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The WoW target demographic and Titan
carryon
Member Posts: 12
First let me say that I had a great time playing WOW. It was my first MMO and I will always look back on it with the fondest of memories.
That said I think that Blizzard (or whoever is calling the shots) is doing what they have (most of the time) always done. The smart thing.
Over time I've come to believe in some of the things I've read on these forums. I think WoW got a lot from other MMOs. EQ in particular. I think Blizzard did that on purpose. Take the best features of other MMOs and leave the ones that make games like EQ intimadating and/or frustrating to the casual gamer. With a familiar, simplified UI and watered down difficulty it would be easy for other MMO players to transition and be accessable to newbie gamers.
I don't think WoW is anywhere near dying, but I do think that there target demographic has changed. I've played Wizard101 with my nephew and that and his extensive Pokemon card collection tells me all I need to know.
It has been generally accepted that WoWs in game chat and forum posts have declined, filled with a lot of attention seeking children/adolescents in an environment where they can misbehave. Trade chat can be likened to a classroom when the teacher has left the room. Is it so strange that Blizzard would recognize gamers need for something new as well? With GW2, SWOR and RIFT it is understandable why they have targeted the next MMO generation that wants to move on to something more (realatively) mature, that the "cool kids" play.
Blizzard has, over time, made WoW easier. I was angry about this and became the primary reason why I left. With the Kung Fu Panda/Pokemon expansion on the horizon I finally understand why. Titan? I wonder if that will be like the WoW of old (Vanilla), for the generation that was there in the beginning and pine for again. (Or not, but I can dream)
What do you guys think?
Comments
I think kids are going to play these games reguardless, because it is us the adults that buy them.. Blizzard is Targeting an audiance that.. will always be there, but left us adults hung out to dry with this expansion.. But mabie it is time to move on..
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/330061/PandasNow-Im-very-concerned-about-the-Titan-project.html
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Just by looking at the graphics of WoW their target demographic is clearly pre-teens(12 and below), teens(13-19), and adult-children(20+)
Well they're definately not targeting you whiny middle aged men. One thing they've learn over the years is they've got you in the bag already, no matter how often you like to throw your rattle out of your pram. They know that in 6 months time, WoW's servers are gonna be full of 30-40 year old men playing Pandas.
Think about it like this. The team that made WoW what it was is no longer working on that game, they were moved over to Titan. It may be unncessary to believe that because WoW has gone casual it will be the same for this next generation MMO project, Titan. Think about it, where is the logic in having two casual online games? Im certain Blizzard have no intention of shutting down WoW for years to come as it makes them all the money to fund new projects.
It is possible Titan will be something entirely new that we cannot even concieve of yet, or it will do what Blizzard did when they first created WoW, take what the genre is lacking and provide.
Yup as long as 'whiners' will only whine, but still go and spend money on: new expansion, subscription or in cash shop, then current style and design will be kept.
Thing is I frequently see behaviour "I don't like what they did with this game,bla bla bla, I am buying it though". <--- this is what cause your problem OP.
For example many ppl say "I don't like new D3 style and RMAH, bla bla, I've pre-ordered it of course" <-- as long as majority players behave like that certain things will not change. They are like addict taking all what's thrown at them..
What if Titan was actually World of Starcraft (remember that April Fools joke on the WoW website?) I was actually convinced they were serious because that could be a cool idea. Then I looked at the upcoming patch notes. Then I looked at my calendar. Then I had a long, drawn out sigh
"broader appeal" is what i heard in relation to Titan. i'd guess it's more likely that cool kids would leave WOW, than stay out of Titan.
The cool kids where the first to play wow.
And the cool kids started to leave the building years ago, now almost none left.
I don't know what's left but it IS NOT the community of the 1st million that were playing wow.
Titan is supposed to be more casual and accessable then WoW. So I doubt any cool kids would want to go to an easier simplified game then WoW.
Or maybe a true MMO for both the PC and consoles? Where both are on-line in same worlds?
Do you think that it is not coming? I would say a good half of the on-line gamers are on the console side. Can you imagine WOW made today to be played on the console AND PC? We think of the cash Blizz makes with just PC.. now add all the console people into that..
You mad??
Speaking for middle aged men, I quit wow a long time ago for many of the reasons stated on here(may as well be world of pokemon now), only clicked on this because of the Titan reference, as I am curious about what their next offering could be.
In any event, I have more money than any 100 teenagers, it is wiser to make games I want to play.
With that said, I am not a game snob, going to play swtor, just totally done with wow, as many are.
To the posters that say they want titan to be more accessible and casual friendly than wow, read that as easier, what on earth could possibly be easier than WoW? Maybe a romper room mmo?
If that's the case that would really suck for the consolers, since most recent high-selling Blizzard games are all so pvp/e-sports centric. Imagine playing arena/pvp on WoW with a console control vs people on pc with hotkeys and macros. You will get absolutely slaughtered lol
don't think it is, since Blizzard recently endorsed and approved of a group of fans creating a Starcraft MMO mod on the Starcraft 2 engine - if Blizzard was creating a Startcraft MMO I don't think they would endorse fans to do this.
really uninformed thread we got here. First off its already been confirmed Titan will be a first person shooter casual mmorpg so they are not going for you wow nerds as the target audience they want to take over every genre, they already have the fantasty nerds with wow and every xpac they bring out will continue to sell, they have the hack n slashers with d3 coming, the strategy RTS competative side with sc2 which is currently the biggist e-sports game in the world.. Its time for a blizzard FPS game and thats what they are doing.
Truth be told casual as well as accessible do not always go hand in hand with being easy in truth. A casual as well as accessable game is merely less of a chore to pick up an play, has many more thigns that draw players in to the game, as well as less of a drain on time that erson has. The hardcore raiders that spent 40+ hours playing or gaming are pretty well dying off, but the more casual gamer that has between 15 and 20 hours a weeek on averge have kept their presence strong. Mosst hardcore raiders and players play thru games at such a rate they only get at max a year out f the game, before they move on till the expantsion pack hits, but the casuals can be playing two to three times as long as a hardcore, that is quite abit more revenue there. Easy games are not the issue at all it is engaging, interesting, and fun games that are the problem as they do not exist as well as they should, a game that has these in it hardcore based or caual based will be played as it is doing what a game is supposed to give the player enjoyment.
Haha yeah right, you can't even convince yourself thats the truth.
Belly ache all you want but we both know that in 6 months time you'll be the owner of your very own Kung-Fu Panda.
they just want people to play the game, its funny people think they are targetting certain ages. Majority of people i have met and people i've seen at the Blizzcons i have went to are adults and that who is acting immature (i personally have met only one kid in warcraft and they acted better then all the adults that play)..people keep trying to blame this on oh its kids playing no its adults acting like kids lol.
All these MMO's will be filled with immature adults, its just the way things are.
also panda's are awesome wether they are in a game or you see them in RL.
its funny how threatened these people are about playing a panda haha
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas