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Mediocrity prevelant in MMOs
Kvothe
Member Posts: 41
It seems as though the American theme of Mediocrity has infilitrated the MMO gaming industry. I was hoping that it would end with the music and television industries, but apparently the MMO industry has jumped on the bandwagon.
Nothing released in the past 3-4 years has been on par with previous MMO releases. It seems like they will eventually be dumbed down to the likes of network-based first person shooters. I think that most older players would agree with me, but many younger players are content with the garbage that is being shoved down their throats for their instant gratification.
I want an MMO that will keep me enthralled for more than 2 weeks. Is their anything on the horizon that will accomplish this? I think not. My hopes for a TRUE MMO has been squashed like a bug under the boot of the MMO factories.
Comments
It's amazing to me how people expect exponential growth, complexity, innovation, and depth release after release. Nothing works that way, folks. Truly innovative, genre-challenging, unique products (in any sector) are VERY rare.
Don't hold your breath for this stuff. It comes along once every 5-10 years.
I think it is not as rare as you think, but it is probably rare in America because that is how our society works nowadays.
I've poseted here before on this same subject. My point was that MMO's are not in the business of being creative but of making money. Being creative means you have to take risks and that means you might lose money, something they don't like doing. So rather than take chances they stick with the same old tried and true formulas which appeal to new (i.e. young) players who have played few or no MMOs. This crowd will always be fascianted with orc, elves, rangers, paladins and the like because they've had limited or no experience playing online. For the rest of us who've played from the time EQ 1 was released, the whole concept of hack, slash, loot, and level has been beaten to death. Our only hope are small game companies who have little to lose and everything to gain by trying something new.
Have any of you ever tried to design a game or make a MMO? MMOs are the most difficulty kind of computer game to design, create and test.
I do agree that popular things in America are crap for the most part, but I think this is a different issue.
The biggest problem from a game designer’s point of view is designing a game that never ends. Not having a goal, victor or ending is contradictory to the very definition of what a game is.
Then there is the budget issue.
Don't forget instant gratification, giving players what they think they deserve, right this minute, right now this second, this very moment, no too late, in an instant, check your inbox, through rewards, makes happy players who buy multiple, un-needed, extra credit card charged, stacks of boxes/keys, storage accounts.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
About new games, WAR I'm afraid will be just a huge BG with such a light death penalty that will encourage mindless combat.
But AOC looks interesting, with that combat system.
If all the MMOs of yore (*cough* DikuMUD clones *cough*) were so fantastic, why are you shopping around for a new one?
Honestly, how many variations of the same Gary Gygax model do you expect, before mediocrity sets in?
And the dig at younger players just smacks of elitism. A good game transcends that kind of silliness. Besides, I know quite a few "mature" people with shorter attention spans than a three year old.
han, I'm glad you referenced the MUDs. If you want a mud that is changing combat try Godwars 2. It's nice to see the MUD developers are not as chicken as MMO developers. Then again, it's not a profit thing, more a geek thing anyways.
-- Brede
Great idea lets just blame it on America thta way we can pawn off all responsibility for supporting this mediocrity onto a nation instead of blaming yourselves for buying this crap. Heres a simple idea, stop buying the half finished crappy MMO's and supporting this mediocre middle of the road unimaginetive stuff that gets pushed out. The only to vote here is with your wallet, what you choose to spend your money on sends the message of what you want not buying games tahtr suck then complaining about it while you continue toi play. I am not saying that everyone does this but enopugh do that it affects how games are made.
Take Vanguard for instance (yes i am going to pick on it because it is a shining example of selling a turd) after over a year of being released they managed to get it to a state that it should have been at release and enough people put up with it that it some how survived. The longer people put up with unfinished games and the more that continue to play them the more of them you will see.
Included in this support : R&D department that works on improving the different products as much as possible to provide the best possible end-user experience.
Inovation, real improvements are not "very rare" at all. They happen every day.
Developers, I believe, have the creative talent, however the managers (many of them dishonest) of these new startups don't have a clue on how to build a great, immersive game. I think developers also need to be managers of their particular game.
Games that could be good, at least in concept, like DarkFall, HeroesJourney...are not being built rapidly enough to enjoy any semblance of success. They are essentially hobby oriented projects that are not going to see the light of day because the development does not proceed rapidly enough. Some of these games have had to resort to outright fraud (Dark and Light) to achieve 'success', and others like Mourning, have had to use dubious tactics to get people interested.
Perpetual Entertainment is also in big trouble (lawsuits) and they are sitting on a huge IP called Star Trek that they probably don't have a clue how to implement into a great MMO. The theme here is dishonest business practices that reduce these MMO's to so much cannon fodder.
