Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
I hate people who try to blame my boredom of MMOs on the fact that I'm getting older.
Varny
Member Posts: 765
I get excited for games like Batman: AA and Mirror's Edge because they were doing something new and exciting. I'm bored of games like Battlefield and Gears 2 because they are doing the same as what I've experienced hundreds of times before. My excitement from MMOs before were because they were doing something new and innovative. Everquest made a 3D world I never felt apart of before, with that online aspect made it feel like that Zelda online game I always wanted. Star Wars Galaxies did massive seamless worlds where I could pick and choose skills and make player cities and housing with. EVE Online was the sci-fi space MMO I was waiting for with hardcore PVP and the great skill based system it has. The most amazing thing about EVE though was the economy it had, which still blows you away. You have Planetside with the hundreds upon hundreds of people in one battle (well atleast before SOE ruined it) and it was just amazing. Even WoW felt fresh and new because it was the first MMO I played with a great story and with great combat and a great UI etc etc. WoW was just so polished and defined the MMO genre upto that date.
The problem is ever since the genre has gone nowhere and has just tried to clone something that WoW perfected.
Don't blame me for getting older, I still get excited for games, the problem is they exist in other genres as noone is making good MMOS anymore. Blame the developers for having no creative talent. That is where it all boils down to really, people too afraid to make the jump and take the risk.
The players know what is right for the genre, the developers just seem so out of touch. Just glad we have people like Valve who listen to their fans, just a shame they don't make MMOs.
Comments
Innovation in mmo´s are hard. Even though you see alot of people crying on the forums about change and different angles those games that offer it are soon forgotten. These games costs alot to make and so far the greatest following seems to be in games that follow the traditional setup so it´s no wonder why more games like these seem more profitable to companies.
For things to change I believe that one company with massive resources and an adventorus spirit might break the mold and offer something different. Until that time we´re stuck were we are.
All statements I make is from my point of view unless stated otherwise.
Its not that you are getting older. . its that the genre is. Imagine if all we had were side scrollers like Mario still.
Take FPS games. . has there been a lot of inovation. . not a lot. We need the next multiplayer imerrsive experience.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
Desensitivity.
When someone new enters the room, they cannot compare anything they see against what was previously present. There is no measuring stick they can use. As such, if they choose to remain in the room, they 'accept' as 'standard' what is present.
In order to keep someone in the room, devs must entertain. In a battle for the consumer, there is a war over attention. To grab attention, typically, you stimulate the senses. Reference games like AoC, Aion or TERA which are graphically stunning.
Using one's mind is a bore. So if we can grab the consumer's attention with shinies, let's use more of the same, effectively hypnotizing the subject. No need for depth and variety of play, they don't know what that is- they haven't been around to witness any of it.
As time progresses, less of the quality is present, and more of the visuals. It's a trend. But, ironically enough, only the vets can see it, as they have a measuring stick in hand....
Note: I do not downplay (I just ignored referencing) advances in the genre. I'm piggybacking the topic of OP here.
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc.
We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be.
So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away.
- MMO_Doubter
The legend of Zelda was a rpg and Super Mario Brothers was an action adventure. The older mmo's remind me more of zelda and everything since wow reminds more of super mario brothers. I'm 32 and these 2 games were big for me as a kid. I'm not sure If my message will be recieved from my short post but hopefully some of you get what I'm saying.
I hear what you're saying. My first mmo experience was with EQ. I had to use the arrow keys and my arm would cramp up because I wasn't used to that sort of thing. I lasted a few days until getting PK'd by some lvl 20 who said he'd give me free gear as well as falling off the city in the trees one too many times drove me away.
Also, when I played EQ there was no map for the city I was in, so I would lvl then spend a good 45 minutes searching the city for the guild hall. Every time. Not being experienced in mmo ways I wasn't used to having to remember any sort of path, as most of my gaming prior to that little stint had been done on consoles, which don't make you remember nearly as much as an mmo.
Fast forward to 2004 and I got myself and a good friend of mine into the Lineage 2 beta. We loved it, he bought it for me as a bday gift (I had to pay my own way ofc) and we played it together for a while. It was a huge graphical advancement over Diablo 2 and the other single-player games I was used to. It redefined my mentality towards mmos and I grew to appreciate, but not like, open pvp. I played Lineage 2 for about a year counting beta before trying a game that was taking the world by storm...
Fast foward to Jan 2005 and I tried WoW. No more point and click to move, WASD movement in an mmo? Awesome. Not having tried many I mistakenly thought WoW was the first to use this system, which warmed my heart. No xp loss from pvp death? You mean I don't have to grind out that 10% I would have lost in L2 because some asshat pk'd me? OMG I'm in love, I think was what I thought at the time. Very soft death penalty (or lack thereof)? Oh wow, I really like this game, cartoony look and all.
In each case I gave, that particular mmo left a lasting impression with me and redefined how I viewed online gaming and the plausibility of paying a monthly subscription for a game.
There really hasn't been any sort of redefining moment for me since I initially tried WoW. Is that my fault? I don't know, possibly. It just seems that the devs and suits all going for the soft money has really regressed this genre and kept it in 2004-2005 besides having better graphics. No, I'm not a WoW pimp, just saying it was the last mmo I tried that really redefined online gaming for me.
awesome...you my friend deserve a cookie.
