You could always solo in Asheron's Call minus some extreme quest lines. That game came out in 1999.
What killed mmo's is the the developers thinking themepark mmo's with gated end game contect were the only template to follow. Most players can't even imagine an mmo not following that template now.
The best mmo's (despite not being the most played) were a far cry from being todays clones. Game making is big business now. You will not see companies taking risks and innovation is stunted. They only consider returns within fiscal cycles and plan their cycles using current marketing strategies which is why gaming these days is nothing more than sequal after sequal after sequal.
The only games we will see within the next 5 years by major developer/distributors will be:
mmo clone XXX
and
FPS shooter/hybrid YYY
Intelligent gaming is dead.
Agreed,and in Asherons Call you could gear up your charakter solo and even trade your old gear when you found better,the loot system in AC is the best I have seen in any mmo.
I am in agreement with this post. I play these games to be part of something greater than myself and I never understood why there was so much solo content in a Massive Multiplayer Onlne Role Playing game.
If you want a good solo RPG play some good standalone games like Dragon Age II or Witcher II that has great RPG elements for a single player to enjoy.
City of Heroes/Villians offered the best multi player experience for me because the game encourgaed players to play together which is why I play an MMO in the first place.
I am also not a big fan of chat in a game, it takes away the game experience for me. I see where it is necessary for raids but not for regular gaming.
One postive note, if you are lucky enough to have joined a small guild with good people, you can have a great gaming experience in almost any game.
If you want a good solo RPG play some good standalone games like Dragon Age II or Witcher II that has great RPG elements for a single player to enjoy.
And if you don't like ice cold water why don't you just go and drink boiling water?
The point is most people like a mixture of the two, something in between, and even a single player experience is way more fun in an MMO than in a single player game. Sometimes in a city I like to go for a walk by myself and I enjoy the people around me, the sites and sounds, even though I am taking a walk by myself. And maybe I like to wear my sweet threads and see if the ladies are checkin me out LOL.
I'm pretty tired of people saying go play a single player game if they like solo content. Maybe I say get out of my MMO if you only like group content. Tell me again where in MMO is the word "group." It is not MMOG it is MMO and in no way implies you have to group.
Now, I like grouping and think its fun, but I also like to just mess around, or enjoy the story, and it is sometime hard to do that at a leisurly pace in a group.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
Now I am sure you will say, kill? How can you say so, Elikal? Millions are playing MMOs, every few I am sure you find other reasons, why this development from MMOs a social game to MMOs as soloist haven came to be. For me, it has make MMO gaming unbelievably boring. I know, some love to make it all alone. I don't. For me, it entirely kills the purpose of MMOs. The quests of MMOs are rarely that exciting that soloing is so fun. And this spirit, the feeling that doing stuff together is more fun than doing it alone, that spirit is lost.
I can summarise the issues that are killing the games for me as a very long time gamer as some of us have been in it from the start.
Firstly soloing has nothing to do with the demise.
ccesability: The internet has grown now anyone can access and play a game it used to be the case that only people with money could play and the servers had tighter player limitations. Now the dumb and the poor and the insta win crowd want to play but what they are playing is just not like the original MMOs . Where longevity / Gameplay and Community were key
Lame features, that have distracted from real MMORPG play:
Auction Houses: Killed traveling and hawking items at the capital city , setting up a shop and other interesting game elements
INsta Mail: Killed the need to communicate, this is how communities form.
INsta Travel: Killed the need to work together and travel in groups via that dangerous Mountain Pass or Impassable swamp. More degradation of co op and community.
No penalty for bad play: Death is no longer an issue oh i died, whole gameplay sessions could be based around corpse recovery.
And then it gets worse, as the popularity grows:
Dumbing down of gameplay
Removal of longevity
Guild Mechanisms do not promote healthy gameplay self motivated; Guild features should be an integral part of the world where factions vi for taxes or dominance in cities/regions of the world.
Insta win; where did the charachter development dissapear to.
Side effects of popularity ; Gold Farmers
Win at all cost players not wanting to play the games anymore but just pay to win. (Godl farmer generated and F2P-Greed generated)
And we can go on and on; Some of the MUDS that have a 50 - 200 player community beat a lot of the cyrrent MMOs hands down these days. If you want real community based gameplay and fun then sadly 98% of current MMOs do not deliver anymore they have turned into a different beast.
Some of us have seen the good and the bad; Most players these days have never played an inspiring game.....
________________________________________________________ Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
I am in agreement with this post. I play these games to be part of something greater than myself and I never understood why there was so much solo content in a Massive Multiplayer Onlne Role Playing game.
