Right place, right time!

Speedhaak

I had a discussion with a long time online buddy of mine a good few months ago, it could even be more than a year ago. We talked at lenght about WoW and how we struggled to find any enthusiasm for an MMO post said game. We're fairly versed [code for old I guess...] in gaming and the online environment and it's subsequent boom in the last 12 odd years. Anyway, after lenghty talks and quarelling over this that and the other my friend said to me that Blizzard were just lucky. It was pot luck, a shot in the dark. They just happened to arrive on the scene, at that time, with that game at the exact moment people were willing to try something new and when Broadband had become widely available in most Countires. 

 

He went on to state that that moment in time can never be re-produced again in the MMO space; and furthermore, he stated that if WoW hadn't have come along and say perhaps, only just Guild Wars then it's quite possibly the fortunes would lay at Arena Nets' feet, and not Blizzards and we'd be having an entirely different discussion. At first I didn't swallow the medicine but the more I thought about it the more things started to click. I mean, look at all the social and pop culture that emulated WoW's success; it had every thing going for it and for the vast majority of it's players, was something completely new - nowadays, MMOs aren't that rare a beast. 

 

Direct analogies would sing a tune something like this; imagine trying to recapture and emulate the 80s, the 60s, the success of Star Trek or Artists trying to soar to the heights of Elvis, Hendrix,  Jackson et all. It generally doesn't happen, nor will it again for that matter. These are moments in time when all the variables collide to allow for one perfect set of circumstances that breed greatness or generate ideals that inspire people. Facebook is another example, as hard as people may try it cannot be toppled - it came along just at the right time and attracted the right audience - 'impenetrable markets'.

 

Even if Blizzard come out with TITAN next month - I guarantee you it will not reproduce the success of WoW - It was a once in a lifetime thing. And I'd be extremely, no mesmerised if it was ever reproduced on that scale again. The bottom line? If Arena Net fail to at least compete with these variables, then I fear the genre as a whole may become 'stuck in the mud' - as it were.

Four0Six

Right place, RIght time...

Also: Right Product.

WoW, was purfect for what it did. Combine WoW, which is playable by all and not gaming-gods, with the enviornment and you get the result we all know soooo much about.

Good points your friend made.

+1 to thinking

Edit: I can't type.

comrademario

Your friend is right in saying it's often 'right place, right time' that makes something go supernova in popularity. Look at the amount of bands and DJs that are relatively mediocre who have just caught on to something and ridden it the top of their industry for an example of that.

 

That said WoW was in the right place at teh right time with the right product. You can't take away from them the way they revolutionised this genre (for better or worse) and you can't dismiss it as pure luck. There were other games out at that time, none were as accessible as WoW for new and casual mmo players and it just took off from there. They didn't just happen upon that.

Speedhaak

Yeah, pure luck was a poor choice of wording I guess. And I don't begrudge Blizzard their success at all, kudos if anything is in order. 

Krytycal

WoW was successful because it was accessible enough to draw a new crowd of gamers that had never played MMOs before. My first MMO was not WoW, it was MxO in 2003 and even if the game wasn't particularly great, it's still the best MMO memories I have. If I compare MxO now to other MMOs that are currently out, MxO is very much inferior in almost every aspect, but it doesn't matter because you can't really quantify the emotions and shock that come from playing an entirely new genre of video games for the first time. Same exact thing happened when I played my first FPS, Doom. Instantly hooked, not because the game was particularly amazing (it isn't by today's standard) but because it was something I had never experienced before. Same with Starcraft, etc. The first time I tried Sushi in some hole-in-the-wall joint I thought that shit was God's gift to earth. I can eat some gourmet Sushi now in the fanciest of places and while nice, it never elicits that feeling I had when I first tried it.

This is not something that's going to happen with the current crop of MMORPGs because the MMORPG market hasn't expanded much after the WoW influx. Most of the MMO player-base is not new to MMOs, they already had their "first MMO" experience and nothing is going to make them relive that again, especially using the same familiar recipe that's constantly used in today's industry. They have been there and done that, so to speak. 

That's why there hasn't been another WoW. The market is stale, the player base is jaded and accostumed to the same familiar formula. Nothing feels truly "new". MMOs are not going to break new ground and expand until someone comes up with something radically different than to what we're accustomed to.