I agree with this 100%. This genre has been so stagnant for such a long time. I wrote a blog about this about 4 years ago and most of it still holds up:
Originally posted by Sajman01 Profit and population growth are misleading.
Baseball has more fans today then it did 20-30 years. Back then it was considered the national past time now it can't even take a sniff at Football and it will be surpassed by Basketball in the next 3 years.
Yes profits and population are growing. Population and profits are growing in every genre on every platform. Guess which one is growing the slowest?
This one.
This X 1 billion.
Prime example of how numbers lie.. give this man a puppy.
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Remember that businesses making games take a couple years to react to trends. it takes a lot less time to write an angry post about samey MMOS than it does to develop and release a non- samey MMO. this was especially the case in the late 2000s when it was easier to finance a samey wowclone because business investors who knew squat about MMOs wanted to catch lightning in a bottle a la wow.
now, we are about to see the first crop of games from the post- samey wow era released.
in other words the complaints that fans of the genre have been voicing for the past 3/4decade will finally be addressed with games like star citizen, repop, the 2 EQN games, Camelot, etc.
2014 and 15 will likely be watershed years in mmo history much like 2003 and 2004 were.
I agree with you. MMOs were stagnating until games like EVE and WoW broke into the scene. EVE took awhile to find it's audience, but it did and has done very, very well for itself. WoW was truly a break through game for it's time, as it took what others had done and took it further. Unfortunately, too many studios and investors felt that like they could just outright copy the WoW formula and succeed...well we know how well that went.
EQN:L I believe is the first that could really be a game changer in the genre. I actually feel that it'll do better than the traditional mmo version of itself. If SoE is smart, they will continue to develop Landmark and really make the game flourish.
Additionally, I feel we're going to see more niche games over the next few years, and the mmo populations are going to be more spread out than ever. Between kickstarter games, smaller games like Trove, and indie games like DayZ standalone, I think we'll see more focus on smaller online games that offer varying gameplay and each has it's own audience. I have my doubts we're going to see another WoW-like success in the near future, and this isn't a bad thing. If we have a variety of games that are focused and offer different experiences, I feel we'll ultimately be better off for it.
In summary; I don't think mmos are in decline. We're just in that stagnation period before something else breaks. Whether it's an all popular mega-game, or a wide variety of smaller games remains to be seen. However, we'll see a better offering in the next few years and things will be great until the next stagnation period 10-15 years from now.
Are claiming I have no point? The technologies is available, hell it was in 1969 but we are not going to work in jet packs in 2014. Nor do we have virtual worlds with ecosystems in MMOs. There certainly is an expectation of where technology will take us and how fast we will get there. Sometimes it meets expectation - slip differential sometimes it don''t.
I didn't really have a point, other than the stuff in Popular Science has a better than average chance of showing up in the world. I used to have a subscription to it and read it every month.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
The market is full of mmo's. There are so many that people can hop from game to game.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I wanted to chime in here. I think you might be missing the point of the article which is not that the genre is dying, but rather stagnating. I've been a gamer my whole life, and I started MMOs with Anarchy Online back in 2003. I love Anarchy Online, and I played it till my eyes bled and loved every minute of it.
But I also don't want to go back to those days. I left AO for WoW as some many did and found something else to sink 4 years of my life into and I loved it. It was fun, I enjoyed myself. But after a while for me, it all felt the same.
When WoW started to get national coverage in Forbes and other big publications, I think that's when things started to change. Big money got involved, and big money is inherently risk adverse, and I think we are seeing the tail of 5 years of publishers saying "Make Us the Next WoW," with a copycat game. "Look," I'm sure they said, "Activision and EA can do it. So can you." But I think we've seen that nothing has.
I think what Tingle says is right - our worlds got smaller, developers put us on rails to meet deadlines and budgets, they didn't have time or effort to really re-invent the MMO, only to mimic with varying degrees of success what has come before. The result has been each game contributing one or two innovative features onto what is essentially the same framework we've had in MMOs since EQ1. The details have absolutely changed, but the major paradigms of how we play MMOs has been the same.
and I can relate to Tingle here. I view each MMO with a casual interest, but I know that it's likely more of the same. I think the game that's influenced MMOs the most was Minecraft. Open world, impactful gameplay--you can determine the way you play.
For me, what I've been craving and don't think anyone is going to give me soon is what I think of as emergent gameplay. EVE does this really well (I just can't get into EVE because it has such a long curve before you can start to play the game your way), where it creates systems that allows players to effectively create their own content, within the confines of the game. (This is contrasted with Player Generated Content, which allow players to create their own content, but OUTSIDE the game). It's the difference between placing a bounty on a players head because he killed you and took all your valuables and designing a dungeon using developer tools in Neverwinter.
