The 5 Wishes: Make Me: CoH/V has a great character creator, ChampO and APB promise even better ones. Next. Stop Making IP MMOs: You'd have a point if Ultima Online and WoW weren't genre touchstones. There have also been 'original' IP MMOs that have flopped and died. I agree that every new movie doesn't need a MMO attached, but given those MMOs tend to die off on their own it isn't a big impact on the industry. IP draws eyeballs - if BioWare was just making a space opera MMO, would it have attracted as much attention as a Star Wars MMO? Nope. Big MMOs vs Indy MMOs: Arguably, the author is in the best place to correct this issue. Post more reviews / interviews with indy MMO devs. Get people aware of their titles. Get a trial contest going with some of these indy MMOs that aren't translated F2P titles. MMORPG.com could certainly be doing more to educate MMO players between the differences or even what is out there. Hype: It is what feeds this site. MMORPG.com wants the exclusives / visitor drivers to attract the eyeballs to drive ad revenue. There is even an official "Hype-Level" score given to titles. Seriously, you can't go, "I wish Marketing would stop hyping their title" or "Fans should settle down a bit" then actively enable them to do it without looking a little hypocritcal. Post-Launch Pre-Full Cost: All I'd see this reduced price doing is encouraging players to play at launch to get the cheapest deal. Launch being arguably the worst time to play a title, these players will pay the cheaper price and then generally justify why they don't want to pay more than that per month. Plus it reduces revenue at the studio when they need it - to start refilling the coffers after a long development - and generally when the highest number of players are playing. I honestly hope you don't come across a magic lamp, because that was a waste of 5 wishes.
1- CoH/CoV's character generator wasn't great... it was adequate. It didn't even release with capes or dynamic scaling. At best, that will be the word I end up using to describe CO's character generator. APB might be decent. The keyword that you used in your sentence "promised" is quite the display of naivete.
2- Dude, when the IP is owned by the guys making the game, it's a little bit different.
3- At the very least, marketing needs to get their facts straight with the game developers first. It feels like all they end up ever doing is passing post it notes in the hallway at lunch.
1- CoH/CoV's character generator wasn't great... it was adequate. It didn't even release with capes or dynamic scaling. At best, that will be the word I end up using to describe CO's character generator. APB might be decent. The keyword that you used in your sentence "promised" is quite the display of naivete.
Odd cause i was in Beta and i can reber getting a cape on my very first lvl 20 character.
Oh wait you mean Capes at level 1, my mistake. I thought you had a brain.
Now what is this fool notion of dynamic scaling so i can proerly embarase you on that too.
Some nice wishes, but I don't really see that a cheap full play beta for 6 months will work too well from a business POV. Sure its a sensible and fair idea from a consumers perspective, but wheres the business sense in allowing people to play your full game ( albeit with imbalances and hiccups and maybe a reset ), and finish all the content for half price. I think in the time it takes to polish these monster games the average mmo fan will have seen all the content you have - when that price hike comes the potential for losing customer base that has Been There Seen It Done That is pretty high. Sure dedicated players often stick around to replay all the content, or pvp / high level content, but the trickle of content is always an ongoing battle in any mmo - with todays dev technology a player can play through content way way faster than a dev / designer can ever create it. By allowing the six month beta play, you effectively sell for half price the lure of all that content. Exactly the opposite that the pressures of content dictate.
As a business plan its like shooting yourself in the foot. In a perfect world its a nice idea, I just dont see it ever being successful as part of a business plan. Long story short, you're giving half your content away for free.
When the day arrives that the technology to create content is faster / less hassle, and MMOs start updating like magazines, comics or even newspapers on a weekly or daily basis, then the six month beta idea has more merit - because theres always something new around the corner. Thats one of *my* wishes, awaiting the technology that someone can create content for an MMO as simply as writing an article for a newspaper - after all they manage to pump up a whole slew of "content" every day, stories, pictures, listings, adverts, all in a well oiled process that spits out a packaged lump of information every day. But thats more of a discussion about IT practices, software design and content integration - I've been in the IT industry myself for decades, and I have seen the changes brought about with ever more RAD technologies. I think its just a matter of time and experience before content starts to go through a similar realisation.
