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[Column] General: Are MMOs Becoming Too Casual?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
If you’ve been around the world of MMOs for a while, you’ve probably heard it said: “MMOs are becoming more casual!” Sure, sometimes there’s a qualifier in there, but it’s a chestnut complaint. But is it true? Chris and Ryan sit down for another spirited debate and try to answer the question: Are MMOs Becoming Too Casual?
Read more of Christopher Coke's and Ryan Getchell's Player vs Player: Are MMOs Becoming Too Casual?
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Comments
I miss those times, a game that did it well that was relevant in news is FFXI. When I started playing there were no cookie cutters just yet like everything going /nin. So I went THF/BLM while leveling cause THF had good INT and BLM had blaze spikes, so while pulling it would deal damage. Ineffective? yup, arrived at party near dead all the time cause thieves aren't supposed to get hit. Memorable having played the game for 6 more years after that? Absolutely because reflecting on it made it great.
I think that MMOs targeting specific sub sets of players would be great but unfortunately it is not a sustainable model unless it's F2P. Which personally I am tired of F2P titles, over-crowded for first month or two. Then the exodus happens and its a wasteland of only hardcore fans. I wish it could go back to the days of MMOs that required party play and the community required you to not be an ass or they community punished you for it.
In FFXI back in the day, if you were an ass, you didn't get parties or endgame linkshells. Minus the occasional people who had apologized, the server itself acted as its own police and I loved that. That combined with the investment into your character made it one of the most unique games I have ever had the pleasure of playing.
This has been invading all genres it seems. There are some lengthy debates being had right now on Pillars of Eternity's forums about whether or not you should be able to respec your character in PoE. I think this is part of the 'casual' mindset. Half of the players on the forums there actually want you to be able to respec your character in a single-player cRPG inspired by Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale.
I don't think MMOs are becoming too casual. I think they have been too casual for a while now. It has actually made an entire generation of casual gamers that feel just as passionately as the more 'hardcore' crowd. I think it's part of the genre audience now, much to my chagrin. It's going to be as much a fight as 'Group vs solo' debates when a new game is released.
TL;DR
This article seems really late to the party.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Unlike people that played old games and used an editor to modify the save files, or the huge amount of games that didn't really give you much spec options to begin with.
The whole deal with respec is that playing through half the game just to recreate your party and start from beginning is a huge waste of time and its one of those things that makes people quit the game.
Uhhhh.... Yes they are.
They problem is however, that games that go down the casual route always do better than those that don't.
Trying to make a "Hard core" game is a recipe for disaster.
But there is a disturbing lack of hardcore games.
I see there are still people trying to legitimize the fact that they spend too much time sitting in front of a computer, spam-clicking a mouse.
Too funny.
Is there only one care you can buy ? OF COURSE NOT
Is there only one mmog game players can play ? OF COURSE NOT
Do all game players like the the same game play ? OF COURSE NOT
Have game makers often tried to make games that appealed to a very broad segment of game players resulting in games that have the same feel as countless other games ? OF COURSE
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been lost because of this mindless pack mentality..Millions more will be lost as the corporate lemmings continue to run rampant and wonder why they fail.
A counter revolution is just beginning. Some game developer/marketers have finally realized what consumer product marketers have known for over half a century. Unless you are a mega company that can pound a "me too" product into the market and have it take hold....you need to find an unsatisfied game play experience and then fill that need with a superior product.
The need/niche needs to be big enough to attract a population big enough to support the game developing company.....THAT'S ALL THAT IS ESSENTIAL.
What some of us are seeing is some niche games being developed. The developers are NOT making a game for a broad segment of the gamer population and that's OK. For us consumers it means we may start playing a mmog again.
I applaud their pioneering efforts
I keep hearing people say that if u don't play the class they way I say ur a bad player truth is we all have different styles and hole my way is the only way bs is being proved wrong by gamers and game companys alike are games becoming more casual yes the reason is two fold lots and lots of younger kids are starting to transition for conoles were they literally hold you hand the entire time to mmos were hand holding used to be frowned upon but game companies are business and the best profits come from these new players so they casual it up . the second is that society as a hole is becoming more and more soft and caulted were everyone is a winner and there is no such thing as a looser its sickening .
I miss the old days were it took effort to be good at a game and a story was important what I don't miss is the its my way or the highway mentality with builds I play whats fun not whats right .
i am the immortal who will find perfect utopia at all cost .
Originally posted by laokoko
"if you want to be a game designer, you should sell your house and fund your game. Since if you won't even fund your own game, no one will".
Casual huh. Casual because its easy? No. That is carebear content.
Playing casually means getting on your game for no more than 30 mins a day and still being able to keep up with everyone else. . Difficulty has nothing to do with it. League of Legends would be considered a casual game being how easy it is.
There are tons of MMOs with carebear content and they should have it. Most open world stuff should be carebear content. Dungeons and raids are there for you if you are looking for a challenge.
In the end all MMO PvE is easy once you have the proper gear, and skills. Raids are not hard at all and never were. All you had to do was learn the run and then apply the knowledge .
-I am here to perform logic
I already asked the community few days ago to help me find "non casual" MMO. Reality is games are so casual now that I rotate through multiple. Example right now Path of Exile is in limbo, waiting on new league so I'm playing Marvel Heroes Online. I play them mainly because they are free and as a filler games until X game comes.
