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How about an invite only MMO - thinking out loud

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Comments

  • azmundaiazmundai Member UncommonPosts: 1,419

    interesting concept, but I am not sure the reality is any more feasible than a niche mmo that just says, this is what we are, take it or leave it.

    i guess what you are suggesting is a situation where users contribute to the design or at least implementation of the game with their ideas, shaping an mmo for a specific group of people? I have a feeling that once you get to a number of people that would make the monetization of such a project possible, you inherently are dealing with too many different people for that kind of thing to really work.

    otherwise you have to figure that 30% (conservatively) of the people you invite .. won't stay long if it doesn't satisfy something they greatly desire. I'd imagine it would be more like 60 - 70% honestly. There are just too many options and "promises" for people to not wander.

    I think a company would be more successful than what you propose if they just create a great niche game, personally.

    LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
    I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already :)

  • FinalFikusFinalFikus Member Posts: 906
    Originally posted by azmundai

    interesting concept, but I am not sure the reality is any more feasible than a niche mmo that just says, this is what we are, take it or leave it.

    i guess what you are suggesting is a situation where users contribute to the design or at least implementation of the game with their ideas, shaping an mmo for a specific group of people? I have a feeling that once you get to a number of people that would make the monetization of such a project possible, you inherently are dealing with too many different people for that kind of thing to really work.

    otherwise you have to figure that 30% (conservatively) of the people you invite .. won't stay long if it doesn't satisfy something they greatly desire. I'd imagine it would be more like 60 - 70% honestly. There are just too many options and "promises" for people to not wander.

    I think a company would be more successful than what you propose if they just create a great niche game, personally.

    Are you sure  they wouldn't stay longer?

     

    "If the Damned gave you a roadmap, then you'd know just where to go"

  • TheRealBanangoTheRealBanango Member UncommonPosts: 89
    Why put a limit on your player base from the start? Even if this concept would work, you are going to have to spend even more amounts of money on marketing to spark interest to make this game relevant enough where you create the sense of elitism you want...Not only that but the game still has to be good, and people are going to have to want to play it. Quite frankly, keeping it a secret and telling people nothing about the game is not going to achieve that. Besides, if the game is actually good, then why are you limiting your potential for growth, there are plenty of other ways to develop community if it doesn't come about naturally.
  • IcewhiteIcewhite Member Posts: 6,403
    Originally posted by FinalFikus
    Originally posted by azmundai

    interesting concept, but I am not sure the reality is any more feasible than a niche mmo that just says, this is what we are, take it or leave it.

    i guess what you are suggesting is a situation where users contribute to the design or at least implementation of the game with their ideas, shaping an mmo for a specific group of people? I have a feeling that once you get to a number of people that would make the monetization of such a project possible, you inherently are dealing with too many different people for that kind of thing to really work.

    otherwise you have to figure that 30% (conservatively) of the people you invite .. won't stay long if it doesn't satisfy something they greatly desire. I'd imagine it would be more like 60 - 70% honestly. There are just too many options and "promises" for people to not wander.

    I think a company would be more successful than what you propose if they just create a great niche game, personally.

    Are you sure  they wouldn't stay longer?

     

    The entire notion is predicated on people never changing.

    "Invite only Our Sort" "Ok, done, 1500 invites sent"

    (a year later)

    "WTH? Where is all of this dissent coming from? Did the Wrong Sort sneak in?"

    "No sir, just some of Our Sort apparently changed their minds."

    "Ban them immediately!"

    Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.

  • FinalFikusFinalFikus Member Posts: 906
    Originally posted by Icewhite
    Originally posted by FinalFikus
    Originally posted by azmundai

    interesting concept, but I am not sure the reality is any more feasible than a niche mmo that just says, this is what we are, take it or leave it.

    i guess what you are suggesting is a situation where users contribute to the design or at least implementation of the game with their ideas, shaping an mmo for a specific group of people? I have a feeling that once you get to a number of people that would make the monetization of such a project possible, you inherently are dealing with too many different people for that kind of thing to really work.

    otherwise you have to figure that 30% (conservatively) of the people you invite .. won't stay long if it doesn't satisfy something they greatly desire. I'd imagine it would be more like 60 - 70% honestly. There are just too many options and "promises" for people to not wander.

    I think a company would be more successful than what you propose if they just create a great niche game, personally.

    Are you sure  they wouldn't stay longer?

     

    The entire notion is predicated on people never changing.

    "Invite only Our Sort" "Ok, done, 1500 invites sent"

    (a year later)

    "WTH? Where is all of this dissent coming from? Did the Wrong Sort sneak in?"

    "No sir, just some of Our Sort apparently changed their minds."

    "Ban them immediately!"

    It's not about keeping anyone out.

    Nice scenario though.

