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General: 5 Ways MMOs Will Survive
BillMurphy
Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
MMOs these days are having a hard time...some of them anyway. Studios are closing. Developers are being laid off. The news seems all gloom and doom. We think, however, that there are ways that the MMO-niverse will keep on keepin' on. See what we think in our latest edition of The List.
5. F2P is Happening
Like it or not, free to play or, at the very least, item shops are going to be a trend in the MMO space. Whether upcoming MMOs take on the full F2P experience or whether they incorporate convenience items similar to what Guild Wars 2 is planning to bring into the space, elements of the free to play movement are leaking into our MMOs. It’s something we’re all going to have to get used to and will either have to accept or reject it.
Read more of Suzie Ford's The List: 5 Ways MMOs Will Survive.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
Comments
1. " F2P is happening"
Yes it is. Yes it will continue.
There will still be non-cash shopped games.
They might be a miniority, but there will be.
There'll always will be players that don't like it and so there will be companies that will bring some titles for them.
Yeah even some AAA titles.
Maybe not for some time, but sooner or later. yes.
Market is always changing and same as P2P was not "final" model and end of history.
Same F2P , cash-shops,etc won't be final and only model.
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Not to mention some companies expertimenting with having both f2p and p2p and maybe some other as separate services for one game in some years. Not now, maybe not in 3 years.
Who knows what will happen in 5 or 8 years though.
Only if the cash shop makes sense. Most F2P games are a turn off while others are welcome. Prime example Age of Conan = total turn off and Aion = perfect F2P model.
i would add a #6 the community has to change. these people wants all quicly and that cannot be, also they want to rush everything, you should calm down. its both for hardcore and casual players, how can someone finish a game in 30-80 hours?, its not only because of the unfinished state of the released game, its also a fault in the players. these games are about time, you cannot experience 100% in 2 hours, take it easy.
"endgame" has killed the gameplay.
The big market is going to be on the next gen console so thats where they should be trying to be.
Also people need to buy games that are worth buying and not just buy them because of who the developers are. Notice the company's you complain about in your article. Bioware an EA. People buy anything from these guys and talk like their the greatest things ever to hit gaming even though they know the games suck. I guess since they spend their money on it they cant accept how bad it is. Those comanys know they'll sell millions even if its a bad game so why should they try to do any better.
*Applause*
Very good Run down, agreed on all 5 points, specially the ones about Publishers and their unneded pressure.
I have had personal experiences with this aspect and i vowed never to do business with people who only understand Business but not the Art of Making Games ever again, unless they have the experience to remain silent partners untill the product is finished, and then are happy with reaping the profits from a properly finished piece of art.
But during devellopment - yes it has to stop.
Cheers!
Order of the Silver Star, OSS
ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
Nice article, I would like to see the positives from points 1-4 coming to pass.
This new (and successful) prepurchase thing that's started its going to be a fix 3 + 4. Publishers now know that we are willing the pay for the game before we even have it, so they have less reason to rush it out of the door. I'm pretty certain thats the reason ANet are able to say 'when it's ready'.. because NCSoft arn't hassling them as they already have a ton of revenue from the game.
That is the world today. People want it all now and it's not just limited to games. Asking for that to change is not realistic.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I'd rather they didn't survive, to be perfectly honest. We're inundated with MMOs that are half the game they're supposed to be for one reason or another. I'd rather 90% of the MMOs in the world all fail, crash and burn so people start realizing these aren't like single player action games that you can just crank out. The amount of planning, thought and development that should go into every, single, mmo, should take so much time and effort that a new MMO every 4-5 years seems like a marathon.
Imagine that, a handful of really unique, awesome MMOs at any one time, each with updated technology and new gameplay styles, instead of 100 MMOs that all essentially look and play the same. All because every company and their mothers want a slice of the pie. Just how big do they think the gamer pool is?
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
I do agree with most of Suzies points, but why do everyone think F2P will save the genre?
Most normal people have a static sum they use on games every month and there is a limit to how much money that we can spend. Changing the payment method doesn't really change that even if some nutjobs spends way too much.
The market still can only hold that many MMOs and paying customers will play the best game, B2P, F2P, P2P or Freemium. Of course there are always the people there for the free ride but they don't actually generate money, at best they make the game feel more populated.
"Better games" is the real solution here.
I predict another 10 years of solocentric games.
Development Needs to Have Time to Finish
This may never change. Businessmen are born believing that the consumer will buy anything that you give them regardless of quality. They don't see the difference between excrement in a bowl and a quality made product. They stand perplexed at their constant failure to compete.
Allow the Indies to compete. The next breakthrough is bound to come from an indie developer, that will either be eaten alive or smashed under boot. The problem with both scenarios is that the brains behind the success are removed from the next phase of development. To businessmen IP is not the implementation, just the Title or Names.
