1) It's still fun, most of the time. Actually, I am going to be branded a heretic on this site for saying so, but it is more fun than it used to be. The game changes all the time, and even though I am not a fan of expanding the game to death, they keep adding new stuff, including features that address the main complaints of the people actually playing (and paying for) the game.
2) A lot of other games have basically the same mechanics, so if I am going to play EQ-in-drag, I might as well just play EQ.
3) At this point, much of the community of EQ is an older demographic than newer games-- even if you were 14 when you started playing 10 years ago, you'd be 24 now, and that's a group I am just more comfortable with anyway. (That's preference, not putting younger people down; I've played with some young kids that you'd never guess in a million years were as young as they are, and with some adults over 30 who talk like lolcats and think griefing is hilarious... But I prefer to hang out with people I have more in common with.)
4.) I am amazed at the screenshots I see from newer games, but I am ok with the graphics in EQ because they have improved significantly while still staying within my aging computer's capabilities. I can play EQ2 on the lowest graphical settings, which doesn't actually look THAT much better than EQ at this point, and the performance of EQ is much better. (Also, it's more fun, but that's not relevant to point #4.) To be blunt, I don't mind because I have nothing to compare it to. Looks fine to me. (I don't use my computer primarily for gaming, and I am not going to upgrade a computer that's about to turn 8 years old when I could buy a whole new one, which is just around the corner-- it's in the budget, unless it gets bumped back so that we can take a nice trip to Germany next Spring. Computer hardware is a low priority for me.)
Also, you meant they'd have to be masochistic, not sadistic, to still live in Istaria... but really, that game has a community that is aces, from the couple of months I spent there last summer (on a whim). That's enough to keep people in a game, a lot of the time.
... This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Honestly, most of the time its more fun to play older games. The community is almost always better, and almost everyone you play with already knows what they are doing. And there's less people running around being @$$holes for the sake of it. (They like to go to the newly released stuff)
besides that, everyone has a favorite that they love to go back to. (FFXI for me) Older MMOs were better. They were about teamwork, exploration, and fun. Newer games are all about leveling quickly and getting new gear. With every new game i try and dislike, I want to go back to one of my old favorites for a while.
The fact that people are still playing these games should tell devs that instead of trying to make the next WoW, they should be trying to make the next EQ, FFXI, DAoC, or Ultima.
The older MMOs usually have more to do than just the hack n slash quest grinding in the newer MMOs. Take UO for example...Skills, crafting, housing, open world, dungeons, boats, mounts, pets, resource gathering, role-playing, quests,PvP. Always something you could do in UO. There was no grinding to the next level, so you could keep up with your friends. If you were lower skills than your friends/guildmates, you could still join them anywhere. Wasn't about the UBER lootz, crafting had a purpose, the best stuff you could get was crafted. Todays games are all about leveling and lootz. Grind to max level so you can enjoy the game with the other players, and maybe pick up some decent armor/weapons along the way. Cause crafted stuff is never as good as the reward armor. Perhaps these old games are slightly hurting the newer games. Perhaps if the newer ones improve, the older ones will die. But the current crop is not attempting to capture the glory of the old MMO worlds. They are trying to capture a part of the WoW market...so they are making the games like WoW to compete with WoW.
Not surprisingly I agree with this 100%.
Old Skool Ultima Online Junky Bring back the OLD UO so I can play again
Older games tend to have more indepth features and customization. Take the D&D type games that were created back then, while they don't have the best graphics many people still play them because of the amount you can do in the game in terms of customization. Also there are a number of games that prove to be very diffucult to beat despite their simple nature, so some people try to beat them just to do it.
Is the small, profitable MMO's of the past hurting the progress of MMO's in the future. I'm often curious as to why players stay in a world which others have left behind, not just months ago, but in some cases a decade ago. They somehow put up with the dated graphics / sound (notice I didn't say poor). I'm no graphics junkie, but there is a limit for me (a technical one too) and each year and update in power of gfx cards that limit moves. It doesn't move downwards. I found it fascinating that even though someone is bored with WoW or Age of Conan or EQ2 or whatever, they still get drawn to an older world like the original EQ or AO. It's a paradox, because without the success of earlier MMO's, the current MMO's couldn't exist, but surely someone must be fairly sadistic to still live in the world of Istaria for example. I'm not cheering on the failure of older MMO's, I just think that some of them should've been updated or put against the wall and shot humanely. I want MMO's to improve, but to do that the bad ones need to die. They aren't, who is supporting them and most importantly why?