I beta tested Vanguard, and vowed never to buy it or purchase it until the bugs, etc. were fleshed out. (never happened fully). I beta tested Tabula Rasa, but mixing an FPS with and MMO just doesn't attract me at all. (Richard Garriott, I think you failed here but I am glad you got a nice paycheck).
So far, I think that last great MMO was Star Wars Galaxies before Sony screwed the living shit out of it. (Read, SOE is useless).
I am hoping Age of Conan and StarGate Worlds will be great MMO's.....time will tell.
Have you seen Richard Garriott's house?
I personally have not invested any money in an MMO for over a year. I have been waiting for the next great thing. Everything though that I read on the new ones, sound like a lesser remake of an older but better game.
Anytime big business get's their hands on anything, they squash all creativity and innovation out if if.
The same reason that people buy new cars or buy new shoes. Eventually all games will begin to bore you. There will never be a game released that I will want to play until I die, but I have played games for almost 2 years.
It's because they were innovative in nature. WoW was the worst thing that could have happened to the MMO industry for the player base. Now they realize that a game doesn't have to be good, complex, or innovative to make the big bucks; it just needs night Elf women with shapely curves.
That's not how it works "in america" you arrogant prick. It has and will work like that everywhere in the world. Not because we desire/demand mediocrity... but because the richest people in the world will continue to dip their fingers into different areas as they become more profitable to get a 'piece of the pie'. These same people will continue to attempt to turn creativity into a business model where they can mass produce the product - including MMO's.
But anyways... as long as we continue buying these shitty half assed WoW remakes - they will continue to make them. It seems some companies are beginning to realize (maybe even sony :O) that they should just let the original design teams follow through with their ideas instead of trying to standardize them.
MMORPGs used to attract a very mature crowd (I think the average player age was 30+ some years ago), but that has been steadily dropping. And though I still think it's 25+ or so, the people these developers really want to attract is the console tards. That's where the future and where all the money is. My god, console games outsell PC games something like 12 to 1? And what's the average console player age, 15?
Face it, we're doomed.
The only thing I have to "admit" is my own personal responsibility. If I'm genuinely "hooked" then I have nothing to complain about.
Don't blame America or big business if you can't resist spending money on something you don't like. If there are older, "better" games out there, why aren't you playing them?
Touchy, touchy. Mediocrity is much more prevelant in American society than any other in the world. If you cannot see that, then you have had the wool pulled over your eyes.
Just look at the automotive Industry for example. American cars are far inferior to Japanese and German made cars. Why is that? Its because they know they can sell their crap and get away with it.
I answered that question earlier. Are you still driving the same car you were back in 1993 or still wearing the same clothes. People want to buy new things, but they want to know they are getting their money's worth.
Just a thought, but is it possible you're a bit jaded and burned out on the genre?
I see a lot of people on these boards, desperately trying to rekindle their first true love. Maybe it will happen. Maybe it won't.
But I sure read a bunch of romanticizing about how grand things used to be... and not always does it truly reflect reality. Often that's the way nostalgia works.
I will not deny that maybe part of it, but mostly I'm just disgusted with the games that are being developed. I would like to have a game to play in the evening that I really look forward to playing and I know will keep me interested.
I just think for alot of people WoW was their first MMO, so they don't realize how much better games were released before that.
If someone wants to send $10 million dollars to my paypal account, I would be more than happy to develop the next great one.
You are aware that some people do in fact drive "classic" automobiles and wear "vintage" clothing, right?
Innovation goes out the window once large corporations get their greedy mits in control.
Look at the PC game industry. 10+ years ago there were literally a hundred unique game companies out there. Cool development teams like Black Isle Studio from Interplay come out with such amazing games like Fallout 1 and 2.
Try and find a risky product like Fallout 2 around today, you wont. Adult content, open gameplay, difficulty, replayable, these are all red flags for a corporate spewed game made today.
Consoles are the same. My son has 12 games from his XBox 360 and I cant tell the difference between any of them.
Large corporations like EA, SOE, Turbine, and Vivendi bought up and closed down all the innovation.
Turbine's a classic example with what they did with Lord of the Rings. Before Turbine bought the rights, the game was far different. Besides the name (it was called Middle Earth then), the game was going to be a sandbox MMO with completely open gameplay. You could go evil or good based on your choices among other unique choices. Turbine dumped that design once it bought in and now we have another WoW clone.
You are aware that some people do in fact drive "classic" automobiles and wear "vintage" clothing, right?
That they are...however they only drive them on special occassions and most of the time they stay garaged. I am also acutely aware that some people are still wearing the clothes they bought in 1993, but that doesn't make it right.
"Better" is a pretty subjective term.
Frankly, sandboxes, spawn-camping, and open-PvP bores the shit out of me. But for many people who's first MMO incorporated all that stuff it's the cat's pajamas.