    "If the Damned gave you a roadmap, then you'd know just where to go"

  • EncephalitisEncephalitis Member UncommonPosts: 78

    I like the basis on which this thread was created, but I'm failing to understand everybody's riffraff. Half of the arguments against this idea are the exact same arguments used in other threads on why the MMO genre is becoming a bad joke. When Firefall was in closed beta for a few years, they used this concept and everything went just fine. Periodically they would open the flood gates and let everybody in for a few days, then seal it all back up.

    "You're committing corporate suicide, you're no longer making an mmo, the idea is dumb because VIP" etc etc....People on this forum mention every day that more company's should explore idea's to help find the limits of an MMO, but the moment anybody does, they bash it in the face with a spiked club and then mope around about "How stagnant the MMO genre is. why can't we have any new idea's".

    Yes, I'll admit, "limiting membership to a game" wouldn't be an idea that moves the genre forward...But who's to say it wouldn't, at least, broaden the horizon a bit.

  • dave6660dave6660 Member UncommonPosts: 2,699
    I'd like to see it done for no other reason then to read posts from people foaming at the mouth because they cannot get invites.

    “There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.”
    -- Herman Melville

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] UncommonPosts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910


    Originally posted by Loktofeit
    A Velvet Rope approach might work well, greenreen, especially if targeting an interest, theme or subject matter that already has established communities. If nothing else, it would build a core community of people genuinely interested in that particular game and not just anyone who likes to click beta links.

    You don't think people would start selling invites once they were tired of the game? I could see that happening very early on.

    I could also see different groups of people getting invited who weren't the "kind of people" that the developer or early adopters expected to see in the game and who probably weren't wanted in the game.

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • jazz.bejazz.be Member UncommonPosts: 962
    Originally posted by lizardbones

     


    Originally posted by Loktofeit
    A Velvet Rope approach might work well, greenreen, especially if targeting an interest, theme or subject matter that already has established communities. If nothing else, it would build a core community of people genuinely interested in that particular game and not just anyone who likes to click beta links.


    You don't think people would start selling invites once they were tired of the game? I could see that happening very early on.

    I could also see different groups of people getting invited who weren't the "kind of people" that the developer or early adopters expected to see in the game and who probably weren't wanted in the game.

     

    I think it could be considered a success if it gets to the point that people massively want to buy an invite.

    Why would people want to throw out money for an invite? People would barely know the game exist.

    Someone in the thread told us about another game who tried it...well most of us didn't know about it.

    You can't keep something private, but hope on massive popularity at the same time.

  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910


    Originally posted by jazz.be
    Originally posted by lizardbones   Originally posted by Loktofeit A Velvet Rope approach might work well, greenreen, especially if targeting an interest, theme or subject matter that already has established communities. If nothing else, it would build a core community of people genuinely interested in that particular game and not just anyone who likes to click beta links.
    You don't think people would start selling invites once they were tired of the game? I could see that happening very early on. I could also see different groups of people getting invited who weren't the "kind of people" that the developer or early adopters expected to see in the game and who probably weren't wanted in the game.  
    I think it could be considered a success if it gets to the point that people massively want to buy an invite.

    Why would people want to throw out money for an invite? People would barely know the game exist.

    Someone in the thread told us about another game who tried it...well most of us didn't know about it.

    You can't keep something private, but hope on massive popularity at the same time.




    If we're talking about an MMORPG, who in the world is going to plunk down the millions of dollars it takes to build one, and then invite fifty people to play it? Even if they only invited 50 people, those fifty people would invite some people, then more people would get invited, word would eventually spread, videos would show up on Youtube, and if the game was actually good, articles would appear on sites like MMORPG.com.

    I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but the scale at which it would need to happen for a commercially successful MMORPG puts it more in the category of marketing tactic rather than player filter.

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • crack_foxcrack_fox Member UncommonPosts: 399
    Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

    But I'd be ready to pay $30 pet month (double of the normal fee) for an immersion server (in a game I enjoy of course) with strictly enforced chat rules, naming convention and behavior rules. Call that a "mature" server, where players have to behave like in a RPG, and not just a MMO, without it being a RPG server (role playing would not be forced). People who break the rules would get a set amount of warnings, and then be locked out of the immersion server and forced to play on normal servers (with eventual character transfer for free). This would get rid of the kiddies and other idiots who have zero respect for people trying to play a MMORPG and not just a MMO while still allowing the others to play too.

    I think a mature server would be one where rules did not have to be so rigorously enforced. What you describe is an environment in which players are treated like children who get sent to the naughty room if they misbehave. The extra $15 a month would probably be needed to hire additional cs reps to police it and to deal with the incessant reporting over naming violations and other 'immersion infractions'. I'd love to play on a server where players respected certain standards of behaviour because they respected each other, but I don't believe you can impose this sort of thing. 

    I'm not convinced of the merits of the OP's proposal either. Not sure that exclusivity and elitism make good foundations for a community - at least not the sort of community that I'd want to be a part of. It would be an interesting experiment though, I suppose. 

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