If you want a good solo RPG play some good standalone games like Dragon Age II or Witcher II that has great RPG elements for a single player to enjoy.
City of Heroes/Villians offered the best multi player experience for me because the game encourgaed players to play together which is why I play an MMO in the first place.
I am also not a big fan of chat in a game, it takes away the game experience for me. I see where it is necessary for raids but not for regular gaming.
One postive note, if you are lucky enough to have joined a small guild with good people, you can have a great gaming experience in almost any game.
Vodun
You don't understand thats why.
A true MMO setting is about having thousands of thinking players in a single world; They should never be forced to do anythi9ng in the world that they do not wish to. It is about longevity and community.
So if you want to hunt solo ; explore and travel do it ; if you want to craft and trade do it ; if you want to govern parts of the world via land grab/ village/City/Capital do it. If you wish to group to face greater challenges do it.
The MMO in reality was always about numbers of players in a world not a definition on the fact you have to play together its about choice.
Enforced gameplay is a job not gameplay.
I remember games where crafting was an acheivement: That is noit the case anymore
I remember games where traveling was dangerous: Not anymore
I remember games where markets existed: Not anymore
It is just all too easy these days; The Developers have killed the Genre with easy mode ; easy win easy everything.
But there are a few shining beacons and eventually one Developer will deliver again soon; because people want a real game to play.
________________________________________________________ Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Meh, could care less about grping with others. I like the fact that if I see someone running by its another player. not an npc on a loop. If I wanna chase them down and kill them or grp with them thats what matters. Mmos are spossed to be about you being the hero or another star in the galaxy. To take down something epic you group, but why you think i should group to kill these pigs is beyond me.
How many delicate flowers have you met in Counterstrike?
I got a case of beer and a chainsaw waiting for me at home after work.
ccesability: The internet has grown now anyone can access and play a game it used to be the case that only people with money could play and the servers had tighter player limitations. Now the dumb and the poor and the insta win crowd want to play but what they are playing is just not like the original MMOs . Where longevity / Gameplay and Community were key
I was poor then and i'm still poor now, but I have always had the love for games.
Meh, could care less about grping with others. I like the fact that if I see someone running by its another player. not an npc on a loop. If I wanna chase them down and kill them or grp with them thats what matters. Mmos are spossed to be about you being the hero or another star in the galaxy. To take down something epic you group, but why you think i should group to kill these pigs is beyond me.
It's a choice thing but the problem is the players today, a modern mmo player does not role-play they seek the quickest possible route to power and gear that normally means playing solo and raids where people are there for gear alone and kick anyone that makes it a little harder or who might roll on their items.
It's the player not just the mmo, as a result I think know should make it worth their while to group and not play solo but to allow the To solo of they want .
the attrocious communities of today are the reason for more and more solo content in MMOs, or have communities hit the rock bottom (and then dig a 1 mile hole just to sink EVEN MORE) due to solo-ism in MMOs?
what was first? egg or chicken?
Well I know personally from playing EQ...sure, toolbags existed even then in MMO's. But there weren't as many because MMORPG's were still a small niche genre. And even the ones that were there got dealt a nasty hand rather quick when they acted up. They were usually scolded by the masses to quit acting like an idiot, if that didn't work, they were quickly blacklisted across their respected server. This usually resulted in them straightening up if they wanted into a Guild or to accomplish most grouping content, or they left the server all together. The communities then were friendly, helpful and informative...and almost all were great to talk to (Mainly during mana/hp regen downtime) and get to knowing.
This just doesn't happen in today's MMO communities. People acting like idiots is encouraged by the greater part of the community that also joins in (See WoW and the whole Leroy Jenkins/Chuck Norris era crap). Barely anyone is friendly or helpful...they rather ignore you, give a smartass reply, or call you a noob for asking questions. They are too busy rushing to cap in these solo happy MMO's of today to bother with creating any type of community....
I don't feel you can really say more and more solo content is created because the communities are terrible. They are terrible because TONS more people now play MMO's due to it's mainstreaming. More and more solo content is added to replace group content because these players WANT it. It's both ruining community AND desolving the need for one.
Well I know personally from playing EQ...sure, toolbags existed even then in MMO's. But there weren't as many because MMORPG's were still a small niche genre. And even the ones that were there got dealt a nasty hand rather quick when they acted up. They were usually scolded by the masses to quit acting like an idiot, if that didn't work, they were quickly blacklisted across their respected server. This usually resulted in them straightening up if they wanted into a Guild or to accomplish most grouping content, or they left the server all together. The communities then were friendly, helpful and informative...and almost all were great to talk to (Mainly during mana/hp regen downtime) and get to knowing.