As for MMOs with IP - I dont think they are bad, they suffer from serious over hype and a level of expectation thats just far too high from being based on watching the movies - series - yada, but they do offer a nice way to inject a huge amount of background, lore or fluff whatever you want to call it.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I used to play Asheron's Call, in the days when it was new and shiny and cutting edge. I enjoyed it a lot, but there was always a small ... issue... for me that all the content was just so original. Not that original content is bad, but some days I just really couldnt see what the problem would be with meeting a regular dragon, or a bunch of goblins. Having a completely unique bestiary and lore is cool, but it does take a lot of work to make it seem 3 dimensional and not just something to hit over the head to get XP. The advantage with IP is that its probably been telling stories and building lore for years on years, offering a rich history of things to include in their game. Its a deeper more thorough ( and *gasp* more professional ? ) story telling which is no bad thing. If its done right this should be a huge advantage to any MMO. Therefore I think its a bit extreme to say MMOs based on an IP suck, none of them achieve their potential, dont do it ! I think its better to say that the process that goes on in the background, the relationship, the development needs to be re-addressed. In theory already existing IP offers a lot. In practice, the dynamic for bringing it to life needs to be looked at. Dont throw the baby out with the bath water...
Personally I'd love to see an MMO in a Cowboy Bebop universe.... awesome stuff !
Jon Wood, thank you for posting my feelings with a full pound of credibility.
For years, starting with the Alpha release of Asheron's Call 2, I have been complaining about game launches that were relying on the players to reach a playable and enjoyable state. Last time I checked, the car I purchased had four tires on it, an engine, and seatbelts. Are we expected to hug one another for content, push a square boulder through the bugs, or sit at red lights until infinity???
Perhaps I have grown to big for these online game retail entertainers (OGRES). Maybe I should began climbing real mountains and quit using my mind to fill in the picture that developers have time and time again ruined with the reality that they are not capable of launching products resembling their product claim.
Beta Testers, another pet peeve, used to be comprised of gamers who assisted the devs in locating and diminishing bugs. The Beta Testers of today are exploiters, at best. Beta Testing has dwindled down to nothing more than a stress test. Our voices are not heard and perhaps, they just can't fix what they can't find and leave it at that.
No game maker has ever given me a cent to go to my RL job. Why should I give them anything for them to go to theirs?
Anyhow, I digress from my feeble attempt to say, 'Thank you Jon Wood.' I am now your fan and hope to see more gut-induced comments in the future. (See you in line for the next wrestling release.)
Uhhmm... the idea of charging during Beta is a fair exchange. Two things happen, the first being, devs can rake in a load of cash before launch, perhaps they might even begin taking lunches. Second, more players can get into the Beta, decide whether or not the game is even what they want, and the devs can rake in a load of cash while they try before buy.
I have pre-ordered every major release since AC. Yes, I've spent a ton of cash on MMO's. After being let down, time and time again, I finally decided to give the pre-order one more try... Age of Conan (AoC).
I did not get into Beta, which increased my own hype of AoC, and could only keep up by reading reviews and pasted pictures into my drooling mindset. I was sold without even playing a single minute of the game. I pre-ordered ($80.00 total) and awaited the launch...which turned out to be a complete failure (for me).
My plan was simple... load game, get patches, create character, play a few hours and head out to the Catalina Islands for a vacation. I ended up with wondering, while sitting on the ocean floor (scuba diving), why the hell did they launch if they were not ready?!? The remaining taste of this experience allowed me to cancel my sub and not even play the game. My friends played for about six months then quit as well. Although, they told me that it was finally decent to play.
I hate you sneaky devs who hide behind anonymous names and post unrealistic comments that flame the CUSTOMERS POINT OF VIEW... I am a customer, it's my right to complain...sorry.