It's my opinion that those older worlds were better conceived that what the genre is getting today. Their longevity is evidence of that. Those games were actually "worlds", where a bit of commitment was required and the return on investment was a ton of fun.
Now companies, at least the larger ones, are consumed with turning a quick buck with the bar minimum required for their product to be called an MMO. They are, as one poster put it, shallow games and not full on worlds that invest in systems other than the pew-pew one. Heck, I read yesterday that even the makers of AoC, who touted nothing but "combat, combat, combat" as their slogan and after being told countless times by players, myself included, that that in itself is not enough to keep people around, made a statement that that is no longer their slogan and that they are looking to expand in other features.
Recent MMO attempts are more beffier FPSs than MMOS as they were initially conceived. Like FPS games they are now experiencing a high rate of turn-over. Now, that turn-over isn't such a big deal because, frankly, it is expected. FPS aren't meant to be played for years (though some are) and it is why we are on, what, the 6th installement of Call of Duty.
Those old games aren't bad games, as you put it. Their graphics are dated, sure, but at their core they aren't "bad". They offer much more to do outside of combat than the many offerings of recent, that's for sure. And that's probably the reason why so many gamers, especially those that played them the first go around, are coming back to them.
I can assure you if Turbine made a new version of Asheron's Call I'd be there, no questions asked and would sub for 5 years minimum.
"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..."
Is the small, profitable MMO's of the past hurting the progress of MMO's in the future. I'm often curious as to why players stay in a world which others have left behind, not just months ago, but in some cases a decade ago. They somehow put up with the dated graphics / sound (notice I didn't say poor). I'm no graphics junkie, but there is a limit for me (a technical one too) and each year and update in power of gfx cards that limit moves. It doesn't move downwards. I found it fascinating that even though someone is bored with WoW or Age of Conan or EQ2 or whatever, they still get drawn to an older world like the original EQ or AO. It's a paradox, because without the success of earlier MMO's, the current MMO's couldn't exist, but surely someone must be fairly sadistic to still live in the world of Istaria for example. I'm not cheering on the failure of older MMO's, I just think that some of them should've been updated or put against the wall and shot humanely. I want MMO's to improve, but to do that the bad ones need to die. They aren't, who is supporting them and most importantly why?
I have no desire to move from mmo to mmo. If I find something that I like and that gives me more of what I want, then I will just stay.
As it was, I stayed with Lineage 2 for over 4 years and would have continued to play had they not made too many changes that I didn't like as well as not really taking the game to a place that I would have preferred. No biggie, bit it's things like this that made me move.
Just because something new comes out, doesn't mean that I will want to play it. Try it? Sure. But invest time and effort? Nah, don't really need to play more than one game. Sometimes I play a part time game just to relax, but one mmo is enough for me.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Those older games were not realy better we just had little to no expectations from a mmo and took what we got with joy.
Going back now in my case for example its much more relaxing. I don't have to worry about tons of stats, equipment, builds, I can just go around saying Hi to strangers do some random exploring and maybe kill a pixie or two.
Comments
I always end up back in EQ for several reasons:
1) It's still fun, most of the time. Actually, I am going to be branded a heretic on this site for saying so, but it is more fun than it used to be. The game changes all the time, and even though I am not a fan of expanding the game to death, they keep adding new stuff, including features that address the main complaints of the people actually playing (and paying for) the game.
2) A lot of other games have basically the same mechanics, so if I am going to play EQ-in-drag, I might as well just play EQ.
3) At this point, much of the community of EQ is an older demographic than newer games-- even if you were 14 when you started playing 10 years ago, you'd be 24 now, and that's a group I am just more comfortable with anyway. (That's preference, not putting younger people down; I've played with some young kids that you'd never guess in a million years were as young as they are, and with some adults over 30 who talk like lolcats and think griefing is hilarious... But I prefer to hang out with people I have more in common with.)
