With you being a developer, I can't say I know more. However, despite the intended thesis of this article, I think it points out why MMOs are successful in general: They provide a social space that would otherwise not be there (such as the light bulb example). Perhaps I'm near sighted, but I can't see how this is a new paradigm for MMOs.
Sure there are different ways of watching movies, however there are some movies that their theater experiences cannot be replicated outside of the theater. If so theaters would be closing down and movies wouldn't be breaking weekend attendance records.
These user interface hardwares, that are being wrongly attributed to a Third Age, have been around since the very beginning of gaming and continue through their fads today. There have been racing wheels forever, fully featured flight sticks, and lets not forget that one Mech game that had a huge freaking console controller. Nintendo's powerglove, the light guns, etc etc etc. These "new" input devices have died off more times than any other fad in gaming so to proclaim them the "mammals" while traditional input methods are labeled "dinosaurs" is a whole lot of nothing and shows a distinct, imo, lack of knowledge of that which has gone on before.
As to the whole social networking nonsense, not everyone uses facebook. Not everyone is a self-aggrandizing, narcissistic asshat that actually believes that their own little narrow view of the world means jack squat. Sure these developers may try and rope you in with iphone apps, or ways of interacting with the game in some limited fashion from your watch (people do still wear those right?) but that will lead, quite simply, to more and more people running into problems with the real world. Things like work and family. If someone truly needs to keep track of the virtual toon that they rent from blizzard 24 hours a day 7 days a week they probably should pick up a less destructive habit like crack or heroin.
I agree with this. I believe it needs to be quoted more than once to show that a lot of the point in this article, to me, just don't make sense. Some things do, there will be a "third" age of MMO's and games in general probably by the middle of this decade at the latest, but I very very highly doubt that some special interface or Facebook and twitter will be at the heart of it.
I already see it moving towards a new age of cross media in MMOs. Look at all the changes planned over the next two years at CCP. Eve Online is releasing the beginnings of a social media platform. Like a face book lite that can be accessed in game or out and will grow over the next couple years with every update.
In addition, CCP is adding a second game to their MMO universe that is not only cross-gaming media (two games, one server), but also cross platform - console users will be playing and communicating with PC users on the same server. No more exclusive servers for the different platforms.
Even if you don't like Eve Online, this is a major step in MMO gaming and even non-MMO gaming.
In another 10 years, I wouldn't be surprised if multiple game companies formed enterprise partnerships forming a complete gaming experience by only developing the portion that they specialize in. For example, imagine an MMO that has the traditional terrestrial concept like any standard MMO of today. Then another creates a game for flying space ships. Link the two together on the same server. Add a real time strategy element into the same server for a RISK-like style battles on planets. Add a stock market simulator for a global economy. Each would have more substance than a single game built by a single developer.
You could even say that game design could change dramatrically. Look at the way how cloud computing is taking off. Reducing onsite resources, paying a fraction of the cost by allowing the service to be maintained and hosted by someone that specializes in it. I wonder if MMOs in the future will go this route. Have a company specializing in databases develop the database infrastructure and possibly host it off site for them (coupled with the MMO server engine of course). Most MMOs don't host the servers in their development facilities today anyway.
The article assumes that we can get our MMO or gaming fix from any interface. Do you want to play an iphone app or your MMO? With the explosion in mobiles/cellphones and social sites many new people have discovered games but that does not mean we have not been here before. Remember that Gameboy et al were very popular, but they did not stop us wanting to play on PC’s and consoles. The interface could not handle the game, so until we get mobiles/cell phones with 21” holographic screens I don’t see us all dropping our MMO’s and picking up what is really just a Gameboy for the gaming illiterate masses.
I think there will be an increase in sandbox interactive novels like Red Dead Redemption. These types of games, are mostly solo games, but they do offer a limited about of online gaming. The attractiveness of this type of sandbox game is it can be played with your character doing whatever he/she wants allowing for the course of the game, and novel to change as your character changes ingame.
