Current (sick) trend with MMOs

magdalene08 · June 2008

I think there's a disturbing stuff going on with MMOs nowadays. Here are some that I can think off at the moment. For me..these are sickening to some extend..

1. Developers tend to focus more on the graphics rather than the game itself ; value of replayability

2. Based on #1, games are most of the times ridden with bugs and instability (Age of Conan, Rohan and Hellgate London comes to mind)

3. Based on #1, players HAVE to upgrade their system just for the sake of playing it

4. Most MMOs depicting female characters with big breasts and half naked costumes for games developed for the general audience and players (unless rated 'M', like AOC)

5. Encouraging youngsters to spend money pointlessly.

6. Inserting into youngsters's mentality that high level characters and big sum of money in any games makes you a somebody, and not school grades which should have been focused on.

What say you? Am I just thinking too much?

Nightsorrow · June 2008

Well I won't talk about school grades since this is entertainment, balance work and entertainment by oneself.

But current sick trend =

Extreme graphic: graphic, of coz the nicer the better, but more important about MMORPG is the amount of player base, so acceptable is enough, let more people being able to play.

Instanced: reduce server and client load, yet reduce the fun of an ever changing, interactive, unexpectable MMORPG outdoor world too.

Soul bound: no more trying to get an item without doing it yourself (especially hacking/real money trading except getting the whole account), but come on trading is always fun...

End game: the game should be enjoyable start from first time logging in, it is reasonable for the later experience to be greater, but it shouldn't have the feeling of "finishing" the game (and have to wait until patch/expansion), because MMORPG isn't suppose to be finished.

Pre-defined / linear: do this quest do that quest get max level then raid this then raid that..............

NeeAnderTall · June 2008

It sounds like your views on sick trends in MMO's parallels underage smoking.

1. Developers tend to focus more on the graphics rather than the game itself ; value of replayability

Tobacco Execs focus on eye-catching graphics to lure underage attention to their product, not the quality.

2. Based on #1, games are most of the times ridden with bugs and instability (Age of Conan, Rohan and Hellgate London comes to mind)

The quality of the tobacco seems to be ridden with unknown health hazards attributed to causing addition to tobacco with good graphics.

3. Based on #1, players HAVE to upgrade their system just for the sake of playing it.

Underaged customers have to upgrade their ID someday just to continue the habit.

4. Most MMOs depicting female characters with big breasts and half naked costumes for games developed for the general audience and players (unless rated 'M', like AOC).

Tobacco Execs know how to target their adds, boobs for the boys, and reciprocal fashion statements for the girls.

5. Encouraging youngsters to spend money pointlessly.

Tobacco Execs encouraging younsters to spend money pointlessly.

6. Inserting into youngsters's mentality that high level characters and big sum of money in any games makes you a somebody, and not school grades which should have been focused on.

Inserting into youngster's mentality that good looks and riches in any tobacco will make them a somebody, not school grades which should have been focused on.

Yeah, we both think too much.

Take heart. Lego Universe is due out in 2009. It will be hard to put big boobs in that game, unless you build them, of course.

There will always be a war between the hardware engineer and the software designer. Bigger, Better, it what has carried us this far. I would hate to see it stagnate.

