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Mr.Awwsome
Member Posts: 48
Where did the magic go? Why do these games that once caused me to daydream and become excited at the thought of playing them suddenly appear dull and jaded? Why do I feel isolated from an industry that my first subscriptions helped start? I know why...
The MMOs of today have lost the magic and charm that they once had. This mystical quality that no one seems to be able to put their finger on has been lost and developers and veteran players alike have been trying to figure out why. The 2nd generation MMO gamers of today only have an inkling of what I am talking about because they are unfortunate ot only have experienced for only a brief moment in the MMO careers.
What is this quality that I am talking about and why has it seemed to have disappeared?
This quality that I am talking about is the mysticism that a first time gamer feels when he/she is immersed into the world of the game and feels only excitement at the possibilities and adventures that lay ahead. I used to feel this every single time I logged on to one of the MMO's of Old. This quality stemmed from the belief that the pixels and programming in front of my face were more than just a game; it was a whole new world and I was there to experience it and enjoy it. This feeling is gone for me; I have not felt it since that day I logged on and suddenly noticed a knife in my back with a SOE designation on the hilt...I’ve been told that there are greener pastures among the stars, but I was not meant to be stuck in a ship surrounded by empty space.
This immersion and excitement is gone because the games of today are no longer MMORPGs; they are MMOGs. In the days of old, MMORPGs strove to be more than just a game; it was all about coming into a new world and making your own place there. There were those little details that are lacking in today’s games because they are "unnecessary" or "don’t add to gameplay," and the only quests and raids that existed were the ones that you made yourself with the things in the world. There was no structured path for you to take, no lvling guide for you to follow as it takes you from zone to zone, you played the game how you wanted to play it and you were excited to do so. The magic is gone because playing an MMO is no longer about making your place in the game-world, it is just an endless grind.
The MMORPGs have become MMOGs, they are no longer dynamic and ever-changing. The MMOGs of today are static and structured, keeping the player inside the box; un-able to make a lasting affect on the game-world. In fact, I would say that it is not even a game-world because a world by my definition has the ability to be changed and molded by the actions of society. No, the MMOGs of today are themeparks with appealing rides that lose their thrill after a few spins. This is why I said the 2nd Gen gamers only have an inkling of the quality that I am talking about. The 2nd Gen gamers only experience this feeling when they enter the themepark for the first couple of times and are excited about all things they can do and the mystery of this new experience. This does not last very long; soon the gamer has ridden all the rides and realizes that he/she knows exactly what is going to happen. There is no more mystery and the magic is gone.
Part of the magic that is missing is actual game-worlds and dynamic change. In a true MMORPG, the players make the world, nothing stays the same for long, and the entire purpose of the game is player-player interaction. (IT IS NOT AN MMORPG IF YOU LOG IN TO GO PLAY BY YOURSELF.) These things are what gave purpose to playing the game. You make the world, you care about it, you are proud of it, and you enjoy sharing it with others. It amazes me how people run quests all day long and then wonder why they are not enjoying themselves. The answer is simple, you do not feel like you are accomplishing anything and you can see everything that is going to happen. What is the point? Why play when you already know what’s going to happen? “Well...I guess ill just log on to hang with my guildies...” Now, how wonderful would it be if you could go out and create your own little world with your buddies and be surprised by problems and challenges that you cant foresee because there is no script, no way of predicting what your fellow players will do to thwart or aid your efforts. The magic seemed to linger with the games of old because every time you logged on, it felt like you were in a living, breathing game world with dynamic experiences awaiting you.
Developers just do not seem to get it. There will never be another themepark game that duplicates the success of WoW. No matter how a developer dresses up their park or how many loops and twists they put in their rides, the player will always recognize it as the same experience over again. Themeparks were fun, and they will surely be visited from time to time, but I think it is time to go back to the game-world.
Talking bout the issues..and keepin it funky.
Comments
I sort of get what you're saying but I think what's more important that the game world where you seem to focus is the game's community.
You know, it always seemed to me that most fun I would have would be the times when the drama was at its highest. I know we all complain about it but it always seemed to be part of that spice that made these games so interesting. Then I realized it wasn't drama in and of itself but players shaping how the community acts. No other game did I ever play that this was more evident in than old Star Wars Galaxies. It was the only game where players could actually change the physical game world itself. I'm not saying it got everything right, far from it. But it was a direction that isn't even explored these days and nothing has ever captivated me like that did.
