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What is up with all the Fantasy MMORPG's?
Saublod
Member Posts: 12
It seems that about 90% or more of the MMORPG's that are out and that are in development/beta testing are fantasy related MMORPG's. Where's the Sci-Fi ones coming out? I think someone needs to go out and make a new Sci-Fi MMORPG on the ground, EVE online is already good for only space, that has some good graphics and some great PvP. I know SWG is already out but what about making a new Sci-Fi mmorpg finally because quite frankly I am getting sick of having to use a bow and sword. I want a fricken laser beam! 
Comments
Plain and simple: Fantasy MMOs sell becuase even the crappy ones are decent, compared to the Sci-fi ones. There's been maybe 2 "good" sci-fi games, and all the rest were average, or awful.
Hmmm, well, I am playing one of the fantasy MMORPG now, RYL: Path of the Emperor. .As far as i know RYL:Path of the Emperor is a fantasy MMORPG to be comprised of true Player vs. Player and Guild vs. Guild action. Combat system is quick and clean..Very cool game!!!
I'm hoping for a Medieval MMORPG without any fantasy shit. Pure player run castles with NPC's farming/crafting and paying taxes. Seiges with medieval tactics, and most importantly, twitch based combat.
Also fantasy (or medieval) MMorpgs are WAY easier to develop and produce.
You do not have to talk about futuristic vehicles (including atmospheric flight), spaceships, many planets, lot of guns (that realistically can shoot really far), power armors, super tanks, cybernetics and what not. in fantasy you got max teleport (easy to made into a mmorpg) or horses/other mounts. People max have bows and most of the fight is melee.
In addition Science Fiction, by definition, is really open. There isn't a canon science fiction like with fantasy elves, orks, goblins, halflings, dwarves etc. Nope, in Sci-Fi any work is a new and alien races tend to be.... alien.. requiring more creative time in the whole process.
Have a nice day.
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
Most single player computer RPGs are also fantasy. So, potential fantasy customer base is bigger (at least believed to be bigger). You should also remember that new sci-fi mmorpg has to be much better game than SWG to succeed as Star Wars is really big license. This might be daunting task when planning for new mmorpg, maybe we will see Star Trek Online at some point.
Most MMORPG-goers tend to lean towards the "sword and dagger" type game, instead of the "plasma rifle and 349857 laser beams" type.
I'm aware that I went overboard with the amount of laser beams, but that's what a clich
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Why are you reading this? This is crap compared to what's above.
Double post.
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Why are you reading this? This is crap compared to what's above.
I cant speak for everyone, but to me blades (I prefer halberds or
naginata to swords) just seem like a cooler instrument to kill something
with.
Anyone can use a gun, *point*, *click*, *boom* bad people go away. Yeah
it takes some skill to get your aim down, but thats about it. And while
anyone with arms (and some sort of hand-like things at the ends of them)
can swing a sword all the same, it takes a lot more skill and finess to
do it well, and in some cases, a lifetime of training to perfect. While
guns in almost all cases are much more efficient, there's just a level
of style a melee weapon provides that a gun cant duplicate.
As for fantasy vs sci-fi, its easier to explain things with magic than
with technology. With magic, nothing is impossible, with technology,
you're limited to the level of technology you create, and new
technologies require explanation in most cases. So I think fantasy is
just easier to do.
You might like Roma Victor which is coming up, although I don't know if it has twitch based combat. Non-fantasy, but second century AD Rome instead of Medieval.
The reason that there are more Fantasy MMO's than sci-fi is simple:
There is more of a demand for fantasy.
Not saying Sci-Fi games don't have their place but, thus far, the MMO industry hasn't really tapped into the community and only SWG has really been a successful Sci-Fi MMO. EVE is doing "ok" but it's under 70k subs. Only SWG has surpassed 200k subs. AO didn't even crack 70k subs at it's peak and it's now down in the 20-30 range, which means it's probably in danger of being cancelled.
