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Why are science fiction (or any subgenres) MMO's so rare?
Dimensional
Member Posts: 79
We've been getting every fantasy mmo combination iminable yet sci-fi mmo's are quite rare, the only notable ones are EVE (sandbox), warhammer 40k (upcomming), tor and galaxies (star wars is science fantasy really), tabula rasa (which died a horrible death), and pendulum online.
What's with the hesitation going this way? All the fantasy mmo's are so unspiring and usuallycookiecutter with the same races but just with midly different lore. So why might this be?
Comments
Thats because RPG video games comes from what we call today, "Table Top Role playing Games"
These were Fantasy themed
When this crossed into computer gaming, developers basically moved over the Fantasy theme which was popular with Table Top.
that held on for whatever reason Table Top Fantasy was so popular.
IMO, I say its something to do with Magic Mystery vs Future Tech.
people find magic more interesting because it goes beyond realistic terms.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Thats not a valid explanation at all. There were a lot of Science Fiction RPG's as well, just as many as Fantasy.
Edit: I do think it is a bit harder to implement firearms (or lazers and such) into a CRPG. Most sci fi video games have FPS elements to them. And there haven't been many MMOFPS out there.
Maybe because of paladins or maybe because wow established the new MMORPG standards. There's also the fact that in the sci-fi theme there are guns which tend to be more FPS than classical RPGish.
We'll have to wait till warhammer 40k or the new MMO from Blizzard to see how lazy developers are railed by a new sci-fi themed standards.
For me it's because melee weapons don't translate well into sci-fi unless it's a light saber. That leaves us with everyone using guns, which i'm not a fan of.
Actually I believe firearms would be easier to implement than your typical bow. You don't have to do the arc calculations and all that.. You don't even need to do anything but a gun firing animation if your game isn't manual target/firing. Really it's the same as your typical mmo magic fireball or ray or whatver.
I think there should be more Sci Fi mmos, with nice alienish beingss to play as races (swg and AO for instance). WAAAY to many fantasy mmo's already, that market is damn over-saturated.
Apparently many mmo dev shops need to go take business 101 classes
Sci-fi games aren't rare. It just seems to you that they are. The game list here on mmorpg.com lists well over 50 sci-fi games.
Look at the games published in 2010, from the Best New Game Poll.
Sci-Fi: Global Agenda, Star Trek Online, Perpetuum
Fantasy: Final Fantasy, Vindictus, Mortal Online
Three fantasy and three sci-fi games.
I maintain this List of Sandbox MMORPGs. Please post or send PM for corrections and suggestions.
This answer is simple.
Its because it is easier for programmers to convince financiers to give money to an idea that has already worked rather than an idea that has not.
There has not been any huge financial sucesses in the sci fi mmo genre apart from EvE. But there has been a few in the fantasy genre, including the 1 giants sucess. Since he people who finance games want to limmit risk they will encourage developers to pursue more proven genres.
Remember, in general, the people who finance games have no idea what people want. They just know what has lready suceeded and what hasnt.
Probably because it's easier to copy than to innovate.
There's much more medieval games to copy from than Sci-fi. This will likely keep happening until people are sick of Medieval MMO.
Fallen Earth and Star Trek Online and upcoming Earthrise and Jumpgate. If it ever gets out of court, Fallout MMO. You possibly could call DC Universe Sci-fi...maybe. And although I would rather forget it now, Star Wars Galaxies. So, just because you may not hear about them as much...Sci-fi is out there.
Let's party like it is 1863!
If you make a fantasy game, you can base it on the Tolkienesque fantasy world that's so common it's become generic. The races, classes, enemies, and other necessities have already been done for you. If you make a sci-fi game, you have to license exisiting fiction or make up your own from scratch.
In medieval-style high fantasy, there are always savage areas of no-man's land. You can get away with murder, it's full of monsters, and anything you find is yours to keep. Sci-fi is rarely so anarchic. The world or worlds have been explored and civilized. Unless you're doing a post-apocalyptic setting or a newly-colonized alien world, you're going to need a creative excuse to include that staple of RPGs - killing monsters and taking their stuff.
In short, it takes a lot less creative effort to make a fantasy game. And gamers are already familiar with Tolkienesque high fantasy, so there's less chance of alienating your audience with a bizarre setting. If I say "The orcs are attacking! Take shelter in the castle and let the archers handle it!" you know what I'm talking about. If I say "The Grobulons are coming through the nibo-field! Grab your de-locutionizers and get behind the repulsor shields!" you're going to need a little more explanation.
The biggest difference between fantasy and sci-fi is that Fantasy is often what we want to happen but we know can never happen, while Sci-Fi is often what can possibly happen but we really don't ever want to see happen. It's why sci-fi movies are popular and fantasy games are popular. Watching post apocalyptic warriors battle across a wasteland for drinking water and petrol is fun, but most people find it to make for sucky gameplay. On the other side is fantasy, where the main character shoots fireballs from his fingertips and is praised by townsfolk everywhere he goes.Most people rather be the hero with a guaranteed or expected victory (fantasy) rather than face an uncerntain outcome against an foe (nature, self, enemy) that can possibly defeat them.
In between the two is Space Opera, which probably would work well for an MMO.
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
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Earthrise is coming out I think and its sci fi
Website says the beta starts next month
Make games you want to play.
http://www.youtube.com/user/RavikAztar
That is just not true. While D&D is the largest game in NA the largest in Europe is actually Vampire, a gothic horror game.
P&P have all kinds of settings, Western, modern, horror, SF, sci-fi, historical and more. There are more fantasy games buty not much more.