1. Severius' comment was pretty much saying it all, the only thing I disagree with is the cinema part as the reason a lot of ppl still go there is also because they don't have the patience to wait until the movie becomes available for another medium.
2. To the guy promoting a revolution by PC/console playing together: it has been done before, FF XI had that years ago already.
Again completely right, except maybe in one thing. Having something like tetris in your new console, something cold, helps new users get used to the radically new console faster, in a friendly, already known enviroment, it eases and fastens up the process, so yes it seems it gives dinosaurs more room to wiggle before extinction but it does just the opposite.
1. Severius' comment was pretty much saying it all, the only thing I disagree with is the cinema part as the reason a lot of ppl still go there is also because they don't have the patience to wait until the movie becomes available for another medium.
2. To the guy promoting a revolution by PC/console playing together: it has been done before, FF XI had that years ago already.
Hi there. <-- That guy here.
I actually played FF XI when it first came out for the PC for the first few months. Didn't care for it much. When I found out that it hit console, I asked around and people told me that it was a seporate server. Never looked into that much because it hasn't been polished much. If that is the case then FF XIV is probably going to follow the same suit. If so, that's great.
I wish more MMOs would do this. I remember AoC claiming to have an Xbox 360 port in development, but it never happened (yet). All of the consoles have wireless keyboards now. The 360 even has a mini keyboard that can plug into your existing joystick for cheap. Not sure, but I bet the PS3 has something simular. I'm sure there are wireless mice out there too for the consoles, but I would prefer the joystick plus mini-keyboard myself.
It anoys me seeing that regular games that go cross platform don't allow their online services to be connected (i.e. Call of Duty).
Serves me right for not adding "from what I heard" to my statement. I've read on multiple occasions that PC and console were playing FF XI on the same server. If that is in fact not the case just ignore that part of my post.
1. Severius' comment was pretty much saying it all, the only thing I disagree with is the cinema part as the reason a lot of ppl still go there is also because they don't have the patience to wait until the movie becomes available for another medium.
2. To the guy promoting a revolution by PC/console playing together: it has been done before, FF XI had that years ago already.
Hi there. <-- That guy here.
I actually played FF XI when it first came out for the PC for the first few months. Didn't care for it much. When I found out that it hit console, I asked around and people told me that it was a seporate server. Never looked into that much because it hasn't been polished much. If that is the case then FF XIV is probably going to follow the same suit. If so, that's great.
I wish more MMOs would do this. I remember AoC claiming to have an Xbox 360 port in development, but it never happened (yet). All of the consoles have wireless keyboards now. The 360 even has a mini keyboard that can plug into your existing joystick for cheap. Not sure, but I bet the PS3 has something simular. I'm sure there are wireless mice out there too for the consoles, but I would prefer the joystick plus mini-keyboard myself.
It anoys me seeing that regular games that go cross platform don't allow their online services to be connected (i.e. Call of Duty).
If the consoles become PC's, what do we need the consoles for?
Everybody needs a PC anyway, but if they make consoles much more advanced, they will be like PC's price-wise, and then they have no advantage anymore.
Sure, things need to evolve and change ... mold something new out of the materials of the past, but in all actuality, I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon for MMO's when it comes down to the platform that they're presented on. There's really nothing right now that's better for MMO type games than a PC, mouse and keyboard.
Console controllers are clumsy at best for any games other than the likes of Street Fighter, driving games, GTA 4, etc. When it comes to FPS, third person shooter, or over the shoulder, etc. type of free roam games, and you match me with my keyboard and mouse against someone on a 6 axis controller, I'm gonna whip their ass unless they got handicaps to make up the difference.
The point is, there's not really a better way to do this right now. I'm seriously surprised that with the technological advances today, and the prices for some of these consoles and games, that they haven't expanded on the control methods for console systems, as in my opinion, the "game controller" and designing games to meet it's need is and should be a thing of the past.
