Surviving the sea of MMOs

Online games are nothing new to most of today’s youth and the multitude of young at heart net savvies. Some of the more tenured in massive multiplayer online RPGs began with game now only remembered by few of today’s mainstream gamers. Although I’ll admit I’m not one of those fossils, I’ve played my fair share of games online.

 

But since the boom some years back, the sheer number of online games that saturated the market was filled with half-baked poorly made copies of each other. It was like eating at a buffet that only served boiled eggs. It was tiring and unhealthy.

 

Yes, there are a few notable titles out there like Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft, etc. The only differences these games had were graphics, maintenance and a couple of features. But essentially these games just refined the battle process.

 

So how does an MMO stay afloat amid all these big-shot titles? The answer is fairly simple; the two paths to MMO enlightenment. The first is innovation and the other is refinement. Innovation should be obvious enough. If it’s an original idea and it happens to make the playing experience enjoyable, it’s bound to become successful which would hopefully send it down the second path: refinement.

 

Naturally with anything new, there are bound to be a few kinks in the system that needs to be addressed. That’s why so many RPGs came out claiming they filled in the missing blanks that the big MMOs missed out or refuse to address. Often times, they end up falling short of expectations or fail to fulfill other needs as a result.

I’ll make Luminary: Rise of the Goonzu as my example. The concept is intriguing.

 

You have a world that can be as simple as every other MMO if that’s how you roll or you could choose to get involved more economically or politically. Economically because almost everything you’ll be purchasing after the initial tutorial quests will be from other players. Why? It’s because the game encourages players to craft and sell because there is a real demand; thus the real-time economy. You choose what items you’d want to specialize in crafting: medicine, food, armor, weapons, etc. and make a living out of it.

 

Politically, each town sells shares of its income to players. Each shareholder is allowed to vote who the Town Chief is going to be. So the Chief assigns other positions and so on. On a much larger scale, there’s a server ruler called the Goonzu whose powers are almost on par to that of a Game Master.

 

But since the game thrives on a democracy, you’ll really need to build a reputation to get elected.

 

So what’s my verdict on the game? It’s pretty solid. Sure, it has cute graphics which might not be everyone’s thing but damn, the gameplay is addicting. A few things I would want to change though would be the interface and speed of battle. It can sometimes be more of a bother than helpful because it causes clutter; especially the quest dialogue box when in full view.

 

As for the battle, I just want it to be a little faster. It just has a tendency to drag if you’re out killing the same thing for hours. So does this MMO have the stuff to stay afloat? Sure it does. It has its worthy perks and all it has to do is try to make the interface less bothersome and maybe tweak the graphics for some folks and speed up the battles. Luminary has the potential to be a mainstay online game for a couple of years to come.

 

Well, I’ve been playing this lately so I think it’s good. How about you guys? Any criteria for a mainstay MMO?