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Are MMOs evolving or are they at a standstill?
ravenshroud
Member UncommonPosts: 40
I think that in general a lot of mmo gamers are very dissatisfied by the lack of evolution in our genre. It seems companies are making the same mistakes over and over again:
1) Limited class / role systems
2) Arbitrary economies
3) Arbitrary conflict
4) Static quest lines
5) Lack of ability to create / destroy the environment: buildings, towns, kingdoms
6) Lack of intrigue and drama that comes from P&P games
7) Lack of dev / player communications
Is someone going to step forward?
Do we need a Eureka moment to get past this?
Not one game created or in the works that I have read about breaks the mold. Are we doomed to the dumbed-down wow, the empty Vanguard, the same old EQ? Where are the 3rd generation games?
Who will bite the bullet and get us there?
Comments
I agree with you there. The MMORPG market is stagnating and these new games that are coming out are not really bringing anything new to the table. I would say that out of the bunch, maybe Age of Conan and Chronicles of Spellborn are the only games that have some innovation, at least in terms of combat.
RIght now, a lot of developers are trying for the WoW approach because that is what worked for Blizzard. The only problem is that Blizzard already had a fairly popular game universe to create their game about, while most of the other developers do not.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Though I do wish for something different.
You must be kidding here. We have at least five games that completely break the mold:
These games are nothing like the old Everquest, WoW, EQ2, Vanguard, etc. Not only that, but Eve Online is completely different. Even Hellgate London is different with no subscription model and FPS elements. Also, Guild Wars does not have any competition. It is unique.
You may not like those games but each one represents innovation.
AoC and WAR follow the same old model; yes. Maybe those are the ones you are referring to.
Tabula Rasa is only different because it's sci-fi. It's essentially the same stuff. Fury... well, yeah it's different alright. It's so different that I couldn't even force myself through more than an hour of it. I will try PotBS, but I don't have much faith in enjoying it due to the extreme use of instancing. Guild Wars isn't an MMO. Spellborn has quite a few good things going for it, but I don't anticipate a release until 2009 at the earliest.
Huxley I haven't done any research on, so I can't comment.
The four games with the potential to break the mold right now, are Age of Conan, Darkfall, Chronicles of Spellborn and Aion, in that order.
My blog:
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Strayfe/
Generally, I am pretty happy with the direction the MMORPGs are evolving. Of course, there are also some things I do not like. What is important to me may not be important to others.
To answer your list specifically.
1. I am a little tired of the same old classes. I would not only like to see some new original classes, but I would also like to see every class has multiple roles.
2. Economics have never been much of a factor in my gameplay. However, I am well aware that a lot of people do enjoy it. Just keep in mind that it is hard to do much with only 4000 people on a server. When it comes to economics the larger the sample size, the better.
3. I like games with meaningful and believable lore. As long as the conflict is well grounded in the lore (and not made up on the spot), I am happy.
4. I like dynamic quests as well. However, it comes to a point that developers have to consider efficiency. If they take the time to make every single quest incredibly dynamic, they might not have the time to do other things. They have to balance their effort out. I think I would like to see the quest that are real important to the game or lore (keystone quests if you will) be dynamic. The normal day-to-day quests don't really need to be. I don't want the wasting time making a dynamic quest that no one ever uses.
5. This is not really all that important to me. I mean it is nice, but it is not something I would demand. If asked my opinion, I would advise a developer that this feature is not something they have to ship with.
6. Lore intrique is something I like. If the lore is well written, it can hold many surprises. However, I do not like drama. I get enough drame in my real life, I do not need it in my recreational activities. I play MMORPGs because I do not want to watch network dramas, reality TV, or Jerry Springer. One of the reasons that I did not like EVE was because there was too much coorporation drama.
7. Yeah, this is a problem. I hate it when companies decide not to even have official forums. It's like they are not even trying.
One thing that is important to me and that I like in the evolution of MMORPGs is the opening of gameplay to different playstyles. I like the fact that the big games are embracing many different playstyles in their game model. I like to play many different playstyles. Raiding, grouping, soloing, RvR PVP, Objective based PVP, and FFA PVP are all things I enjoy. I hate it when a game will only allow you to do one or maybe two of them.
Another thing I like in the evolution of the genre is the demand for polished and finished products. I don't mind a few bugs or a missing tail, but some games seem to have no shame.
One thing I do not like is that games are starting to get a little shallower. This is a trend that I believe needs to be reversed. I don't mind having a little shallow content in games (there are days where I want to veg out and not pay much attention either), but the entire game doesn't need to be shallow and trivial.
I also think some of the games have too many quests. They have become too common place. Make the quests longer, more rewarding, and more involved and you will not need as many.
"Those who dislike things based only on the fact that they are popular are just as shallow and superficial as those who only like them for the same reason."
