Revisiting my old but new MMO Acronym terms

MMOExposed · August 10

Originally posted in 2014
https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/404630/mmoexposeds-defining-what-a-mmo-is-changing-the-acronym-i-knew-this-day-would-come-finally-end

Wasn't well received back then (got TEMP BANNED for suggesting it back then lol), but after years of the regression and dilution in the MMO genre over the years since I originally posted this. I recently saw this article here on MMORPG.com
https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/505899/please-stop-calling-your-single-player-games-mmos-mmorpg-com#latest

Kind of reminded me about why I originally made the old post. So I wanted to repost this idea here to see if opinions changed or for better feedback.

==================

Now to the MMOExposed's suggestion on fixing this issue:

two New genres Acronyms:

HCMOG - Hard Cap Multiplayer Online Game

&

SCMOG - Soft Cap Multiplayer Online Game

I will explain what each means.

I will start with HCMOG.

*HCMOG- is a game that has a fixed cap on population limits based on gameplay. For example, Call of Duty has a fixed 24 player cap for multiplayer. 12 vs 12 hard capped. Adding to that would break the game mode and the design of the game. League of Legends, Guild Wars 1, Call of Duty, Diablo 3 all fit this category. And seperates them from the other genre by the cap design instead of the original "Is It Massive, is it Multiplayer, Is it Online" bah bah bah.

*SCMOG- like all games, have some form of cap on population, but with this subgenre, the cap is expandable without breaking the game design. The softcap is only limited by the hardware/Tech. So a game like World of Warcraft has a Softcap that is built for a server limit based on tech restrictions in its game world, not based on a fixed population like its instanced content which is considered an addition to its game world.

And these above would be broken down into smaller subgenres of course

Kyleran · August 10

You weren't temp banned for asking the question, you got a time out for your annoying tendency back then to refer to yourself in the third person.

I weighed back then and 10 years my answer is still applicable.

"Meh, I've given up drawing the line on the term MMO, it's been bastardized by the industry for profit and by a player base that doesn't know better.

I just try to hold the line on the term MMORPG, but then again, few are really making them anymore according to the designs I am familiar with and prefer."

I'm still holding the line 10 years later

Wargfoot · August 10

If the character models don't have cat ears, it's not an RPG.

Fight me.

cameltosis · August 11

I'm not sure that the terms "hard cap" or "soft cap" are particularly useful, given that you are using those terms to refer to how player caps affect the game's design. For example, I could easily see CoD increasing it's player cap from 24 to 30, or 64, or 128, or 250, without it breaking the fundamental design.....as long as the teams were balanced and the maps had enough rooms for however many players were in it.

Also, hard cap and soft cap already have meaning within the gaming genre, trying to redefine them to something else seems like it would be problematic.

I'm happy sticking with the original definition: 250+ players within the same virtual environment.

Whilst very few "MMOs" actually publish their player caps these days, its usually fairly easy to figure out roughly what it is. Or rather, the pretend MMOs usually have an easy to spot low player cap, and can be ruled out. And the larger MMOs, well, I don't really care if the player cap is 200, 300, 500, 1000, or uncapped completely, as long as the player cap is big!

madazz · August 14

You have way too much self importance bro. You and Narius are some of the most.... interesting people on this forum in all my years. No ones going to picking up your acronyms.

Massively Multiplayer hasn't been diluted. Its just been abused. Those who understand what the simple 3 words mean, and understand how adjectives and adverbs and all that work know what it means. The problem is websites like this very one here tried to claim 16 player games (and sometimes less!!!) were MMO's. They shouldn't have allowed that. They shouldn't have allowed world of tanks to advertise their 30 vs 30 game as an MMO either. And Bill shouldn't have said there is argument to call League of Legends and MMO.

kitarad · August 14

waynejr2 · August 22

MMOExposed said:

Originally posted in 2014
https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/404630/mmoexposeds-defining-what-a-mmo-is-changing-the-acronym-i-knew-this-day-would-come-finally-end

Wasn't well received back then (got TEMP BANNED for suggesting it back then lol), but after years of the regression and dilution in the MMO genre over the years since I originally posted this. I recently saw this article here on MMORPG.com
https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/505899/please-stop-calling-your-single-player-games-mmos-mmorpg-com#latest

Kind of reminded me about why I originally made the old post. So I wanted to repost this idea here to see if opinions changed or for better feedback.

==================
Now to the MMOExposed's suggestion on fixing this issue:
two New genres Acronyms:
HCMOG - Hard Cap Multiplayer Online Game
&
SCMOG - Soft Cap Multiplayer Online Game

I will explain what each means.
I will start with HCMOG.

*HCMOG- is a game that has a fixed cap on population limits based on gameplay. For example, Call of Duty has a fixed 24 player cap for multiplayer. 12 vs 12 hard capped. Adding to that would break the game mode and the design of the game. League of Legends, Guild Wars 1, Call of Duty, Diablo 3 all fit this category. And seperates them from the other genre by the cap design instead of the original "Is It Massive, is it Multiplayer, Is it Online" bah bah bah.

*SCMOG- like all games, have some form of cap on population, but with this subgenre, the cap is expandable without breaking the game design. The softcap is only limited by the hardware/Tech. So a game like World of Warcraft has a Softcap that is built for a server limit based on tech restrictions in its game world, not based on a fixed population like its instanced content which is considered an addition to its game world.

And these above would be broken down into smaller subgenres of course

Still up to this after all these years. Give it a rest.

Scot · September 10

I welcome this, maybe we should all dig out our old greatest threads, saves doing a new one!

Slapshot1188 · September 10

MMORPG
A game that may or may not be massive, multiplayer, online or an RPG

RPG
A game that may or may not involve you playing a character role in a game

harken33 · September 10

What OLD threads like the one linked show me is the amount of regular / frequent posters that have been lost over the years.

Also that words / terms change over time.

Kyleran · September 10

harken33 said:

What OLD threads like the one linked show me is the amount of regular / frequent posters that have been lost over the years.

Also that words / terms change over time.

You know that in some industries like finance there is such a thing called "Business English" and very little variance is permitted at a management level on the meaning of words regardless of where an employee hails from.

Slang terms and colloquialisms are discouraged with agreement and documentation even on what certain words mean.

It's definitely far past time to develop a gaming standard for commonly understood terms as there is no need for such terms to evolve into something else.

cameltosis · September 11

Kyleran said:

harken33 said:

What OLD threads like the one linked show me is the amount of regular / frequent posters that have been lost over the years.

Also that words / terms change over time.

You know that in some industries like finance there is such a thing called "Business English" and very little variance is permitted at a management level on the meaning of words regardless of where an employee hails from.

Slang terms and colloquialisms are discouraged with agreement and documentation even on what certain words mean.

It's definitely far past time to develop a gaming standard for commonly understood terms as there is no need for such terms to evolve into something else.

I believe what you're talking about is called a "Technical Lexicon". Such a thing exists in nearly every industry, but it does take time to establish. Gaming has adopted some of it's technical lexicon from software engineering, but still has a way to go.

Sadly, it seems to be quite rare that an industry's technical lexicon makes its way out of that industry and into the public conciousness. Mostly, it doesn't need to, so its not really a huge problem, but sometimes it can cause issues, especially when it comes to sales.

Howdy, Stranger!

Revisiting my old but new MMO Acronym terms

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Revisiting my old but new MMO Acronym terms

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV