Why I wouldn't mind an MMO monopoly

pleasenjoi93

I'm losing my taste for MMOs. All of 'em, not any specific genre. It's forced me to do things on the outside like biking or running. I thought I had just hit a wall of some sort and got tired of MMOs, just because I've been playing them so long. I realized that the reason I don't get into the games anymore is because it feels so pointless. 4 new MMOs are released a year, it feels like, and with that I'm constantly looking forward to the next one, hoping that this will be my new home. I haven't gotten into any because there are too many.

I got WoW about 3 years ago and played it on and off for those three years, I got to 80 a few weeks after WotLK was released and quickly got bored due to the grindfest it involves to gear up for heroics and such. WoW is the only MMO I've managed to level cap in, ever. I found out because that's really the only game that I've never had to fuss over about the amount of subs, I knew WoW would always be there so it seemed that this game was worthwhile and had a point to it (at least compared to other MMOs.) This brings me to my point, in that I think that some sort of MMO monopoly would be good.

It seems kind of horrible to say this. But that's just what I think. Yes, it probably mean no insane new features that we've seen in other MMO's like AoC's combat or Aion's character customization, but the game wouldn't die and would supply me with a feeling of meaning, a key in me having fun, so for those that say "don't worry about subs, just play a game you like" I agree but can't have both at the same time, and hey, that's just me.

I know I bet I'm looking over HUGE factors in this whole monopoly idea, and I'm sure that wonderful community at MMORPG.com will be helpful, thoughtful, and kind in their responses (heh), but I want to know what other people think and if this is stupid to worry about? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Nizur

Well, I'm definitely glad there's NOT an MMO monopoly. I would've quit the genre a long time ago if there was. I like that there's variety out there. I like that I can play a sandbox like EVE or Ryzom and play a more guided one like LotRO or AoC if I want to.

Sure it'd be nice to have a huge community in every MMO, but sometimes smaller communities make much better ones. Actually, a lot of the time they make better communities.

FastTx

If an MMO had a monopoly there would be no incentive to improve and add new features. While I do agree that half the time content updates are bad (some people would prefer Classic WoW over WOTLK or play SWG before it was ruined). We would never have an MMO company trying hard to gain our subs.

If there ever would be a monopoly the only time I'd want it is when they figure out how to get Virtual Reality MMO's working. Screw 3d, I want VR. I just believe for such a game to exist with decent features and graphics in a VR world, you'd need to have 20 million+ subs.

linren

If you want meaning in order to have fun, this might not be the genre for you, but it depend on what you call "meaning".

mmorpg can only supply a false sense of meaning since it is a game and not real life.  If by "meaning" you simply want the game to give you a reason to do certain things, most games already supply those, but not all players will find those reasons meangingful.

I don't know what you define as meaningful, but monopoly is not a good idea when it comes to games.  I would not want all my games to come from the same director no matter how good they are at it.   Variety is important, whether it is good or bad does not matter, the ideas is to have all kinds.