Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Golden age of MMORPGs?
Ramajama
Member UncommonPosts: 271
Now when I read history of different things - comics, book genres, etc. I always find a reference to golden age of that specific genre. I imagine, what it would be like to live in that period and enjoy this genre and how people felt about it.
When I look at number of players across all MMORPGs today and look at number of MMORPGs and how many are popping every year, the Golden Age of MMORPGs comes to my mind. 
Would you define current period as an Golden Age? And if not, what "Age" would you call it? 
If you say its in decline, you have to define a period that you would call Golden Age and would be great to give some argument to support your claim. I only lay it based on pure numbers.
Comments
Golden Age was 2000-2005. EQ,UO,DAOC,SWG,AC,SB,AO,WoW,PS,MXO,FFXI,EQ2,and EvE
2004 - 2015 is golden age of lobby games.
Fixed it for you
Lets not leave CoX off the list yes? *CoX- City of Heroes/Villians
Any mmo worth its salt should be like a good prostitute when it comes to its game world- One hell of a faker, and a damn good shaker!
I would say so .. we have a wide range of choice from the very old and still running MMOs, to MOBAs, to instanced games.
I put it at 2003. Only one year, and here's my thinking on that:
2003 seemed to be both the apex and the end of diversity in MMOs. It was a year when not only were many titles released but each was significantly and uniquely different from the next in many ways. Here’s a list of notable MMOs released that year:
Several of those titles still exist today, and quite a few still have healthy, active communities. Some of today’s MMO enthusiasts would probably call it the “Age of Sandbox,” as many of these titles offered more social tools, more open-ended gameplay and more player-driven content than most modern titles. To a good degree, I agree. Some may also say that some of those games only have a few thousand or so players. In my opinion, an MMO that entertains 5-30k players and makes a profit for eight years straight is a better path than building for 300k, hemorrhaging at 50k and closing up shop after a year.
I think the success of many of these titles is the result of several factors, the three biggest being no predispositions on the part of MMO gamers, a more audience-specific design, and an appropriate balance of the Forgotten Trinity that makes up a virtual world.
No Predisposition as to What an MMO ‘Should Be’ – Asheron’s Call, Ultima Online, Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot paved the initial road for persistent state worlds with rather varied approaches to advancement, game design and community structure. There was no One True Path yet as each was exploring new approaches to creating these incredible new online worlds. An MMO at the time was not measured by the restrictive and unrealistic standard that MMOs today are held to. I want to stress that I’m not speaking about quality, stability and polish as those should be expectations regardless of when or how the product is released.
Over the past 6-8 years, most MMOs have become so similar and followed the same high fantasy, class-restricted, level-based, gear-dependent design and the surrounding common mechanics, that when an MMO deviates from that, the developers have to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to sell the new direction or mechanic and why the path was chosen over the tried and true method.
A More Defined Target Audience – These MMOs were not trying to be everything to everyone. Their core audience was obvious to everyone from the start. From ToonTown’s publisher and artwork to Shadowbane’s Play to Crush mantra, the games were clearly being made for specific groups and the advertisement made it clear which groups they were for. They weren’t trying to mix and match unlike playstyles and conflicting communities within a single game world. This allowed the developers to attract a strong core group for their game and to focus current and future development for that audience.
The Forgotten Trinity – MMOs are made up of scripted content (themepark), player-driven content (sandbox) and social content (coffee house). Each exists as part of the virtual world to one degree or another. Most modern MMOs weigh heavily toward one or the other of the first two. Also, most modern MMOs seem to relegate the last one to an IRC-style chat box and a system or need for grouping with other players to kill stuff. In many cases there is more functionality to support social interaction on a modern MMOs forums than there are in or around the game itself.
It seems that an MMO developer that wants to break from the standard design and improve chance at success and longevity would benefit from addressing those three points directly.
1) Don’t call it an MMO. Use any other term but that. In this day and age, simply calling it an online game is definitive enough without pigeon-holing the project.
2) Target your audience. Make sure your players know what they are getting into ahead of time. Build a strong core community that you will be able to cater to. The Kitchen Sink hasn’t really been a successful approach to MMOs, especially when it comes to the whole PvE/PvP thing.
3) Design the social aspect to emulate the ways that people normally interact. Allow the players to create and choose social circles based on something other than chasing rare drops. Mirror how people communicate in real life so they are more comfortable communicating with each other in your online community.
The early pioneers (The Realm, M59, UO, EQ, AC, DAoC) set the stage, but it seems there was a golden age that shortly followed that never really gets the recognition it deserves. The MMOs of 2003 offered a level of diversity and a gamer acceptance of such diverse design that has been absent ever since. I’m curious to see if history repeats itself on the mobile platform or if there is a wide enough audience that One True Path takes longer to rear its head.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I would say this is pretty accurate.