Reklaw · June 2008

Originally posted by magdalene08

I think there's a disturbing stuff going on with MMOs nowadays. Here are some that I can think off at the moment. For me..these are sickening to some extend..
1. Developers tend to focus more on the graphics rather than the game itself ; value of replayability. Partialy i agree, partialy cause as a gamer for over 30+ years into games i like my eye's to look at "pretty" stuff, but at the same time i DO want a 50/50 relation between graphics and gameplay, so the part i do agree on that developers tend to slightly over-do it.
2. Based on #1, games are most of the times ridden with bugs and instability (Age of Conan, Rohan and Hellgate London comes to mind) I don't always like it but it comes from this territory in games, it's just simply a very young scene that still needs to grow and learn, but i have to admit instead we see developers take "babysteps" they try and make "giant" steps without perfecting the baby steps first.
3. Based on #1, players HAVE to upgrade their system just for the sake of playing it. Well honostly this is really nothing different that what ever game ever made, i can name tons of games that have evolved into higher system spec. Thats just the choice people CAN make, either be a gamer that understand that he or she will need to upgrade if he or she wants to continue this hobby but far most needs to understand that even the newest high end machine will not deliver the max qualtiy it's should be capable of producing, due to things like that being so new many things often need ot work out on many fronts, like drivers/update's/patches, or people need to simply accept that they will not always be able to play the newest games if they do NOT plan to upgrade their systems. I do not go to a Ferrari dealer and tell them i want to buy the newest model from them for the price i pay for my regular VW golf.
4. Most MMOs depicting female characters with big breasts and half naked costumes for games developed for the general audience and players (unless rated 'M', like AOC) Unfortunaly these products are MASS TARGETTED, just look at mass target product besides gaming, do we have a fair view on how people SHOULD look? If you really dislike it i would suggest not to use any product that might be mass targetted. It does not mean i like it this way cause i to would like to see a more honost reflections of people but again thats just how commercial things go.
5. Encouraging youngsters to spend money pointlessly. Only can say is people start to forget that everyone has a choice, how they use it is up to them and yes i know there are plenty of people "younsters" who lack any form of selfcontrol, but again we can not blame these games for that.
6. Inserting into youngsters's mentality that high level characters and big sum of money in any games makes you a somebody, and not school grades which should have been focused on. Sorry.......games are here for entertainment value not to teach our kids the value's of life for that we are/have parents, and if a younster is unable to seperate the two you have to ask yourself who to blame......certainly NOT the game now?

What say you? Am I just thinking too much?

magdalene08 · June 2008

Thanks for the eye-opening inputs.. But still, I don't like how they depict women and girls in MMOs.. How distasteful.. There is one wallpaper from Cabal Online showing a mage (I guess) putting her hand on her bosom in my opinion; quite alluring to the youngsters. That's quite disconcerting for me.

Airspell · June 2008

Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

Nightsorrow · June 2008

Originally posted by magdalene08

Thanks for the eye-opening inputs.. But still, I don't like how they depict women and girls in MMOs.. How distasteful.. There is one wallpaper from Cabal Online showing a mage (I guess) putting her hand on her bosom in my opinion; quite alluring to the youngsters. That's quite disconcerting for me.

And it has nothing to do with MMORPGs, TV show, movie, comic, other kinds of game whatever could have this issue as well, its just a general problem.

ladyattis · June 2008

That's why I love EVE. A chick and a dude have the same stats, just different costume choices. The same for CoX too.

-- Brede

Venger · June 2008

Originally posted by Airspell

Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

Go figure huh, people would much rather look at hot toons then ugly ones.

markoraos · June 2008

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by Airspell

Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

Go figure huh, people would much rather look at hot toons then ugly ones.

Dunno, I usually prefer to play butt-ugly lovable bastards tho

It probably has something to do with age I suppose... I'm long past puberty you see.

ladyattis · June 2008

Originally posted by markoraos
Originally posted by Venger
Originally posted by Airspell Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

Go figure huh, people would much rather look at hot toons then ugly ones.

Dunno, I usually prefer to play butt-ugly lovable bastards tho

It probably has something to do with age I suppose... I'm long past puberty you see.

You ever played AO? Because even in AO there are a few UGLYYYYYYYYYYYY faces you can choose for your toons and it's funny how some folks actually run with it, especially for the Atroxes. Sometimes ugly is better than hot if you're trying to portray a certain sort of character.

-- Brede

ladyattis · June 2008

Originally posted by zymurgeist
Sex sells and not just to youngsters. Western culture is saturated with it because it works.

Not on me. Then again I read Robert Heinlein, JRR Tolkien, and Ayn Rand over any of the newspaper any day. o_O

-- Brede

UbinusCol · June 2008

Originally posted by magdalene08

1. Developers tend to focus more on the graphics rather than the game itself ; value of replayability

Totally agree. At this point, my computer has high-enough specs to play any MMO that's been released before, but for AoC I'm just not sure. Soon enough, even my machine won't be that good.

2. Based on #1, games are most of the times ridden with bugs and instability (Age of Conan, Rohan and Hellgate London comes to mind)

I can't vouch for this, as I haven't bought a game in a while (but just got LOTRO and WOW). When I do get games, I get them at least 2-3 months after release date, so that they've been cleaned up decently.

