Funny, i just logged in, and got my 10th year anniversary badge. I've used the website for a few years longer than that (likely around 2007-8) - but made my account in 2010.
I used to come here (before the redesign); and open conversations about various topics around upcoming MMORPGs, got spotlight poster a few times on a few topics; and what i found over the years is that controversy or contrarian positions invoked the greatest responses from people.
As the old saying goes, if you want to find the correct answer for a question, post the wrong answer on a relevant forum, or reddit. People can't resist the bait of "correcting" you, or at least arguing for the sake of arguing. Why that is - i don't know, but that is where most of the activity was centered back then, people just debating over irrelevancies, and trying "win" a point for their proverbial team, for no real impactful reason. A moment of digital pride perhaps, i don't know.
So that leads into a few reasons why this website/forum is dead;
1. The genre is dead, i theorized/predicted the death of the genre should SWTOR not capture the same level of success of WoW (on here even, if you look deep enough you can find my original thread from 2010/2011) - It's hard to have a website called "mmorpg.com" be active, when mmorpgs are pretty dead from a future prospectus stand point. Less need to check trends, and hype trains.
2. Due to the above, the website tried to adapt, and did a poor job of it. Rather than help try to define the future landscape of the MMORPG genre through bridging the community to the developers, the website, and it's staff decided to pivot, and sell out and become a watered down platform for thinly viewed product plugs. Perhaps the cheap advertisement attempts made up the loss of CPM revenue? I don't know, but obvious the impact it has is the articles on here are not worth reading, thus more traffic lost, and less engagement. You hardly want to engage with manufactured posts that are blatant lip-service. More over, the products were not mmorpg related, thus why would you want to come to mmorpg.com to read a sponsored review on a keyboard? Silly really; they pushed out their own market in an attempt to diversify in a dishonest way into areas that they would never really stand on.
3. Rise of reddit; competition, and innovation in written community, and media shares have made the concept of forums pretty dead. I'm not sold on the upvote, or downvote concept as i feel like the reddit formula can enable appeal to popularity fallacies to sequelch relevant, but niche concepts that don't appeal to the mass, thus making them all the more interesting to the wised eye'ed folks who could find value in it, however that being said, the reddit formula is effective in delivering quick launch point on topics including MMORPGs for discussion, learning, and
4. Lastly gaming in general is no longer a "players" sport, it's become a spectator spot, so development has moved in that direction, and by extension the consumer have as well. Most consumers of games can be found watching a stream, and chatting there, or comment in a discord server, or on a YouTube video for memes, and their moments of digital pride points. Gone are the days of pointless debates on long form communication platforms such as this, so if you can't stir controversy, then how do you bait engagement?
In general i started gaming when i was 3 or 4; i'm almost 35 now, and ready to hang up the "gamer" label. Gaming is an eclipsed concept for me, between the direction of streaming/esports, and other uninteresting directions for superficial reach, the concept is boring, and doesn't pull at you - so by extension the genre within the concept that held the most esoteric containerization is even more marginalized by the state of affairs, which means the old platforms used to discuss that genre is even more marginalized. The fact this website is still even up boggles my mind.
I don't like the new format for mmorpg.com forums at all. I think it contributed greatly to the slowly in forum posts. The layout is much too large and unwieldy. It is difficult to navigate. The original version was tighter, more busy, and felt much more communicative.
I do not think the industry needs to release better games for the forums to become busier. The industry is actually quite mature and doing quite well. I do not think the quality of games will improve hugely, since they are all already quite profitable and capable.
Maybe the MMO genre being revived in the future with the advancement of VR. Barring that, things are stagnant and show no signs of improving.
I think it's the only thing that will recapture how people felt playing MMOs. I had a similar feeling playing Rec Room to what EQ gave me back in the day. So I'm convinced it has to happen.... but no one will spend money on it.
Its hard to find a good game these days let alone a good mmorpg. But as dev tools become more powerful and indie devs have access to more creative tech, i think we will find more hidden gems. Right now, there are 500 shovelware games for every gem. For those of us that have been around a while, it wasnt always like that. So its an adjustment. Similar to misic or movies, you have to sift through a lot of trash to find something worth your time. Unfortunately, this site doesnt help filter out the trash. Rather, it piles more on. It would be nice to find a site thats more than just paid ads. Probably would need to start your own site for that to happen.
Sites designed for mobile users always suck. It was faster for me to use google to find these forums than use the sites menu system. The game lists is an unwieldy joke and Ug, just garbage all round.
Sites designed for mobile users always suck. It was faster for me to use google to find these forums than use the sites menu system. The game lists is an unwieldy joke and Ug, just garbage all round.
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
I always type this site in out of habit, but there hasn't been a game that's really worth talking about or anything exciting in a while. A really immersive MMO would be huge right now in current circumstances...