Yes! I would pay for a DVD or DL and a half-priced sub if it helps in paying the bills on your end. I would enjoy endorsing such a game, showing my faith in your development, and perhaps reaching a point where I can decide if you are ready for me. It should not be any different. 500k subs and 500k pre-orders is enough money to cover everything you invested, as well as, so nifty bonus checks...
that's roughly 25 million dollars at launch.
If you continue down this road of bait and switch, you'll exponentially lose money before a year ends... =failure.
Jon's idea isn't ground breaking, but it's a start in the direction of keeping me happy. I won't ever pre-launch or pre-order again until developers become more honest. Guess what? I don't care what you think... I still have books, movies, and real life to keep me away from the rash of greed that has taken over the MMORPG industry.
Lastly, I'd also like to say, 'Thank you Blizzard'. You're big, and you live up to it. I have never been happier with any other game maker, except of course... Turbine <wink> (once a fan, always a fan.)
I hate you sneaky devs who hide behind anonymous names and post unrealistic comments that flame the CUSTOMERS POINT OF VIEW... I am a customer, it's my right to complain...sorry.
If you're referring to me, I hate to tell you but I am no MMO dev, or even in the game industry ( other than mucking about at an indie scale far farrr away from anything as large as an MMO ). All my professional IT experience is in the much less interesting business arena - financial software, enterprise architecture, SOA, ad nauseum. I spend a lot of my free time transferring my IT skills ( design,coding,media) into indie game development, so I have some insight into the processes and technology behind MMOs / game development, but I've never worked on anything in a professional capacity. So my opinions are just my opinions - sorry if you disagree with them - I just cant see the business benefit to giving full content away for half price. You can imagine the looks on the Moneys faces. Wait, we give it to em for half price for six months... then charge them full price after they've played it to death for 6 months ? I wonder if they'll start doing that with other products / electronic goods. . . heheh. iPhones for half price for the first six months ! Get em while they're new !
I sympathise with the poor experience many customers have with MMO products that arent ready - its bad, its no way to run a railroad ! OTOH, the projects are huge unwieldy beasts that require vast capital up front, and investors get real twitchy real fast, especially when they start talking to starry eyed devs that will eat every single minute of dev time you give them, no matter how much time you give them. Theres always a new feature or must have thing to get inserted. Its something that goes on in all IT areas, its a constant battle between devs, project managers and clients / customers ( or in MMO terms, players ! ). Project over runs, bugs, ROI, all familiar ground.
As players its easy to focus on the game, experience, the stupidities of releasing with bugs or half finished, but MMOs are so much more than games - fundamentally they are businesses first and foremost. Its all about the money...
I hate you sneaky devs who hide behind anonymous names and post unrealistic comments that flame the CUSTOMERS POINT OF VIEW... I am a customer, it's my right to complain...sorry.
If you're referring to me, I hate to tell you but I am no MMO dev, or even in the game industry ( other than mucking about at an indie scale far farrr away from anything as large as an MMO ). All my professional IT experience is in the much less interesting business arena - financial software, enterprise architecture, SOA, ad nauseum. I spend a lot of my free time transferring my IT skills ( design,coding,media) into indie game development, so I have some insight into the processes and technology behind MMOs / game development, but I've never worked on anything in a professional capacity. So my opinions are just my opinions - sorry if you disagree with them - I just cant see the business benefit to giving full content away for half price. You can imagine the looks on the Moneys faces. Wait, we give it to em for half price for six months... then charge them full price after they've played it to death for 6 months ? I wonder if they'll start doing that with other products / electronic goods. . . heheh. iPhones for half price for the first six months ! Get em while they're new !
I sympathise with the poor experience many customers have with MMO products that arent ready - its bad, its no way to run a railroad ! OTOH, the projects are huge unwieldy beasts that require vast capital up front, and investors get real twitchy real fast, especially when they start talking to starry eyed devs that will eat every single minute of dev time you give them, no matter how much time you give them. Theres always a new feature or must have thing to get inserted. Its something that goes on in all IT areas, its a constant battle between devs, project managers and clients / customers ( or in MMO terms, players ! ). Project over runs, bugs, ROI, all familiar ground.
