, wants to grab the same customer. Look at the graphical shocks of Wildstar and EQnext. We all know why they went that direction.
Topic auto locks at first person to attempt to mention TSW as AAA. Just kidding, mods, don't tase me.
Comments
You mean games you're interested in ?
there's a pretty big range of mmos out there like eve TSW fallen earth etc etc you seem to be forgetting.
Agreed, but I see Shroud of the Avatar is doing just that.
OP. There are a ton of MMOs out there that are outside the categories you listed.
The Secret World for example.
There are games like Pirates of the burning sea/Caribbean online.
Lots of historical based like WWII Online, World of Tanks, Dynasty Warriors online.
Horror based like DarkEden, DayZ, F.E.A.R Online.
Real life based like Second Life, RAN
You just need to actually look for them because there are so much more.
There is City of Steam (steam punk) and Star Citizen but i guess the point is this ... MMOs are expensive to make. If a dev wants to go indie and niche, it is much easier to just do a SP RPGs.
Hence, we have Shadowrun Returns.
Western is really not very suitable for RPGs .. but there are good western shooters (duh!). I am playing Call of Juarez, and it is a great game. Tongue in cheek story telling, and fun shooting mechanics.
The same thing applies to the movie industry. The bigger the budget, the more generic and predictable the movie. Heck, that's how it is in every industry.
mmo's are meant to last for quite some time and constantly add new content so i think they just go with what's easiest to work with.. like fantasy the possibilities are pretty much endless and sci-fi has pretty much to work with aswell.
also i would'nt really call swtor sci-fi it's just plain old fantasy but in space and wildstar does'nt have much of a sci-fi feel to it either...
I had fun once, it was terrible.
I thought cyberpunk would have been a terrific variant to MMORPG's, but the problem is people just don't understand them, or they are just too far off from reality.
Otherland got apparently scrapped... and Shadowrun (online) got downgraded to a single player game.
Cyberpunk would have been an interesting spin, with PVP consisting of network control .. software vs software! With some other spins to kill those jacking into corporate or privately owned systems.
Somehow people just get locked into what they know. Kill orcs, dragons, space mutants, or robots (fantasy to sci-fi). It's not that the ideas were never there. It's that companies and investors just lack vision :P They would rather take a risk on yet another clone, go figure.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
You can get good cyberpunk RPGs with Deus Ex and Shadowrun Returns. Given the success of Deus Ex, there is obviously a market ... just that it may not be MMO.
I would go even further and say that most mmo's now are being either a Tolkien universe with more orcs and more elves, or generic sci-fi without inspiration, just a bunch of speed paint pictures put together into a world. It is not even about medieval and scifi, it is even more narrow than that, only two universes. While there are so many great fictional worlds in books that have nothing to do with elves, or shiny laboratories.
It works this way because the creation process in current times is completely different than back in the days. It used to be idea first, game second... now it is "We want to make a game, lets figure out an idea for it". That is why everything is generic and uninspired.
There is a cyberpunk mmo being developed right now called Cyberpunk 2077, also vampire mmo World of Darkness, based on pen and paper. I still have my hope. It seems like there is a movement in this area.
I agree with your overall sentiment. Not all settings have a market for mmo. Additionally, I don't feel that all settings lend themselves well to mmo.
Additionally, what settings have had the most success in the mmo space? Fantasy for sure, with EQ and WoW each being the top game for their time. EVE has built an excellent following over the years as well. Even the superhero setting mentioned by the OP has struggled at best with CoX being shut down, Champion's Online and DCUO being extremly niche at best. SWTOR has done all right for itself, but you're looking at a sci-fi setting with many fantasy elements (Jedi and the Force basically being magic based for lack of a better word).
Finally, there's a reason why all forms of media tend to set themselves into generalized settings, and that's mass appeal. Sure, we could have a full fledged Steampunk mmo, but it probably won't attract as many people as a general fantasy with steampunk elements setting (WoW basically) would.
Shadowrun Online is actually a thing too. Far in the future, but still a thing.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
The problem is that when you ask a bunch of people what they want, and what they'll spend money on in an MMORPG, the thing that comes out on top is the Tolkinesque Medieval Fantasy setting. Otherworldly Fantasy setting follows close behind. I would have thought Urban Fantasy setting would be in there somewhere given all the books, but I guess people who read Urban Fantasy aren't also playing video games.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
That is an issue. MMOs are expensive to make. Hence, it is much easier to make an indie cyberpunk RPG (like shadowrun) then a MMO.
Moreover, i am not convinced that something like shadowrun return will be more fun if it is a MMO, unless you instances all the story stuff ... which is fine with me, but some here may blow a gasket.
and it is also old when costs of making a MMO is not the same as today.
No one even try recently.
You make me like charity
That is the beauty of a free market. You never have to play a single game you don't enjoy.
AAA budgets require AAA target audiences.
While the tools to produce a "AAA" music album, or even movie, is available to almost everyone with the right talent – the technology and know-how to produce a MMO with AAA production value is still years, if not decades away from having the same penetration.
A simple thing such as getting your product in front of your end-user to consume, which for a MMO would be the client, requires a custom package of 3d rendering, networking, UI etc. skills. Whereas music or video requires nothing more than a freely available player. That's not even touching what it requires to produce your product in the first place.
That's not to say that there aren't a myriad of niche MMOs out there, there are – they just aren't AAA production value MMOs.
Will it ever change? Yes, just like it has changed with music and movies. Until then, AAA MMOs are going to have settings that have AAA target audiences.
May be music, but definitely not movie. The Avengers costs $220M to make .. i doubt anyone without major financial backing can produce anything even close (and I am just talking about production value & CGI, and not even the major talent going into the stories, and acting).
I'm talking about the technology - and the technology to create something like this is available to ordinary people.
Obviously the talent to follow-through on it has to be there as well, but you don't need actors and directors eating up 100M worth of dollars to create a CGI heavy movie, just as you don't need Timbaland in order to produce a pop-hit.
If you have the talent, the tools are available. Same holds true for MMO tools, but currently, those are much lower quality if you compare them to their music and movie counterparts. Simply because they aren't as mature.
Well .. actually CGI movies are pretty expensive too. For example, Despicable Me 2 costs $76M to make. (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=despicableme2.htm)
But you are right on the point that the tech is cheap. But note that CGI stuff is labor intensive, and talent is also expensive. No one man show (or a few friends) can have the man-power, even if they are talented, to produce a good CGI feature length movie.