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Why aren't there any Ancient Rome/Greece MMORPG's?
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If I was smart? Yes. But publishers aren't smart. They never EVER understand why games fail, or they wouldn't keep cranking out WoW clones after the first 3 tanked.
Those games didn't do poorly because of the setting. It was because of gameplay. If anything, the setting made them stand out. People freaking love Greek Mythology. And Dark Age of Camelot was all British mythology and Irish mythology and it was insanely successful.
I dunno about there not being supernatural classes, the priests in ADnD were based on the pantheon and they worked out well. Some GM's like myself (I know my nerd is showing) made it so that when spells were cast they weren't these spectacular biblical events they were subtle and just enough to notice a change.
I would love one. IT would be fun.
There were 2:
Gods and Heroes - tanked because it was too limited and too small budget, Perpetual couldn't revive it.
Roma Victor - tanked because it was too complex.
I think it has nothing to do with settings but rather they simply weren't well made.
This doesn't make any sense.
Companies stray from the path all the time. What I've learned is that people who seem to want creative and new concepts, actually don't. They just want the same old nonsense repeated in 1000 ways.
That is why any revolutionary idea fails.
WoW itself is just Everquest repackaged and improved.
The next hit MMORPG isn't going to be something revolutionary, it is going to be an improved WoW.
Can't believe people fail to realize that. Intellectuals, truly creative people, do not make up most the world's population.
Get it through your heads. Even the Eve-esque crowd is not really innovative. Runescape had a similiar sadistic PvP FFA system, where anyone could kill anyone, but Runescape isn't crowned as the intellectual masterpiece (heavy sarcasm here) that Eve Online is, when in reality, Eve is no more complicated then Runescape, but Eve is populated by anti-social Hipsters who think they are doing something unique, when in reality, unique to them is actually a carbon copy of previously existing systems, which are not engaging or creative, just masochistic/sadistic in design.
Try to create a novel idea, and watch as the masses tear it to shreds. WoW succeeded because of having Blizzard attached to it, Blizzard doesn't create innovative concepts, they take already good ideas and creat innovative features, like taking Everquest and DaoC and streamlining questing, to remove mindless grinding, combine that with a trusted IP, BINGO!
I've tried several times to respond to you, but I ended up deleting my long post out of frustration, because I'm having a hard time expressing my points clearly. Anyway, I'll just keep it simple.
You need magic or technology to have a good creative MMO, as it gives license to be a lot more creative. Magic and technology are tools to illustrate power. You can make magic/technology do whatever you want, and it unleashes people's innermost desires, desires like to fly, go invisible, breath underwater, walk through walls, etc. Without magic and technology, you are very limited as to how the game can progress, and it gets boring fast.
Also, you can't base an MMO on a real time period, as expansions don't contain any surprise. People know what will happen, because we can simply read history. Plus, there's too much controversy to have a mainstream historical MMORPG, as people will be finding labeling a civilization or tribe as good or evil as too controversial, but going purely grey and not black-and-white doesn't satisfy most people, as most tend to want to play the hero or the villain, not someone in-between (it is too realistic otherwise).
Plus, why would you delve into those time periods with adding the fantastic creatures of myth, gods, goddesses, heroes, etc, of those time periods? There's so much more potiental if you make it like Age of Mythology, then if you just go pure historic.
The game would end up being too educational to really get into. This doesn't just apply to that time period, it applies to Wild West time period, World War 2, even modern. If it is too realistic, it will alienate people then if it is more surreal, as strange as that sounds.
Because us Westerners take the Medieval Fantasy setting as a very idealist setting, that emphasizes human connections, heroism, and a simpler life, which is attracting to a lot of people in our cold, modern, computerized, de-humanizing, lonely 21st century lives.
Science fiction is less popular than fantasy for the same reason; it is far too cold and mechanical. People want something bright that awakens a better time, a more idealistic setting.
Ancient Greece and Rome is too dark and gritty in its interpretation, even its pleasures seem more peverse than wholesome. Don't ask me why, it just seems that way. Maybe it has to do with Christianity, I don't know. That just seems the general consensus based on people I've met and research I've conducted.
Throw the Ancient Greek, say 480-300BC, skin over a DAoC 2 type engine, spice the mix up a bit with some mythology and a dash of poetice license......theres easy 3 faction warfare within Greece or take it broader and Greece, Persia and perhaps Europe as the 3 factions.
Yes I know, I dream but I reckon that would be an awesome RVR MMO base.
UO beta, etc etc ---> present day.
Currently in LOTRO while waiting for another DAOC to arrive!.
for some reason fantasy is always your best bet. I dont know why but i even tend this way myself. I love science fiction but when it comes to mmo's im only interested in fantasy based.
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In my opinion, it's because ancient Rome/Greece were a part of real history. In my experience RPG players want something fantastical, either futuristic and beyond our current capabilities, or a fantasy based setting... and beyond our capabilities with magic. There are already a slew of historical games, and I'm not sure there's a large market for a historical MMORPG yet.
Then again, you never know.
I got a Greek/Roman MMO thats coming up, Its called Venus Rising. I think we decided to call it a MMOXXX though.
http://foxysoft.net/Game_Page_7W0M.php
Haha nice... Hopefully you'll weave Caligula in there somewhere!