As players its easy to focus on the game, experience, the stupidities of releasing with bugs or half finished, but MMOs are so much more than games - fundamentally they are businesses first and foremost. Its all about the money...
If you're not referring to me, forget I spoke
you do know those iPhone are half off new. (299 wit ha 2 year contract, retail is $500-600) don't you?
And again i point to Turbine. You get into one of their promos and you pay 9.99 a month. But as soon as you unsub the next time its the full 15.
I hate you sneaky devs who hide behind anonymous names and post unrealistic comments that flame the CUSTOMERS POINT OF VIEW... I am a customer, it's my right to complain...sorry.
If you're referring to me, I hate to tell you but I am no MMO dev, or even in the game industry ( other than mucking about at an indie scale far farrr away from anything as large as an MMO ). All my professional IT experience is in the much less interesting business arena - financial software, enterprise architecture, SOA, ad nauseum. I spend a lot of my free time transferring my IT skills ( design,coding,media) into indie game development, so I have some insight into the processes and technology behind MMOs / game development, but I've never worked on anything in a professional capacity. So my opinions are just my opinions - sorry if you disagree with them - I just cant see the business benefit to giving full content away for half price. You can imagine the looks on the Moneys faces. Wait, we give it to em for half price for six months... then charge them full price after they've played it to death for 6 months ? I wonder if they'll start doing that with other products / electronic goods. . . heheh. iPhones for half price for the first six months ! Get em while they're new !
I sympathise with the poor experience many customers have with MMO products that arent ready - its bad, its no way to run a railroad ! OTOH, the projects are huge unwieldy beasts that require vast capital up front, and investors get real twitchy real fast, especially when they start talking to starry eyed devs that will eat every single minute of dev time you give them, no matter how much time you give them. Theres always a new feature or must have thing to get inserted. Its something that goes on in all IT areas, its a constant battle between devs, project managers and clients / customers ( or in MMO terms, players ! ). Project over runs, bugs, ROI, all familiar ground.
As players its easy to focus on the game, experience, the stupidities of releasing with bugs or half finished, but MMOs are so much more than games - fundamentally they are businesses first and foremost. Its all about the money...
If you're not referring to me, forget I spoke
you do know those iPhone are half off new. (299 wit ha 2 year contract, retail is $500-600) don't you?
And again i point to Turbine. You get into one of their promos and you pay 9.99 a month. But as soon as you unsub the next time its the full 15.
Rofl, in general, products are at a premium when they launch, and then come down in price as time goes by ( until they perhaps hit some really old, not being made anywhere premium price again ). Unless I have missed something . . .
I was on a cheap sub for LOTRO for many months myself - nevertheless, unless the numbers are there - theres a good business reason, generally people are eager for new products, and less so for older less functional products and the prices reflect that. Indeed although some users have bad launch experiences, they still fork out big bucks to get the product. From a really cold business POV, they dont have to lower their price - theres an army of eager fans that will fork out the money.
But hey I am defending nothing, I am just pointing out in my opinion I dont think it makes business sense. If you were just interested in cold hard money, and you were cynical / hard nosed enough to realise the army of fans gets you an instant pay off - and the numbers for theoretical re-subbing supports it - then release it half assed !
And as for the phone... if its anything like the UK... the "cheap" phone if you get a contract is all about getting you to sign the contract, which recoups the subsidy you get on the cheap up front phone, and locks you into the contract for a given amount of time - the cheaper the phone up front, the longer the contract / higher the plan. Swings, and roundabouts.
Wish #5 -- I didn't know how utterly freaking awesome it is to be me in a game until reading this post. Jon, after I read your list, I immediately put smackdown v. raw 2009 on my gamefly Q. Well, after about an hour of my wife and I customizing fairly good copies of ourselves (respite with normal clothes from the closet for entry then outlandish wrestling attire underneath for the match,) we had an absolute ball doing crazy moves on each other! The fact that I'm 6'6 and 220 and she's 5'4 and 108 didn't matter at all, and it was hilarious.
