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The direction MMORPGs should take
Waffleton
Member Posts: 41
MMORPGs are truly taking the wrong direction, and they have been for a long time. They have the most potential for a truly revolutional gaming experience, and yet time after time we are plagued with the exact same game, only with a different title and different races. Just about every commercial MMORPG on the market today is, essentially, an EQ clone. Why? Because we all know EQ does phenomonally well (which is beyond me, considering it is the most boring MMORPG I've ever played, and I play a lot of MMORPGs).
And because of this, I find myself constantly doing the same thing over and over again. Kill, loot, kill, loot, ding, rinse, repeat. This is truly a miserable experience, yet an addictive one. Everybody wants to be the best, so they waste their time doing whatever it takes to get there, even if it is a repetitive prodedure. And behold, the industry gets revenue from it. And there are others who want a peace of the pie, and will follow the same methods to get their share. Thus, we find the market bombarded with lousy clones, hoping to addict hapless gamers for profit.
The MMORPG industry needs a true visionary to pull the industry out of this sinkhole. Lets face it, the market isn't progressing, it is stagnating.
I for one would like to see an MMORPG that boldy breaks the frigid rules established by commercial MMORPGs, and switch to a new philosophy. Instead of making an MMORPG for the revenue, start making them the integrity of the game.
Comments
Ever notice how games from like 1982 came with all kinds of neat stuff with them and were full of content, and now in today's games we get graphics and that's about it?
The reason being that content dosn't make the industry any money, boring repetitive tasks do. I would love to see a game break the trend, however it'll be a long time before anyone considers making a game for anything other then the money because most people are in their respective businesses to make money.
It all depends on what you mean by taking the wrong direction. From the point of view of the companies behind them the current style of MMPORPG's is gaining a huge audience and making big bucks, so it's definitely not the wrong direction for them.
Hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people now play these games with varying degrees of pleasure (or in some cases devotion, which definitely isn't the same thing) so it's not the wrong direction for them.
Nope, it's just thee, me and a few other (thousand) dissolutioned souls who aren't happy with the way things are. There are two ways that can be changed - band together and make an MMPORPG which does supply whatever it is we're after, or convince the powers that be that there is enough money to be made out of us for it to be worth their while creating something - predators only go where there is prey.
Because there's less of us than the masses who will buy EQII and WoW, then they would have to be able to create this dream MMPORPG of ours for substantially less outlay of cash than it does to create other MMPORPGs, or we'll all have to sign contracts in blood saying we'll pay £30/mth for it when it's released.
I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that I'm actually expecting too much from an MMPORPG, which is, after all, just another form of entertainment. I seem to have this flashing sign in my head saying "MMPORPGs, what a great idea" when in reality they're just not what I'm looking for.
Now all that cynical depressive junk is out of my system, I am actually looking forward to Face of Mankind, and am holding a candle for Dark and Light as well. Reclamation looks interesting from a "something different" point of view, for those of us who want the moon on a stick (role playing & eye candy combined!), and at the end of the day, even EQII and WoW will be what the players make it as much as what Sony and Blizzard set up.
WoW is definatly going in the wrong direction, it looks like everyother EQ clone out there and all you warcraft/blizzard fanbois are falling for their ploy of wrapping up EQ in a nice little warcraft package.
i think EQ2 is taking a new direction, and face of mankind kinda, but UXO is taking the most innovative steps in the MMORPG market.
Games like EQ lack a purpose. You need to have the abilty to build cities, kingdoms etc.
Shadowbane is the only game that has this now. Guilds can build cities, form nations and destroy enemy cities. Also, there is an incredible amount of different ways to make your character. But Shadowbane is lacking in other areas. Boring GVG, no real crafting,no quests,its buggy,and has dated graphics.
The game I'm looking forward to is DarkAndLight. It has plenty of lands to conquer, and seems to have everything else as well.
Others games that look promising are Mourning, and Dragon Empires. Darkfall looks good too but that looks to be a long way off.
Repetitive stuff to do over and over again is a temporary solution to keep your players busy on the limited content you put in.
Raiding goes the same way for those company and luckily for me, I cant stand a raid in my zone.
If I was a dog...Content is meat, farming is a big juicy bone, raiding for me is like the feather of the prey, yet, for some folks, it seem appealing or acceptable, I guess if I was starving, I would accept it, but I am rather a big dog then a starving dog so for the feathers... As long as I dont have to caught on some feathers, I really dont care, yet, if the best juicy part of a bone(best loot hehe) are under some feathers I need to chew, I go find something else, some of the nicest preys(others games that are not necessarily RPGs) dont have feathers and as long as the MMORPG stick to feather, they can forget me.
Repetitive stuff is fine as long as it is not the main course of the game(bones alone dont feed a dog, yet a dog can stick to bones and actually kinda starve without really realizing it...) and the game need to be builded on something more...EQ did fine for me for a long time, I was bored with all the games on the market, thereby starving and feathers where not looking that bad back then, but now, still catching up on all those games!
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You want to know why most MMORPG's are following the same trend? Because we are willing to play it. Seriously, excluding EQ of course, look at some of the top subscriber MMORPG's out there. Most of them are all EQ clones. It's not their fault, it's ours. If we want the MMORPG market to change, we are going to have to develop a dis-interest in these EQ clones, which obviously there aren't enough people who are tired of these EQ clones. So there's not much developers can do, I mean why would they change if they already have a great base in front of them? Think of it in business terms, that's they way you have to think, companies aren't going to make a game JUST to suit the "integrity" of the genre, they have to make a profit, whether you like it or not.