That's what I want in MMO - a virtual world that feels like I'm part of it that I can impact the world. In my humble opinion, it's this kind of development philosophy of allowing for emergent gameplay that will hopefully bring us to a Renaissance of MMOs.
Originally posted by Octagon7711 The market is full of mmo's. There are so many that people can hop from game to game.
Unless you are Apple, competition is generally considered a good thing
Genre "decline" is overrated. Just like most of the dysfunctional games that died 8+ years ago.
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!! (repeat ad infinitum)
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Put your money where your mouths are. And realize that this isn't about giving Brad money, its about making enough noise so that other companies can realize that we are a viable fanbase to make in depth mmo RPG's for.
Otherwise you are just spitting hot wind and do not complain when we are still getting these fast food, soon to be console primary mmos.
I honestly hope many of you take the time to look at the big picture of what that kickstarter represents.
There's so much content that'll never see the light of day if we don't fund 6,700,000 dollars, no thanks.
It's not that it won't "ever" see the light of day but that it won't be implemented at launch. That and he's already said that if needed he'll look for outside funding and the more "votes/money" given the easier it'll be got get the backing. That said if you don't want to put money into something that "might" be I see wisdom in that. Then again there's always that "what if" factor.
As far as the editorial. I think that we've already seen a shift in main stream games being made as more of an MMO than we'd have dreamed seven years ago. Levels and builds in shooters. Multiplayer in pretty much everything and let's not forget the games coming over the horizon.
Look at popular shows like Sword Art Online and Log Horizon. The idea of a "wold" in games is still out there and thirsted for. Eventually we'll likely see a resurgence of "old" ideas presented as new ones and with more tech to back it. Consoles finally realizing they can't ignore the genre is a huge step up. The only thing I'm a bit worried about is the take over of f2p. I love options... I'm all for a f2p "option" but give me the sub option as well don't force me into the cash shop. That said and back on topic who knows? Maybe the next mega hit's just around the corner and we never knew it.
No. Just no. It's going in precisely the opposite direction. Every game is becoming an MMO - especially in the PC world.
Look at TESO. They spend 250 million - but if they hit 5 million in box sales - and each player plays for 3 months thats around 100 bucks each person and they DOUBLE their money. And what if they get 10 million box sales?
The big advantage is that by making your 'back end' do something you can really effectively combat the scourge of PC games - piracy. Make it dumbed down for consoles - and you can make even more money.
MMOs will get bigger and better. I am fairly amazed at the graphics of GW2 - and the action gameplay - its very nice. The gap between shooters/single player games and MMOs is closing as far as game play goes - and profit wise it has always been no contest as to which the better business model is.
Here is the truth - EQ was never that good. It was just a big step up from MUDs. These modern games are far superior even dumbed down. Most of the player on this website need to go play vanguard to refresh their memory.
There is a VERY big difference between JUST killing stuff and having fun THINKING and adjusting along with ACTION and REACTION.
If you have been playing a game that does not offer any of that,then that game is NOT FUN,it is a simple means to an end which of course is levels which are meaningless numbers.
If you are just 1/2/3 and dead ...NEXT,then ya it would become boring and very fast.That is why i can trial a game and within the first day ,i know if it is a weak design or a well thought out one.
That is what boggles me to no end.I see games that have such amateur looking starts to the design ,it makes me wonder why anyone would continue to see what is around the corner If the developer is too lazy to have more than one starting point and no starting cities,then i avoid that game like the plague,cheap lazy devs don't do it for me and i am NOT wasting my time to find out if the game gets better.
Another thing is that if a developer wants me to follow THEIR route,then that is NOT my game or a RPG,that is hand holding in a paint by numbers design,again amateur game design.
So to say there is a decline is way off base,it is simply a matter of good developers versus ones just trying to make money off cloning the same old same old.
It amazes me to no end that thousands if not millions keep jumping in on the NEXT hype,even though the games are 99% identical,show some restraint,quit supporting lazy game design.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
The genre needs to come full circle and return to it's roots with persistent worlds, true sandbox gameplay and characters the players can get attached to instead of just another toon on rails.
Here here. I read it and though the very same thing. Most genres of games haven't evolved to any revolutionary extent., they just develop. Operation Wolf too Call of Duty, you still just kill shit just with better graphics.