GREAT SUGGESTION! Now ... only if we could make mirror image avatars of ourselves in an mmo and "have fun stormin' the castle..."
Five wishes... Is something wrong with me and I don't see the issue with those wishes? Probably so...
My wishes:
1. Combat that allows anybody to kill anybody. Maybe it will take some extreme planning and patience, but if that noob can't have a lucky day and take down that uber-maxxed, then the combat system sucks. Now ifs, ands, or buts. One does not find themselves suddenly immune to lethal attacks. In fact, I find myself becoming less combat effective as I get older, but I've learned how to cheat pretty well...
2. Crafting should be detailed enough to be educational. Lets learn how mining really works. Let's see what it takes to actually make a knife out a chunk of steel. It doesn't have to be ad nauseum detailed, but it should mirror actual processes.
3. No more tanks, healers and dps. I am tired of being forced into a slot. And it's just a silly concept.
Comments
1- CoH/CoV's character generator wasn't great... it was adequate. It didn't even release with capes or dynamic scaling. At best, that will be the word I end up using to describe CO's character generator. APB might be decent. The keyword that you used in your sentence "promised" is quite the display of naivete.
2- Dude, when the IP is owned by the guys making the game, it's a little bit different.
3- At the very least, marketing needs to get their facts straight with the game developers first. It feels like all they end up ever doing is passing post it notes in the hallway at lunch.
Odd cause i was in Beta and i can reber getting a cape on my very first lvl 20 character.
Oh wait you mean Capes at level 1, my mistake. I thought you had a brain.
Now what is this fool notion of dynamic scaling so i can proerly embarase you on that too.
Some nice wishes, but I don't really see that a cheap full play beta for 6 months will work too well from a business POV. Sure its a sensible and fair idea from a consumers perspective, but wheres the business sense in allowing people to play your full game ( albeit with imbalances and hiccups and maybe a reset ), and finish all the content for half price. I think in the time it takes to polish these monster games the average mmo fan will have seen all the content you have - when that price hike comes the potential for losing customer base that has Been There Seen It Done That is pretty high. Sure dedicated players often stick around to replay all the content, or pvp / high level content, but the trickle of content is always an ongoing battle in any mmo - with todays dev technology a player can play through content way way faster than a dev / designer can ever create it. By allowing the six month beta play, you effectively sell for half price the lure of all that content. Exactly the opposite that the pressures of content dictate.
As a business plan its like shooting yourself in the foot. In a perfect world its a nice idea, I just dont see it ever being successful as part of a business plan. Long story short, you're giving half your content away for free.
When the day arrives that the technology to create content is faster / less hassle, and MMOs start updating like magazines, comics or even newspapers on a weekly or daily basis, then the six month beta idea has more merit - because theres always something new around the corner. Thats one of *my* wishes, awaiting the technology that someone can create content for an MMO as simply as writing an article for a newspaper - after all they manage to pump up a whole slew of "content" every day, stories, pictures, listings, adverts, all in a well oiled process that spits out a packaged lump of information every day. But thats more of a discussion about IT practices, software design and content integration - I've been in the IT industry myself for decades, and I have seen the changes brought about with ever more RAD technologies. I think its just a matter of time and experience before content starts to go through a similar realisation.
As for MMOs with IP - I dont think they are bad, they suffer from serious over hype and a level of expectation thats just far too high from being based on watching the movies - series - yada, but they do offer a nice way to inject a huge amount of background, lore or fluff whatever you want to call it.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I used to play Asheron's Call, in the days when it was new and shiny and cutting edge. I enjoyed it a lot, but there was always a small ... issue... for me that all the content was just so original. Not that original content is bad, but some days I just really couldnt see what the problem would be with meeting a regular dragon, or a bunch of goblins. Having a completely unique bestiary and lore is cool, but it does take a lot of work to make it seem 3 dimensional and not just something to hit over the head to get XP. The advantage with IP is that its probably been telling stories and building lore for years on years, offering a rich history of things to include in their game. Its a deeper more thorough ( and *gasp* more professional ? ) story telling which is no bad thing. If its done right this should be a huge advantage to any MMO. Therefore I think its a bit extreme to say MMOs based on an IP suck, none of them achieve their potential, dont do it ! I think its better to say that the process that goes on in the background, the relationship, the development needs to be re-addressed. In theory already existing IP offers a lot. In practice, the dynamic for bringing it to life needs to be looked at. Dont throw the baby out with the bath water...