New PR rep for the North American Version of RYL
www.planetwidegames.com
I truly believe that WoW has nothing to offer but a Warcraft setting. Other than that, it is a complete EverQuest clone, which dissapoints me greatly.
I really want to see a game that truly redefines the genre. A lot of developers claim to do this, but are essentially making more of the same for profit. They believe that If it works, why change it?
My fondest memories of MMORPG gaming was Ultima Online, before UO:R (which utterly ruined the game). It was so promising, so innovative, so creative. Anything and everything was fair game, and the players truly created a unique community and experience. Nowadays, the developers are making the community for you, in an attempt to pamper as many suscribers as possible to make more money. All of the games follow strict and rigid rules that make the MMORPG seem more like a pay-to-play single-player game with the occasional party and player trade. The economy is regulated, the players are regulated, the environment is regulated, and it leaves nothing left for the players themselves to develop.
Freeform MMORPGs like UO are gone, which is very unfortunate, and its because of what Darkman said that its happening. I like many of you others are very dissapointed with WoW because it is so lacking in innovation, it really is just an Everquest clone but there are so many people out there who think blizzard is so great that they automatically assume that it will be the best game ever when really its going to be a big let down.
I would love to see a company go and create a game like UO that is a true MMO[b]RP[/b]G where players have direct control over nearly everything in the game.
I think that the MMORPG world is going thru some pretty sweet evolutions. check out UXO. that looks damn good. check this out.
Ultima X Odissey:
* Odyssey Adventure System: Virtue quests that bring the adventure to you!
* Fast paced strategic combat: Interactive combat that allows you to control every move.
* Intelligent items: Items that level and grow with your character.
* Master the Virtues and ascend: Master all eight Virtues and ascend to the level of the Avatar!
* One-on-one gladiatorial dueling: Make private wagers and battle for supremacy in consensual player vs. player duels.
* Guild versus Guild battles: Defend your guilds reputation in grand-scale battles in private areas.
And Now to Answer the Questions u will be asking:
How Much is the Monthly Fee?
If you subscribe to either Ultima Online or Ultima X: Odyssey, the rates* are as follows:
* $12.99 each month
* $34.99 every three months (about $11.66 per month)
* $59.99 every six months (about $9.99 per month)
Will UXO be a level based game?
In UXO, your character will grow in levels as they gain experience through combat, but it's nowhere near the traditional level-based system you've seen before. While levels are important in UXO, our goal is to make a game that doesn't always revolve around watching an experience bar or counting the necessary kills until your next level.
In UXO, your level will determine which weapons you can use, since many weapons will have character level requirements. And in order to ascend, which is the ultimate form of advancement in Ultima X: Odyssey, there will be certain levels youll need to reach. However, levels will not determine your characters stats and skills. As you fight, youll gain skill and stat points, which you can use to learn whichever abilities, or raise whichever stats you choose and you dont have to wait until you hit a level to do it!
Will UXO have a unique style?
Ultima X: Odyssey takes place in a rich fantasy setting, and we believe the art style should reflect exactly that fantasy. Amidst vibrant, highly detailed landscapes and environments, weve chosen an exaggerated, high fantasy-style for our character models and landmarks, creating a colorful and unique world that will feel anything but ordinary.
(the above are copy and pastes from the site. for more visit the website)
http://www.uxo.ea.com
Looks Pretty sweet to me guyz.
~Limzaroth~
___________________________
~Limzaroth~
The problem is that the public at large are never going to change. They want something now and arent prepared to wait until something comes along, thus they buy the current crap even if they arent that satisfied with it. And even worse are those who are actually satisfied with it.
This is the same in music, car manufacturing and almost any other major industry today. The only time you get some innovation is when a small company are trying to challenge the big boys, they will bring out a good game first of all. Then once they are established they will go back to the 'formula' and start producing to make money like the current generation of manufacturers.
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***It was decided early on that Matrix Online would not contain any soup due to lack of spoons.***
***It was decided early on that Matrix Online would not contain any soup due to lack of spoons.***
The controls within MMORPG's are not the issues, and also there are hundreds of single player games out there which people do not have a problem picking up and understanding.
Users would not really have too much of a problem if we changed the rules, maybe they would have to read the rulebook however.
Myself i would favour a rulebook the size of the D&D handbook, with hundreds of little intricacies etc all having a major effect on your character. So much so that if you dont understand the game properly you could seriously screw up your character at creation.
I think the harder games are to learn and play (without being so hard you come to a standstill and cant do anything as in some single player games) the better. Instead of clicking and having stuff done for you you should have to think about how to do everything.
And there also needs to be a lot more to do than fight or craft. Yes they are the basis of the world, and should play a major part, but people do much more than that, and it should be reflected in the games.
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***It was decided early on that Matrix Online would not contain any soup due to lack of spoons.***
***It was decided early on that Matrix Online would not contain any soup due to lack of spoons.***
I think this learning curve stuff is hardly true. If you have a good development team, with juicy graphics and an actually ORIGINAL concept and amazing features that'll reel players in, people will be willing to learn the most insane stuff. I know I've walked through hell and high water for some good games before.
heh. I don't believe original concepts Exist, so...
Regardless, there's no need for a revolution (no major dissatisfaction) so that's not going to happen... but many people have mentioned evolution and basically, baby steps, which are likely and even occuring, but again, no revolution (no need).
What makes widescale change even less likely is that no solution has been offered. There are thousands of players who believe the grinding system to be boring but very few of us have any ideas on alternatives. I, personally, have yet to hear of an idea that solves as many problems as the boring oppressive grinding system. Not one idea that deals with players of all types and can be balanced with simple change of variables.
When that solution comes, you'll have a good shot at a revolutionary mmo... until then, we can either suffer or go find something else to do...
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