3. Based on #1, players HAVE to upgrade their system just for the sake of playing it

Yea, that sucks. But I suppose you always have the option of going back to an earlier game with decent (though not the latest) graphics. I mean, unless you've played EVERY SINGLE popular MMO, you could try something older. Or just come back to the ones that you played. I still come back to Diablo 2 once in a while.

4. Most MMOs depicting female characters with big breasts and half naked costumes for games developed for the general audience and players (unless rated 'M', like AOC)

It's funny that you mentioned Rohan and then this, because I recently went on their main website, and the add at the top (with some CGI female fighter posing) conveys just this: every time she shifts, her breasts clearly follow a fraction of a second after, and then sort of shake out and stabilize once she's not moving. It's so funny, the way the made it so obvious

5. Encouraging youngsters to spend money pointlessly.

This I don't agree with. Whether or not spending money on games is pointless is up to individual preference, and is not pushed by the producing companies. You might as well go and rant on about how much you're against games and entertainment in general, as it has no utilitarian purpose.

6. Inserting into youngsters's mentality that high level characters and big sum of money in any games makes you a somebody, and not school grades which should have been focused on.

Similarly with this. In the game world, possessing a high-level character indicates commitment and experience (props), while the big sums of money indicate resourcefulness, intellect, and, again, commitment (major props). These stats may not be applicable to the real world, but that doesn't mean that they're not valid in respect to the gaming experience.

What say you? Am I just thinking too much?

I agree with you that if people want to be wholesome and productive ALL THE TIME, they shouldn't play videogames. If they want entertainment, playing MMOs is just as viable as watching a movie, watching sports on TV, reading, etc. It's all about choice.

Venger · June 2008

Originally posted by markoraos

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by Airspell

Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

Go figure huh, people would much rather look at hot toons then ugly ones.

Dunno, I usually prefer to play butt-ugly lovable bastards tho

It probably has something to do with age I suppose... I'm long past puberty you see.

No nothing to do with age you're just wierd.

laresloci · June 2008

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Sex sells and not just to youngsters. Western culture is saturated with it because it works.

Yeap, and all because of the fundies....and their twisted interpretations. Heck, I can't even walk into a store in Alabama and buy a "genital stimulation device"....where raw honest sexuality is a foreign language and homosexuality is considered a disease and where they lovingly allow sales of Viagra and Cialis and where they inject vats of Prozac and Xanax into their bodies alongside truckloads of deep-fried obesity-happy everything....I am rambling.....

Sovrath · June 2008

Originally posted by Airspell

Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

lol, yeah, I'm with you.

I'm sorry OP but I do think you are "thinking too much". First off, images Scantily Clad women and Buff men have been around for a VERY long time. I don't think you are too in tune with how long but just look at some of the images in the '20s for starters. Their sensibilites were slightly different but not too much.

Also, images of women and men dot more than the game landscape. TV, movies, magazines, etc. And why? Because it sells. People like to view attractive people.

The real issuse is not that this material is out there but how parents teach their children to view it. How they teach their children to treat others as well. I call it parenting ; )

I also see people complaining about gameplay but that is their taste. I have no problems with the gameplay of several recently released games. I think that comes down to either personal taste or nostalgia for some of the earlier games.

As far as bugs, I do recall a lot of games being released with bugs.. SWG, and UO come to mind. Shadowbane as well. Those aren't recent games. Bugs have always been there. However, when you get a company like Blizzard that tries to mitigate bugs as much as possible and tries to implement as much polish as possible, it sets the bar very high. I do applaud this and would of course love to see more game makers shoot for this lvl of completion in their games.

Jimmy_Scythe · June 2008

The graphics thing is about to come to and end because we've just about hit the limit of what can actually be done with hardware in real-time.

As for the exploitation of women...

First stop: Body image. I happen to dig big chicks. I specifically like pear shaped women. I know some guys that are into older women, various ethnic women, midgets or what have you. In video games, there's usually only one body type and two flavors of ethnicity when it comes to women. You either have anorexic white women or anorexic Asian women and that's pretty much it. Outside of blaxploitation games like 50 Cent Bulletproof and Def Jam, I can't think of any game that even has black or hispanic women portrayed. I think a little variety is called for folks.