Personally I'd love to see an MMO in a Cowboy Bebop universe.... awesome stuff !
Jon Wood, thank you for posting my feelings with a full pound of credibility.
For years, starting with the Alpha release of Asheron's Call 2, I have been complaining about game launches that were relying on the players to reach a playable and enjoyable state. Last time I checked, the car I purchased had four tires on it, an engine, and seatbelts. Are we expected to hug one another for content, push a square boulder through the bugs, or sit at red lights until infinity???
Perhaps I have grown to big for these online game retail entertainers (OGRES). Maybe I should began climbing real mountains and quit using my mind to fill in the picture that developers have time and time again ruined with the reality that they are not capable of launching products resembling their product claim.
Beta Testers, another pet peeve, used to be comprised of gamers who assisted the devs in locating and diminishing bugs. The Beta Testers of today are exploiters, at best. Beta Testing has dwindled down to nothing more than a stress test. Our voices are not heard and perhaps, they just can't fix what they can't find and leave it at that.
No game maker has ever given me a cent to go to my RL job. Why should I give them anything for them to go to theirs?
Anyhow, I digress from my feeble attempt to say, 'Thank you Jon Wood.' I am now your fan and hope to see more gut-induced comments in the future. (See you in line for the next wrestling release.)
Ataaka
-because my money is my money until spend it.
I'm back...
Uhhmm... the idea of charging during Beta is a fair exchange. Two things happen, the first being, devs can rake in a load of cash before launch, perhaps they might even begin taking lunches. Second, more players can get into the Beta, decide whether or not the game is even what they want, and the devs can rake in a load of cash while they try before buy.
I have pre-ordered every major release since AC. Yes, I've spent a ton of cash on MMO's. After being let down, time and time again, I finally decided to give the pre-order one more try... Age of Conan (AoC).
I did not get into Beta, which increased my own hype of AoC, and could only keep up by reading reviews and pasted pictures into my drooling mindset. I was sold without even playing a single minute of the game. I pre-ordered ($80.00 total) and awaited the launch...which turned out to be a complete failure (for me).
My plan was simple... load game, get patches, create character, play a few hours and head out to the Catalina Islands for a vacation. I ended up with wondering, while sitting on the ocean floor (scuba diving), why the hell did they launch if they were not ready?!? The remaining taste of this experience allowed me to cancel my sub and not even play the game. My friends played for about six months then quit as well. Although, they told me that it was finally decent to play.
I hate you sneaky devs who hide behind anonymous names and post unrealistic comments that flame the CUSTOMERS POINT OF VIEW... I am a customer, it's my right to complain...sorry.
Yes! I would pay for a DVD or DL and a half-priced sub if it helps in paying the bills on your end. I would enjoy endorsing such a game, showing my faith in your development, and perhaps reaching a point where I can decide if you are ready for me. It should not be any different. 500k subs and 500k pre-orders is enough money to cover everything you invested, as well as, so nifty bonus checks...
that's roughly 25 million dollars at launch.
If you continue down this road of bait and switch, you'll exponentially lose money before a year ends... =failure.
Jon's idea isn't ground breaking, but it's a start in the direction of keeping me happy. I won't ever pre-launch or pre-order again until developers become more honest. Guess what? I don't care what you think... I still have books, movies, and real life to keep me away from the rash of greed that has taken over the MMORPG industry.