MMORPGs by default will inherently be extremely similar, the difference between them and mainstream or console or other genres is you need to spend alot more time at them to 'finish them', this creates the boredom, its playing hours and hours getting to the end then getting a new game which does the same, the realisation you need to do it all again.
The most simple way to combat this is don't play so much and so frequently, vary your games and you will enjoy your MMO alot more.
Its not so much MMO burnout more like MMO groundhog day.
I don't believe the author was talking about financial success. Miley Cyrus is a financial success and global phenomenon, but that doesn't mean her music is better than artists working for pennies either.
As has been mentioned by others, the experience the current MMORPG games offer is inferior to what it should have become. The MMORPG gaming audience has grown, driving sales up, but the gameplay and experience itself has largely devolved over time into a simple, hand-holding session built largely for solo gamers who want the game to practically play itself. These gamers stick around for 30-90 days, and move on to the next easy game.
The older games promised, and in my opinion, delivered so much more, even if they are dated by today's graphics and polish standards. While some of you are perfectly happy with these games, there's a growing number of people who have "been there and done that" and are looking for something more complex, something moving more towards a VR experience, not away from it.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
More and more people will get sick of the same gameplay model. I've watched it happen over the past five years on this very site. It wasn't very long ago that I was in the minority here for wanting deeeper MMORPG games. Furthermore, I've watched many of the "regulars" here sing their undying fanboy love for themepark games that myself and others pointed out major flaws in. They fought us, called us "bittervets" and then ultimately found out we were right.
As I've said a thousand times on this site: Many people who play MMORPG games today came in post WoW launch, and have never experienced a deeper, more social and group friendly MMO. They only know casual games, so they have no idea how much more interesting they could be.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I'd like to know how a genre that goes up in population and up in profit every year is in decline ? Driving towards a cliff ...maybe. But till to actually goes off that's just an opinion.
What I notice most about the genre is how much stock people put into forums. This is what everyone thinks, and everyone is somehow represented by what you read here......really ?
The market is evolving to represent what people are willing to pay for. That leaves a lot of people out. They are bored with what the genre has to offer and they are VERY vocal about it. Nothing about the actual numbers indicates they are a majority representing what " most" people want. The complaint department is full of people who are unhappy with what they bought...that doesn't mean the store is as well.
When a poll on this site has 200 votes and people can sit back saying see the evidence is in ...this is what people want! you have to wonder about someones math skills. 400 million people play " mmos" and 200 votes on a notoriously negative troll site tell you "most" people think this ?
I don't think anyone could successfully argue that MMORPGs are in a financial decline. I don't think they could argue against MMORPGs being a popular form of entertainment either.
However, players saw what MMORPGs were capable of in 1999, and then imagined what they could be capable of in 2009 and beyond. What they imagined was something that was unrelated to any sort of financial reality. Fully immersive 3D worlds with intelligent AI and dynamic, living ecosystems. Never mind that even at the start of the genre people mostly just wanted to kill stuff. The potential was something that could only be imagined in a SciFi book or MMORPGs. It didn't turn out that way.
It didn't turn out that way because game developers started listening to the unwashed masses, The reason old MMO's were awesome is because they were inspired. The people making them were making games they wanted to play, not games they thought other people *would pay for*.
Thats the sad absurdity of it all, all this talk about why the genre is where it is and all the different points of contention and they are all wrong. Its literally because the genre became the equivalent of Michelangelo doing surveys and data mining to determine what his next sculpture should be. Rather than relying on his own creative genius and natural talent to determine that.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
In my opinion the genre is in declined because they refuse to be challenging. In an effort to get as many subs as possible they decided to dumb the games down to a level that we can start getting subs for our pets. How long is an unchallenging game going to keep you occupied? Folks like to copy WoW, but they forget to realize on release WoW was challenging.
It's funny. There is NO decline in MMOs. Yet here's a post about it. MMOs have increased in number so much that it make me wonder what or why this thread was made. I realize you mean some obscure crap about maybe subscriptions or something.
People are playing MMOs. People are ravenous about MMOs. And there are a thousand new MMOs to come.
Comments
I agree with this 100%. This genre has been so stagnant for such a long time. I wrote a blog about this about 4 years ago and most of it still holds up:
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs.cfm/blogId/1064/entry/6185
This X 1 billion.
Prime example of how numbers lie.. give this man a puppy.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I agree with you. MMOs were stagnating until games like EVE and WoW broke into the scene. EVE took awhile to find it's audience, but it did and has done very, very well for itself. WoW was truly a break through game for it's time, as it took what others had done and took it further. Unfortunately, too many studios and investors felt that like they could just outright copy the WoW formula and succeed...well we know how well that went.