E&B was cancelled because of un-profitability
Jumpgate can't seem to get more than a couple hundred subs and never had more than 70 players online (that was 2 years ago, I don't even know if it is still up now)
In short there's only been 1 truely successful Sci-Fi MMO and two moderately successful sci-fi MMO's. Therefore the industry is leary of opening more sci-fi MMO's. Matrix Online didn't even make it 6 months before WB bailed on it. From what I understand they're still under 40k subs and aren't profitable yet. I'm betting now that SOE owns it they 86 the project and take whatever creative ideas are in it and incorporate them into one of their own titles. Sphere isn't doing well either for that matter. Planetside, which is a SCI-FI FPS only broke 60k subscribers.
When you compare that to the fantasy market you see why new companies tend to go Fantasy more than Sci-Fi.
Fantasy MMO's:
UO - Wildly successful STILL has tons of players.
EQ - Need I say more?
FFXI - Wildly Successful
DAOC
WOW
Lineage
Lineage II
9 of the top 8 MMORPG's are Fantasy MMO's. When a company tries to jump into a new market they tend to jump where they see success. Thus we will continue to see new Fantasy MMO's far more than Sci-Fi.
SWG has lately taken a huge up-turn. At least for now. If it continues to trend upward and grows past the 400k subscriber base (which is very possible) then you may see a growth of interest in the developers to make more sci-fi MMORPG's.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Companies tend not to want to be big risk takers and since most of the very successful MMO's are fantasy based you will continue to see them until you get a break out game from another genre that does extremely well.
SWG has an estimated 250,000 players atm and has continued to trend up with subs. However reaching 400k will be tough in this current market with so many games to choose from and with the current success of WoW and Guild Wars drawing a lot of the new gamers as well as taking from all the other MMO's.
You want to play Roma Victor then. No magic, and no mythical crap. It's historically accurate and based on Rome 180AD. You need to eat to live, it takes time to travel (real life days) and you can build ballistas and lay siege to the empire.
Not for the casual gamer though. It looks like it will be very difficult to advance in the game (which I like but I appreciate other people may not.)
http://aerirprown.blogspot.com/
I'd disagree with that. While D&D is most likely an influence to some, I think the broader fantasy market has a built in fanbase that Dungeons and Dragons does not. Fantasy novels usually sell better than science fiction novels (though there are exceptions like Heinlein and Orson Scott Card), and they definitely sell better than historical fiction. It's really very similar to the reason so many game companies are acquiring/have acquired licenses to popular franchises like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, the Matrix, etc; they believe that a familiar theme will bring with it a larger potential market. Obviously, the overall quality of the game, promotion, customer service, etc. are all factors in a game's success, but none of those aside from promotion really impacts the initial "opening weekend" figures.
MMOs require a huge investment of startup capital that almost always comes from outside sources. Because investors don't want to throw their money away, they rely heavily on things like market research and polling. Think of it like movie executives airing films for focus groups before they release the final cuts. There's risk in everything, but minimizing risk and maximizing gain is the goal of every successful business. I think one reason games like Anarchy Online and EVE chose to go with science fiction was because they were very small companies who didn't have (comparitively) huge initial budgets. Being small, they didn't need huge subscriber bases to stay above water, so they decided to go after a genre that had little market saturation.
i'd say elnator's post is pretty much spot on (you could even contest that swg is a pure sf game as the franchise it is based on is clearly heavily influenced by fantasy or knight tale elements, but that would be another topic).
i think currently the fantasy setting based market is/is perceived as being much larger than the science fiction setting based market, and especially larger companies are reluctant to create a product unless it is based on a "market viable franchise" like star wars or the upcoming star trek game. also fantasy based games currently tend to have a large set of common functionalities and features, which makes moving between them easier for the customers and lowers the "access barrier".
i'd say if we are to see more science fiction based games in the future they will rather originate from the shooter genre and expand into incorporating mmog elements, like for example neocron and planetside are doing.
It's all because of Tolkien.