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MMOs then and now

Then: large, interesting worlds that you could enjoy exploring for a long time.

Now: small worlds that allow you access to a few small, instanced zones.

Then: player economies with crafting as a central feature of the game.

Now: you get the best stuff at the company's online store.

Then: respecs and starting races were part of the subscription fee.

Now: respecs and starting races with special stats are available only at the online store--have your credit card handy.

Then: the best rewards were ingame; they were received as quest rewards, or for killing bosses in the game.

Now: the best rewards are available at the online store, or you can try to win them by purchasing virtual cards at the online store for a trading card game you may have no interest in playing.

Then: games existed to provide an entertainment service for a monthly fee, much like television.

Now: games exist to stimulate demand for virtual goods.

Then: beta testing was for...testing the game; it took a long time, and devs acted on feedback from players.

Now: beta testing is for marketting the game and selling lifetime subscriptions; it doesn't last very long because the company is much less interested in customer feedback.

Then: new games had large and growing player populations.

Now: new games are shutting down half their servers, cutting their devs and support staff or closing down altogether.  Some try massive revamps and changing the business model before ultimately failing.

Then: MMO companies cracking down on gold-sellers.

Now: MMO company is the gold-seller.

This is what I would call a decline in the industry.

P.S. A few companies that did well then have stuck to their guns; they're still doing well now.  /tiphat.

Comments

  • ClaesClaes Member CommonPosts: 265

    This is what I would call a re-worded repost.

  • MavisPMavisP Member Posts: 181

    Pretty much nailed it. Ive all but given up on MMO's myself. I keep an eye on them but so far 2010 looks as dry as the last few years.

  • luciusETRURluciusETRUR Member Posts: 442

    Considering WoW is the biggest and most successful game in the genre, and they don't have many of these features (actually it's a big world with lots of instances). You're argument of "then and now" seems pretty lackluster. 

  • ArcAngel3ArcAngel3 Member Posts: 2,931
    Originally posted by luciusETRUR


    Considering WoW is the biggest and most successful game in the genre, and they don't have many of these features (actually it's a big world with lots of instances). You're argument of "then and now" seems pretty lackluster. 

    large world for exploring...check

    large player population...check

    best rewards ingame via questing and killing bosses...check

    monthly fee model for entertainment check...

    cracking down on gold-sellers...check.

    All that applies to WoW.  Seems to fit nicely tbh.  I didn't have one title in mind when I wrote this though.  Obviously the ingame crafting would apply to other games that had hundreds of thousands playing...then.  One of these games changed its business model in favour of the RMT shop.  Now, it has closed many of its servers and lost most of its population.

  • luciusETRURluciusETRUR Member Posts: 442
    Originally posted by ArcAngel3

    Originally posted by luciusETRUR


    Considering WoW is the biggest and most successful game in the genre, and they don't have many of these features (actually it's a big world with lots of instances). You're argument of "then and now" seems pretty lackluster. 



     

    large world for exploring...check

    large player population...check

    best rewards ingame via questing and killing bosses...check

    monthly fee model for entertainment check...

    cracking down on gold-sellers...check.

    All that applies to WoW.  Seems to fit nicely tbh.

    Which most of those he applied to then, now about in-game rewards through quests, actually they are from either PvP rewards or doing "raid dungeons". His argument was that worlds are small, populations are small, lack of crafting (which I think WoW's crafting is extremely dumb, but it does exist and there is a player economy), devs are cut (which the current lead dev for blizzard has been a raid designer since vanilla).

     

    EQ2 also applies here with WoW, which are two of the more successful MMOs right now, while EQ2 does a store, you won't be able to geared out with it.

     

  • ArcAngel3ArcAngel3 Member Posts: 2,931

    The point about rewards is that they are available through gameplay (quests, bosses, random drops, crafting, raiding etc.), not at the RMT shop.  That's a big difference in my mind.  I could either (a) enjoy playing game content and get a reward, or (b) run and get my visa card. 

    When I first started with MMOs, all of the best content (items included) was available ingame via the subscription, not gated by additional micro-transaction fees.  This is a big difference between then and now for me.

  • TorikTorik Member UncommonPosts: 2,342
    Originally posted by luciusETRUR

    Originally posted by ArcAngel3

    Originally posted by luciusETRUR


    Considering WoW is the biggest and most successful game in the genre, and they don't have many of these features (actually it's a big world with lots of instances). You're argument of "then and now" seems pretty lackluster. 



     

    large world for exploring...check

    large player population...check

    best rewards ingame via questing and killing bosses...check

    monthly fee model for entertainment check...

    cracking down on gold-sellers...check.

    All that applies to WoW.  Seems to fit nicely tbh.

    Which most of those he applied to then, now about in-game rewards through quests, actually they are from either PvP rewards or doing "raid dungeons". His argument was that worlds are small, populations are small, lack of crafting (which I think WoW's crafting is extremely dumb, but it does exist and there is a player economy), devs are cut (which the current lead dev for blizzard has been a raid designer since vanilla).

     

    EQ2 also applies here with WoW, which are two of the more successful MMOs right now, while EQ2 does a store, you won't be able to geared out with it.

     

     

    I believe that he considers WoW a 'then' game rather than a 'now' game. 

  • Praxus1874Praxus1874 Member Posts: 152

     Sounds like the OP got burned by Cryptic one too many times.  There are still plenty of recent games that do not have an online store, and present most, if not all of the offerings you label under "then".

    Prax

  • ArcAngel3ArcAngel3 Member Posts: 2,931
    Originally posted by Praxus1874


     Sounds like the OP got burned by Cryptic one too many times.  There are still plenty of recent games that do not have an online store, and present most, if not all of the offerings you label under "then".
    Prax

    Heh, actually I didn't even get burned by Cryptic once ^_^.  I played CoH/CoV probably during its golden age, if there was one lol.  Cryptic left that game prior to their experimentation with RMT.

     

    Also, I didn't pay anything for STO.  I signed up for the beta, but didn't get burned by the recent introduction of RMT races with attribute bonuses.

    I'm really just reflecting on trends I've seen in the MMO industry as a whole.  I've seen some pretty major shifts over the last few years.  Tbh, a lot of them don't seem to be in a positive direction.  Seems like less entertainment, more fees.

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