Lastly, I'd also like to say, 'Thank you Blizzard'. You're big, and you live up to it. I have never been happier with any other game maker, except of course... Turbine <wink> (once a fan, always a fan.)
If you're referring to me, I hate to tell you but I am no MMO dev, or even in the game industry ( other than mucking about at an indie scale far farrr away from anything as large as an MMO ). All my professional IT experience is in the much less interesting business arena - financial software, enterprise architecture, SOA, ad nauseum. I spend a lot of my free time transferring my IT skills ( design,coding,media) into indie game development, so I have some insight into the processes and technology behind MMOs / game development, but I've never worked on anything in a professional capacity. So my opinions are just my opinions - sorry if you disagree with them - I just cant see the business benefit to giving full content away for half price. You can imagine the looks on the Moneys faces. Wait, we give it to em for half price for six months... then charge them full price after they've played it to death for 6 months ? I wonder if they'll start doing that with other products / electronic goods. . . heheh. iPhones for half price for the first six months ! Get em while they're new !
I sympathise with the poor experience many customers have with MMO products that arent ready - its bad, its no way to run a railroad ! OTOH, the projects are huge unwieldy beasts that require vast capital up front, and investors get real twitchy real fast, especially when they start talking to starry eyed devs that will eat every single minute of dev time you give them, no matter how much time you give them. Theres always a new feature or must have thing to get inserted. Its something that goes on in all IT areas, its a constant battle between devs, project managers and clients / customers ( or in MMO terms, players ! ). Project over runs, bugs, ROI, all familiar ground.
As players its easy to focus on the game, experience, the stupidities of releasing with bugs or half finished, but MMOs are so much more than games - fundamentally they are businesses first and foremost. Its all about the money...
If you're not referring to me, forget I spoke
If you're referring to me, I hate to tell you but I am no MMO dev, or even in the game industry ( other than mucking about at an indie scale far farrr away from anything as large as an MMO ). All my professional IT experience is in the much less interesting business arena - financial software, enterprise architecture, SOA, ad nauseum. I spend a lot of my free time transferring my IT skills ( design,coding,media) into indie game development, so I have some insight into the processes and technology behind MMOs / game development, but I've never worked on anything in a professional capacity. So my opinions are just my opinions - sorry if you disagree with them - I just cant see the business benefit to giving full content away for half price. You can imagine the looks on the Moneys faces. Wait, we give it to em for half price for six months... then charge them full price after they've played it to death for 6 months ? I wonder if they'll start doing that with other products / electronic goods. . . heheh. iPhones for half price for the first six months ! Get em while they're new !
I sympathise with the poor experience many customers have with MMO products that arent ready - its bad, its no way to run a railroad ! OTOH, the projects are huge unwieldy beasts that require vast capital up front, and investors get real twitchy real fast, especially when they start talking to starry eyed devs that will eat every single minute of dev time you give them, no matter how much time you give them. Theres always a new feature or must have thing to get inserted. Its something that goes on in all IT areas, its a constant battle between devs, project managers and clients / customers ( or in MMO terms, players ! ). Project over runs, bugs, ROI, all familiar ground.
As players its easy to focus on the game, experience, the stupidities of releasing with bugs or half finished, but MMOs are so much more than games - fundamentally they are businesses first and foremost. Its all about the money...
If you're not referring to me, forget I spoke
you do know those iPhone are half off new. (299 wit ha 2 year contract, retail is $500-600) don't you?
And again i point to Turbine. You get into one of their promos and you pay 9.99 a month. But as soon as you unsub the next time its the full 15.
If you're referring to me, I hate to tell you but I am no MMO dev, or even in the game industry ( other than mucking about at an indie scale far farrr away from anything as large as an MMO ). All my professional IT experience is in the much less interesting business arena - financial software, enterprise architecture, SOA, ad nauseum. I spend a lot of my free time transferring my IT skills ( design,coding,media) into indie game development, so I have some insight into the processes and technology behind MMOs / game development, but I've never worked on anything in a professional capacity. So my opinions are just my opinions - sorry if you disagree with them - I just cant see the business benefit to giving full content away for half price. You can imagine the looks on the Moneys faces. Wait, we give it to em for half price for six months... then charge them full price after they've played it to death for 6 months ? I wonder if they'll start doing that with other products / electronic goods. . . heheh. iPhones for half price for the first six months ! Get em while they're new !