There's nothing more annoying than trying to headshot someone with a joystick the size of the tip of your thumb. There's just NOTHING precise or "controlled" about that when compared to the precision of a gaming mouse.
I guess this article was written for my children, because I am a dinosaur. I have no social networking anything, except taking my boys to baseball games (to play). I cannot stand a cell phone, I have one because my work requires me to have it (they pay for it), but that is it. I cannot stand the new consoles because each game is different in the controller setup and nothing beats the ole keyboard and mouse. I guess I am screwed because if it isn’t on my PC (at least keyboard and mouse setup), I won’t buy it for myself.
If these companies adapt and make their products for all systems, or at least 70% of them, nothing wrong with that, awesome water cooler article by the way.
1. Severius' comment was pretty much saying it all, the only thing I disagree with is the cinema part as the reason a lot of ppl still go there is also because they don't have the patience to wait until the movie becomes available for another medium.
2. To the guy promoting a revolution by PC/console playing together: it has been done before, FF XI had that years ago already.
If I'm not mistaken it was a game called Shadowrun that was played together across platforms, but it didn't work out so they dropped the development of it. They had to seriously handicap the PC side of the game because the mouse and keyboard afforded PC players to literally run circles around the console players. They increased the hitbox size for the console players and lowered it for the PC guys, as well as quite a few other things.
I think the comparison of old MMOs/Games to dinosaurs is flawed from the start. Personally I see games more like ant colonies with the game being the queen and the gamers being the workers.
New devices and interfaces is nothing new and they are far from unified in their design and success.
I can only assume Justin expects MMOs are going to branch out on a new evolutionary path to reach gamers on their iPhones and many other hand held, portable and less typical gaming medium, which is probably true. But I don't think that excludes the continued existence and success of traditional MMOs, as much as it disapoints me I think we're stuck with WoW for some time yet.
I don't see an extinction event happening any time soon. Colonies may get smaller but I'm sure they will survive even if they don't adapt to exploit the new medium.
I've never had any interest in Facebook, Twitter, or blogging. I don't own or plan to buy an iPhone or Blackberry. I've never connected my Wii or PS3 to the internet. I've never played Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and I consider Natal a Virtual Boy in the making.
If this is what the "third age" is going to be, you guys can keep it. I'm not egotistical enough to assume anyone cares how I'm wasting my time 24/7, nor am I so addicted to technology that I can't step away from email for even a few minutes.
It sounds to me that the "third age" is going to be all about voluntary loss of privacy to gain the dubious boon of shallow, impersonal interaction with 400 Facebook and X-Box Live friends. Instead of grinding mob kills to unlock achievements in MMGs, we'll be spamming friend requests.
I just couldn't disagree with Justin more. I do believe that there are positive benefits of an online presence, but just like anything else it gets absued. I am very leary about what technology may be doing to us in a social aspect. All this non "face-to-face" commnicaiton such as Facebook, MySpace, and texting worries me. Why can't we call people and talk to them on the phone, or just have a "real" conversation with someone without using text shorthand? Sure, it's convenient, but when you have people sitting next to each other, but preferring to text than talk, we have a problem.
More on the point though, I believe that certain types of games warrent certain applications. Specifically it's damn hard to play a FPS on the iPhone and somewhat difficult with a console controller (especially the 360 controller). And the amount of information, windows, and control mechanisms don't allow for a MMO to work on a console controller, much less an iPhone.
Also though, there is no way to play a modern MMO on the iPhone or other smartphone, it just doesn't have the computing capability to run the kinds of graphics necessary. Could that happen in the future, sure. Personally, if the technology and controlability of consoles and smartphones can catch up the high-end requirements of a modern MMO, I'm game.
The point is that technology in small mobile devices needs to catch up to MMOs, not dumbing down MMOs so they can be played on small mobile devices so the "social" and "casual" audiences can play them. If that's the case, let's all just play Pac-Man because that's what it will get reduced to, at least in the current scenario.
