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What about Sci-Fi
justinh2007
Member Posts: 27
Will there ever be a game in the Sci-fi MMo picture, that was as astonishing as SWG pre NGE, or will the Sci -Fi genre slip back into darkness to let medieval fantasy take over?
May the force be with you
Comments
Believe it or not, there was once a time when there were more science fiction books and movies than fantasy books and movies. Walk into a used bookstore sometime and check out the sci-fi / fantasy / horror section. You'll notice that before 1985, the bulk of speculative fiction was sci-fi with horror coming in second and fantasy titles being represented by Conan and Elric. Only recently has the order shifted so that fantasy is on top with sci-fi second and horror dead last.
I personally think that this is due to a cultural backlash against technology. People generally despise things that they are completely dependent upon and over the last twenty or so odd years, our reliance on technology has skyrocketed. Watch a few hours of TV and you'll notice more references to nature and environmental concerns. Not all of that is politically motivated. A lot of this new emphasis has to do with people being uncomfortable with technology that they feel is becoming to intrusive.
The end result is a post modern curiosity with pre-industrial societies. The idea of living without some modern conveniences is beyond most of us, so we replace modern technology with magic and viola! Of course, we keep the magic significantly less intrusive than modern technology, but that's really the long and the short of it.
Personally, I would love a well done science fiction MMO that allowed you to go venture around planetside as well as run your own space truckin' business.
firstly EVE is definatly a big player in the sci-fi MMO market (probly the best one out atm)
i think the reason why there has been a lack of Sci-fi MMO's is MMOFPS are new and many sci-fi settings are basically designed for FPS. maybe if Tabula Rasa and Huxley succeed then more Sci-fi based MMO's will be released.
on a side note Warhammer 40k MMO has been announced bringing one of the biggest Sci-Fi worlds to the MMO market (looking at a 2009 release...probly 2010).
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
There was one before EA killed it stone dead in the form of "Earth & Beyond." Encompassed most of what people want from a Sci-Fi game in that you had a good variety of characters, decent crafting system, flying down to planets (limited i know, but still) and walking around stations interacting with other players. Towards the end it was run down a lot by EA and lost a lot of credability from it's original Westwood days, but although it lacked the polish and depth of EvE it was still the best accessible sci-fi MMO in my opinion.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Unfortunately i never had the chance to try e&b but i really wish someone would bring out a mmo based around elite, whilst eve is ok the introduction of cap ship's and soverenty is slowly destroying the game
Although it's important in terms of game design, it only has about 200k subs, so not that much compared with fantasy MMORPGs.
Although it's important in terms of game design, it only has about 200k subs,
Unfortunately a large number of those are the inevitable isk farmers as well
The real problem with Sci-Fi games (excluding the first Neocron) is that they are essentially the exact same games as the fantasy side of MMOs.
Yes, there are some differences, such as armors, textures, general language and theme, and in sci-fi you tend you have a great deal more ranged damage, but in essence, sci-fi and fantasy offer the same gameplay.
And the problem with that is that sci-fi doesn't appeal to the same amount of people. The people who play MMOs now are happier with dragons and knights than they are with scientists (mad or otherwise) and assassins using snipers because the latter hits too close to home, isn't as good looking (it is extremely hard to have a GOOD looking avatar in a sci-fi game. Weird, freakish looking, sure, but not that impressive most of the time).
Check out the player base for things like sims, second life, and so on. Looks matter to people. So do familiar scenarios and a sense of detatchement from reality.
What Sci-Fi is supposed to be good at is innovation and breaking away from the norm. But in the areas where it actually matters (Both gameplay and game-world design) fantasy and sci-fi are almost carbon copies of each other. There still isn't enough innovation on the sci-fi side of things for most players to want to switch.
Just how I see it.
[Begin Sarcasm]
Girls don't use the internet unless theres a webcam involved....its a physical impossibility.
They also don't play them thar vidya gaymes, mmorpg = most men online role play girls...even in ventrillo.
-kyte317
Although it's important in terms of game design, it only has about 200k subs, so not that much compared with fantasy MMORPGs.
SWG topped out at roughly 300k and held steady at that number for about a year before the CU was ever released if I recall correctly, and that was a -STAR WARS- MMO. EVE has consistently been rising in subscriptions since its release. Considering EVE was largely a niche game for so long, and an original concept by CCP instead of an IP, they've done fairly well for themselves and will likely be around for a long time to come.
Also, just think of how many fantasy MMOs there are compared to Sci-Fi MMOs. It's safe to say that the majority of people -are- fantasy fans more-so than sci-fi fans. So what relevance does your post have? Even when SWG was in its prime, 300k isn't much compared to the former subscription rates of EQ1, FFXI, and now WoW. Regardless of how many subs it has, in the sci-fi genre EVE is doing an amazing job.