HEAVEN OR HELL
Duel 1
Lets ROCK!
Pretty much spot on so +1 for you sir.
-----
To the OP, I've honestly rarely heard the "You're getting old" arguement on this forum. I've seen the "old vets" thread but that's not really related on the age but rather to your experience in the MMO Industry.
Either way, I'm not really old, yet I also find the more recent MMOs to be very boring. Age is irrelevant to this topic. That said, pojung pretty much nailed it and it's exactly why we don't see as many "innovative mmos" anymore. Whenever a new "innovative MMO" appears, it doesn't catter to a large portion of the Niche Audience, which is fairly small already when compared to the mass market.
If an MMO could bring innovative features and attract large amount of subs, then we will definitively see an increase in "Innovative MMOs" .....that will not be so innovative anymore as many companies will try to "steal subs" by offering the same thing. Good exemple of this would be EVE Online, where 2 very similar games were made (Black Prophecy, Taikodom). Both very similar to EVE.
I can honestly say that 90% (random number out of my ass, yeah....sue me) of the MMORPG Developers don't really know what makes an MMORPG and only follow/copy what's already there.
We don't have this issue with Console Games, you'll hardly ever see a "Gears Of War Clone, Call Of Duty Clone, Halo Clone", why is that? Why is it that "Clones of previous games" are almost exclusive to MMOs?
I completely get it and agree. I think most of us that are too old (36 here) would get it.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
Yeah what he said.
Newer MMOs are narrower in focus, and shallower in depth than their predecessors. As such, newer MMOs only have one or two things to really do, and once you get bored of those, there's nothing else in the game to keep your attention.
I know what you mean. I dislike the idea that maturity means that you can't enjoy gaming. I enjoy gaming and I am reaching my early twenties. I just bought an XBOX and I intend to use it regardless of my age. I have noticed that many members of my MMO are also older. Many of the women are married with children. So you know what? The problems are with the individual and the MMO. Enough of the ageism.
www.ryzom.com
People do outgrow things. You're probably not tuning into Sesame Street as much as you used to. Big Bird and Oscar have lost their charm.
So people do outgrow things.
Another thing to watch out for is burn out. Many people play MMOs way too much and this can lead to burn out. You can get burned out on anything, food, hobby, tv shows etc.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
Ahahaha, I saw this title and chuckled.
People dont say this to me... but I often wonder if its true of myself.
Recently I have felt a complete lack of desire to play ANY games.. not just MMO's, it came after several bouts of illness at the end of last year.. I stopped playing because I was too ill, and its been a real struggle ever since, a kind of mental exaughstion or lack of desire.
I started wondering if I was about time to pack up and find another hobby, but still couldnt find motivation.
I concluded that there might actually be something wrong with me, maybe depression maybe old age.. anyway, it might sound really cheesy but I recently started on a diet supplement to shed some weight... the supplement is packed with huge amounts of vitamins...
It really has felt like a new lease of life, I come to the conclusion that following my recent bout of illness I've been vitamin defficient.... so I logged back into DDO to check things out there.. and have since logged in every night.
Might be worth a try, but getting older your body does suffer and illness effects you even more, so its worth a try! Eat healthy, take some vitamins, go for a brisk 20 minute walk each day... you'll soon feel better
It's not old age it's experience. Good games are ageless. If you liked it then big chance you still will like it. Cause of experience you can foresee if a game will amount to something.
Companie chose for the easy buck. Low risk for maximum earnings. That's why the games get stale and boring.
They forget bigh risk get the maximum earnings they yearn for. By there low risk they earn well enough but it could be better. It takes one company with the capacity too and the balls to make the next big thing.
Don't hold your breath though.
That's a good topic indeed, at least for me
Through out the genres, the innovation and creative changes are not much visible (apart from visual enhancements). Of-course there's some exceptions, like in life simulation, The Sims franchise always surprised me with their innovation on every version. And for other genres there's few title which can be considered as an innovative title. But one or two title doesn't up-lift the whole genre. Though there's little sign of innovation in other gaming genres which is completely blurred out in case of MMORPG. I guess it's about 4/5 years we haven't seen any MMO title which stole little time from our other scheduled tasks. Large number of MMO gamers are getting bored and frustrated playing same type of game with different titles over and over. Upside is, this may lead game companies to think little differently and come up with something new.
I'm optimistic on this. 'Never get satisfied' is a very human nature which led wheel from wooden log to alloy wheel with tubeless tyre. So I'm pretty sure sooner or later we'll come to get few MMO titles which will make us say, wow... (please spare the game!)
A good programmer is the person who creates thousands of bugs while fixing hundreds!
I think it's not primarily related to how you've become older and/or jaded, but instead to the fact that you've become more experienced because of it... and you're basically seeing the same old same concepts being used, dumbed down, repackaged and then sold again to younger crowds as something "new and revolutionary".
100% agree, nice one.
While this game i am about to mention is not an MMO at all it does highlight a point.