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer
Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/Agreed.
Mmo's Pre WoW where more niche based and had those communities associated with them. Now we have a lot of players who play mmo's because it's a fad, when they're really not as passionate about the genre. Thus - bad communities now.
All of this, completely agree.
99 or 00-2005 for sure. Maybe 2007.
The way mmo's were: Community, Exploration, Character Development, Conquest.
The way mmo's are now : Cut-Scenes,Cut-Scenes, solo Questing, Cut-Scenes...
www.CeaselessGuild.com
It is hard to include EQ and UO in the golden age just because they fit more in the dawn of MMORPG.
I'd probably put it like 2002-2011 or something. That includes MMORPG hitting consoles. It captures EVE, WoW, Lineage 2, Shadowbane, CoX, guild wars, LOTRO etc. That also captures the entire time WoW was a decent game. It fits in the closing of SWG which makes a nice end point for the golden age too~. I could see a case for 2012 since TSW and GW2 came out but a ton of games closed that year too.
Starting in 2012 if you look at a timeline you see as many games closing or going F2P because they couldn't keep subs as you do new games coming out.
Now if you want a shorter dawn I'd agree like 2005 makes sense too. Don't think you can start it any earlier than 2002 though, those games are still really the dawn of the genre.
IMO it was 2003 - 2007. However, there are so many solid MMO offerings out right now that one could certainly argue that we're in the midst of the golden age as we speak.
Nice... Now that is a pretty strong lineup for one year. Now I see that 2003 is a strong favourite for a Golden Year of an Golden Age.
Whoa... Even golden age of gaming ended in that year? What happened?
I like the wording. Now your claim can be supported by the fact, that even though we have MANY MMOs and MANY people playing, they are all fighting between each other. So definitely not a period of peace and happiness in this day and age I guess for the genre.
Here is a pretty cool breakdown you could look at. It includes expansions which I feel are important to the discussion.
https://biobreak.wordpress.com/mmo-timeline/
2003
February Ultima Online: Age of Shadows
February EverQuest: The Legacy of Ykesha
February A Tale in the Desert launches
February EverQuest Online Adventures launches
March Shadowbane launches
April Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart
May EVE Online launches
May Planetside launches
June Star Wars Galaxies launches
June Toontown Online launches
June Rubies of Eventide launches
June Dark Age of Camelot: Foundations
August Motor City Online closes
September EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath
September Anarchy Online: Shadowlands
October Lineage II launches
October Planetside: Core Combat
October Dark Age of Camelot: Trials of Atlantis
November EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers
December EVE Online: Castor
December Puzzle Pirates launches
December Horizons/Istaria launches
THat was a pretty good year for sure even though it includes the death of DAOC with TOA~. Like it or hate it though there is no way you can't have WoW in the golden age of MMORPG so at the very least you have to include 2004. It is the game that single handedly brought MMORPG into the mainstream. Again you can hate that it did it but there is no way to argue it doesn't belong in the golden age.
Agreed.
Mmo's Pre WoW where more niche based and had those communities associated with them. Now we have a lot of players who play mmo's because it's a fad, when they're really not as passionate about the genre. Thus - bad communities now.
Ah sorry I knew I was forgetting one. City of Heroes of course!
The reason I have that time span and those game is because during that time, all those games were either brand new, peaking, or both. And the variety of choice between those games listed is unmatched
Very nice, thanks! We could even define Golden Month of the Golden Year of the Golden Age
Now I feel sorry I played single player games at that time, and not MMOs. Excellent stuff to see coming out in one year and the king of MMOs right around the corner in 2004.
The reality of the so called Golden Age has more to do with the Internet and DSL than it has anything to do with the games.
Wow happen to be the LUCKY recipient of perfect timing when DSL was finally in every household and at an affordable price.
If the same amount of access to gamer's was back in 1930 then those games would be considered the Golden Age of gaming.
Ever since that initial BOOM from 2003-2006 there really has seemed to be more of a decline than any positive move.This is considering how many FREE to play projects are out there,you would think the Industry was booming.You take away the 10 million or so Wow lost and just distribute them around the other games and sure seems like it has been stagnant for about 7 or so years.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
And here I was thinking I don't consider any of those games as "good".
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
97-2004
BUT
None of games from that years would be good enough today. They were good back in the day because MMORPG concept was in it's infancy and games were developing brining new things to the table.
In example - from an "open virtual world fantasy semi-simulatior" game like Ultima Online I would require MAGNITUTES more than I've required from Ultima Online back in the 90s.
UO had HUGE fundamental problems and shortcomings. Problems&shortcomings I would not tolerate today. Yes, I would not play UO remake with modern AAA graphics.
That's true of any Golden Age of anything.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre