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How do you determine a "MMORPG expert"?
Poison_Adele
Member CommonPosts: 287
(Or just an MMO expert)
I was just glancing through another thread where someone noted that a popular Youtuber was not by default an expert on the subjects of MMORPGs, etc. This is certainly true, but it got me to wondering--just who is an expert on MMORPGs? An expert being someone who knows the industry, can analyze games in the genre, and understands the methods of development behind them.
Or termed more loosely, someone whose opinion can be trusted in regards to the quality of MMORPGs today. Does anyone have any examples of such people whose opinions they trust?
Comments
well that unnamed person did say SWTOR and WoW CAT were awesome....
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Nobody is an expert in the MMO industry. Why? Because the MMO audience (obviously not all) are full of self-centered and close-minded people. When an MMO expert who really knows a lot about the industry makes a review of a certain game and his/her ratings don't conform with what some people think, those people will simply label him/her as "not an expert." Just look here in MMORPG.com. Whenever someone makes a review of the game and some people don't agree with the rating, they always say the writer/site is paid, biased, etc.
Seriously, who could be an expert if you have such a self-centered audience?
I see a MMO expert that has experienced the Hype Train, and has learned a lession of wisdom in not trusting Marketing hype.
Staying Skeptical till they get their hands on the game.
learn from the past cleaver marketing tricks that developers use to sell boxes, and that some developers use the same trick over and over. Learn not to fall for these same tricks again and again.
that to me is a MMO expert.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Outside of people in the industry, and sticking primarily to the people on these forums:
Paragus1 is someone I consider an MMO expert. He has a hands on working knowledge and understanding of a wide range of gameplay and wide range of MMOs. More importantly, he is capable of being objective even when discussing features or gameplay he doesn't care for personally.
Teala TeJir is another person I consider an MMO expert. While not always as objective as Paragus1, her subjective views are clearly based in both a passion for gaming and an understanding of the mechanics she's discussing.
Additionally, they are also two people who more than likely have written solid design documents or valid game ideas but aren't arrogant enough to tell others they are a game designer because they have done so. There are plenty others, but those are two off the top of my head.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
How can someone even be an expert at a game in general? I assume you mean an expert reviewer, which is just an opinion in the end anyway (paid would be an advertisment or not paid only opinion).
EVERY game is not for EVERYONE, so its up to YOURSELF to see if the game is fun or not. If you live and die from reviews and forums to see what others think about a game that you might be interested in, then your just following the heard.
Just take a look at the forumns around here, everyone knows better than the next person... This place is a font of knowledge.
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
An MMO Expert is someone you happen to agree with
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
with a mirror ..
no but honestly .. i don't. who cares? play what you like.
if that means wasting a few buck along the way .. well, what are ya gonna do? most mmos are good for the box price. more bang than most single player games if for no other reason than you get to meet a bunch of ppl you probably wouldn't otherwise.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
Most accurate description to date!
Enter a whole new realm of challenge and adventure.
IMO anyone that isN'T a jaded vet isn't allowed to have the AWESOME paper MMORPG expert! badge. If they don't analyze the MMORPG objectively without bias then I won't give their opinion much weight. Someone that has worked in the industry would definately have more insight. Like Sanya Weathers. I'd definately give her the badge but I'm out of crayons.
Someone who has played them all, but no longer plays only one specific game... because if they did, they'd have too many opinions and not enough facts.
~Also, someone that doesn't foam at the mouth at the mere mention of them.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
I do not think that there is such a thing.
When all has been said and done, more will have been said than done.
Hmmm - an expert MMO dev has to have mroe than one successful launch under their belt (then we get to argue over what constitutes a successful launch).
Hmmm - an expert MMO player does not exist - they would have had to play every MMO game to max level, each and every one of them. Now they could specialize and only play games with PVP or games with Raiding, etc but even then I doubt such a person exists.
An expert in the business side of MMOs is someone who creates financial hype and drinks only koolaid.
All that said there are several people on this site (both official contributors and posters) whose opinion I respect. I don't necessarily agree with everything they say but I do stop and pay attention to what they are saying. I don't remember any of them declaring themselves expert at anything.
Finally I'm not sure any of us are experts in what we ourselves consider fun. Ever just tried a game out because a friend pestered you to death? Even when you swore you'd hate it? Then come to find out that hey it was fun....
People that have been working in the industry, expecially as of late are the people who you should listen to least. Their responsible for the slew of vapid clones, why in the hell do you think someone responsible for failed games has a clue? The statement has nothing to do with Sanja btw, shes great.
Anyone active here from 03/04/05 are the people to listen to as they have have seen it all from the begining for the most part.
I believe that an MMO expert should be knowledgeable about more than one subgenre of MMO. If somebody starts saying one game is better than another simply because it is a sandbox or themepark, and the other isn't, I stop listening to what they are saying. Having opinions is allowed, and multiple viewpoints may be required to grant the general audiance a fair picture of the games being discussed, which is why good podcasts and shows that discuss MMOs typically have several people on at a time.
Another thing to consider is whether the person in question is a fair judge of quality when it comes to general aspects of MMOs, like customer service, patches, clients, engines, and a lot of other not quite subjective things. Their opinions on subjective matters shouldn't be a factor in whether they are an expert. However, if you find yourself agreeing with somebody elses opinions on a regular basis, you can probably depend on them to provide an accurate assessment as to whether you will like a game or not.
I don't care about MMO experts, personally, as I know what I want in a game, and I know how to find out if the game has it.
I used to TL;DR, but then I took a bullet point to the footnote.
Broad gaming experience, at least some technical or CG art background, and minimal bias. From a design standpoint, well read and generally well educated is a big plus. Guildmaster experience is also significant because understanding people and community is important in understanding an MMO.
I've met 2 or 3 that could fit this. Unfortunately I usually piss them off because of my poor management skills.
MMOs are so subjective that I doubt there is any one person who's I'd consider an expert in "what I want" - I sort of have to piece together an opinion from a variety of sources.
There used to be a few insider blogs and twitter feeds I regularly followed. Technical blogs off official websites tend to give an honest insight into what the problems and priorities are. The unofficial blogs/twitter feeds of insiders, particularly community managers who see the world from both sides of the screen and spend their lives communicating, giving them a snappy wriiting style and lots of anecdotes. But it's been a few months now since I've done a tour of favourite blogs and my bookmarks have gotten lost in the clutter.
Although individual voices on the forums tend to blur together into a single bittervet hivemind, there are quite a few people I look forward to reading (believe it or now). I have been talked into trying a few games over the years on this forum, but there's always a nagging paranoia that the boards are awash with social marketting types looking to manipulate the buzz.
The word "expert" is a bit too strong, but someone I would value the input of concerning MMORPGs is someone who played more than just one type of MMORPG.
For instance, someone who only played EQ, then WoW, then LOTRO, then <insert other loot centric theme park MMO with raid end game> is definitely not an expert. Some people think they are MMO veterans who have seen it all when the only thing they have played is EQ clones.
There's the opposite too, the sandbox lover who bashes anything that isn't a sandbox, and we have quite a few bloggers/writers on this site who are like that. Actually, most of the bloggers/writers on this site and also most other sites are strongly biased and totally uninteresting to read.
I know several people around here though who have played almost all the MMOs since the very first ones, who know what a sandbox MMORPG is, who know that MMOs do not all have "end games", and who are also capable of talking about games they don't like for whatever reason in an unbiased and fair way. Those are the people who are usually interesting to read, and they are just regular posters, not officials.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
Lol, this ^.
Not only is the track record of this genre so poor, that it's basically impossible for anyone to claim to be an expert. (Both players and devs don't seem to know much of anything when it comes down to it. Things are still very much a gamble on both ends.)
A self proclaimed 'expert' I've found more often than not to actually be an idiot in a not-so-cleverly concealed disguise.
I'll clarify. Someone that has a history of being in the industry in some way but not currently work and promoting their game. Having an old account may help some but there are a lot of people here than have been around since MUDs but joined this community in the last few years.
Do those people with minimal bias even exist? I can imagine that is hard to not be biased regarding WoW-clones and Themepark vs Sandbox.
not really, because i didn't listen to him when he was boasting about how fabulous SWTOR was and i was right to do so. Experts do have hits and misses however he did come back and apologize to his community about having said those wonderful things about titles that didn't live up to promises. smh
An expert is someone who has a long history with mmo gaming, pays attention to that history when dealing with features and combat styles (IE when everyone was claiming TERA's combat system was new, showed the video footage of Tabula Rasa and other games that had that style of combat) and tries to keep an honesty about his work. There is always room for mistakes tho they are human after all.
Malcom Gladwell in Outliers talks about the "10,000-Hour Rule", claiming that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.
In this case I'd say that anyone with 10,000 cumulative hours of gameplay should be considered a expert in mmo's.
I have nearly double that in just ffxi. So I'm an expert... should I do a AMA? With the amount of gaming that current generations do I'd consider that most avid gamers are something close to an expert by the age of 20-25. Whether they are MMO experts though I suppose depends upon the genre of game they have experience with.
"An "expert" is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain. An expert, more generally, is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study. Experts are called in for advice on their respective subject, but they do not always agree on the particulars of a field of study. An expert can be, by virtue of credential, training, education, profession, publication or experience, believed to have special knowledge of a subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially (and legally) rely upon the individual's opinion. Historically, an expert was referred to as a sage (Sophos). The individual was usually a profound thinker distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment." - Wikipedia.
So, to me, you wont find any mmorpg expert in the world.
Best you can do is to trust your own judgment and see if you can have fun in a given game.
But even so, the game you can be having fun in, can suck and you dont even realize it...