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Developers, Stop making MMOs!!!
Jimmy_Scythe
Member CommonPosts: 3,586
How many is too many?
While I like the idea of MMORPGs, I have yet to see even one MMORPG live up to that ideal. In fact, I have yet to see an MMORPG EVEN COME CLOSE to that ideal. I know that a thousand monkeys, at a thousand typewriters, for a thousand years will eventually make a Shakespearian play, but how many reams of absolute crap are we going to have to shuffle through first.
I can even turn it back to MUDs. In 1994 there were around 3000 Muds up and running and most of them were crap. Right now there are 1,708 Muds listed at Mud connector and only a handful of them are worth playing. The number of Muds gets smaller and smaller each year. It's not all about the fact that these games are text. It's due to the fact that most new Muds can't get a decent community started and just never have a chance to show how good (or bad) they are. Not to mention the ego conflicts that occur in small, inexperienced developer / admin teams. It's not unlike the reason why most Mod teams end up disbanding before they finish a project.
Now step up to the MMO genre. Everyone and their dog seems to want to make an MMO. It wasn't that long ago that everyone wanted to make an FPS. At least a simple FPS game (or mod) was a reasonable goal. Hell, I've even wanted to make an MMORPG. But given the cost of server space and bandwidth for even a small (<400 population) server, I decided that making a more traditional multiplayer RPG was more worth my time. I realize that most MMO developers aren't "garage" dev teams, but given the cost of developement, community building and maintenance, why even take the risk? Which leads to the next point.
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!! Only one MMO can control the largest part of the market share. That's the holy grail that publishers and investors are after. They don't want a niche market title, they want the world.... Gift wrapped... Yesterday.... Before breakfast.....
I guess what I'm trying to say is.... Don't make MMORPGs. Make FPS games, or RTS games. Make Mahjong or solitaire if you have a choice. <sight> But if you MUST make MMORPGs......
Comments
I agree that there are too many crap ones out there and some mmorpgs wil definitely benefit from a larger population. The distribution of mmog subscribers is far from even. But actualy a niche mmog can still be profitable and if the demand is there then I don't see the trend stopping.
No annoying animated GIF here!
MUD's were great as you said. And they could be great even now. But they didnt evolve one litlle bit. They all still use the same engine from 1980's .Nothing is new. I can see how they could evolved into games many times more complex than Mmorpg's - since they dont have to waste time on graphic ... but this didnt happen.
As for Mmorpgs. They are the only games that are in 90% cases released in their alpha stage - unfinished.
In most cases developers takee much much much more than they can chew.
So either they should set some realistic goals to them selves - or stop doing mmos
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
LOL.... I agree
Companies and devs do not make games if they do not make money.... you can make a crappy game then hype it enough to get a few hundred thousand people to buy it and make your money and leave. People (us gamers) spend so much time poking holes in every new game that people do not know if you are being honest and the game truely does suck ....
Can you trust some of the review sites and game mags.... yes and no, I have read a review that put the game at a 7 outa 10 and I bought it.... game was so badly written and it was nothing like the review. We need a true honest review of games and who is making them...
Hmmmmm now where can I find a site like that.......
Witty saying to amuse you goes here.
Your idea seems to be some messiah comes along and designs to perfect game, which is then producded by the perfect company, and funded by investors who are willing to wait.
I think we need to keep pumping out these MMORPGs so that we can get every idea out there. Once they are out there, designers can see what works, and they can dig through the dirt. They can then begin to pull out the diamonds. Then the diamonds can all be set together, and we can create one hell of a ring... erm... Game.
Look at WoW. They have some new ideas, but a lot of there ideas were taking from what worked in other games. They took the best parts, added their own flare, and BAM.
Okay well, you get the idea. We need crap so that designers can pull the oil from the sands and bring us the good stuff.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Why so many developers are making MMorpg these days?
Because MMorpgs are the future of PC gaming. And it might be the ONLY Future.
Granted, not today and not tomorrow but in 5 years? in 10 years? will there be still PC gaming in 10 years?I'm not so sure.
Every company's bottom line is the same: make a profit. How you do a profit? By selling the most games. Now, what market gives you this possibility? the consoles market. There a mediocre game sells as good as a good pc game, if not even better.
Fact is the most ever sold PC game sold 6 millions copies. Console? try 10 times as much, if not more.
Console are easier to program, you do not have to keep in your head dozens of graphic cards with maybe dozens processors, the OS libraries and what not. You have 1 CPU and 1 graphic chip, learn to program for those and you are set.
Console are way more widespread than gaming pcs and costs a lot less than a gaming pc, parents are much easier to convince to shell out 300 $ for a xbox than 3000 $ for an Alienware last model.