EQN:L I believe is the first that could really be a game changer in the genre. I actually feel that it'll do better than the traditional mmo version of itself. If SoE is smart, they will continue to develop Landmark and really make the game flourish.
Additionally, I feel we're going to see more niche games over the next few years, and the mmo populations are going to be more spread out than ever. Between kickstarter games, smaller games like Trove, and indie games like DayZ standalone, I think we'll see more focus on smaller online games that offer varying gameplay and each has it's own audience. I have my doubts we're going to see another WoW-like success in the near future, and this isn't a bad thing. If we have a variety of games that are focused and offer different experiences, I feel we'll ultimately be better off for it.
In summary; I don't think mmos are in decline. We're just in that stagnation period before something else breaks. Whether it's an all popular mega-game, or a wide variety of smaller games remains to be seen. However, we'll see a better offering in the next few years and things will be great until the next stagnation period 10-15 years from now.
I didn't really have a point, other than the stuff in Popular Science has a better than average chance of showing up in the world. I used to have a subscription to it and read it every month.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Hey all -
I wanted to chime in here. I think you might be missing the point of the article which is not that the genre is dying, but rather stagnating. I've been a gamer my whole life, and I started MMOs with Anarchy Online back in 2003. I love Anarchy Online, and I played it till my eyes bled and loved every minute of it.
But I also don't want to go back to those days. I left AO for WoW as some many did and found something else to sink 4 years of my life into and I loved it. It was fun, I enjoyed myself. But after a while for me, it all felt the same.
When WoW started to get national coverage in Forbes and other big publications, I think that's when things started to change. Big money got involved, and big money is inherently risk adverse, and I think we are seeing the tail of 5 years of publishers saying "Make Us the Next WoW," with a copycat game. "Look," I'm sure they said, "Activision and EA can do it. So can you." But I think we've seen that nothing has.
I think what Tingle says is right - our worlds got smaller, developers put us on rails to meet deadlines and budgets, they didn't have time or effort to really re-invent the MMO, only to mimic with varying degrees of success what has come before. The result has been each game contributing one or two innovative features onto what is essentially the same framework we've had in MMOs since EQ1. The details have absolutely changed, but the major paradigms of how we play MMOs has been the same.
and I can relate to Tingle here. I view each MMO with a casual interest, but I know that it's likely more of the same. I think the game that's influenced MMOs the most was Minecraft. Open world, impactful gameplay--you can determine the way you play.
For me, what I've been craving and don't think anyone is going to give me soon is what I think of as emergent gameplay. EVE does this really well (I just can't get into EVE because it has such a long curve before you can start to play the game your way), where it creates systems that allows players to effectively create their own content, within the confines of the game. (This is contrasted with Player Generated Content, which allow players to create their own content, but OUTSIDE the game). It's the difference between placing a bounty on a players head because he killed you and took all your valuables and designing a dungeon using developer tools in Neverwinter.
That's what I want in MMO - a virtual world that feels like I'm part of it that I can impact the world. In my humble opinion, it's this kind of development philosophy of allowing for emergent gameplay that will hopefully bring us to a Renaissance of MMOs.
Unless you are Apple, competition is generally considered a good thing
Genre "decline" is overrated. Just like most of the dysfunctional games that died 8+ years ago.
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!!
(repeat ad infinitum)
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
It's not that it won't "ever" see the light of day but that it won't be implemented at launch. That and he's already said that if needed he'll look for outside funding and the more "votes/money" given the easier it'll be got get the backing. That said if you don't want to put money into something that "might" be I see wisdom in that. Then again there's always that "what if" factor.
As far as the editorial. I think that we've already seen a shift in main stream games being made as more of an MMO than we'd have dreamed seven years ago. Levels and builds in shooters. Multiplayer in pretty much everything and let's not forget the games coming over the horizon.
Look at popular shows like Sword Art Online and Log Horizon. The idea of a "wold" in games is still out there and thirsted for. Eventually we'll likely see a resurgence of "old" ideas presented as new ones and with more tech to back it. Consoles finally realizing they can't ignore the genre is a huge step up. The only thing I'm a bit worried about is the take over of f2p. I love options... I'm all for a f2p "option" but give me the sub option as well don't force me into the cash shop. That said and back on topic who knows? Maybe the next mega hit's just around the corner and we never knew it.
No. Just no. It's going in precisely the opposite direction. Every game is becoming an MMO - especially in the PC world.