However, I don't see this happening for many years. I'm still rather young, so perhaps when I'm my father's age we'll have this capability. But as technology progresses so too do the applications (including games) than run on them. So either, the scenario we have now will persist, with PCs getting the best options, or it's possible that one day we will have TV, Internet, Video, Communication, and Gaming amongst alot of other pontential things all built into one portable device. Although I would prefer it not implanted into my brain thanks.
The holographic screen that one poster mentioned could make this possible, but I would extend it to the control surfaces as well (holographic keyboard and mouse, or controller depending on the game or application), see HAI (Haptic Adaptive Interface) in Mass Effect 2 for an example.
For instance you place your "device" on a flat surfce (any surface), press a key, button or utter a speech command, and out pops a holographic control surface and screen. Repress the button, key, or utter another speech command and the holographic control sufrace dissapears and you pick your device and go about your day.
However, unless a miracle happens I think corporations would heavily stiffle this, being that want market dominance of "their" product (and to be the sole distributor of content for it [i.e., Apple]), and wouldn't go for an all in one device because they couldn't have control over it.
The one certain thing about people who predict where technology will go is that they will be wrong. Technology, like people, go in directions you don't expect. In the 50s we thought that we would have flying cars by 2000. I'm still waiting. We thought we would be living on the moon. Still waiting. We thought we would be starting colonies on Mars. STILL WAITING!
Instead, we moved in a different direction and started making improvements to unrelated technologies. Pills to give you a better love life, hair treatments so that you don't go bald, and more chemicals to poison your body in the name of youth and beauty.
Life is like a candle. The candle that burns twice as bright burns only half as long. The opposite is also true. The candle that burns half as bright burns twice as long. Our candles are burning twice as long, not twice as bright.
Like our games, our lives have gotten dumbed down. Progress has made us all less human, less of the people we want to be, and more domesticated and tractable. Social networks as the next step forward? Hell no! More non-interaction interactions as progress? ARE YOU INSANE?! Why would I want more ways to not have to interact with people in social situations? I got enough of that in high school. I play games to enjoy myself. Iplay games to meet people with similar interests. I play games to make friends and have a good time with my fellow human beings.
Yes, most of the time I'm disappointed. But I've also met some really great people playing MMOs. And the way forward is to sever all social interaction from these games and destroy any sense of community by creating a false sense of communities in which no one talks to one another in real time? What's the point of playing a real-time game if you're not going to interact with it in real time? What's the point of making a game MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER if you plan to isolate yourself and the players from one another?
My vision of the future probably won't be accurate, either, but I'll take it over yours any day. In my vision of the future, we start to interact more. We lose the "social networking" idea of having friends lists in favor of having actual friends. We stop calling a group of random strangers who happen to play on the same server we do "our online community". We start taking an interest in their goals, their needs, and them as people, and not treat them as exploitable resources we have to put some effort into making our puppets.
I don't view automation as a godsend. I don't see the assembly line as a boon. I've watched the destruction of society result from its rampant overuse. I've witnessed the collective bargaining of our souls to the corporate devils who hold our leashes, and I've seen, first hand, that they cannot be bartered with.
I don't like where we're headed. I don't like where any of this is going. And now it threatens our only escape from it, our entertainment. The world is a sad, sad place.
Awesome and thought provoking. What will the "Mammal" MMOs look like? I just need to figure out a way to get past my main problem as a 30 yr old gamer/father...my wife
Originally posted by Dracondis ...I've witnessed the collective bargaining of our souls to the corporate devils who hold our leashes, and I've seen, first hand, that they cannot be bartered with.
I don't like where we're headed. I don't like where any of this is going. And now it threatens our only escape from it, our entertainment. The world is a sad, sad place.