I got Freespace to run on an emulator, and was very suprised at how good the gameplay was, so started thinking about other older titles 10+ years, and ran through the emulator catalogue, and was aside from obvious graphical short commings pleasently amazed at the depth and bredth of this older titles.
And then it hit me what I think is going on, and I stress I dont want to turn this into a 'this versus this' and hijack the thread, I am merely stating an opinion on why there has been a precieved decline in meaningfully engaging games.
CONSOLES....
Because the game makers are making cross platform games or desire to at some point, the games are being compremised to an all platform able level, but the mind set appears to even spread out to titles not ever going cross platform.
This opinion is not the be all and end all of the issue rather a contributing factor of things devolving into "all form and no substance".
Also believe that large publishers are very much to blame, because the sheer cost of modern productions leads to outside influences such as afore mentioned publishers, having way to much control over a companies creative process.
Disagree.
I just turned 34 and I still have the same passion to play MMO's as I did when I was in my early twenties and started playing EQ. The problem for me is the lack of quality in today's MMO's, and the serious decline in quality, friendly, helpful, selfless communities in a given game.
Although I agree you CAN get burned out on games, the same as with anything else...but because of the above mentioned things, I am finding it much easier to get burned out on today's MMO's due to them more than simply playing them too much.
I think it is not because you're older, but because of the homogenization of the genre. I'm not only bored with most MMOs, but most RPGs that come out I find very shallow. Even highly touted games like Fallout 3, DA, and others. The last RPG I enjoyed was NWN. Everything else I find to be very pretty to look at, but lacking in depth.
Pretty much how I feel about today's games. They've stripped away most of the "undesireable" elements such as encouraged grouping, downtime between fights, meaningful crafting, strategic cc/healing and turned most modern MMORPG's into non-stop wack a mole contests.
Yawn.
"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
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"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
No.
You're arguing 2 contradictory topics here.
First, becoming jaded is an offset to experience coupled with lack of innovation. A slight of hand that suggests it is a by-product of age.
Then, the topic the OP touches on and you backpeddle towards: 'same old concepts being used, dumbed down, repackaged...' <~ this is the crux of the matter.
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc.
We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be.
So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away.
- MMO_Doubter
I laugh when I read things like this, such rose coloured nonsense. EQ was nothing but whack-a-mole or as some called it quake with swords. Just having to have 120 of your closest friends with you dose not make it any less whack a mole, having to wait of a half hour for a ship doesn’t give the MMO depth, nor does havening to wait for your mana bar to rise while another person heals.
The issue is people have been there done that and they don't want to do that again with just a different skin. If MMo's are to succeed they need to become less object oriented spreadsheets with NPC vending machines and more engaging worlds, in other words they need to stop being MMO's and start being Online Role Playing games, and no I am not talking about the supposed sandbox of SWG, SWG was the single most boring MMO ever developed oooooh how exciting two mobs just standing by an imperial flag...I think I'll blast them, later on they got really creative and put them in a imperial bunker...yeah that made combat really fun....
When developers start giving NPC's lives, beyond here take this quest now here take this piece of worthless loot and when they can actually put random events in the world where your not following a grind or a quest path then the genre will move forward. As long as they continue to make games instead of giving us living breathing worlds, it will just be re-skinned wow re-skinned EQ.
live long and prosper
strength and honor
if urgent do it yourself
if you have time-delegate it
if you have forever-form a committee
Not really. Most of us aren't even asking for innovation, we're just asking for games that are up to the standards of older MMOs, which still have tons of great features and innovations that haven't been built upon since, everyone is too busy building on the very VERY basic EQ formula of "get quest" "aquire loot". No one but Darkfall has tried to build on Dark Age of Camelots full RvR sieging with balistas catapults, boiling oil, naval combat. No one has tried to build on skill systems of Asheron's Call of Star Wars Galaxies, or the player housing, or any of that. We just keep getting shallow clones of an already shallow game.
If 30 man teams with a budget could do it then, why can't they do it now with SO MUCH MORE funding?
I'm not "getting old" I'm 20. I was just lucky/unlucky enough to play MMOs when I was 10, and experience how deep and great they were, and see how much they've changed/been dumbed down. Modern MMOs just cannot compare, so I just have to sit and watch while the MMO genre (if you can even call it MMO anymore) aims at making mini games for WoW burn outs.
I am 37 and I must admit my age does factor into boredom with MMO's.
My 1st MMO was DAoC, a buddy of mine told me about it and we both started playing it a day or so after release. This being my 1st MMO I was naturally in awe of it lol.
DAoC was ( and is ) a great game, I played daily for over 3 years and kept an active account for 5 years. After DAoC no MMO has given me that same sense of " must play ".
I dunno, maybe it was the time, maybe the game but now I am married, kids, house, 2 dogs, full time job, ect. And to be honest the MMO games just dont hold me for very long at all anymore. As I have gotten older the idea of sitting in front of a computer hours upon hours a week just seems more and more like a complete waste of time. Maybe it always was, but now more than ever. I just chalk it up to getting a little older and my taste for entertainment changing.
But then again it could be because most new MMOs pretty much suck and nothing has appealed to the gamer in me.