4.) I am amazed at the screenshots I see from newer games, but I am ok with the graphics in EQ because they have improved significantly while still staying within my aging computer's capabilities. I can play EQ2 on the lowest graphical settings, which doesn't actually look THAT much better than EQ at this point, and the performance of EQ is much better. (Also, it's more fun, but that's not relevant to point #4.) To be blunt, I don't mind because I have nothing to compare it to. Looks fine to me. (I don't use my computer primarily for gaming, and I am not going to upgrade a computer that's about to turn 8 years old when I could buy a whole new one, which is just around the corner-- it's in the budget, unless it gets bumped back so that we can take a nice trip to Germany next Spring. Computer hardware is a low priority for me.)
Also, you meant they'd have to be masochistic, not sadistic, to still live in Istaria... but really, that game has a community that is aces, from the couple of months I spent there last summer (on a whim). That's enough to keep people in a game, a lot of the time.
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
I think it's meant to be fans of the new mmos are like fans for the Jonas Bros and Hannah Montana.
Honestly, most of the time its more fun to play older games. The community is almost always better, and almost everyone you play with already knows what they are doing. And there's less people running around being @$$holes for the sake of it. (They like to go to the newly released stuff)
besides that, everyone has a favorite that they love to go back to. (FFXI for me) Older MMOs were better. They were about teamwork, exploration, and fun. Newer games are all about leveling quickly and getting new gear. With every new game i try and dislike, I want to go back to one of my old favorites for a while.
The fact that people are still playing these games should tell devs that instead of trying to make the next WoW, they should be trying to make the next EQ, FFXI, DAoC, or Ultima.
Not surprisingly I agree with this 100%.
Old Skool Ultima Online Junky
Bring back the OLD UO so I can play again
Older games tend to have more indepth features and customization. Take the D&D type games that were created back then, while they don't have the best graphics many people still play them because of the amount you can do in the game in terms of customization. Also there are a number of games that prove to be very diffucult to beat despite their simple nature, so some people try to beat them just to do it.
according to who? you?
every game has its fans - "unpopular" old games are not preventing new games from improving
thats absurd
EQ2 fan sites
It's my opinion that those older worlds were better conceived that what the genre is getting today. Their longevity is evidence of that. Those games were actually "worlds", where a bit of commitment was required and the return on investment was a ton of fun.
Now companies, at least the larger ones, are consumed with turning a quick buck with the bar minimum required for their product to be called an MMO. They are, as one poster put it, shallow games and not full on worlds that invest in systems other than the pew-pew one. Heck, I read yesterday that even the makers of AoC, who touted nothing but "combat, combat, combat" as their slogan and after being told countless times by players, myself included, that that in itself is not enough to keep people around, made a statement that that is no longer their slogan and that they are looking to expand in other features.
Recent MMO attempts are more beffier FPSs than MMOS as they were initially conceived. Like FPS games they are now experiencing a high rate of turn-over. Now, that turn-over isn't such a big deal because, frankly, it is expected. FPS aren't meant to be played for years (though some are) and it is why we are on, what, the 6th installement of Call of Duty.
Those old games aren't bad games, as you put it. Their graphics are dated, sure, but at their core they aren't "bad". They offer much more to do outside of combat than the many offerings of recent, that's for sure. And that's probably the reason why so many gamers, especially those that played them the first go around, are coming back to them.
I can assure you if Turbine made a new version of Asheron's Call I'd be there, no questions asked and would sub for 5 years minimum.
"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
I have no desire to move from mmo to mmo. If I find something that I like and that gives me more of what I want, then I will just stay.
As it was, I stayed with Lineage 2 for over 4 years and would have continued to play had they not made too many changes that I didn't like as well as not really taking the game to a place that I would have preferred. No biggie, bit it's things like this that made me move.
Just because something new comes out, doesn't mean that I will want to play it. Try it? Sure. But invest time and effort? Nah, don't really need to play more than one game. Sometimes I play a part time game just to relax, but one mmo is enough for me.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Those older games were not realy better we just had little to no expectations from a mmo and took what we got with joy.
Going back now in my case for example its much more relaxing. I don't have to worry about tons of stats, equipment, builds, I can just go around saying Hi to strangers do some random exploring and maybe kill a pixie or two.
Its a different kind of satisfaction.