This theory of the "3rd gen MMO" is true to a certain extent, many new ideas can be explored with the whole new interface integration. HOWEVER, I think many others will agree that gaming generations and such IS NOT defined by interface and how the medium will evolve. MMOs are about the game itself, NOT about how and where it can be played. If the MMO industry was to produce a "3rd gen MMO", I'm pretty sure it would include extensive and new features about the game, such as combat systems, individuality, player/server contributions toward progression in time, skill systems etc. THESE CORE ASPECTS OF THE GAME HAS TO MOVE FORWARD AND EVOLVE, current games have been sticking with the same old core, nothing new and nothing special, they're all the same shit but with a different label.
I can't speak for everyone, individuality is the key. Finding a point in advancement that will satisfy consumers across the globe is how the game will revolutionise and progress into the mentioned "3rd gen MMO". Movies, TVs, computers and other platforms will always have a place in the community, they all have their benefits that will please the people in different ways. Gamers constantly revisit the classical eras of gaming, I'm certain using mammals and dinosaurs as a comparison for this area of topic will not suffice the many other major and minor details. Hence, just having another few mediums for the MMO itself to be played on, definitely won't classify THAT specific MMO to be third age...
WoW is a dinosaur, a HUGE dinosaur and it has been one for such a long time for a good reason. It will ALSO stay in its top form for quite some time to come. The "take-over" of these "mammals" is perhaps what current developers and visionists envision, sadly, that's not what many other gamers wish for.
Comments
With you being a developer, I can't say I know more. However, despite the intended thesis of this article, I think it points out why MMOs are successful in general: They provide a social space that would otherwise not be there (such as the light bulb example). Perhaps I'm near sighted, but I can't see how this is a new paradigm for MMOs.
I agree with this. I believe it needs to be quoted more than once to show that a lot of the point in this article, to me, just don't make sense. Some things do, there will be a "third" age of MMO's and games in general probably by the middle of this decade at the latest, but I very very highly doubt that some special interface or Facebook and twitter will be at the heart of it.
Are the Ice Age images in this article a reference to Ice Age Online which GRAVITY is currently developing?
GRAVITY is the company that created Ragnarok Online
I already see it moving towards a new age of cross media in MMOs. Look at all the changes planned over the next two years at CCP. Eve Online is releasing the beginnings of a social media platform. Like a face book lite that can be accessed in game or out and will grow over the next couple years with every update.
In addition, CCP is adding a second game to their MMO universe that is not only cross-gaming media (two games, one server), but also cross platform - console users will be playing and communicating with PC users on the same server. No more exclusive servers for the different platforms.
Even if you don't like Eve Online, this is a major step in MMO gaming and even non-MMO gaming.
In another 10 years, I wouldn't be surprised if multiple game companies formed enterprise partnerships forming a complete gaming experience by only developing the portion that they specialize in. For example, imagine an MMO that has the traditional terrestrial concept like any standard MMO of today. Then another creates a game for flying space ships. Link the two together on the same server. Add a real time strategy element into the same server for a RISK-like style battles on planets. Add a stock market simulator for a global economy. Each would have more substance than a single game built by a single developer.
You could even say that game design could change dramatrically. Look at the way how cloud computing is taking off. Reducing onsite resources, paying a fraction of the cost by allowing the service to be maintained and hosted by someone that specializes in it. I wonder if MMOs in the future will go this route. Have a company specializing in databases develop the database infrastructure and possibly host it off site for them (coupled with the MMO server engine of course). Most MMOs don't host the servers in their development facilities today anyway.
The article assumes that we can get our MMO or gaming fix from any interface. Do you want to play an iphone app or your MMO? With the explosion in mobiles/cellphones and social sites many new people have discovered games but that does not mean we have not been here before. Remember that Gameboy et al were very popular, but they did not stop us wanting to play on PC’s and consoles. The interface could not handle the game, so until we get mobiles/cell phones with 21” holographic screens I don’t see us all dropping our MMO’s and picking up what is really just a Gameboy for the gaming illiterate masses.
