Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why a developer would even attempt to make a FFA MMO anymore, especially when they could make something more like a DayZ stand alone and allow folks to create private servers to enforce their own rule sets. They have a better chance at obtaining a purchase from folks who may avoid ffa mmos all together, but don't mind playing a FFA game on a private server where they feel more comfortable.
think one of the main issues is the stigma of FFA is nothing but grievers and gankers but if designed well it doesn't need to be like that at all
Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why a developer would even attempt to make a FFA MMO anymore, especially when they could make something more like a DayZ stand alone and allow folks to create private servers to enforce their own rule sets. They have a better chance at obtaining a purchase from folks who may avoid ffa mmos all together, but don't mind playing a FFA game on a private server where they feel more comfortable.
think one of the main issues is the stigma of FFA is nothing but grievers and gankers but if designed well it doesn't need to be like that at all
Why would a player who does not want FFA even be interested to take a look when they can easily go to a game without FFA?
FFA will just stop players to even care, whether you do it well or not.
The developers in general are moving away from Themepark style games due to the justly found limitations previous developers have had to deal with trying to run them. By making a themepark the developers are forcing themselves to have to support centralized infrastructure to run it and isolate all content creation to their studio. Sandbox style MMOs are less popular and don't get as many players, but they are more sustainable thanks to player created content and events. Heck, open world PvP is technically a sandbox style feature.
Originally posted by Inf666 A lawless PvP area can work. Eve is proof enough.
Eve is proof that how niche it is. After so many years, it barely breaks even half a mill subs.
Even a game universally panned here, TOR, got 2M subs in its first month, and made $200M+ in 2013 after going f2p. Can you blame devs take one look and want to go with the millions, instead of the 500k (after so many years of hard work no less)?
Where did you get that revenue number for TOR in 2013, if you don't mind me asking? I'm curious, couldn't find it in a quick Google search.
Sorry OP, but are you new to the world of MMO's? FFA has been done before and worked. UO pre trammel. It's not some new dream or idea, it's how MMO's USED TO BE. Real worlds where player actions have an impact. With the moron gamers of today's world (mostly kids but also crybaby adults) the idea unfortunately has become only a dream.
So basically what I'm saying, the problem isn't in the game design or mechanics. Developers want money. Loads of crybaby customers who think existance should revolve around them means less money, which in turn means no FFA type MMO's will ever be created by mainstream developers, and most indie developed games are just poorly done.
LOL. UO pre-trammel is exactly what the type of gameplay the OP is talking about. UO pre Tram only worked for gankers and griefers. People who actually tried to play the game couldn't and left in droves. Pre tram was full of asshats and immature idiots who tried to ruin every community event. They were the ones who sat around moongates ganking everyone who came out. They were the ones who would aggro in the dungeons then go running and hide in a corner till everyone was dead so they could loot the corpses. They stood outside mines waiting for the miners to fill up then would gank. Or ran around the forest ganking noobies who left the cities. And lured people into Moongates to their homes where they trapped them, made them grey for trespassing then killed them.
So basically you are right in the end. Developers want money. A smaller amount of asshat customers who think they pay for the right to be a complete jerkoff to other people and ruin everybodies gaming experience have made sure the FFA MMOs never get developed. And most FFA MMOs that have been developed have not done so well. So why should any Dev put millions of dollars into a game that would have a high chance failure?
Yeah, I was confused by that argument as well. People voted with their feet when Trammel came out.
And I know the original UO designers were pretty shocked by the bozo bad behavior in the early days, because the devs just didn't play the game that way. And those bad bozos did (and do) drive off way more paying customers than they bring in.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Eve is proof that how niche it is. After so many years, it barely breaks even half a mill subs.
Even a game universally panned here, TOR, got 2M subs in its first month, and made $200M+ in 2013 after going f2p. Can you blame devs take one look and want to go with the millions, instead of the 500k (after so many years of hard work no less)?
Where did you get that revenue number for TOR in 2013, if you don't mind me asking? I'm curious, couldn't find it in a quick Google search.
That's a very interesting article. I was amazed to see the levels of money made by games such as Lineage and TF2. Though I should've expected it considering the prevalency of the Asian market. Still, there are only a few names up there I'm intimately familiar with.
Originally posted by MadFrenchie That's a very interesting article. I was amazed to see the levels of money made by games such as Lineage and TF2. Though I should've expected it considering the prevalency of the Asian market. Still, there are only a few names up there I'm intimately familiar with.
Yeh .. cash shop and p2w work wonders. It is no surprise many devs jump into the game. There is a lot of money to be made, more so than following wow.
(Hence, all the new MOBA games coming to the market).
Comments
think one of the main issues is the stigma of FFA is nothing but grievers and gankers but if designed well it doesn't need to be like that at all
Why would a player who does not want FFA even be interested to take a look when they can easily go to a game without FFA?
FFA will just stop players to even care, whether you do it well or not.
Eve is proof that how niche it is. After so many years, it barely breaks even half a mill subs.
Even a game universally panned here, TOR, got 2M subs in its first month, and made $200M+ in 2013 after going f2p. Can you blame devs take one look and want to go with the millions, instead of the 500k (after so many years of hard work no less)?
Where did you get that revenue number for TOR in 2013, if you don't mind me asking? I'm curious, couldn't find it in a quick Google search.Yeah, I was confused by that argument as well. People voted with their feet when Trammel came out.
And I know the original UO designers were pretty shocked by the bozo bad behavior in the early days, because the devs just didn't play the game that way. And those bad bozos did (and do) drive off way more paying customers than they bring in.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
From two parts .. first part ...
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-01-20-league-of-legends-2013-revenue-topped-USD600m-report
This shows TOR made $139M from micro transaction in 2013. TOR also public stated that their number of sub is at 500k (you can find that easily).
500k sub = $15 * 12 *1/2 = $90M
So I conclude TOR made $139 + 90 ~ $229M in 2013 .. conservatively >$200M.
Yeh .. cash shop and p2w work wonders. It is no surprise many devs jump into the game. There is a lot of money to be made, more so than following wow.
(Hence, all the new MOBA games coming to the market).
The real issues with FFA PvP MMORPG's are.