I found that I enjoyed playing the games far more than I enjoyed debating games, so 16 years ago, I spent a ton of time on here, but the last 6 years very little time. Back then game forums were busy, not just The Pub. MMORPG had people posting, making it a solid hub, and in some cases better than official forums. Now? that's not the case.
Also, don't want to knock the current staff and management too hard, but the site just isn't the same quality as it was 10 years ago. (I admit, I could be looking at it thru rose colored glasses.) but the articles aren't as good, as professional, or as thought provoking. It's hard to blame the writers though, because how many times can you have the same discussion, or same article? Look at the posts, its the same folks having the same argument year after year.....
So lack of material has hampered things as well, and back in 2006 or 2008 I was as willing as anyone to have a debate, these days? Eh, why do I particularly care what someone thinks? I'm playing a game to have fun...that's it....
Comments
I used to come here (before the redesign); and open conversations about various topics around upcoming MMORPGs, got spotlight poster a few times on a few topics; and what i found over the years is that controversy or contrarian positions invoked the greatest responses from people.
As the old saying goes, if you want to find the correct answer for a question, post the wrong answer on a relevant forum, or reddit. People can't resist the bait of "correcting" you, or at least arguing for the sake of arguing. Why that is - i don't know, but that is where most of the activity was centered back then, people just debating over irrelevancies, and trying "win" a point for their proverbial team, for no real impactful reason. A moment of digital pride perhaps, i don't know.
So that leads into a few reasons why this website/forum is dead;
1. The genre is dead, i theorized/predicted the death of the genre should SWTOR not capture the same level of success of WoW (on here even, if you look deep enough you can find my original thread from 2010/2011) - It's hard to have a website called "mmorpg.com" be active, when mmorpgs are pretty dead from a future prospectus stand point. Less need to check trends, and hype trains.
2. Due to the above, the website tried to adapt, and did a poor job of it. Rather than help try to define the future landscape of the MMORPG genre through bridging the community to the developers, the website, and it's staff decided to pivot, and sell out and become a watered down platform for thinly viewed product plugs. Perhaps the cheap advertisement attempts made up the loss of CPM revenue? I don't know, but obvious the impact it has is the articles on here are not worth reading, thus more traffic lost, and less engagement. You hardly want to engage with manufactured posts that are blatant lip-service. More over, the products were not mmorpg related, thus why would you want to come to mmorpg.com to read a sponsored review on a keyboard? Silly really; they pushed out their own market in an attempt to diversify in a dishonest way into areas that they would never really stand on.
3. Rise of reddit; competition, and innovation in written community, and media shares have made the concept of forums pretty dead. I'm not sold on the upvote, or downvote concept as i feel like the reddit formula can enable appeal to popularity fallacies to sequelch relevant, but niche concepts that don't appeal to the mass, thus making them all the more interesting to the wised eye'ed folks who could find value in it, however that being said, the reddit formula is effective in delivering quick launch point on topics including MMORPGs for discussion, learning, and
4. Lastly gaming in general is no longer a "players" sport, it's become a spectator spot, so development has moved in that direction, and by extension the consumer have as well. Most consumers of games can be found watching a stream, and chatting there, or comment in a discord server, or on a YouTube video for memes, and their moments of digital pride points. Gone are the days of pointless debates on long form communication platforms such as this, so if you can't stir controversy, then how do you bait engagement?
In general i started gaming when i was 3 or 4; i'm almost 35 now, and ready to hang up the "gamer" label. Gaming is an eclipsed concept for me, between the direction of streaming/esports, and other uninteresting directions for superficial reach, the concept is boring, and doesn't pull at you - so by extension the genre within the concept that held the most esoteric containerization is even more marginalized by the state of affairs, which means the old platforms used to discuss that genre is even more marginalized. The fact this website is still even up boggles my mind.
I do not think the industry needs to release better games for the forums to become busier. The industry is actually quite mature and doing quite well. I do not think the quality of games will improve hugely, since they are all already quite profitable and capable.
Ahhh, that feels better. Thank you.
https://forums.mmorpg.com/
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
I found that I enjoyed playing the games far more than I enjoyed debating games, so 16 years ago, I spent a ton of time on here, but the last 6 years very little time. Back then game forums were busy, not just The Pub. MMORPG had people posting, making it a solid hub, and in some cases better than official forums. Now? that's not the case.
Also, don't want to knock the current staff and management too hard, but the site just isn't the same quality as it was 10 years ago. (I admit, I could be looking at it thru rose colored glasses.) but the articles aren't as good, as professional, or as thought provoking. It's hard to blame the writers though, because how many times can you have the same discussion, or same article? Look at the posts, its the same folks having the same argument year after year.....
So lack of material has hampered things as well, and back in 2006 or 2008 I was as willing as anyone to have a debate, these days? Eh, why do I particularly care what someone thinks? I'm playing a game to have fun...that's it....