Should All Dead MMORPGs Be Revived Through Emulation? | MMORPG.com

System · October 2

Should All Dead MMORPGs Be Revived Through Emulation? | MMORPG.com

When your favorite MMORPGs shut down, who you gonna call? Probably nobody, but perhaps emulated projects are a good place to start.

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Alverant · October 2

What's the harm in keeping old favorites alive? The fact CoH is still around shows NCSoft was wrong to cancel it. Maybe that's the harm. Those in power don't like to be proven wrong.

Angrakhan · October 2

Come on, be honest you want Wildstar back. You guys have been pining away for that game for years now. I've never seen another gaming journo staff so in love with a dead game. I wonder how much is rose colored glasses at this point? Personally I think the game got what it deserved due to the over the top hubris of the developers. Just a smidge of humility would have gone a long way, but they cranked the arrogance to 11. Anyway I do hope they resurrect it for your sake. I know you would have a good time and I'm happy when people enjoy their games even if I personally don't like a given game. Here's to wishful thinking!

toljar · October 2

Yes. Asheron's Call was actually promised to the players before WB took it over. If companies are going to just sit on product that players have been paying for years, then why not? If anything, it might help those companies when they come around to more cash and need to develop a new game to point and say, "Hey players still want this".

Nebless · October 2

ALL? Probably not. All probably would end up meaning the original company would end up creating the emu and if that's the case why not just let the game keep running?

I think the deciding factor should be up to the fans and their skills. If enough people still want to keep a game running and have the skills to do it, go for it.

I know there's a couple I wouldn't mind playing again.

Germzypie · October 2

All, no way. Emulation, probably not. Just rose-tinted glasses for most i think. Remake with new game engines, yes please. I know there is more to it than just slapping it with a new engine, but even games that are still active today i think would benefit. DAoC, EQ just to name a couple. And games that are no longer with us, like AC, i think would also do well if revamped and re-released...especially in todays market with very little competition.

ShinyFlygon · October 2

In a lot of cases, I think it would make a lot more sense to convert the game to a single-player or small-scale multiplayer version of the original. For the most part, the "massive" component was never important to the player experience, especially in the post-WoW era of solo leveling.

Wargfoot · October 2

I think they are dead for a reason.

Theocritus · October 2

Wargfoot said:

I think they are dead for a reason.

That doesnt mean that there are not people that enjoyed them and still enjoy them though...Not everyone needs a million players to enjoy a MMORPG.

Kruzil · October 2

Game preservation is paramount.

Tiller · October 2

Wargfoot said:

I think they are dead for a reason.

True, though reasons may vary.

Slapshot1188 · October 2

Wargfoot said:

I think they are dead for a reason.

Yeah. They didn't make enough money.

But since emulators can't charge... it's really just a matter of whether the people working on the project think it's enjoyable enough to balance against their time and resources.

olepi · October 2

Alverant said:

What's the harm in keeping old favorites alive? The fact CoH is still around shows NCSoft was wrong to cancel it. Maybe that's the harm. Those in power don't like to be proven wrong.

The numbers for CoH Homecoming are pretty low, very low for an MMORPG by today's standards. Maybe 10,000 players, being generous. How much does it cost to keep an MMORPG alive? Would 10,000 customers pay for servers, salaries, and still make a good profit? Include a game manager and support staff, website, etc. Still making a healthy profit?

It might make sense to close down a small operation like that and to put the money for salaries and servers into something with a higher profit margin. They may have gotten a tax write-off too.

urriel1970 · October 2

rift

Myrdynn · October 2

I would play exclusively

Asheron's Call
Vanguard
Asheron's Call 2
Horizons

and probably never tire of that group, all are better than whats out here nowadays

Sovrath · October 2

Myrdynn said:

I would play exclusively

Asheron's Call
Vanguard
Asheron's Call 2
Horizons

and probably never tire of that group, all are better than whats out here nowadays

There is a Vanguard emulator but it’s not really finished. You can still play though.

ShinyFlygon · October 2

olepi said:

Alverant said:

What's the harm in keeping old favorites alive? The fact CoH is still around shows NCSoft was wrong to cancel it. Maybe that's the harm. Those in power don't like to be proven wrong.