While many people think they are at a standstill, I still support the statement that they are evolving. We wouldn't even try some of the stuff games are putting out now, a decade ago. We are trying new mechanics in games and new sub-genres for MMORPGs themselves. We have pirate mmo, fantasy mmos, fps mmos, tps mmos, low fantasy mmos.
Improving on old ideas and adding new ones. This is a slow process but it is not at a standstill.
MMO evolution ended with wow. $ = natural selection. Variation in a species obviously doesn't matter a damn.
I think they're evolving in some areas and de-evolving in others.
More polish and less grind...
Less depth and complexity...
If you look at other genres, they have the same pattern really.
I.e. fps: Wolfensttein 3d and Duke nukem started and then it toped at quake and unreal and then it pretty much stood still.... (Well Half Life beeing the exception confirming the rule. ;p ) Same really for rpgs...
Not really a suprise if you look at it from a broader perspective.
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a wounded man shall say to his assailant:
"If I live, I will kill you, If I die, you are forgiven."
Such is the Rule of Honor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
Right now the MMO market is stagnate, but I expect it will get a kick in the butt as the technology behind MMOs becomes easier to acquire, and down right free (FOSS) to use.
-- Brede
Actually i think its neither. Its getting a bit worse. Game companies rehashing others ideas. Some of them crashing badly (see vanguard).
But sooner or later it will get better... question is who's going to break the mold?
"Do not fret! Your captain is about to enter Valhalla!" - General Beatrix of Alexandria
"The acquisition of knowledge is of use to the intellect, for nothing can be loved or hated without first being known." - Leo da Vinci
Look for some independent projects to start up in 2008. You should be blown away from mold breaking concepts, for me at least when people spout off the list at the moment, there is very little that leaves my jaw agape.
I figure the major change in the market will take place in 2010-2012, where looking back and comparing anything out or slated for release will look ridiculously mediocre in comparison.
If every square inch of the concept doesn't floor you, it really isn't worthy of being called evolution.
- Burying Threads Since 1979 -
MMORPG development and evolution does not happen by leaps and bounds. Each new game improves slightly on the one before. People expect a "next generation" game to somehow be a fantastic ly different. Well, I say expect steady progress, but no quantum leaps
Torrential
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
we have gone backwards ... and its all WoWs fault. Yes you heard me it's all WoWs fault. Games were finally starting to move away from basic classes and allowing alot more freedom and more things to do than just "raid or quit".
And then WoW came along and its simplistic class structure and hardcore raiding was seen as the right way to go because of its huge numbers. So now you see many games try to emulate WoW by having simplistic classes and huge endgame raids for uber gear.
QFT
Evolution is slow. It is absolutely evolving, but you have to look at a 5-10 year arc to see how this occurs.
I play EVE, ive beta tested PotBS, AO, TS, the list goes on... But I can say developers learn from other companies mistakes. To be honest, im looking forward to Warhammer Online and Huxley.
The MMO market is continuing to evolve, but you have to look beyond the mainstream games to really see it.
As for the above poster, I think Warhammer is going to be a pretty big step forward, but until it's released we won't know for sure. Warhammer vs WoW now is in a very similar position to WoW vs EQ a few years ago, I wouldn't be suprised if there wasn't a big shift, at least in the US and European markets.
I don't understand where everyone is getting the idea that all games that come out from now until the end of time will be WoW clones and nothing will be new and innovative. There is one game that has anything remotely similar to WoW that has came out or is being developed and that is Warhammer which Warcraft stole so much from in the first place it only makes since. Warcraft was initially pitched to be a game made for the Warhammer IP but was rejected. I think it just spawns from peoples hatred toward WoW. However these same people once loved WoW. It's impossible to find someone who hates it likes this unless they played it for thousands of hours. There is something to be said in that.
Games that are coming out and being developing are breaking the mold into twitch based combat, new styles, new fantasy settings, new graphics, and new experiences. Games take a few years to develop and WoW just happens to be an amazing game compared to others. New games will come out and people will play them. Try not to play them so much that you hate them.
Take this test: Take your best friend and spend 80 hours a week with them and then tell the world how much you hate them in a few months.
Game devs have been resonding to the mass amount of players that wanted more activities for there guilds/clans.Then they responded once again to the masses that wanted more PVP in there MMO games.The problem devs have found is that they havn't put enough thought int PVP ,therefore leaving alot of players asking for more.So i think right now DEVS are stuck trying to figure out how to better develop PVP into there games.Right now it is as simple as most asking for skill stats rather than levels.The other common want is more player customization.So right now that is all games are willing to spend time on,unfortunately it doesn't allow games to move forward.
I have already seen players posting on there fave game about how great the player customization is!Wow!if that is all you have to say about your game ,then that game needs serious help,or as a player you have some petty wants.PLayers need to get past there petty wants and start demanding games to deliver ALOT of content.So much content that players don't have to bore themselves level grinding/raiding or camping drops 24/7.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.