Consoles have loads much less piracy. You need to plant a chip in the damn thing to even think to buy pirated software, that is not as easy to come by as just download it from internet.
Consoles do not have many MMorpgs and the ones that are there, didn't do much success on the Console itself. That's because the console is not very much appropriate for such kind of games. It lacks mouse and keyboard, you have to hook it up to the internet in addition to the home pc and finally, many console users are underage and not so interested in playing relativly slow paced games and having to pay in addition to the game itself.
So, how you mantain alive a market that gives you much less for much more effort? By having a fixed income. If pc gaming can give software houses not a one-time block of money but a continued stream of revenue, then they will support it.
From this, come logically: no! continue to make MMorpg! no matter if they are crappy like hell, I want pc gaming to survive
Ok, now I'm exagerating, but i hope you saw my point.
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
What are MUDs???
hey were basically the first generation mmorpg's, almost entirely text based
It doesn't bother me that more MMO's are popping up all the time. The more MMO's fighting for my entertainment dollar the merrier.
I disagree that there hasn't been good MMO's created, although IMO the best fantasy based MMO's were the first generation games like UO and AC. But they were dumbed down because they didn't fit into a mainstream game where players want more instant gratification and don't want complex detail oriented games full of intricacy. Money talks.
All MMOG's I've played in the last few years (other than Eve Online) are based on the Amusement Park principle. That is all the mobs you fight are placed in various parts of the game world and are meant to be a part of a path geared to advancing a character into the next part of the Amusement Park until you reach the end-game. The best equipment is chosen for you all along the way. Everyone wants his epic armor or that uber weapon.
I'd like to see more MMOG's that work on the Sandbox Principle where the game is open-ended. The path you decide to take in the game is entirely up to you and it is more important to specialize and no matter what choice you make, it has its weaknesses to where there is no ultimate uber weapon or armor and therefore no true end-game. The only game that fits this bill is Eve Online.
MMOG's are past the introductory phase of their part of the gaming industry and IMO are in a growing market, albeit slowly, and haven't reached maturity yet. This means there is room for new ambitious developers to enter the market. I hope that more games are made with the Sandbox model of MMOG. But only time will tell.
Having had a whole day since I posted this, I've calmed down a bit and come to a conclusion about why MMORPGs in general are poor and why developers should probably think twice about making them. I think that there has to be fundamental change in the way that MMORPGs are designed. We've been approaching these games in the same way that we would an FPS, RTS or single-player RPG. However, MMORPGs have a component that those games don't have right out of the gate: COMMUNITY.
Most people that play MMORPGs, almost to the exclusion of all else, do so becuase they like the community of this or that game. Gameplay actually takes a backseat to interacting with the people that play the game. The reason we can't continue to make MMORPGs the way that we have been is because you can't design a community in the same way that you can design an area, monster or item. We've taken the "amusement park" model when we should've been thinking about them as nightclubs or recreation centers. Yes, there is a difference. WoW is like Disneyland while Second Life is like a combination of ShagNasty's and the local YMCA. There is a huge difference.
Now I'm not saying that we should let the players build and code the world in the same way that Second Life does. What I am saying is that we need to make MMORPGs as virtual spaces for social interaction as well as competition and theme. Think about an SCA event, everyone is in costume (though rarely in character) and all the activities revolve around the theme (medival living). There are great big battles and politiking, there's a feast and a dance and all kinds of homebrew alchohol floating around. The key here is that the people at the event are free to choose what activities they participate in.
However before you go thinking that I'm all about sandboxes, remember that they won't always come if you build it. Just cause I put up a great hangout, doesn't mean anyone's going to use it. It also doesn't mean that I'll attract the crowd that I want. When I start without the community, I'm stuck catering to whatever crowd shows up, like it or not. I think that developers need to figure out how to grow communities properly before releasing the game. We also have to know how to maintain a community so that we don't alienate most of our audience, ah la SWG.
Bottom line is, you just can't build a community in the same way as a game. Before you even sit down to think about what kind of killer MMORPG you want to make, you need to consider the community that you're trying to build. You need to ask yourself what you'll need to keep that communities interest. I think that you need to pay more attention to the community than the design document. If you know your target group, the game will fall into place. If you just start with a game, it's gonna die a horrible, screaming death.
Everyone wants a piece of the subscription model. Annuity revenues are highly desirable.
You will see this trend continue to spread, and it will spread to many more areas than just a "MMOG" on a computer or console.
Oh, so just because MMOs don't meet everyone's standards right now means developers should give up? Bullshit. People only get better at something through practice and persistence. Quitting is for losers.
*~~ One winged Angel