Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

I couldn't care less about IP, give me gameplay!!

Think of what an MMO is to you.  You most likely just thought of a game where you begin as a fairly weak fighter charged with helping to save the world from some great peril.  You are encouraged to go out and kill some monsters, or antagonists of some sort.  After doing this a few times this bar at the bottom of the screen becomes completely full and the number next to your name goes up by 1.  At this point you can perform a few new combat moves, as well as being able to wear new armor and weapons.  Do this 5-10 times and you get to walk to a new area and do it all over again.  Rinse and repeat this process until you find a time where the little bar at the bottom of the screen no longer increases when you kill antagonists.  At this point there is either nothing to do, or you questionably progress by fighting through hard antagonists with a larger group, who take a great amount of time, and are intended to be repeatable.  Do you feel like you played this game before?  notice that i made no mention to the world in which this is based; no reference to an IP was needed.  There wasn't even any mention of classes or skill based systems, and although i personally prefer a skill based system, there are still different and more creative ways to do this as well.  I often hear developers announce MMOs built around an IP or theme, however what have they just accomplished?  They have simply made this same game with minor tweaks, much more of an expansion pack or sequel than a separate game.  This one type of gameplay which we have all come to know as "MMORPG" is not the only way of creating an alternate universe for a game with thousands of players.  Give me community progression, a way to creatively influence the game world, allow me to play on a similar plane with long time players.

So to the developers, quit making Mods of the current MMO, make a new Game, then i will finally be excited to play a new MMO again

Can anyone else relate to any of this?

Comments

  • vmopedvmoped Member Posts: 1,708

    Well we have seen games try new gameplay mechanics:

    Dungeons and Dragons Online....not a breakout hit.

    Tabula Rasa...not a breakout hit either.

    Mourning...born stillborn.

    Shadowbane...Bad support from Ubi + engine issues.

    Dark and Light...(nothing needs to be said here)

    The problem is, everyone wants something new, they get it, and then complain that its not like _______ (insert your point of reference).  Games are made by companies.  Companies generally want to make a profit.  So far in the MMO industry diversity has equated to disaster (for the most part).  So why should companies risk money to make a diverse product, when the market has shown that rehashed gameplay with new skins is the more guaranteed route for profit.

    MMO Vet since AOL Neverwinter Nights circa 1992. My MMO beat up your MMO. =S

  • DruzDruz Member Posts: 276

    To be fair though D&DO is not all that different, either is Tabula Rasa.. they both use the formula the OP is talking about



    Not sure about D&L or mourning but I know shadowbane was a grind except the endgame was crazy for a while

  • NoUrbanLightNoUrbanLight Member Posts: 70

    Originally posted by vmoped


    Shadowbane...Bad support from Ubi + engine issues.
    Nooooot the only one to get bad support from Ubi. Uru was completely off the walls different, and Ubi practically killed it. It's nice Game Tap picked it up, but meh... I'm none too enthused about Game Tap. Uru is still the reason I have a grudge against Ubi.

    I do agree that the current tedium is frustrating as all get out. Likely why I'm most active in a game with an extremely low level cap. I guess what it boiled down to is every game needs SOME way and gauging progress, and this has been the most widely excepted by the mass market. After all, Uru was all based on what you KNOW and how well you could solve a puzzle. People will tend to take a surefire "If I spend so many hours doing this I WILL progress," over a "I can spend so many hour and STILL be banging my head against the wall."

    Everyone says they want something "new" but what is it exactly? I suppose the question is what people find to be the ultimate gratification in gaming that is good enough to keep them playing and not so easy to attain as to make the game obsolete too quickly.

    ~~~~~
    "Big surprise... there was no protection by this urban light..."

  • SonofSethSonofSeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,884

    Originally posted by NoUrbanLight


     
    Everyone says they want something "new" but what is it exactly? I suppose the question is what people find to be the ultimate gratification in gaming that is good enough to keep them playing and not so easy to attain as to make the game obsolete too quickly.
    I guess what people want is for genres to start mixing. Basicly MMOs available are all just RPGs, and they can go only so far.

    RPG can be an open sandbox, but without more tools for you too choose what you want to do it can't be very popular, but maybe with mixing few genres in that box could do wenders. Who know, maybe even by just adding genres to a linear progression game we could make ourselves believe it's something new.

    Merry Grindmas?

    image

  • CryptorCryptor Member UncommonPosts: 523

     

    I personally found Tabula Rasa to be very refreshing and fun unlikemost mmos.  But either way, you are right there is not many quality mmos coming out at all.  Most companies choose to sortof go with a franchise and see what happens.

    I think that Stargate, Spellforce  and Star Trek mmos might possibly be better then your average franchise mo though, who knows.  Perpetual simply cannot afford to fail at Star Trek, this is it for them.  If they will make it right you can expect more ( and possibly older unfinished projects ) projects fromt hem - if they fail then I fulyl expect them to fold.  Stargate is being done by a pretyt neat little studio that is taking the whole project very seriously, it almost looks like they wanna do things right.  Spellforce is being done by a company created just for that game, you can pretty much bet that everyone inthere is feelign the importance of this title being a success lol.

    Yeah, we'll see i guess, its always hard to say how these things will go.

Sign In or Register to comment.