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Time for a sub-genre?
Avarix
Member RarePosts: 665
I think it's time for a sub-genre, at least with the way MMORPGs (Apply to your MMO genre as necessary) are releasing. MMOs have been changing for a while now but the fundamentals were always the same. Over the last few years this is no longer the case. Hear/read me out, may be a bit long winded so feel free to pass it up, just some thought vomit.
MMORPGs for as long as I can remember have been about getting the monthly payment, that's why we have P2P. Entire games were founded and built around this. We have foundation blocks like long leveling times, sitting/waiting to regain hp/mp, needing a party to level (This can serve multiple purposes), huge areas to explore, epic quests/items, harsh death penalties etc etc These are just a few but they all lend themselves to the P2P model. They are essentially huge time sinks. When used together, whether you care for them or not, they work out quite well. It may take you 6 months to reach a high-level, that means they can keep getting your money that whole time. Whether unforseen or intended some of these had side-effects. For instance requiring a party to do anything not only meant long wait times, but forcing you to be social as well. That in turn helped provide a sense of community and helped you get to know people while playing but was also an inconvenience at best. Waiting to regain hp/mp took this even further. Same with slow leveling or epic items/quests. They took huge amounts of time but it also gave a great sense of accomplishment when you finally got them.
Fast forward some years and more and more games have been releasing without these fundamentals. Not always without all of them, but usually missing at least some. This causes a huge imbalance within the game. Take away slow leveling, what happens? People hit "end-game" within a month at most, sit at level cap bored, quit the game usually with some colorful comments on a forum. Take away parties where you're not only able to but rewarded for solo, what happens? You're able to get through content much faster since you no longer have to wait on others, huge improvment for those that have a schedule to keep, you also are not meeting people anywhere near as much as you used to which can have a huge impact on whether or not you stick around the game, hit "end-game" too fast. Not requiring party strategy by using dynamic events, what happens? You no longer have to talk to anyone and can now treat others like NPCs, some people truly love this since you are no longer forced to be social. Death is a joke, what happens? You recover a lot faster but this leads to zerging objectives, anything can be beat if you throw enough bodies at it. This model gets rid of quite a few inconveniences and is usually supported with a F2P or B2P model.
As you can see, these are two very different beasts. While the first lends itself to playing for years and being more social, it also has large time sinks where you're twiddling your fingers and much more dependant on others. The latter lends itself to playing for 1-3 month(s) at most, it also supports short bursts of play for those with a schedule to keep and want to do things themselves without worrying about others. Why are we still treating these two, very different, models the same? They're not, at all. Once a game releases the forums usually blow up with one group hating the game and the other group being thrilled. I have yet to see a game that can even come close to being pleasing with both groups. Since that's the case, why not seperate them permanently? I think this would avoid a lot of hurt feelings for both groups that have come to expect certain things out of their MMO. It wouldn't be determined by the payment model they used but by whether or not it uses certain fundamental "old school" building blocks.
What are you thoughts on this?
Comments
I agree with the sub-genre and think it's been happening for awhile.
I disagree with your fundamentals. Your fundamentals and my fundamentals are fundamentally different.
Nothing you stated IMO has anything to do with the payment model. Both have ways to increase xp, both have timesinks, both have ways to get you to pay more.
You're right about the payment models. I think they simply "lend" themselves to one another, by no means are they exclusive. P2P is better in terms of years rather than months, there's no doubt about that. F2P/B2P, my thinking was with those that it would be easier to use a cash shop (People seem more at ease and accepting of a cash shop in those two game models rather than P2P) with convenience items based on a game of convenience. The games audience would be more inclined to purchase those things and they wouldn't break the game by threatening time sinks like slow leveling (EXP booster in the cash shop). Like I said, these are just quick thoughts on it.
As for fundamentals, what are your thoughts on them? These are just some of the ones I have noticed having a large impact on current gameplay that are being removed.
Correct me if I misread. These seem to be your fundamentals:
getting monthly payment and everything is based on stretching this out
- long leveling, sitting/waiting for regen, needing party to level, huge areas to explore, epic quests, harsh death penalites.
IMO none of this really lends itself to p2p. Yes long leveling and waiting/sitting do take longer which on the surface seems to help with monthly payment but be honest if you are bored with sitting/waiting and the leveling are you going to sub another month?
Huge areas IMO have nothing to do with a monthly payment or short/long term fun, same with harsh death penalties. Both can be in f2p, p2p, short term game, long term game...
Epic quests? maybe, again nor for monthly but maybe for long term play. However as I've aluded to now IMO a monthly sub doesn't serve long term play better than f2p or b2p.
Here are my fundamentals for an MMO (these are not my prefences when looking for an MMO but are what IMO an MMO needs to have).
1. The ability to interact with lots and lots and lots and lots of people in a game setting. To group when when I want, to solo when I want. Some things that require other people to help achieve things. This necessitates (sp) a world in some way, you do need somewhere for them to interact, whether that is an actual world (EQ, UO), space (EVE, STO) or a single city (CoH) is irrelevant.
2. To be online.
Thats it. Nothing else.
Everything else like long or short leveling, epic quests, is a personal preference that I may or may not want in a particular game. My own preferences are customizable housing, long leveling, epic quests, flight, skills. But that is not a fundamental to an MMO.
The genre is subdividing allready. We talk about MMO's vs MMORPG because there is a difference between lobby based MMO's, world based MMO's, fps MMO's...
My fundamentals listed are not what's fundamental for something to be classified as a MMO, but what's fundamental in classifying the old games from the new. The ones I listed boil down to time sinks and heavy socialization (Forced depends). New games have been getting rid of these and greatly impacting gameplay, whether that's intentional or not depends, changing what many consider to be a MMO. My perspective is from MMORPGs. We already have a lot of people using the term "old school", that's why I am asking what people think about creating a sub-genre based on that.
EDIT: I forgot to mention, I completely agree with your comments on huge areas, I was thinking of travel times and must of typed what I was visualizing.