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Please Stop Calling Your Single-Player Games MMOs | MMORPG.com

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  • FoundViaSEOFoundViaSEO Newbie CommonPosts: 1
    While I agree that this story is accurate...

    When most gamers hear someone say "a singleplayer game that plays like an MMO", they'll have a pretty good image in their mind of what it will play like.

    Lots of quests to semi-mindlessly grind out. Your character will level up or upgrade frequently. Story will mostly take a backseat to a ton of things to bash.

    Is this how all MMOs play? Absolutely not. But you wouldn't just describe EVE Online to someone as "an MMO". In common parlance, I think MMO is shorthand for World of Warcraft.
    Sovrath
  • MyrdynnMyrdynn Member RarePosts: 2,483
    Rogue like and Souls like are another 2 terms I hate them using, and are majorly overused

  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273
    While I agree that this story is accurate...

    When most gamers hear someone say "a singleplayer game that plays like an MMO", they'll have a pretty good image in their mind of what it will play like.

    Lots of quests to semi-mindlessly grind out. Your character will level up or upgrade frequently. Story will mostly take a backseat to a ton of things to bash.

    Is this how all MMOs play? Absolutely not. But you wouldn't just describe EVE Online to someone as "an MMO". In common parlance, I think MMO is shorthand for World of Warcraft.
    Welcome to the forums! :)
    Sovrathmaskedweasel
  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273
    lotrlore said:
    Champie said:
    mikeb0817 said:
    This place smells of hypocrisy 
    Indeed. It is a surprise that this is a SYSTEM post. MMORPGdotCOM is a CONTRADICTION wrapped in an abusive ad-revenue campaign
    Not going to address the hypocrisy angle - I mention it in the article itself if you read it - but the "System" post is just how the news post to the forums is made now. If you like...read the article...you'll notice it's definitely not a system post, but written by a real, actual person.
    Come of Joseph we know you are an AI. ;)
    Sovrathmaskedweasellotrlore
  • GinazGinaz Member RarePosts: 2,558

    ZenJelly said:

    Psh, who cares. It's a meaningless tag anymore like most of the rest. If you want to play a game do the research yourself and decide. Stop getting hung up on labels.



    Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?

    Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.

  • waveslayerwaveslayer Member UncommonPosts: 589
    I dont care what you call anything, I am capable of doing my own research about games that peak my interests, but please stop making every game a "Live service". I pay 80 bucks for a single player game and I cant play it if the internet goes down, which is common in the southern rural area I live in, at least being on spectrum its common.
    Champie

    Godz of War I call Thee

  • ChampieChampie Member UncommonPosts: 191
    Scot said:
    lotrlore said:
    Champie said:
    mikeb0817 said:
    This place smells of hypocrisy 
    Indeed. It is a surprise that this is a SYSTEM post. MMORPGdotCOM is a CONTRADICTION wrapped in an abusive ad-revenue campaign
    Not going to address the hypocrisy angle - I mention it in the article itself if you read it - but the "System" post is just how the news post to the forums is made now. If you like...read the article...you'll notice it's definitely not a system post, but written by a real, actual person.
    Come of Joseph we know you are an AI. ;)
    Or, a reasonable person could surmise that my comment was completely unrelated to AI and that I very simply meant that it WASN'T a USER POSTED DISCUSSION TOPIC.
  • olepiolepi Member EpicPosts: 3,017
    It happens in all areas, once a word gets a good connotation it is used in all kinds of different ways that aren't like the original.

    My favorite example is:

    "Get a 2nd one FREE! (just pay a separate fee)".

    ------------
    2024: 47 years on the Net.


  • cameltosiscameltosis Member LegendaryPosts: 3,832
    Labels are important. Categories are important. Definitions are important.


    When it comes to games, however, such labels/categories/definitions have been undermined for such a long time now that they've become meaningless to most.


    The MMO meaning is still very important to me, but it's misused by nearly everyone.



    The people I blame most are gaming journalists. It is rare that I see game developer calling their games by the wrong label (except mobile devs, they're scum!), but journalists frequently get it wrong. Even when directly corrected by the devs themselves, the journalists continue to get it wrong. But journalists have influence, they are how a lot of gamers get their news about new games. So when a journalist gets it wrong, that error then filters out to the wider gaming community.


