What's missing in MMOGs.......

sifudoja

 I've been thinking hard about this for a while now, and i think i've realised what i need most in MMOs and don't get.

 The #1 thing that really immerses me in a game universe and sets the stage for a game is the music. Of course that is no great revelation and i'm sure most people know and would agree with that, but my problem is i haven't loved the music in a videogame for a very very long time. That's kinda strange for me since I sometimes even search the web for classic game tunes going back as far as NES games, and listen to them all day. I have the Phantasy Star Online BGMs saved to my second hard drive with all my music files. I don't care much for most popular music these days and feel like some of those old midi tracks or whatever they are, are still some of the best songs ever. Maybe i'm a dork, but from what i've seen there are tons of people out there who feel the same way. I grew up playing games and the music has stuck with me and i feel sad that videogame music hasn't grown in popularity as much as some of the mass market music styles.

 The sad thing is, as much as i love videogame music, I can't think of a single MMO song that i would call a classic. I don't know if i just have bad taste or if the game makers just don't see the music as important as the graphics and technical aspects of the game. But it seems like most people agree, most often i hear people saying how they will turn off all ingame music and listen to the stuff they like in the background with another program while they play. That is kind of sad to me.

 Anyways, just yesterday i was reading the forums here, and the tune from Metal Gear on NES popped into my head for some reason. I popped up a google window and started my search for it and came across this, Shade Music Studios. http://www.shademusicstudios.com. This site has some great videos of this guy Pascal playing a few of my all time favs on his keyboard. Stuff from NES, Metal Gear, Castlevania(sadly lacking my favorite the cavern song in Super Castlevania), Zelda, the old Final Fantasys, Metroid, 007 and a few others. They were enough to grab my attention for the rest of the night. After listening to all the old classics in the projects section i read a little more about these guys, i found out they are not only a music production company but they have even done work developing thier own games and currently do songs for games. I listened to the stuff in the music section that turned out the be examples of music they make for games now, sorta advertisements if you will, and i love them. These guys are my new heroes  lol.

 I am in no way affilated with them and only discovered them a day ago, but i like this stuff so much i wanted to spread the word and see if you all feel the same. I would love for these guys to be successful and have an impact on the gaming community. This is the stuff i like, but i can't find it anywhere (well i know one place now) It's great to see some people out there with the same taste as i have, that actually have the talent and skill to create great music of thier own. It got me thinking about the mediocre music i hear daily in my MMOs and how they are tired and wore out after the first month of the game for me, even though i can listen to some 8-bit beeps  from 20 years ago and still love them.

 People like Howard Shore can make a single epic Braveheart / Lord of the Rings score and live rich off the 20 million times it gets used in movies ( forgive me if i don't know what i'm talking about with the LotR and Howard Shore reference, not really a huge fan lol) and yet games are way behind in that sence, not that there are no successful game style music creators, just that compared to Movies, games are far behind. So, i'd like to hear what you all think. I want games to move up to the next level. I don't know if my taste sucks or what. Maybe most people are satisfied with the music they are getting already, or people just don't care, they want to throw on some heavy metal and gank some noobs anyways lol. But for me these guys are definatly on the right track. The music is very very important to me, and i'd love to see the stuff i like become more prevalent, especially in MMOs where i feel it's not only the most important to the experience, but the most needing of improvement.

 Maybe if enough people share this taste or more talent such as these guys become successful, games can be even better in the future, to me at least, I'll be happy lol. If any devs are reading this PLEASE GIVE THESE GUYS A JOB, I will buy your next game even if it just turns out to be a $60 addition to my music collection lol. If anyone has similar tastes and knows some other great sites to find this stuff, I'd love to hear them. I appologise for this entirely too long rant, if anyone actually read all this crap feel free to say shut-up nood = P But honestly i would really love to hear sinilar thoughts and see some links to other great places i can hear some of the good stuff, being that i hate 90% of the stuff the music industry is pumping out and makes it to TV / radio etc. I can't afford to go to one of those Final Fantasy Orchestra's or anything like that, and don't have any idea how to find the less popular stuff that i like to hear besides actually playing games to hear them.

 I really think music is the next big step for MMOs and i hope the stuff i like is going to be big one day, it just hasn't gotten the exposure yet. And if my taste sucks and i'm way off here let me know, flame on, you wont hurt my feelings. And again, sorry, i had no idea this post was gonna be so long, only took a  few seconds to say it in my head lol.

 

 

Besides the classic NES game music style stuff, i also really like a few of the electronic / orchestral songs they have, reminds me of PSO on the dreamcast. Thats the only kind of electronic i am really partial to, but don't hear enough of it. Wish someone would split the ''electronic'' genre into like 20 or so smaller genres and record stores etc would use them and it would catch on so i dont have to wade through 3 billion rave albums to find one i like, lol.

MMORPDEATH

music is one factor in immersion, of which lasting immersion is crucial to one type of mmo. asides from the other type, gameplay oriented MMO's like DAOC or WW2online, EQ2 and WOW immersion MMO's in my opinion need great music, graphics, and interactivity with the game world to achieve short term immersion. In the long run, I think a story is crucial for the immersion of all but the most avid mmo glorified chatbox players.

sifudoja

 The music in WoW wasn't bad, there are 2 or more songs that can definately bring the nestagia for me, my favorite probably being the song played in certain wilderness areas like STV and many horde lands if i remember it correctly, and also the SW song, but that one got old very fast to me and only like it when i haven't heard it in a long time. Another reason i regret never having played DAoC now, but EQ2 is a great game, i just haven't spent enough time with it yet, but i'm probably going to get back into it very soon so that's great to hear.

 Great music not only improves the overall quality / polish of a game, but also does a great job with immersion and storytelling much the way it would in a movie. Having great music and doing a good job of transitioning from one song to another to go along with what you see onscreen plays a huge part in the storytelling for me, which is another point i would like to see a bit of improvement in games. The lackluster way most game have the one old boring song for this zone, then instantly change over to a boring old played out ''combat song'' as soon as you enter combat with any random mob you encounter just doesn't do anything for me, well, nothing good anyways hehe.

Czzarre

I honestly like a lot of MMORPG music. When I first start playing a new game the music is very cool. The problem is that we play these games for months...years. You just cannot play the same tune over and over again for 1-2 years. I think a good idea would be to have new music content patched, with perhaps a music option panel allowing you to select which music comes on in battle/loading screen etc

Torrential