I think there will be an increase in sandbox interactive novels like Red Dead Redemption. These types of games, are mostly solo games, but they do offer a limited about of online gaming. The attractiveness of this type of sandbox game is it can be played with your character doing whatever he/she wants allowing for the course of the game, and novel to change as your character changes ingame.
Two things:
1. Severius' comment was pretty much saying it all, the only thing I disagree with is the cinema part as the reason a lot of ppl still go there is also because they don't have the patience to wait until the movie becomes available for another medium.
2. To the guy promoting a revolution by PC/console playing together: it has been done before, FF XI had that years ago already.
My Signature
Again completely right, except maybe in one thing. Having something like tetris in your new console, something cold, helps new users get used to the radically new console faster, in a friendly, already known enviroment, it eases and fastens up the process, so yes it seems it gives dinosaurs more room to wiggle before extinction but it does just the opposite.
Loved the thread btw, keep it up
A crappy game is a crappy game no matter what medium it is played on.
THAT is what the gaming companies should care more about, if they want to survive.
This is quite in line with Apple(tm) vision when talking about interfaces, that is.
Hi there. <-- That guy here.
I actually played FF XI when it first came out for the PC for the first few months. Didn't care for it much. When I found out that it hit console, I asked around and people told me that it was a seporate server. Never looked into that much because it hasn't been polished much. If that is the case then FF XIV is probably going to follow the same suit. If so, that's great.
I wish more MMOs would do this. I remember AoC claiming to have an Xbox 360 port in development, but it never happened (yet). All of the consoles have wireless keyboards now. The 360 even has a mini keyboard that can plug into your existing joystick for cheap. Not sure, but I bet the PS3 has something simular. I'm sure there are wireless mice out there too for the consoles, but I would prefer the joystick plus mini-keyboard myself.
It anoys me seeing that regular games that go cross platform don't allow their online services to be connected (i.e. Call of Duty).
Serves me right for not adding "from what I heard" to my statement. I've read on multiple occasions that PC and console were playing FF XI on the same server. If that is in fact not the case just ignore that part of my post.
My Signature
If the consoles become PC's, what do we need the consoles for?
Everybody needs a PC anyway, but if they make consoles much more advanced, they will be like PC's price-wise, and then they have no advantage anymore.
Sure, things need to evolve and change ... mold something new out of the materials of the past, but in all actuality, I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon for MMO's when it comes down to the platform that they're presented on. There's really nothing right now that's better for MMO type games than a PC, mouse and keyboard.
Console controllers are clumsy at best for any games other than the likes of Street Fighter, driving games, GTA 4, etc. When it comes to FPS, third person shooter, or over the shoulder, etc. type of free roam games, and you match me with my keyboard and mouse against someone on a 6 axis controller, I'm gonna whip their ass unless they got handicaps to make up the difference.
The point is, there's not really a better way to do this right now. I'm seriously surprised that with the technological advances today, and the prices for some of these consoles and games, that they haven't expanded on the control methods for console systems, as in my opinion, the "game controller" and designing games to meet it's need is and should be a thing of the past.
There's nothing more annoying than trying to headshot someone with a joystick the size of the tip of your thumb. There's just NOTHING precise or "controlled" about that when compared to the precision of a gaming mouse.
Breaking News: http://itunes.apple.com/app/world-warcraft-mobile-armory/id321057000?mt=8
I guess this article was written for my children, because I am a dinosaur. I have no social networking anything, except taking my boys to baseball games (to play). I cannot stand a cell phone, I have one because my work requires me to have it (they pay for it), but that is it. I cannot stand the new consoles because each game is different in the controller setup and nothing beats the ole keyboard and mouse. I guess I am screwed because if it isn’t on my PC (at least keyboard and mouse setup), I won’t buy it for myself.
If these companies adapt and make their products for all systems, or at least 70% of them, nothing wrong with that, awesome water cooler article by the way.