As for sex itself, games are lagging waaaaaaayyyyyy behind other medium in the portrayal thereof. After all, no one thought that the sex in American Beauty was offensive despite references to masturbation, homosexuality and the sexual objectification of a 16 year old girl. The ingredient missing from games is class. There's a way of approaching sex tastefully and games have yet to actually do this. We're still at the level of Porky's.

Here, just watch this...

declaredemer · June 2008

Originally posted by magdalene08
1. Developers tend to focus more on the graphics rather than the game itself ; value of replayability

What say you? Am I just thinking too much?

I agree. I recently wrote the following:

The features that ruin MMORPGs:

Quest-grinding
Raid tiers for "gear"
PvP
Progress through boring, repetitive clicking (bots emerged as a result)
Combat that is stale
Dungeon crawls that are predictable (get-in, finish quest, get-out; hey, I like this dungeon; I want to stay here for a while)
Specialization (fire or ice wizard) instead of customization (complex combinations of fire and ice spells and character appearance and attributes)
Worlds that are cheap, generic, lifeless, and boring
Lack of fear, challenge (though punitive corpse runs, well, sucked then and now)
Lack of opportunities, events to foster zone-wide, server-wide progress (such as a dragon spawning in four parts of the earth, and their deaths in 3 hours results in a server-wide ability)

I want to be

Free

I want to have

Fun

I want the world to be

Fantastic

markoraos · June 2008

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by markoraos

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by Airspell

Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

Go figure huh, people would much rather look at hot toons then ugly ones.

Dunno, I usually prefer to play butt-ugly lovable bastards tho

It probably has something to do with age I suppose... I'm long past puberty you see.

No nothing to do with age you're just wierd.

Maybe, but I'd prefer to say I don't feel a need to compensate...

Venger · June 2008

Originally posted by markoraos

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by markoraos

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by Airspell

Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

Go figure huh, people would much rather look at hot toons then ugly ones.

Dunno, I usually prefer to play butt-ugly lovable bastards tho

It probably has something to do with age I suppose... I'm long past puberty you see.

No nothing to do with age you're just wierd.

Maybe, but I'd prefer to say I don't feel a need to compensate...

Conceded much? Yes, you are so HOT you don't need to compensate with your toons. WTH kind of goofy logic is that?

I guess people paint/sculpt/picture mostly beautiful men and women because they are such troll.

ianubisi · June 2008

Originally posted by magdalene08

1. Developers tend to focus more on the graphics rather than the game itself ; value of replayability

Not a new trend. It's been like that in the entire gaming industry since day one.

Originally posted by magdalene08

2. Based on #1, games are most of the times ridden with bugs and instability (Age of Conan, Rohan and Hellgate London comes to mind)

Not a new trend. Every MMO released (including World of Warcraft) was laced with bugs and major flaws. My lord, Ultima Online and EverQuest were nearly unplayable for the first few months.

Originally posted by magdalene08

3. Based on #1, players HAVE to upgrade their system just for the sake of playing it

Again...not a new trend. There are exceptions, of course, but most MMOG releases tend to push the envelope of system requirements. The same is true of the gaming industry as a whole, especially where FPS and 3D RTS games are involved.

Originally posted by magdalene08

4. Most MMOs depicting female characters with big breasts and half naked costumes for games developed for the general audience and players (unless rated 'M', like AOC)

Not a new trend. EverQuest featured a buxom blonde as its primary cover art. Almost every MMOG release has had similar marketing. This is not new.

Originally posted by magdalene08

5. Encouraging youngsters to spend money pointlessly.

Not a new trend. That's the aim of nearly every retail company on the planet. Why would you think this is somehow new?

Originally posted by magdalene08

6. Inserting into youngsters's mentality that high level characters and big sum of money in any games makes you a somebody, and not school grades which should have been focused on.

Not a new trend. This has always been the prevalent mentality of online gamers for as long as I can remember.

Originally posted by magdalene08

What say you? Am I just thinking too much?

