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The ingredients of a successful MMO
ArcAngel3
Member Posts: 2,931
What are they? I have my opinions, and I'd like to hear yours. To me, they would include:
-the game is highly polished, professions and quests are not broken at launch;
-the game delivers what it promised, no advertising features, taking people's money and then changing the plan;
-the game has entertainment value, having a functional game that is honestly advertised, needs to be backed up by an enjoyable experience, not one that is boring, repetitive or frustrating, or all the above;
-the game appeals to people with some diversity in interests; these games do best when they are highly populated; that means that a mixture of exploring, socializing, crafting and ass-kicking are necessary; to attract pve and pvp enthusiasts, both systems need to be available, and as mentioned earlier, polished;
-the business model needs to be (and be perceived as) customer friendly; no manipulative money-grabbing schemes that are covered by legaleze fine print; just sell people an enjoyable entertainment service for a predictable and reasonable price.
-marketting: we've already covered honesty, in addition to marketting being accurate, it needs to be well done. Put the word out. If you've got a game that meets the above criteria, it probably will sell itself, you just need to let people know about it. WoW does this very well with their television ads, and with their $1.00 sample disc campaign. Also, if the game meets the above criteria, people are going to be willing to attach their name to it. Why do some games get no celebrity promotions? Because they suck, and no one with any concern for their public image will be associated with them.
-respect for your players; simple for some game companies, seemingly impossible for others. If they spend 15 bucks a month building something in your game, don't tear it down. Don't see current players or their ingame investments as expendable. If something isn't as popular as you hoped, collaborate WITH players to make it better; add to the game if needed, instead of stripping it down to it's skeleton and starting from scratch in the hope of hooking the elusive masses. This is a sure way to lose the consumer base you have, and ensure that the masses won't touch your game with a 40 foot pole.
Other thoughts?
Comments
That pretty much covers it. It's simple, yet it's amazing how many games miss the boat with it.
I'd add that game publishers need to follow Blizzard in being willing to give up on a game if it's just not working, instead of trying to fight through and put out a piece of crapola.
Polish, make the game nearly a single player game, add thousands of mundane quests. make all classes be able to do nearly everything. make the game so easy any 2 year old can play it and be successful.
bam successful MMO ... right blizzard?
DOnt hate on blizzard they actually made WoW fun and never changed the formula, better talk to your boy Smedlly
http://helpourfuture.blogspot.com/
save our future.
As much as I personally dislike WoW, I have to admit that it did do a very good job at being a successful MMO. It does make me sad though when game companies see how successful WoW is and feel that in order to have any success, they need to pretty much copy WoW. But I digress.
My opinion of a good MMO and a successful MMO are different. The OP pretty much listed most things an MMO would need to be successful. It really is too bad that so many of those points are missed nowadays.
Currently on a quest to try every free-to-play MMORPG. Okay, maybe not every single one, but most of them.
Building a community.
That is what will foster a successful game.
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Guys! I'm hopelessly lost in a mountain of mole hills! Them damn moles!