If I'm not mistaken it was a game called Shadowrun that was played together across platforms, but it didn't work out so they dropped the development of it. They had to seriously handicap the PC side of the game because the mouse and keyboard afforded PC players to literally run circles around the console players. They increased the hitbox size for the console players and lowered it for the PC guys, as well as quite a few other things.
I think the comparison of old MMOs/Games to dinosaurs is flawed from the start. Personally I see games more like ant colonies with the game being the queen and the gamers being the workers.
New devices and interfaces is nothing new and they are far from unified in their design and success.
I can only assume Justin expects MMOs are going to branch out on a new evolutionary path to reach gamers on their iPhones and many other hand held, portable and less typical gaming medium, which is probably true. But I don't think that excludes the continued existence and success of traditional MMOs, as much as it disapoints me I think we're stuck with WoW for some time yet.
I don't see an extinction event happening any time soon. Colonies may get smaller but I'm sure they will survive even if they don't adapt to exploit the new medium.
Too optimistic, unrealistic and idealistic for my taste this article was.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Call me a crusty old dinosaur.
I've never had any interest in Facebook, Twitter, or blogging. I don't own or plan to buy an iPhone or Blackberry. I've never connected my Wii or PS3 to the internet. I've never played Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and I consider Natal a Virtual Boy in the making.
If this is what the "third age" is going to be, you guys can keep it. I'm not egotistical enough to assume anyone cares how I'm wasting my time 24/7, nor am I so addicted to technology that I can't step away from email for even a few minutes.
It sounds to me that the "third age" is going to be all about voluntary loss of privacy to gain the dubious boon of shallow, impersonal interaction with 400 Facebook and X-Box Live friends. Instead of grinding mob kills to unlock achievements in MMGs, we'll be spamming friend requests.
I just couldn't disagree with Justin more. I do believe that there are positive benefits of an online presence, but just like anything else it gets absued. I am very leary about what technology may be doing to us in a social aspect. All this non "face-to-face" commnicaiton such as Facebook, MySpace, and texting worries me. Why can't we call people and talk to them on the phone, or just have a "real" conversation with someone without using text shorthand? Sure, it's convenient, but when you have people sitting next to each other, but preferring to text than talk, we have a problem.
More on the point though, I believe that certain types of games warrent certain applications. Specifically it's damn hard to play a FPS on the iPhone and somewhat difficult with a console controller (especially the 360 controller). And the amount of information, windows, and control mechanisms don't allow for a MMO to work on a console controller, much less an iPhone.
Also though, there is no way to play a modern MMO on the iPhone or other smartphone, it just doesn't have the computing capability to run the kinds of graphics necessary. Could that happen in the future, sure. Personally, if the technology and controlability of consoles and smartphones can catch up the high-end requirements of a modern MMO, I'm game.
The point is that technology in small mobile devices needs to catch up to MMOs, not dumbing down MMOs so they can be played on small mobile devices so the "social" and "casual" audiences can play them. If that's the case, let's all just play Pac-Man because that's what it will get reduced to, at least in the current scenario.
However, I don't see this happening for many years. I'm still rather young, so perhaps when I'm my father's age we'll have this capability. But as technology progresses so too do the applications (including games) than run on them. So either, the scenario we have now will persist, with PCs getting the best options, or it's possible that one day we will have TV, Internet, Video, Communication, and Gaming amongst alot of other pontential things all built into one portable device. Although I would prefer it not implanted into my brain thanks.
The holographic screen that one poster mentioned could make this possible, but I would extend it to the control surfaces as well (holographic keyboard and mouse, or controller depending on the game or application), see HAI (Haptic Adaptive Interface) in Mass Effect 2 for an example.
For instance you place your "device" on a flat surfce (any surface), press a key, button or utter a speech command, and out pops a holographic control surface and screen. Repress the button, key, or utter another speech command and the holographic control sufrace dissapears and you pick your device and go about your day.
However, unless a miracle happens I think corporations would heavily stiffle this, being that want market dominance of "their" product (and to be the sole distributor of content for it [i.e., Apple]), and wouldn't go for an all in one device because they couldn't have control over it.
