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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/12/technology/voyager-to-a-strange-planet.html
This article describe the life of a person who played Anarchy Online around.....2002 (I think). You wont find this kind of stuff in new MMOs.
Comments
I firmly believe we will begin to see more and more sandbox features in games. The themepark is over done and studios are going to catch on.
Hell, Archeage is right around the corner and think what you will of it... but I'm hearing it has more sand in it than a lot of the recent releases.
nah .. sandbox ideas (like those in UO) were even older, and less popular.
Studios are going to do new stuff like Destiny, not going back to tried and failed ideas.
MMOs used to be unique when there was 10 of them and the industry was new. Now they are all a copy of each other which is natural development for any industry that attracts money. Music is now not unique (all the mainstream artists sound alike) and movies are the crappiest in a long long time. XMEN meet Batman meet Cr4pman meet JayZ meet Beyonce meet Cardashian clan meet WHO CARES!
Just trying to say that you are complaning about the nature of the beast. Big money = mediocrity.
No fate but what we make, so make me a ham sandwich please.
The inevitability of more sandbox features is already in motion. Even now we're seeing old games implement Housing, and newer games have it right out of the box. Though there has yet to be a good Sandbox game since pretty much Ultima Online. Those mentioned in this thread, and even SWG didn't quite live up to it's full potential -- even UO didn't achieve such.
Everquest Next is actually taking a lot of ideas that were present in UO way back in the day. It's kind've ironic that one of the first "Themepark" franchises is even becoming what I consider to be a vastly superior game design that requires more player interaction and retention than just a game on rails via Themeparks with set everything.
It's about time we make and earn everything in a game once again; since WoW exploded in popularity, people only saw dollar signs before the true potential of the genre could be realized as a whole. Everything became known as a WoW clone as neither UO nor Everquest had enough players to consider the genre anything less than a minor one in the grand scheme of things.
nah .. avenger, great movie, big money.
Cap Am 2, great movie, big money.
.. plenty of big money = great entertainment examples.
Many books, TV SHows, and movies are still unique
There is a much bigger audience to draw from now. "Tried and failed ideas?" ever heard of Minecraft?
Are you kidding me? It's the golden age of television right now. We are seeing a level of televised entertainment of a quality never before realized in mass numbers.
The genre is going through a natural process of evolution. Nothing more, nothing less. These decline, rose colored glasses, where have you gone, I miss you so much, type threads are starting to become a bit redundant.
And also a golden of trash TV to balance it out.
True but I find it hard to swallow that television is no longer unique. With shows like Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, True Detective it's a rather odd thing to say.
This has to be sarcasm.
Nope. Does it blow your mind that someone has a wildly different opinion than you?
Edit: I'm not sure when you grew up, but when I did there wasn't a lot of quality television on. We had MASH, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and some other sitcoms. Every now and then a good miniseries (North and South, I, Claudius) but on a whole not a lot of stuff outside of sitcoms or soap operas.
Sure, we do have a lot of reality tv garbage right now but we had horrible stuff back then, too.
This past decade or so has seem some of the greatest quality it has ever seen. Sopranos, Mad Men, True Detective, Game of Thrones, The Shield, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Hannibal, Fargo, House of Cards, etc, etc. The quality of these programs is rivaling and in many ways surpassing that of which you would catch on the big screen. Anthony Hopkins has gone on record as saying the acting in Breaking Bad is some of the best acting he has ever seen. Top Billed actors are returning to television because it not only a more stable medium, but the quality of some of the writing and direction is becoming so rich.
So, no, I am not being sarcastic.
Evolution is not improvement
You CANT played old school MMOs. They've all changed. there are some small private servers, but that's another story.
In truth I found the article sad.
This person says that most people are "asleep" but I don't see what he is doing as anything more than another flavor of "being asleep".
He doesn't like where he lives or his community? Put money aside and move. People do it all the time.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
That's true, many of the older mmo's have changed. Even removing, changing things that made them special.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
With the web, twitch, youtube, and all the like, the magic of mmo's has vanished. You used to have to play the game to see what was around the corner, now you can watch beta testing on twitch and clearly see that you have been there and done that sort of thing before and there is nothing unique about the experience you're about to embark on, and furthermore it would clearly be a waste of your time to do something that has been done a million times already.
Being creative has gone out of the window as well, there are too many strategy guides and this and that scenario and how to handle this situation or that situation - the world has become one big cookie cut themepark.
Even your sandboxes can't save you because it won't be long and that sandbox will be filled with all the things you have already seen.
Actually, it is.
Evolution: The gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.
(Oxford Dictionary)
I think some MMOs are pretty unique, maybe not all aspects but some of them. For example: SWTOR ands TSW have outstanding questing - each in it's own style, which is not comparable to any other MMOs. That is unique in my opinion.
Also - unique MMO does not have to be for everybody's taste and does not have to be sandbox.
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
Yes, but devolution is also a thing.