    My favourite recent example is Book of Travels. This was described by the devs as a "Tiny Multiplayer Online (TMO)" game by the devs, because it only supported typically 1-7 players. By the guys over at MassivelyOP started calling it a tiny MMO almost immediately, even after the devs corrected them and told them to stop mislabelling their game.



    For myself, this whole mislabelling thing just means I have to do extra research. And because im stubborn, when I find out a game has been mislabelled, it makes me less likely to buy it.
    Champie
    Currently Playing: WAR RoR - Spitt rr7X Black Orc | Scrotling rr6X Squig Herder | Scabrous rr4X Shaman

  • blackthornnblackthornn Member UncommonPosts: 617
    Just because you had a kid doesn't make you a milf Becky, you're 20

    Just because your game has servers didn't make fallout 76 a mmo at launch Todd
    Champie
     Grouping in Old school mmo's: meeting someone at the bar and chatting, getting to know them before jumping into bed.  Current mmo's grouping: tinder.  swipe, hookup, hope you don't get herpes, never see them again.
  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,975
    Wargfoot said:
    I feel like some people say they want 10,000 other players in the game, but then group with same 8 people and rerun the same instanced dungeons every day until they quit.

    Consider real life where we live in a game with 7 billion people but probably are doing well to fill a short bus with the ones we actually care about.   

    From a dictionary definition perspective, the definition matters - but when it comes to playing I bet it counts less than most guess.
    Part of the problem is developers don't provide any content which requires interaction with greater numbers of players outside of small groups at best, with much of it being focused on single player gameplay.

    EVE Online is quite different. Sure, it has lots of single player content, mining, industry, exploration, mission running, NPC bashing like most other games, but the difference almost all of them are done to support "interacting" with other players, or put another way, participation in endless intergalactic war.

    Take it's social structures...starting with the corporate level, they can range from 10 player at minimum to very large, a few have 3K to 4K members.

    How do smaller corps deal with the giants?  The game has a built in alliance mechanism which permits any number of smaller corps to band together and set each other as Blue, which means they are instant *friends" even if you never have met them personally.

    I recall once getting caught in a large, slow, expensive mining boosting ship called an Orca in Alliance space by 4 small "tacklers" 

    Not capable of destroying a ship like an Orca, but whose role was to keep it in place until larger ships could be called in to take it down.

    I sent out a distress call in Alliance chat and a single pilot I had never met came to my rescue.  He was flying a ship designed to destroy tacklers but with 4 to 1 odds they had the advantage.

    He heroically destroyed 3 of them before the 4th one took him down but in the chaos I was able to slip away safely.

    Afterwards I sent him a bunch of ISK to pay for his losses plus a substantial reward.

    He thanked me and we said our goodbyes....

    The enemy tacklers reached out to me as well promising that next time my luck wouldn't hold and I chided back with..."good fight." ;)

    I really miss EVE, been over 7 years since I left, maybe after I retire soon I'll give it another go.

    SovrathScot

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

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    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273
    Champie said:
    Scot said:
    lotrlore said:
    Champie said:
    mikeb0817 said:
    This place smells of hypocrisy 
    Indeed. It is a surprise that this is a SYSTEM post. MMORPGdotCOM is a CONTRADICTION wrapped in an abusive ad-revenue campaign
    Not going to address the hypocrisy angle - I mention it in the article itself if you read it - but the "System" post is just how the news post to the forums is made now. If you like...read the article...you'll notice it's definitely not a system post, but written by a real, actual person.
    Come of Joseph we know you are an AI. ;)
    Or, a reasonable person could surmise that my comment was completely unrelated to AI and that I very simply meant that it WASN'T a USER POSTED DISCUSSION TOPIC.
    AI paranoia or just you being reasonable? We need the clicks mate, AI paranoia it is. :)
    Champie
  • RobokappRobokapp Member UncommonPosts: 146

    ZenJelly said:

    Psh, who cares.



    we, the people.
    KyleranScot
  • StevenWeberStevenWeber MMORPG.COM Staff UncommonPosts: 116
    Greetings Intrepid MMORPGers,

    I also wanted to weigh in here a bit, on the distinction of and categorizing of MMORPGs. Primarily because, my (semi-weekly) launch spotlights are often a hot-button topic. Quite often, comments arise as to how some games made the list when they are pseudo MMOs, MMO-lite, or simply an MMOG that may have some specific limited multiplayer modes. 