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
I'm glad that we're finally seeing a nice purge of the market. The past five years especially were akin to a backed up toilet chock full of corn laiden excrement.
We were long due for a flush.
What you "imagine that" is what I would call magical thinking.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I don't think I really agree with much of this article outside of #5. What do MMOs need to survive? Nothing. They're doing fine. There's no dark clouds on the horizon. Free to Play is part of that, everything else isn't.
4. Kickstarter is a joke. Any MMO that can be funded through Kickstarter isn't going to be something that you want to play. Double Fine is great, but when they're the talk of the town after raising a few million dollars, that's not something that will translate well. MMOs of a modest budget at today's standards are going to be into the 8 figures. Kickstarter won't get you there.
3 (and 2). "The publisher made me do it!" is a cop out. It's not as though waiting until a game "is done" is going to help its chances as an MMO. The nature of the genre is that it's not done. Part of the development process is releasing the game and seeing what breaks when more people than your friends and family play it. Furthermore, the point of making games is making money - that's what publishers know how to do. Development studios left to their own devices would, more often than not, turn out "The Homer" than some profound gaming experience.
1. I agree on the basic point, but again, I don't think you really understand the business side of things. Who can self-fund a MMO project? These take years and millions of dollars, and it's mostly on spec. If anything, we need _more_ studios - the cream naturally rises to the top. And don't be surprised if it's published by EA.
Colage I must disagree with you.
Firstly Kickstarter won't fund a mmorpgs game developement but it will as the name suggests give it a kickstart. A developer can show that people are interested in his game idea and it gives him enough monry to get a good presentation togather. The most important factor being the fact taht people support the idea.
The Publisher made me do it .... IS not a cop out look at th TV Series like Firefly and Crusade great series with top notch directors destroyed because the publishers stuck their thumb in. A great game just like a great film and series are not developed by spreadsheets.
Publishers know how to make money they do not necessarily know how to make great games. When a Publisher makes a design ruling it is not necessarily for the betterment of the game its often due to personnal bias or trying to "follow the trend".
Just my 2 cents
Gadareth
I would absolutely hope your vision comes true.
Very much agreed.
Oversaturated market and 'playing it safe - everybody do WoW's' designs will continue to not meet their revenue & profits levels - whatever business model will be used.
F2P games are getting closed or dead too.
I totally agree with 2 and 3.
Another addition should be : Developers need to stop following the mainstream. Quit doing what everyone else is doing. Step back and honestly look at the game you are making. Make it unique.
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
Bingo.
The reason MMOs will survive is someone will eventually develop a decent game.
The only great thing about the P2W business model is it allows MMOs to stay a float a little longer.
People are struggling, because they are not innovating, why should someone play your mmo, when it is 90% or so what someone else is going, and what you are doing is a buggy heap....
Do it right, stand apart, and offer a different experience than people are already getting or are already tired of.
Making a good mmo is a passion, those that end up doing it, while eyeing money/the bottom line, it shows, it becomes a what little can I do to maybe maximize my profit....The problem is the formula they use to do that seems to be broken and not giving them the correct answer.
Along with 3, I'd say that if you are unsure that your game can be completed before set loose into the wild,
1. Don't hype your game up beforehand! Telling us how awesome you game is and then giving it to us half complete is awful. I would react more possitively if they instead went "Hey, here is our game but it not spectacular yet...". My expectations wouldn't be in the clouds before getting my hands on it. The high expectation byproduct of hype is a very bad thing.
2. Ninja launch it. Let your core fans that know about it and know they will love it forever times infinity get to play it before everyone else. Let them build the community and define the audience you want to reach and they will bring in more. As your game continues to build and improve so does your community as it builds and grows. Looking at past launches it seems that a flood of gamers is going to wash out your chance of a core community. The casuals will come and go and make for and empty game and empty MMO experience. The casual flood is bad.
3. Build it with longevity. Good luck with that one. I won't say exactly how to do this but just that a lot of newer MMOs don't seem to care about this topic very much.
#3 and @2 go hand in hand especially for EA/Bioware. What we got was a game that was no where near finished. Even though they started working on in in 2008, and 4 years later this is what they gave us, a hunk of junk that was basically kotor3.
What has happened is they rushed out to beat the market, Christmas market that is as no other game developer was even close to the mix that needed to be beet.
So we got an unfinished game with tons of voice acting, I guess the vo took 4 years to do. It is still a massive fail and folks are leaving in droves.
Why are they leaving in droves, well unfinished game, no content at 50, boring repetitive grind for little to no reward. Just like warhamer all over again.
Most game companies need to take a look at #3, and#2 and make sure they don't ever mess those up again, and use EA/Bioware as an example of how not to mess up.