Reality is the casual and P2W trend came with people who prefer to do other activities (like make $ irl, enjoy other things) beside participate in a persistent MMO world and yet expect to be as good with those who do. Reality is MMORPG's are a complete different genre where those who sacrifice both time and effort deserve to be above those who do not. This same principle is effective in real life as well.
Hey, I haven't spent $ on a newly release game in the last 4 years, 2 months and 10 days and that's most I can do to change the direction of games in general. I'm fine with casual games, but as other posters above mentioned the lack of availability of non casual AAA games is truly a sad reality.
Problem is also that casual gamers preventing me from playing the game whenever I feel playing it and the dailies, weeklies, monthly events with double exp or some other non realistic mechanics like endgame raiding that only happen 1-3 times through the week for 30 min to 2-3 hours.
MMO's need mechanics so those who aren't "winning" are still pursuing a goal. Being a peasant, a servant or some lowbie scrub, these are all roles fit in a roleplaying game for those who deserve em and if they aren't happy with them they got a chance to change that. Time is the most precious thing we got in life and we all make sacrifices for what truly matters for us to have.
Of course they are. Look at how many MMO's are now forcing limited action bars into the gameplay, in order to cater to a wider audience. The days of having other situational abilities at your disposal is over, unfortunately. Not to mention crowd control abilities have almost been phased out, because it's too much effort other than straight forward action combat.
If you're going to limit action bars, then you have to offer players a way to transform their abilities into something else as well.
They becoming too easy , not casual.
Casual mean even if you don't have too much time to play , you still able to enjoy the game in one way or another.
For example MOBA or other kind of MO game like dancing or tower defence.
They are casual game , but the difficulties not drop to easy
Being easy and brainless wasn't casual .
But that won't happen. The loss of bars and buttons is the loss of choice. The newer games don't replace those buttons with actions, they just take 5 buttons water it down to one action and then take away the other actions in the tree/line.
It would be different if you lost buttons but triggered (and I mean the player, not some animation sequence) the action in some other way: using the directional, using a situation, using UI, voice. That might be progress.
But, the industry has passed judgment on choice of action and build, and they have sentenced it to die.
I have to say I like these columns.
But have a few things I like to get into.
Ryan you asked "why are players not allowed to make mistakes anymore?"
I think has a simple answer and that's I feel the the new majority doesn't like to make mistakes and learn from them, forums over the last 10 years have shown this quite clear.
And sorry again Ryan but really? "So perhaps it isn’t that MMOs are becoming too casual, maybe they are becoming too broad scoped." If so I feel quite the opposite that today's MMO's are targetting a specific type of players unlike in the old where all sorts of game styles where placed into one game genre called MMORPG. To me all that has been gone. And we are left with only 2 options that in itself are pretty limited both PVE and PVP mainly because both focus mostly on the combat as there are almost no none combat professions in today's A-title MMO's.
I don't feel MMO's are becoming more casual, I feel MMO are starting to lose their grib of what a online RPG could be instead there more like online action games with a touch of RPG slapped onto it in form of story and progression.
And you never needed a degree in science or what ever, all you needed in the past was patience that's all. And the lack of many players patience is why we have MMO's be what they are today.
Still some great and fun MMO's to play but they are far from what I feel a MMORPG could be
Please take note of the words COULD BE because for me it means something different then SHOULD BE.
But i won't accept this judgement, Damnit! I want to see the return of choice to the player, maybe when those trying to make money at the expense of the genre has left the game.
Sigh..one day.
Have they become too casual? In a simple answer, Yes.
My personal opinion is that player retention is directly linked to two pieces. Player investment and player progression. Games which have allowed these two areas to become over simplified or easier have created an environment which promotes players walking away.
As mentioned investment can be leveling, obtaining gear, wealth, home ownership in game, in game reputation and community, or just a matter of time invested in a particular virtual world. Being able to look back at all you have accomplished is important and if getting to an advanced point contained a level of challenge and complexity, then it's all the more satisfying.
As an example I always returned to SWG (why I would leave in the first place is in my next point) even if I would try something else because I was so invested in my Elder Jedi character and I didn't want to take a chance that I would lose my house on Water Street in Vagabond's Rest (a player city). I was somewhat well known (I mentioned reputation previously) by the community because the game started with one character per account and I had spent years as this character and I always liked to return to visit my friends.
Progression comes in many forms. We all know that players devour content faster than developers can create it. It can also mean achievements, mounts, alternate advancement, etc. It takes many shapes for different types of players and can include wealth building and crafting as well. If you don't feel there is more to do, you are not going to continue to retain your player base. They will stray when feeling they have seen and done it all. This is why after reaching max level (particularly if it didn't require much of an investment) many move on. (This has always been why I have decided to check out something new.)
The key to a successful game in my opinion is providing a certain level of complexity (yes you should be able to have a bad build, but with the ability to fix it over time) which appeals to a broad range of play types (such as crafters, pvp'ers, RP'ers, content locusts) which can take a substantial amount of investment to reach a satisfying level. In addition you have to offer a broad range of future progression so many different types of players feel there is something more to do and to accomplish all the while tying them to the community of the virtual world they are living in.
See..simple to make that game..right?