The only other game that really came close was Everquest 1. Mostly because back in the very old days of that game you needed to be social and group with others to do anything. There was no quests, you just went somewhere and grouped up to hunt to gain XP. You had to interact and deal with everything that came with that.
Am I saying "sandbox with forced grouping?" Not at all. I'm saying give us reasons to play together again. Reward us for helping each other, don't penalize it just because that's the way it's always been done since the Stone Age when Gary Gygax crawled out of the ocean and wrote Dungeons & Dragons. Reward player interaction. Give us ways to shape our world, to help each other, and make our drama filled battles mean something.
http://mmo-hell.blogspot.com/
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/rejad
Omg a textwall with caps all over the place..
Not very attractive I must say
"It has potential"
-Second most used phrase on existence
"It sucks"
-Most used phrase on existence
Normally I'm the first to say things like that but I think that's a bit much this time. A textwall would be if he wasn't using paragraphs, which he did. And the caps all over the place you're talking about is mostly two acronyms he uses repeatedly; MMORPG and MMOG. One sentence in there was all caps. C'mon.
http://mmo-hell.blogspot.com/
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/rejad
I totaly agree with you. Thats why Im trying EvE, I always loved PvP but I always wanted to be kinda trader / crafter / miner and do some serious business. No other game could provide me that (what I tried). I think EvE and nowadays probably even Darkfall and Mortal Online are trying to bring that back. But todays ppl dont want that I think. Because if you want to do something like that you need to also have complete lost of things. And most ppl want just more and more, they dont want to have tons of money and lose it one day because of stupid mistake. They just want to say hey Im the best, I have more money than you I have more achievments and more everything. We are living in ego boosted era and money and power are everything! When we'll get to fun and "brain" not muscles era again maybe we'll have back our old senes of "true" gaming.
Played: Lineage 2,Guild Wars 1 and 2, Age of Conan, Ragnarok Online, LOTRO, World of Warcraft, League of Legends, EvE online
Tried: KAL Online, Face of Mankind, ROSE online
Playing: CS:GO
Yeah, I hear ya. I've tried to play other MMORPG's and there is always at least one thing about the game that makes it not happen for me. Played a game that was cool but it was click to move "immersion kiler". Tried gettin into EVE but can't make the mirco text any bigger. I think a good idea for a developer would be to have an online survey about what gamers want in an MMORPG. Then average the results and make a game based on that info. Some of this crap they hand out is like what were they thinking.
Lets say you started at end of 90's and take for example EQ1 or AC1 both in 3D instead of oldish 2d like UO had.
You play it for first time and years before always had a fantasy of roaming around in a magical world and suddenly you playing in such world with other players.
Well i think i speak for many EQ and AC where at time such games we fantasys many years before they where released and they where wonderfull magical worlds to dream whole day long and forget outside world with great grafhics.
This first impression stays for awaile and you will after these first weeks months maybe even years never forget how great it was play a warrior/mage/priest whatever in a fantasy game online with others it was special.
But now we are 11years later and we want this feeling back but we know we will never get that special feeling as virgin step into world we always dreamed of and forget outside world.
I myself started with AC back in 99 and also was amazed and stunned with this wonderfull magical world i played in with many other players and when i stopped playing after 2 years i never realy got that feeling back and always remembered AC as something special.
Then in 2009 10years later i started playing Darkfall a beautifull fantasy world with some feeling of games like morrowind i loved it from day 1 in beta, now after almost 2 years im still playing and i still like the game alot and how game feels and looks.
So after AC i never got feeling back but i open my mind again and had maybe not completely that feeling i had when i first entered DERETH thats asherons call game world called but i let myself again fanatasys and lost in world called AGON as Darkfall gameworld called and still love it.
So if you forget all dissapointments over the years and let yourself go with new world its posible to enjoy this new world as you experience first time maybe not 100% but at leats 75% you can have that feeling back but you need to open your heard and mind to aloud yourself get lost in a new gameworld.