I sympathise with the poor experience many customers have with MMO products that arent ready - its bad, its no way to run a railroad ! OTOH, the projects are huge unwieldy beasts that require vast capital up front, and investors get real twitchy real fast, especially when they start talking to starry eyed devs that will eat every single minute of dev time you give them, no matter how much time you give them. Theres always a new feature or must have thing to get inserted. Its something that goes on in all IT areas, its a constant battle between devs, project managers and clients / customers ( or in MMO terms, players ! ). Project over runs, bugs, ROI, all familiar ground.
As players its easy to focus on the game, experience, the stupidities of releasing with bugs or half finished, but MMOs are so much more than games - fundamentally they are businesses first and foremost. Its all about the money...
If you're not referring to me, forget I spoke
you do know those iPhone are half off new. (299 wit ha 2 year contract, retail is $500-600) don't you?
And again i point to Turbine. You get into one of their promos and you pay 9.99 a month. But as soon as you unsub the next time its the full 15.
Rofl, in general, products are at a premium when they launch, and then come down in price as time goes by ( until they perhaps hit some really old, not being made anywhere premium price again ). Unless I have missed something . . .
I was on a cheap sub for LOTRO for many months myself - nevertheless, unless the numbers are there - theres a good business reason, generally people are eager for new products, and less so for older less functional products and the prices reflect that. Indeed although some users have bad launch experiences, they still fork out big bucks to get the product. From a really cold business POV, they dont have to lower their price - theres an army of eager fans that will fork out the money.
But hey I am defending nothing, I am just pointing out in my opinion I dont think it makes business sense. If you were just interested in cold hard money, and you were cynical / hard nosed enough to realise the army of fans gets you an instant pay off - and the numbers for theoretical re-subbing supports it - then release it half assed !
And as for the phone... if its anything like the UK... the "cheap" phone if you get a contract is all about getting you to sign the contract, which recoups the subsidy you get on the cheap up front phone, and locks you into the contract for a given amount of time - the cheaper the phone up front, the longer the contract / higher the plan. Swings, and roundabouts.
Wish #5 -- I didn't know how utterly freaking awesome it is to be me in a game until reading this post. Jon, after I read your list, I immediately put smackdown v. raw 2009 on my gamefly Q. Well, after about an hour of my wife and I customizing fairly good copies of ourselves (respite with normal clothes from the closet for entry then outlandish wrestling attire underneath for the match,) we had an absolute ball doing crazy moves on each other! The fact that I'm 6'6 and 220 and she's 5'4 and 108 didn't matter at all, and it was hilarious.
GREAT SUGGESTION! Now ... only if we could make mirror image avatars of ourselves in an mmo and "have fun stormin' the castle..."
Five wishes... Is something wrong with me and I don't see the issue with those wishes? Probably so...
My wishes:
1. Combat that allows anybody to kill anybody. Maybe it will take some extreme planning and patience, but if that noob can't have a lucky day and take down that uber-maxxed, then the combat system sucks. Now ifs, ands, or buts. One does not find themselves suddenly immune to lethal attacks. In fact, I find myself becoming less combat effective as I get older, but I've learned how to cheat pretty well...
2. Crafting should be detailed enough to be educational. Lets learn how mining really works. Let's see what it takes to actually make a knife out a chunk of steel. It doesn't have to be ad nauseum detailed, but it should mirror actual processes.
3. No more tanks, healers and dps. I am tired of being forced into a slot. And it's just a silly concept.
/rant off
TSW, LotRO, EQ2, SWTOR, GW2, V:SoH, Neverwinter, ArchAge, EQ, UO, DAoC, WAR, DDO, AoC, MO, BDO, SotA, B&S, ESO,