    I can attest that a lot of developers will incorrectly categorize their games. My searches often pull up plenty of games on several platforms where the idea of an MMO follows the same creative licensing as the idea of a "healthy pizza". Few of the options out there meet the criteria, and even when you find one it's usually pretty bad. But still, I hunger.

    That isn't to say that there aren't some gems out there. Or that the miscategorization of the genre of a game makes it bad in some way. Perhaps this is a slippery marketing tactic, though I don't see how it ends up being helpful in any case. 

    Either way, this is where we are now. I try to weed out the games as best as I can, but I can only squint so much when trying to find the MMO in some games before I get a headache, so a few MOGs might squeak by. 

    Happy posting!
    WargfootScot
  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 9,976
    We appreciate the effort @Stevenweber.....The times have changed and MMORPGs just are not very popular with the mainstream anymore....Has there been thought to expanding the site and covering games of more genres? Make it more of a general gaming site than specific to MMORPGs?
  • losthewarlosthewar Member UncommonPosts: 132
    Stop posting non mmos on this website
    Robokapp
  • numaticnumatic Member UncommonPosts: 675
    Keep it simple.

    Minimum 1000 consecutive players playing on a single server, not separated by any means (channels, layers, etc). I think you could call it an MMO then.

    But that also means you could technically have 1000 players in one area on your screen.
    olepi
  • RobokappRobokapp Member UncommonPosts: 146
    losthewar said:
    Stop posting non mmos on this website
    this.

    we have other sources for non-MMO content.
  • AlverantAlverant Member RarePosts: 1,347

    lotrlore said:


    Alverant said:

    So what's the difference between a "live service" where you can play with other humans and an MMO?


    All MMOs are live services, but not all live services are MMOs.

    Overwatch is a live service. It's not an MMO. Same with Valorant, League of Legends, PUBG, etc.



    Sure they are. "Massively multiplayer online game" Thousands of people play them. That's massive. They play together in groups. That's multiplayer. They're online. So yes, Overwatch is an MMO same with Valorant, League of Legends, PUBG, etc.
    Kylerancameltosis
  • RobokappRobokapp Member UncommonPosts: 146
    Alverant said:

    lotrlore said:


    Alverant said:

    So what's the difference between a "live service" where you can play with other humans and an MMO?


    All MMOs are live services, but not all live services are MMOs.

    Overwatch is a live service. It's not an MMO. Same with Valorant, League of Legends, PUBG, etc.



    "Massively multiplayer online game" Thousands of people play them. That's massive. They play together in groups. That's multiplayer.

    "massively" is the adjective used to describe "multiplayer". 

    you started referencing "massively multiplayer" but then proceeded to discuss "massive" and "multiplayer". What you said is true, but it's different from massively-multiplayer.
    Kylerancameltosis
  • Pr0tag0ni5tPr0tag0ni5t Member UncommonPosts: 263
    The main thing I use to differentiate an MMO is a persistent online world, not lobbies, your character never 'leaves' the world you are playing on. 2nd of course is having a large enough server size to group and play content.  
    Champie

    image
  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,780
    Robokapp said:
    losthewar said:
    Stop posting non mmos on this website
    this.

    we have other sources for non-MMO content.
    So they should essentially shut the site down because you guys don’t like it?

    I would bet that games related to MMORPG’s or even the occasional shooter, draw a good deal more interest.

    Also, I imagine changing the name would essentially wipe out their branding so it makes more sense to just feature a few other types of games.
    achesoma
    Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb." 

    Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w


    Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547

    Try the "Special Edition." 'Cause it's "Special." https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64878/?tab=description

    Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo 
  • tunaSuprisetunaSuprise Newbie CommonPosts: 1
    Who's Tom Howard?
  • MarshmallowbonfireMarshmallowbonfire Member UncommonPosts: 3
    Idk, mmorpg.com is notoriously bad for this. Less than 3 months ago your fellow columnist put Xenoverse 2 on mmo spotlight. Which is not an mmo by any stretch of the imagination. But who cares?
  • kitaradkitarad Member LegendaryPosts: 8,164
    losthewar said:
    Stop posting non mmos on this website
    Are you paying this site to keep it going? Care to give an idea how they can keep the lights on when hardly anything is going on in the genre you want them to exclusively cover. 
    SovrathKyleranScot

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