The one certain thing about people who predict where technology will go is that they will be wrong. Technology, like people, go in directions you don't expect. In the 50s we thought that we would have flying cars by 2000. I'm still waiting. We thought we would be living on the moon. Still waiting. We thought we would be starting colonies on Mars. STILL WAITING!
Instead, we moved in a different direction and started making improvements to unrelated technologies. Pills to give you a better love life, hair treatments so that you don't go bald, and more chemicals to poison your body in the name of youth and beauty.
Life is like a candle. The candle that burns twice as bright burns only half as long. The opposite is also true. The candle that burns half as bright burns twice as long. Our candles are burning twice as long, not twice as bright.
Like our games, our lives have gotten dumbed down. Progress has made us all less human, less of the people we want to be, and more domesticated and tractable. Social networks as the next step forward? Hell no! More non-interaction interactions as progress? ARE YOU INSANE?! Why would I want more ways to not have to interact with people in social situations? I got enough of that in high school. I play games to enjoy myself. Iplay games to meet people with similar interests. I play games to make friends and have a good time with my fellow human beings.
Yes, most of the time I'm disappointed. But I've also met some really great people playing MMOs. And the way forward is to sever all social interaction from these games and destroy any sense of community by creating a false sense of communities in which no one talks to one another in real time? What's the point of playing a real-time game if you're not going to interact with it in real time? What's the point of making a game MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER if you plan to isolate yourself and the players from one another?
My vision of the future probably won't be accurate, either, but I'll take it over yours any day. In my vision of the future, we start to interact more. We lose the "social networking" idea of having friends lists in favor of having actual friends. We stop calling a group of random strangers who happen to play on the same server we do "our online community". We start taking an interest in their goals, their needs, and them as people, and not treat them as exploitable resources we have to put some effort into making our puppets.
I don't view automation as a godsend. I don't see the assembly line as a boon. I've watched the destruction of society result from its rampant overuse. I've witnessed the collective bargaining of our souls to the corporate devils who hold our leashes, and I've seen, first hand, that they cannot be bartered with.
I don't like where we're headed. I don't like where any of this is going. And now it threatens our only escape from it, our entertainment. The world is a sad, sad place.
Mad World by Gary Jules
Awesome and thought provoking. What will the "Mammal" MMOs look like? I just need to figure out a way to get past my main problem as a 30 yr old gamer/father...my wife
Indeed. Well said.
This theory of the "3rd gen MMO" is true to a certain extent, many new ideas can be explored with the whole new interface integration. HOWEVER, I think many others will agree that gaming generations and such IS NOT defined by interface and how the medium will evolve. MMOs are about the game itself, NOT about how and where it can be played. If the MMO industry was to produce a "3rd gen MMO", I'm pretty sure it would include extensive and new features about the game, such as combat systems, individuality, player/server contributions toward progression in time, skill systems etc. THESE CORE ASPECTS OF THE GAME HAS TO MOVE FORWARD AND EVOLVE, current games have been sticking with the same old core, nothing new and nothing special, they're all the same shit but with a different label.
I can't speak for everyone, individuality is the key. Finding a point in advancement that will satisfy consumers across the globe is how the game will revolutionise and progress into the mentioned "3rd gen MMO". Movies, TVs, computers and other platforms will always have a place in the community, they all have their benefits that will please the people in different ways. Gamers constantly revisit the classical eras of gaming, I'm certain using mammals and dinosaurs as a comparison for this area of topic will not suffice the many other major and minor details. Hence, just having another few mediums for the MMO itself to be played on, definitely won't classify THAT specific MMO to be third age...
WoW is a dinosaur, a HUGE dinosaur and it has been one for such a long time for a good reason. It will ALSO stay in its top form for quite some time to come. The "take-over" of these "mammals" is perhaps what current developers and visionists envision, sadly, that's not what many other gamers wish for.