Look at TESO. They spend 250 million - but if they hit 5 million in box sales - and each player plays for 3 months thats around 100 bucks each person and they DOUBLE their money. And what if they get 10 million box sales?
The big advantage is that by making your 'back end' do something you can really effectively combat the scourge of PC games - piracy. Make it dumbed down for consoles - and you can make even more money.
MMOs will get bigger and better. I am fairly amazed at the graphics of GW2 - and the action gameplay - its very nice. The gap between shooters/single player games and MMOs is closing as far as game play goes - and profit wise it has always been no contest as to which the better business model is.
Here is the truth - EQ was never that good. It was just a big step up from MUDs. These modern games are far superior even dumbed down. Most of the player on this website need to go play vanguard to refresh their memory.
There is a VERY big difference between JUST killing stuff and having fun THINKING and adjusting along with ACTION and REACTION.
If you have been playing a game that does not offer any of that,then that game is NOT FUN,it is a simple means to an end which of course is levels which are meaningless numbers.
If you are just 1/2/3 and dead ...NEXT,then ya it would become boring and very fast.That is why i can trial a game and within the first day ,i know if it is a weak design or a well thought out one.
That is what boggles me to no end.I see games that have such amateur looking starts to the design ,it makes me wonder why anyone would continue to see what is around the corner If the developer is too lazy to have more than one starting point and no starting cities,then i avoid that game like the plague,cheap lazy devs don't do it for me and i am NOT wasting my time to find out if the game gets better.
Another thing is that if a developer wants me to follow THEIR route,then that is NOT my game or a RPG,that is hand holding in a paint by numbers design,again amateur game design.
So to say there is a decline is way off base,it is simply a matter of good developers versus ones just trying to make money off cloning the same old same old.
It amazes me to no end that thousands if not millions keep jumping in on the NEXT hype,even though the games are 99% identical,show some restraint,quit supporting lazy game design.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Kickstarter reminds me of the collection plat on Sundays and how if you give then things get better BUT they don't!
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Here here. I read it and though the very same thing. Most genres of games haven't evolved to any revolutionary extent., they just develop. Operation Wolf too Call of Duty, you still just kill shit just with better graphics.
MMORPGs by default will inherently be extremely similar, the difference between them and mainstream or console or other genres is you need to spend alot more time at them to 'finish them', this creates the boredom, its playing hours and hours getting to the end then getting a new game which does the same, the realisation you need to do it all again.
The most simple way to combat this is don't play so much and so frequently, vary your games and you will enjoy your MMO alot more.
Its not so much MMO burnout more like MMO groundhog day.
I don't believe the author was talking about financial success. Miley Cyrus is a financial success and global phenomenon, but that doesn't mean her music is better than artists working for pennies either.
As has been mentioned by others, the experience the current MMORPG games offer is inferior to what it should have become. The MMORPG gaming audience has grown, driving sales up, but the gameplay and experience itself has largely devolved over time into a simple, hand-holding session built largely for solo gamers who want the game to practically play itself. These gamers stick around for 30-90 days, and move on to the next easy game.
The older games promised, and in my opinion, delivered so much more, even if they are dated by today's graphics and polish standards. While some of you are perfectly happy with these games, there's a growing number of people who have "been there and done that" and are looking for something more complex, something moving more towards a VR experience, not away from it.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
More and more people will get sick of the same gameplay model. I've watched it happen over the past five years on this very site. It wasn't very long ago that I was in the minority here for wanting deeeper MMORPG games. Furthermore, I've watched many of the "regulars" here sing their undying fanboy love for themepark games that myself and others pointed out major flaws in. They fought us, called us "bittervets" and then ultimately found out we were right.
As I've said a thousand times on this site: Many people who play MMORPG games today came in post WoW launch, and have never experienced a deeper, more social and group friendly MMO. They only know casual games, so they have no idea how much more interesting they could be.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
It didn't turn out that way because game developers started listening to the unwashed masses, The reason old MMO's were awesome is because they were inspired. The people making them were making games they wanted to play, not games they thought other people *would pay for*.
Thats the sad absurdity of it all, all this talk about why the genre is where it is and all the different points of contention and they are all wrong. Its literally because the genre became the equivalent of Michelangelo doing surveys and data mining to determine what his next sculpture should be. Rather than relying on his own creative genius and natural talent to determine that.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
It's funny. There is NO decline in MMOs. Yet here's a post about it. MMOs have increased in number so much that it make me wonder what or why this thread was made. I realize you mean some obscure crap about maybe subscriptions or something.
People are playing MMOs. People are ravenous about MMOs. And there are a thousand new MMOs to come.