As for Tabletops there are 3 equally large themes and many small (Fantasy, Sci-fi, WW2).
I don't think people find magic more interesting either.
The main reason is more or less money. Since M59, UO and EQ were fantasy did the devs realize that fantasy sells. And making MMOs take a lot of money so few devs dare to try something different.
And of course you can't use M59s old mechanics for a modern setting so you actually will be forced to make your own mechanics as well. You can't be sure if people will like new mechanics or not.
Making a P&P RPG or a tabletop cost peanuts compared to a MMO so there are a lot more creativity there.
Thats easy to answer.
I get the most variance respect to character build variants and mob variance in classic fantasy, so I prefer those by far.
Lets just compare two top notch titles, Vanguard from Sigil [R.I.P.] and The Old Republic from Bioware:
Vanguard has 15 classes:
3 tanks:
- Warrior: melee dps tank
- Paladin: clerical healing tank
- Dread Knight: necomantic tank
4 melee dps:
- Rogue: Stealth and backstabbing [second highest dps in game]
- Ranger: Dual weapon and ranged dps, 2 subclasses
- Monk: Fake Death and exotic weaponry, 3 subclasses
- Bard: Group buffer specialist
4 healer:
- Cleric: defensive healer with best burst heals but mana regeneration problem, 5 subclasses
- Shaman: natural healing, 3 subclasses
- Disciple: monk healer with Fake Death and manaless healing
- Blood Mage: mage healer with various damage redirection and buffing tricks (healing through redirected lifetaps possible, strong groupheals on critical hits)
4 magic dps:
- Sorcerer: Straight dps specialist with disenchanting and spell distruption [highest dps in game]
- Druid: Toolbox mage with emergency healing, various buffs and tricks including burst dps
- Psionicist: Crowd control specialist
- Necromancer: Summoner with damage over time spells and Fake Death, 2 subclasses
Granted, the tank classes felt more like subclasses of each other. However, healers played very differently, and dps classes even more so.
Compare that to what we get in Star Wars: The Old Republic:
Light side:
- Jedi Consolar/Jedi Sage: Healer/Buffer with ranged attacks
- Jedi Consolar/Jedi Shadow: Double bladed weapon Rogue
- Jedi Knight/Jedi Sentinel: Dual Weapon Melee DPS
- Jedi Knight/Jedi Guardian: Tank
- Smuggler/Scoundrel: Healer with ranged attacks
- Smuggler/Gunslinger: Dual Weapon Ranged DPS
- Trooper/Commando: Area DPS
- Trooper/Vanguard: Tank
Dark side:
- Sith Inquisitor/Sith Sorcerer: Healer with ranged attacks
- Sith Inquisitor/Sith Assassin: Double bladed weapon Rogue
- Sith Warrior/Sith Marauder: Dual Weapon Melee DPS
- Sith Warrior/Sith Juggernaut: Tank
- Imperial Agent/Operative: Healer with ranged attacks
- Imperial Agent/Sniper: Ranged DPS
- Bounty Hunter/Mercenary: Ranged/Area DPS
- Bounty Hunter/Powertech: Tank
Yes, technically SWTOR even has one more class than Vanguard ... except one can already see that the difference in actual gameplay wont be that big anyway. Good/Evil axis get copies of one and the same class concept.
In total, SWTOR has maybe about 5-6 really different class concepts, the rest are subclasses of each other.
Of course, also the depth of Vanguards classes is also not reached in any way in the current descriptions of SWTOR.
Its the same with mob variance. Classic fantasy just gets much more. Yeah they get no droids, but then again they just call them golems instead. Horror opponents ? Included as Undead. Werewolves ? Of course. Animals ? Yeah. Dragons, Demons, Angels ? Yeah. And so on.
Thats why I prefer classic fantasy. You just get more content.
before 2005 sci-fi (or other themed) MMOs were rare but not as rare as nowaydays. you had an Anarchy online for each UO, a SWG for each EQ, a Phantasy Star Online for each Asherons Call, a FFXI for every DAOC, and a CoH for every Lineage.
earth and beyond, EvE, auto assault, armada online, the 4th coming, second life...etc etc etc
then WoW got released, and sh.it hit the fan (literally).
Since then, the genre can be resumed as a huge tidal wave of crappy unoriginal fantasy bullshi.ts trying to cash in WoW's success and miserably failing at it, for audience's awe and despair.
This is a weak arguement. It doesnt have sh*t to do with classes and sub classes (its all the same) Either you tank heal dps, buff, or de-buff and then you are either ranged or not ranged no matter what game you look at no matter how they sugar coat it thats about all there is to it. All you do here is try to rip on one game to show more diversity in another. The fact that one is not even released yet or even in OB just makes this worse.
To the real question why no sci fi mmos? There are plenty. The whole issue is how popular are they? The top grosser WoW = fantasy but well before that EQ FFXI DAOC Lineage etc etc are all fantasy and successful. With the exception of games like Eve and Anarchy Online (debatable) Sci Fi just doesnt attract as many players.
Fantasy is familiar easy to understand and has lore we can understand pretty easily. Sci fi sometimes has issues with lore or immersion (its hard to believe that a guy with a gun loses to a guy with a sword unless the lore allows for that cough...star wars...cough). There is more immediate back story involved with races (you have general knowledge on elves and your used to the race but if you insert race of blue skinned creatures that you dont identify with its a pain.to get to know them)
But by far the biggest thing holding back Sci Fi mmos (drum roll please)...............The big studios dont make them or Eff them up when they do. So you dont play them. It has nothing to do with content it has to do with sales and preference.