I think you're simply recognizing the way the gaming industry is working and assuming (for some reason) that this is new. It's not new.

markoraos · June 2008

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by markoraos

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by markoraos

Originally posted by Venger

Originally posted by Airspell

Yah I'm sick of that too , how dare they portray women as hot, and guys as good lookig and athletic !!!! lol

Go figure huh, people would much rather look at hot toons then ugly ones.

Dunno, I usually prefer to play butt-ugly lovable bastards tho

It probably has something to do with age I suppose... I'm long past puberty you see.

No nothing to do with age you're just wierd.

Maybe, but I'd prefer to say I don't feel a need to compensate...

Conceded much? Yes, you are so HOT you don't need to compensate with your toons. WTH kind of goofy logic is that?

I guess people paint/sculpt/picture mostly beautiful men and women because they are such troll.

Lol man, can't you take a joke?

The point is that without variety there is no life. I stayed away from GW for example because pretty much all the characters there look like anorexic teen dolls. I'm sorry but a good work of fiction (and for the sake of argument let's say MMOs are such) has to have ugliness along with beauty, the bad along with the good.

What's wrong with unattractive but lovable/funny characters in fiction? Why should we all be elves? I always rooted for Gimli rather than Legolas and Sam rather than Frodo. I don't see what's your point really. If you want to play an anorexic 16 year old "elf" be my guest, I'll play my pudgy balding short dude with daggers and an attitude.

aleos · June 2008

Originally posted by magdalene08

I think there's a disturbing stuff going on with MMOs nowadays. Here are some that I can think off at the moment. For me..these are sickening to some extend..
1. Developers tend to focus more on the graphics rather than the game itself ; value of replayability
2. Based on #1, games are most of the times ridden with bugs and instability (Age of Conan, Rohan and Hellgate London comes to mind)
3. Based on #1, players HAVE to upgrade their system just for the sake of playing it
4. Most MMOs depicting female characters with big breasts and half naked costumes for games developed for the general audience and players (unless rated 'M', like AOC)
5. Encouraging youngsters to spend money pointlessly.
6. Inserting into youngsters's mentality that high level characters and big sum of money in any games makes you a somebody, and not school grades which should have been focused on.

What say you? Am I just thinking too much?

the youngsters part is like saying GTA 4 makes kids wanna go out and kill people and thats just not the case. this also sounds like your just beating AoC into the ground..or at least trying too. I can think of a million reasons why MMOs are starting to blow and i would only consider this less than one percent of what the problem actualy is.

nariusseldon · June 2008

Originally posted by Nightsorrow

Instanced: reduce server and client load, yet reduce the fun of an ever changing, interactive, unexpectable MMORPG outdoor world too.

Instancing is a GOOD thing and it is not going to go away. There is no fun is a campfest waiting in line of 50 to kill the boss. EQ taught us that.

Roland_Aseph · June 2008

Originally posted by magdalene08

Thanks for the eye-opening inputs.. But still, I don't like how they depict women and girls in MMOs.. How distasteful.. There is one wallpaper from Cabal Online showing a mage (I guess) putting her hand on her bosom in my opinion; quite alluring to the youngsters. That's quite disconcerting for me.

It'll be a better world (gaming included )...

When women are proud of themselves and recognize the position they hold,once they understand that attention and attraction by the opposite sex can be a good and powerful thing.

It's all in how you use it.

The right smile or simple request can move mountains...and the vast majority of men

Sadly too few seem to realize this and would rather criticize and bemoan the fact that a man actually "looked" at them, all the while disregarding the low cut top or the short cut skirt they decided to wear to work that morning.

Men, how dare they be honest in their attentions...

arcdevil · June 2008

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Nightsorrow

Instanced: reduce server and client load, yet reduce the fun of an ever changing, interactive, unexpectable MMORPG outdoor world too.

Instancing is a GOOD thing and it is not going to go away. There is no fun is a campfest waiting in line of 50 to kill the boss. EQ taught us that.

instancing is always a BAD thing. theres a huge lotta fun in a 50v50 PvP to get the boss and claim the loot before anyone else, or 4 small guilds uniting against the top guild in the server. LII taught us that.

instancing is a direct falcon punch to the concept of MMORPG, and the carebears heaven. sign me off those games,kthnx.

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