The numbers for CoH Homecoming are pretty low, very low for an MMORPG by today's standards. Maybe 10,000 players, being generous. How much does it cost to keep an MMORPG alive? Would 10,000 customers pay for servers, salaries, and still make a good profit? Include a game manager and support staff, website, etc. Still making a healthy profit?

It might make sense to close down a small operation like that and to put the money for salaries and servers into something with a higher profit margin. They may have gotten a tax write-off too.

Homecoming is run as a nonprofit, so they actually can accept donations. They are just not allowed to keep more than they need.

On the first of each month, they announce that the donation window is open, and they always have to close the window pretty quickly because their funding limit has been reached. I have no doubt whatsoever that they'd be able to turn a tidy profit if they were allowed to.

In fact, if you do just a little bit of research, you'll find that the original shutdown of COH had very little to do with overall profits and a lot to do with the culture clashes between a Korean publisher and an American studio -- primarily the fact that COH didn't do well in Korea. It was always able to turn a profit, just not in the homeland. NCSoft has a reputation for killing games that don't delight Koreans.

Elidien_ga · October 2

I am not so much for for emulation but I wish some older (not dead yet) MMO's could get upgrades for 2024. I would play the absolute heck out of a 2024 DAOC.

[Deleted User] · October 2

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olepi · October 2

Elidien_ga said:

I am not so much for for emulation but I wish some older (not dead yet) MMO's could get upgrades for 2024. I would play the absolute heck out of a 2024 DAOC.

Imagine DAOC in the latest Unreal Engine, I'd be playing it now

I wonder though, when I played DAOC back in 2002 we all just farmed mobs, or did PvP which was fantastic. Would today's market really accept a DAOC from then, even with new graphics?

Sovrath · October 2

olepi said:

Elidien_ga said:

I am not so much for for emulation but I wish some older (not dead yet) MMO's could get upgrades for 2024. I would play the absolute heck out of a 2024 DAOC.

Imagine DAOC in the latest Unreal Engine, I'd be playing it now

I wonder though, when I played DAOC back in 2002 we all just farmed mobs, or did PvP which was fantastic. Would today's market really accept a DAOC from then, even with new graphics?

No, no it wouldn’t. That’s the problem, the market for that type of thing is shrinking.

Slapshot1188 · October 2

olepi said:

Elidien_ga said:

I am not so much for for emulation but I wish some older (not dead yet) MMO's could get upgrades for 2024. I would play the absolute heck out of a 2024 DAOC.

Imagine DAOC in the latest Unreal Engine, I'd be playing it now

I wonder though, when I played DAOC back in 2002 we all just farmed mobs, or did PvP which was fantastic. Would today's market really accept a DAOC from then, even with new graphics?

Maybe not... but I sure would!

Nanfoodle · October 3

Game preservation is awesome but it does not really work for MMOs IMO. Some MMOs have been out 20 years. We all could play for years and for each person it could be something they love that's gone. For me DAoC would have been the first few years before they wrecked the battle grounds.

Hengist · October 3

I'm sure there are people who would want that.

Personally? I'm afraid that if I went back to some old favorites my memories of the game would be seriously tainted. I loved UO, some of my best gaming memories, but if I tried to play it today it wouldn't come close to the same magic, it wouldn't capture me the same way, and it would devalue the way I remember the game.

To each his own. Won't be any sort of universal answer, but a fun question to ponder.

Alverant · October 3

olepi said:

Alverant said:

What's the harm in keeping old favorites alive? The fact CoH is still around shows NCSoft was wrong to cancel it. Maybe that's the harm. Those in power don't like to be proven wrong.

The numbers for CoH Homecoming are pretty low, very low for an MMORPG by today's standards. Maybe 10,000 players, being generous. How much does it cost to keep an MMORPG alive? Would 10,000 customers pay for servers, salaries, and still make a good profit? Include a game manager and support staff, website, etc. Still making a healthy profit?

It might make sense to close down a small operation like that and to put the money for salaries and servers into something with a higher profit margin. They may have gotten a tax write-off too.

It's run by volunteers and accepts donation. The common theme in your comment is making a big profit. Just any profit isn't good enough for you. It doesn't have to be super popular. It just has to keep people happy. You know what happy is right? Tax write-offs are awful because it means no one can make any money off it. We can't legally get a copy of TV series like Megas XLR for example because the studio took it as a tax write-off. A little profit today seems to be worth depriving the public of something and that's wrong to me.

[Deleted User] · October 3

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