Farmville...is not going for gamers. It's in an entirely different market on its own. Its numbers are of no concern to MMO players.
You know that. I know that. Look at the image though as a person that may not know that. It would appear that FarmVille is what gamers want as the most popular online game! So, folks will develop more FarmVille!
No?
It makes perfect sense for game developers to chase that crowd and to neglect actual gamers, as that's where the money is.
MMO gamers are not the same target audience as Farmville players. A typical Farmville player would not want to play a MMO that involves massive amounts of time invested (on a daily basis). So I don't see how this information could be very relevant.
All of this is subjective to your personal definition of "gamer" and "MMO". People always seem to lose sight of the fact that the members of this community represent a very, very small fraction of the gaming community.
I do understand the difference between Farmville and WoW. The fact is, however, they are both games, they are both massively multiplayer, and they are both "online". If anyone were to really try and define a difference between the two, it'd be a tough call, actually. Personally, I think it comes down to "action/combat". Its all a matter of preference.
WoW players don't like Farmville, Farmville players don't like EVE, EVE players don't like WoW. And yes, there are many WoW players that DO like EVE, but I bet there are more of them that like Farmville...
At any rate, there are more "casual" players than "hardcore" players. More players = more money = more pull in the market.
Now, have 11 BAJILLION World of Warcraft stay in the airwaves pimping the mmorpg genre and we'll have more people interested in the genre. People will feel more comfortable knowing there's a BAJILLION people playing than just diving in the water not knowing what to expect. More people, more customers, more developers, more money, and more investors. Sooner or later game developers will have to adhere with certain quality control guidelines and will pump out better quality to really compete and kick the outdated WoW off the top spot. WoW only has 1 bar set and that's end product quality. Blizzard is slowly dying because of what looks like the new goal set by their parent company is $$$ before quality. Their new product, SC2, is powered by megafans. In reality, the game is a bit too much of the same thing. "Too much." Blizzard is imploding and I guess the talents of yesteryears' games are gone.
No, most games are trash because vets use Beta TESTS as an e-peen badge instead of actually testing the game.
So a game being Awesome or Suck has nothing to do with game design and technical expertise, but is 100% reliant on whether vets actually test the game once it's in beta? That's a rather...unique theory.
Software QA can make a title suck, yes. Anything can be good by design and technical expertise, but if it's poorly executed, namely VERY BUGGY gaming experience, than yes some gamers would consider that "suck" and "not awesome". If it's just a few bugs, and the code is solid (I.e., stable, doesn't crash, very few to NO graphical glitches), then it's "awesomeness," design, and technical expertise will shine through.
Seems logical to me...
my 2 cents.
We're not talking about general "software QA" though. We're talking about betas.
Betas are a sanity check, and a stress test. If a developer was foolish enough to try to use a beta as any substantial portion of their overall Testing, they would fail miserably (on any sizable project.) (And if a dev did make this mistake, it would be the developer -- not the beta participants -- who'd be to blame for the game failing.) So it's ridiculous to infer that bad beta testing has a significant impact on game quality.
I mean sure, QA is absolutely critical to a game releasing with fewer bugs and issues. But Betas don't constitute a particularly large portion of the total QA work done on a project.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
MMO gamers are not the same target audience as Farmville players. A typical Farmville player would not want to play a MMO that involves massive amounts of time invested (on a daily basis). So I don't see how this information could be very relevant.
That's not the point. It takes the same skill set to produce a game like farmville as it does to make actual games. The people who develop the games have little say over what kind of game they're going to make. They have to have it approved with executives who care only about money. Obviously the executives want them to tap into this market that has audiences in the hundreds of millions rather than the weak MMO market that only has a couple million people.
You have to be fanatical to place that Farmville crap.
WHY: Because if you do not go and play it ALL the time, then when you get back, EVERYTHING is DEAD!!!
Only in the case of crops. Trees and animals and various buildings and such will still be harvestable. The game tells you how long it takes for a seed to harvest too and you can plant seeds that take as long as 4 days to harvest. It can be played very casually.
You have to be fanatical to place that Farmville crap.
WHY: Because if you do not go and play it ALL the time, then when you get back, EVERYTHING is DEAD!!!
Only in the case of crops. Trees and animals and various buildings and such will still be harvestable. The game tells you how long it takes for a seed to harvest too and you can plant seeds that take as long as 4 days to harvest. It can be played very casually.
Yes, BUT you STILL need to be there on the 4th DAY, or it's DEAD!
You have to be fanatical to place that Farmville crap.
WHY: Because if you do not go and play it ALL the time, then when you get back, EVERYTHING is DEAD!!!
Only in the case of crops. Trees and animals and various buildings and such will still be harvestable. The game tells you how long it takes for a seed to harvest too and you can plant seeds that take as long as 4 days to harvest. It can be played very casually.
Yes, BUT you STILL need to be there on the 4th DAY, or it's DEAD!
LOL, someone rage-quit Farmville. See? Nerd-rage. Proof that Farmville is, in fact, an MMO.
Gaming became mainstream due to MMORPGs which mainly reward playing time instead of individual talent and skill. Hence, anyone who has time to play games gets immediately rewarded in small steps and infinitely. The rationalized (number driven) gameplay of MMORPGs is also very easy accessible to our minds, which makes them additionally beginner friendly. Another reason for gaming becoming mainstream is due to the affordable consoles which - being connected with the TV - made gaming pretty much an alternative to watching TV. Moreover the improved technical possibilties set the emphasis more on graphics than ever before. Gaming became more passive, active gamers became passive consumers. MMORPGs on the other hand set the emphasis from "being" (being skillful, intelligent, talented etc) to "having" (having skills, levels, spells, abilities etc), a passive gameplay concept (alienated from the players individual qualities) being 100% compatible with commercialism. MMORPGs (with their materialistic gameplay based on hierarchy and private property, i.e. "I am, what I have") are the best and most compatible medium for commercialism and mainstream.
Comments
It makes perfect sense for game developers to chase that crowd and to neglect actual gamers, as that's where the money is.
Yes, Farmville is played by house wives and young mothers. Instead of shopping for shoes you can spend your $ on pigs and cows.
lol
MMO gamers are not the same target audience as Farmville players. A typical Farmville player would not want to play a MMO that involves massive amounts of time invested (on a daily basis). So I don't see how this information could be very relevant.
They spend years making chickens.
At 5-10 minutes per day.
All of this is subjective to your personal definition of "gamer" and "MMO". People always seem to lose sight of the fact that the members of this community represent a very, very small fraction of the gaming community.
I do understand the difference between Farmville and WoW. The fact is, however, they are both games, they are both massively multiplayer, and they are both "online". If anyone were to really try and define a difference between the two, it'd be a tough call, actually. Personally, I think it comes down to "action/combat". Its all a matter of preference.
WoW players don't like Farmville, Farmville players don't like EVE, EVE players don't like WoW. And yes, there are many WoW players that DO like EVE, but I bet there are more of them that like Farmville...
At any rate, there are more "casual" players than "hardcore" players. More players = more money = more pull in the market.
IMHO!!
I see these browser games as the "GATEWAY DRUGS."
Now, have 11 BAJILLION World of Warcraft stay in the airwaves pimping the mmorpg genre and we'll have more people interested in the genre. People will feel more comfortable knowing there's a BAJILLION people playing than just diving in the water not knowing what to expect. More people, more customers, more developers, more money, and more investors. Sooner or later game developers will have to adhere with certain quality control guidelines and will pump out better quality to really compete and kick the outdated WoW off the top spot. WoW only has 1 bar set and that's end product quality. Blizzard is slowly dying because of what looks like the new goal set by their parent company is $$$ before quality. Their new product, SC2, is powered by megafans. In reality, the game is a bit too much of the same thing. "Too much." Blizzard is imploding and I guess the talents of yesteryears' games are gone.
We're not talking about general "software QA" though. We're talking about betas.
Betas are a sanity check, and a stress test. If a developer was foolish enough to try to use a beta as any substantial portion of their overall Testing, they would fail miserably (on any sizable project.) (And if a dev did make this mistake, it would be the developer -- not the beta participants -- who'd be to blame for the game failing.) So it's ridiculous to infer that bad beta testing has a significant impact on game quality.
I mean sure, QA is absolutely critical to a game releasing with fewer bugs and issues. But Betas don't constitute a particularly large portion of the total QA work done on a project.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
That's not the point. It takes the same skill set to produce a game like farmville as it does to make actual games. The people who develop the games have little say over what kind of game they're going to make. They have to have it approved with executives who care only about money. Obviously the executives want them to tap into this market that has audiences in the hundreds of millions rather than the weak MMO market that only has a couple million people.
You have to be fanatical to place that Farmville crap.
WHY: Because if you do not go and play it ALL the time, then when you get back, EVERYTHING is DEAD!!!
Only in the case of crops. Trees and animals and various buildings and such will still be harvestable. The game tells you how long it takes for a seed to harvest too and you can plant seeds that take as long as 4 days to harvest. It can be played very casually.
Yes, BUT you STILL need to be there on the 4th DAY, or it's DEAD!
LOL, someone rage-quit Farmville. See? Nerd-rage. Proof that Farmville is, in fact, an MMO.
Gaming became mainstream due to MMORPGs which mainly reward playing time instead of individual talent and skill. Hence, anyone who has time to play games gets immediately rewarded in small steps and infinitely. The rationalized (number driven) gameplay of MMORPGs is also very easy accessible to our minds, which makes them additionally beginner friendly. Another reason for gaming becoming mainstream is due to the affordable consoles which - being connected with the TV - made gaming pretty much an alternative to watching TV. Moreover the improved technical possibilties set the emphasis more on graphics than ever before. Gaming became more passive, active gamers became passive consumers. MMORPGs on the other hand set the emphasis from "being" (being skillful, intelligent, talented etc) to "having" (having skills, levels, spells, abilities etc), a passive gameplay concept (alienated from the players individual qualities) being 100% compatible with commercialism. MMORPGs (with their materialistic gameplay based on hierarchy and private property, i.e. "I am, what I have") are the best and most compatible medium for commercialism and mainstream.