How exactly are they destroying the game thats still steadilly growing in subscriber numbers then?
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
Because pvp is no fun anymore, the servers cant handle the blob warfare which means you get lagged to %$#@ and desynched and ccp's answer to this was to bring in cyno jammers which have so many hitpoint's the only way you can kill them is to bring a even bigger blob of battleship's
, pirateing is just a shadow of it's former self in ever patch they have introduced since i have been playing they introduced nerf after nerf to this profesion. The pve within the game get's old just doing the sameold sameold missions time after time.
Well your loss i suppose.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
I would like to think that there will be a resurgence in Sci-fi genre. I believe the fantasy genre has flooded the market. Eventually I believe that fantasy genre will wind down (although not to 0) and another genre will come up. I also think that it has to do with popular culture. Right now the general public are riding high from the LOTR and Pirates movies...leading to an increased interest in these types of games. One good sci-fi movie series (and I mean GOOD, not the crap movies we've been fed of late) and I wager you will see a lot of people looking, demanding and flocking to SCI-FI genre games.
Torrential
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
fallen earth. not exactly the type of sci-fi you talk about but still it's the only thing on the horizon. many swg elements like deep crafting,player driven economy,skill points instead of classes, etc.
Well, iv'e looked at the fallen earth website and previews, however the game looks like total crap.Sorry when i think of Sci-Fi i think of space battles or hovercrafts or sumthing, what i dont think about is post-apocolyptic grand-canyon.
May the force be with you
They may not have space ships or alians but Post Apoc stuff is considered Sci-fi.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
May the force be with you
Well, STO and Stargate Worlds are both on the (distant) horizon, and they have a decidedly Sci-Fi orientation about them.
Rumors of a couple of secret projects including Warhammer 40K are also around.
Sci fi needs just one big hit of a game and the genre will take off..... (heck, even EVE may help with this if they can implement the player avatars well)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Yea i cant wait till player avitars come out for eve.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
STO i dont know thats a maybe just because i dont know if i would get into it(mainly i'm a star wars fan). Stargate i think i would like if the gameplay was decent i would to have another Sci-Fi game with a player based economy
May the force be with you
But check youtube gameplay videos and your perception might change.
I too am watching that game with interest.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
Stargate is being based off a pretty notorious engine.
If you've ever heard of "Dark and LIght" you might have heard of the engine. Big World.
So excuse me if I don't hold my breath waiting for SG to rock the market to its knees.
[Begin Sarcasm]
Girls don't use the internet unless theres a webcam involved....its a physical impossibility.
They also don't play them thar vidya gaymes, mmorpg = most men online role play girls...even in ventrillo.
-kyte317
BigWorld had nothing to do with DnL's failure. It was a very capable engine put into fools' hands.
SciFi Problem: I think its about imagination. Today we all know what SciFi would look like. It is hard to create s SciFi world that is truly new. Laser guns, evil aliens, space ships, colonization, AIs etc. are old. Most SciFi products only contain these elements. You simply will not see new stuff when buying a SciFi game/film. The next problem is that SciFi has to follow logic. There is no magic, no mystery, no unexpected turns. The future is about calculating everything, following logic rule sets and efficiency.
Fantasy on the other hand is less predictable and easy to connect to. Magic = mystery. No rules, no reasoning. If you want to play something with an open unknown ending you will play a fantasy game. The next thing is that player role archetypes are more diverse in fantasy games. Tank, healer, dps, utility is all possible in fantasy games. In SciFi games you would expect everyone to have guns. No destinction in player roles. Tank in SciFi ? unreasonable. Healer? How without magic healing?
Just try to do this: Create a SciFi scenario without humans fighting evil aliens with laser guns and spaceships...right.
---
Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I wouldn't be star trek.. too much baggage
Babylon 5 maybe.. but the licensing would be nearly impossibly
Battlestar Galactica just doesn't lend itself to it,
Stargate while possibly, there is a game coming out and frankly its looking like they are going the route of SWG in that they are picking a time frame from within existing cannon that leaves them no wiggle room
The 2 I'm thinking of that would be fantastic are
Serenity/Firefly - sci fi meets old west.. there is an unexplored genre of MMO's the western
My final pick would be FARSCAPE, different empires at war, independents, lots of technology, lots of fantastical races.. and you'd be hard pressed to destroy the storyline of the television series/movies. If anything its a fantastic setting with fantastic growth potential.
up to you guys but those are the ones I see. Hmm sci-fi western MMO.... there's something I think I'd like to see.