I must confess i was burned out for few years and only played solo games for at least 3 years, 2009 with darkfall beta and launch was by comeback in mmo game and no regrets:)
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
I get it, experience of the new and all. But then you talk about Darkfall and how much you like it. That kind of goes hand in hand with I wrote above. Everything I see about Darkfall seems centered on player interaction. It's not exactly what I would want in a game, as I prefer consentual PvP with rewards for those who take part. But in Darkfall you band together for protection, later when you're stronger you band together to conquor others. That game will probably have legs longer than most of the generic quest-based themeparks Asia seems to crank out every other week.
http://mmo-hell.blogspot.com/
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/rejad
Response to Rejad's first post.
Right. I am with there, like I said in my post, it is not an MMORPG if you log on to play by yourself. I also agree with you that forced grouping of any kind is not the way to make players come together. All the forced grouping is not needed, it is an MMORPG; people log on to play with other people. In the old games, the world was there and people just came together naturally. There was no dungeon matchmaking system, you just found people with similar goals and relationships and community spawned from that.
Talking bout the issues..and keepin it funky.
Talking bout the issues..and keepin it funky.
In Summary:
we grew up.
Neverland didn't offer what we want - to eventually die!
Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions.
It's called commercialism. When these games first started to appear they were made by people who were totally into the concept - they probably played PnP games or MUD's and really wanted to see a 3D representation of what they were playing. To pay for the servers they had to ask for monthly subscriptions to keep them running, as the 1990's were expensive on that sort of hardware.
Now, years later, companies can see that being able to get people to buy a box, plus pay a subscription, plus adding a cash shop, is just one great way to make money, especially as server farms are a lot cheaper to keep running. Most of the developers don't care about the genre, that's why you see so many WoW copies, they're just taking a succesful formula and trying to make money out of it.
I'm sure there are some developers that care about the type of game they're making, but it's highly likely they're smaller companies. The fat cats, however, are just throwing out cut & paste games and watching the dollars roll in.
I would probobly play only single player rpg if I didnt found about Darkfall best game on market right now and it will get you crazy feeling you lost, it did for me.
Enthusiasts started the MMO genre, the idea that you could play a rpg online with other people was a revolution in the gaming industry. Those gaming genre pioneers forged the way with those great early MMO’s, you were part of the wagon train all in it together, what happened to the other settlers mattered to you. But then real estate suits moved in and sold you your plot of land. It’s got a nice white picket fence and all the mod cons, but you will hardly see your neighbours apart from the odd wave as you go to collect your mail from the mailbox.
But that’s not the only reason. We started with PC owners, then went to consoles and the average player age dropped, they came in with very different expectations. It was ‘lol’ all the way from that point on. Meanwhile companies spotted how much easier it was to import solo game play such as achievement badges for working out how to press the ‘wasd’ keys and questing rather than building a virtual rpg world.
So that’s where we are today, it can’t get any worse right, only better?…wrong. Hybrid payment systems may breathe some life into a MMOs finances but they set us on to a path where paying is the norm, not achieving, were money speaks louder than dedication and a level playing field is thrown to the wind. Gaming companies look in awe at the number of people on social networks. In their minds the 70million users of Farmville are the next generation of players. And just like when consoles came on board MMO game play will be changed forever.
Hmmm. I agree with you. It is a sad state of things and it can get even worse for veteran gamers who want that old fashioned MMORPG experience. Whats even worse is the fact that the current generation of gamers and those to come do not even know how it started or what they are missing. I still think there is hope for the genre though. Because of WoW, there will always be those companies who are out to create money farms, but there are companies like CCP(and others that I dont know by name) who care about their games and players. Not just that, but the state of things as it stands, what with all the WoW clones and cookie-cutter games that are on the market, is an ideal time, I think, for someone to come out with a great sandbox that mirrors games like SWG(pre-cu) and UO in content and style. EvE is one of the greatest sandbox games of all time, it may be the best to some people, but the genre of the game, the gameplay, and complexity make it a niche game that is not appealing to most people, including myself.
Talking bout the issues..and keepin it funky.
The only way out of this dilemma is HMS. It may seem too simple, too good to be true, but HMS has been know to remedy even the worst cases.
And what is HMS?
Have more sex.
You will forget all about EQ, crafting, not showering for two days in a row, all that great old stuff.
You have some very valid points in your op and I agree with a lot of them. You do have to keep in mind that nostalgia also plays a big part in why your early game years seemed so magical.
Talking bout the issues..and keepin it funky.
Talking bout the issues..and keepin it funky.