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Why do we all beg for 1 size fits all mmo games when we hate them?
Abuz0r
Member UncommonPosts: 550
Title says it all.
I can't even name a game in this post or it'll distract from the topic. There's about 5 current 1 size fits all big budget MMOs on the market right now. Basically nobody really likes any of them.
Every 2 days I see a post about whats going to be the next big one, does that mean the next 1 size fits all?
Why don't companies make smaller niche games that attract players with similar interests. People that like them love them and people who dislike them just play something else, simple enough.
Comments
Last thing I ever look for is a one size fits all approach.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
It boils down to 2 major issues.
#1 MMOs are expensive to make and even if you off shore the work to India you are not getting back a good product. I am an IT guy and have worked with off shore developers many times, I have seen more times than not where American developers need to rewrite entire applications because how the product coming back from off shore is. So its cheaper in theory but not always in real life.
#2 MMOs all have the WOW star in their eyes and want to make that kind of money. So they spend tons of money and need to appeal to non MMO players so they can make money back on their investments.
You don't need to blame us.
Developers and more importantly their investors want everyone. Niche games that get 'good' profits aren't good enough. I mean I was completely satisfied with City of Heroes & CoV. It went F2P and they killed it even tho it was by all measure still moderately popular. I mean everyone that played it would take breaks but come back. I had about 4 years total in the game and that was with taking breaks here and there.
I really enjoyed a couple of Korean FFA pvp games. I'm not sure what all the politics are in the closing of a few of those games, probably something else became a bigger cafe hit.
I'd like a game with D&D like rules (your stats are set, you progress by gaining skills & abilities) but mostly open world with some nation vs nation combat. Levels being like 1 starter 10 max so even if you're new you're not bowled over by a barrel of HP & potions, but people more skilled.
We just need braver developers and an expectation that 100,000 people paying to play your game is a reasonable profitable enterprise.
Hell I'd like to see more non combat MMOs. Imagine a world where it's treasure hunters and the quest every day is a bunch of esoteric clues you have to figure out to find a relic? I've held on to that for a long time because I want to make the game, but if someone steals it go ahead.
a yo ho ho
I think that pretty much answers your question. In fact, the bigger your budget, the wider the market you need to try to appeal to. So, inherently, if you have a larger budget, you're going to need to appeal to a large audience. The only game I can think of at the moment that you might be talking about is Wildstar. If that's one of the games you're thinking about, though, I think you're actually mistaken. I would class Wildstar as an example of a game that targeted a niche market that isn't large enough to sustain their game. We haven't seen it die yet, but there is plenty of talk about population right now.
If you want a game that is niche, it's not going to be done on a bigger budget, which means less frills. So there are actually two sides to this fence. You get people who want a massive open world sandbox game, but complain that the graphics look like Wurm. Then, others, like ESO attempt to capture a larger market by appealing to the masses, they have a larger budget, do a better job with their appearance, but dilute some of the other content, and they get tongue-lashed for being a cookie-cutter. Unfortunately, they call them niche games for a reason, because the majority of casual players aren't interested in them. There may be some who are very vocal and say there is a market, but if there was a market for big-budget niche games then we'd see one made.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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I don't think video games are the kind of thing where you can have an expensive product with a small or niche market. You could do it with wine, cheese, cars, and even gaming computers, but the games seem to be something where if the market is small or niche, the game must be priced less than the larger market games.
Think about it. Most of the recent releases on Steam are Indie Adventure or Indie RPG. They don't sell for $60 a pop. You can see this same sort of thing with other products, like wine say, but with video games, it seems pretty locked in. Small or niche market, inexpensive product. Large market, expensive product.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
I don't so "we" don't.... some people do.
So the title should really read:
Why do SOME people beg for 1 size fits all mmo games when SOME people hate them?
Sort of seems silly to ask now, doesn't it... who cares about SOME people?
We don't beg for them at all. Developers and publishers do because they want to try to appeal to the maximum possible audience size as that is how to maximize thier proffits. Alot of costs scale very well for volume with online service offerings.
Believe me, if McDonalds could find a way to make a Happy Meal that also had consumer appeal as a floor wax, they would jump at it.
The difference between many other enterprises and MMO's is that the manufacturers of those other products have figured out the reality that functionaly you can only make a product that appeals to so wide an audience before it starts to fall apart against the competition. Many MMO Publishers/Developers are still banging thier heads against that hard reality. Partly, it because MMO's are still a relatively young industry, partly it's based on the myth that technology can do everything and any thing and partly because for such a long period of thier history MMO's were a relatively non-competitive market with a market that was growing much faster then the number of product entrants. That all has started to change bit by bit...and I think the reality of it has started to sink into more Developers/Publishers.
Essentially it comes down to this:
1) 'We' don't want 1 size fits all games. We watch games that cater specifically to us, aka 'niche' games.
However;
We also want our niche games to have the budget of a '1-size fits all' type MMO. Which is realistically impossible, and yet we want it all the same. We don't care how much money it takes to make our game, we all want what we want, and everyone wants something different.
And that is basically the problem. We all expect a list of features from every game. We've stopped approaching these games like new experiences. Developers have to consider how much money their games will make, they need to make tough decisions in order to keep their studios from going bankrupt. Because 1 failed MMO costs so much money, that it actually IS damaging enough to bankrupt most studios on the market today.
So essentially it leaves us w/ a couple options. We either start warming up to more smaller budget games (indie or otherwise), and settle for less production value, in favor of more mechanics that match what we're looking for, or we need to settle for games that have some of what we want, but a lot of other stuff we may not. Because it has to cater to a wider audience.
There's also the third option, of learning to check your expectations at the door, and treating each game as it's own thing. But most people seem incapable of doing that, imho.
I think hes mostly talking about the people who complain about everything and always trying to tear down a game. Just because you dont like it doesnt mean someone else doesnt. There is no reason to attack games and say they are not innovative enough, or they dont have X things in this game, etc.
Just because a game doesnt have what you want doesnt mean it doesnt have what someone else wants. Everytime you complain about a game you are telling devs that you want a 1 size fits all MMO. Devs see you bashing the thing they just worked years on and gave their life and soul to a game and you complain that it doesnt have what you want so that makes the game a low score, just because you dont like it. Instead of looking at what the game does right you look at only things you dont think like about the game.
Oh, I'm not going to suggest that one-size-fits games are the kind that I see myself playing indefinitely. I play WoW more than any other game I've tried, but I only ever really play it in spurts. 3, 4, 6 month spurts? It's because I love the universe, though. Same goes for SWTOR. It's about that compelling story for me. If the story get's me geekin' out then I'll play it. I don't really care if it's one-size-fits.
Crazkanuk
----------------
Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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Atlantica has what everyone wants, but its turn based so it gets ignored, even though the fights are nearly as fast as a normal battle game. If you tried it, you would probably get sick of mainstream games. Its refreshing to see a game so different out there.
Who is this "we" and "all" you are speaking of?
Same here. I am still looking for a skill based group oriented MMORPG to replace FFXI.