This just doesn't happen in today's MMO communities. People acting like idiots in encouraged by the greater part of the community that also joins in (See WoW and the whole Leroy Jenkins/Chuck Norris era crap). Barely anyone is friendly or helpful...they rather ignore you, give a smartass reply, or call you a noob for asking questions. They are too busy rushing to cap in these solo happy MMO's of today to bother with creating any type of community....
I don't feel you can really say more and more solo content is created because the communities are terrible. They are terrible because TONS more people now play MMO's due to it's mainstreaming. More and more solo content is added to replace group content because these players WANT it. It's both ruining community AND desolving the need for one.
Those were also smaller commuities compared to the communities they have now. When you have twice the volume of people than you had then of course you are going to get more screw ups as you would get in Uncle Sams's Yatch Club.
Have you played WoW recently? Most of the time (I'm not saying there aren't exceptions), if you post a question in public chat, the very same people making joking remarks will follow their comments up with a serious, helpful response. Or, 4-5 other people will respond helpfully. Or, you may get joking responses, but then you will get 4 tells with people actually being helpful, then offering to send you bags, gold, gear, etc. I've found that it's like this in most games. You get your asshats, and you get your cool people and a lot in between. That's life for you, mmo's are the same way, they are played by people after all.
I feel like the decline of mmo communities is greatly exaggerated, but hey, that's just me.
The problem with MMORPGS is not solo ability or for that matter grouping ability. It is a social problem in the design.
In every mainstream MMO I have seen to this day. You start at level 1 and strive to obtain level xx where you can then either get on with high end raids or PvP. In the progression you are in no way effecting the world around you nor are you effected by others interaction with this world. There is never a need for you to worry about consequences of your actions because they really have no effect on your game play nor on the others in the world around you. The experience grind is to obvious and the social status aspect of the game is directed at the end game loot or your level.
I think that If there were no levels to start with then every part of the game world would offer some level of threat. I think that if your actions had some consequence toward the game world (hard coded rules) then one would be much more aware of what they are doing. I also think that a person should be able to wander the world alone and every quest you took could be done solo or grouped but the speed at which you completed quests to gain status in the world would be a benefit to group. Yes we exchange experience grind for status grind but the status gain is not going to give you a distinct edge in combat but in the social aspect of the world itself.
I had hope at one time that developers would build a real world simulation for role playing but that was a false hope. I have lost interest in these games over the last few years because MMOs are not going in the direction I had hoped for.
I agree that the problem with MMOs today is mainly the players. Hell, even FPS titles suffer the same problem of idiotic players and wannabe trolls. This is why I tend to avoid playing MMOs for the most part. I'm playing FFXI, but I'm seriously thinking of dumping the subscription since I know full and well I'm likely to find a gaggle of a---hats. 9_9
I agree that the soloist trend is partly coming from WoW's success and the following casualization of the genre. But it's also a sign of the times in more general terms; today's consumer (i.e. the one big AAA titles aim at) wants to feel special and unique, he wants to feel at the center of things and get the illusion that he's accomplished something because he leveled a toon and got some epic loot.
I personally detest the bizarre storylines of games like AoC, where every single player gets the same single-player game intro telling you that you have some kind of special destiny and so on. It's just absurd - everyone can't be that kind of hero.
Unless of course you are living in a totally fake and static "world", in which no action leaves any trace, in which the same boss gets killed 10 000 000 000 times and the same tedious quests are done 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 times, wihout it having any effect whatsoever on the world. That is, unless you are living in the typical modern themepark MMO.
I agree that the soloist trend is partly coming from WoW's success and the following casualization of the genre. But it's also a sign of the times in more general terms; today's consumer (i.e. the one big AAA titles aim at) wants to feel special and unique, he wants to feel at the center of things and get the illusion that he's accomplished something because he leveled a toon and got some epic loot.
I personally detest the bizarre storylines of games like AoC, where every single player gets the same single-player game intro telling you that you have some kind of special destiny and so on. It's just absurd - everyone can't be that kind of hero.
Unless of course you are living in a totally fake and static "world", in which no action leaves any trace, in which the same boss gets killed 10 000 000 000 times and the same tedious quests are done 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 times, wihout it having any effect whatsoever on the world. That is, unless you are living in the typical modern themepark MMO.
It's the self-entitlement generation types of games now. Me me me now now now!
I agree the "I am a hero, or everyone is a hero" storylines in MMO's is ridiculous. I can see this in a console rpg...but it has no place in MMORPG's at all... IMO anyways.
I am in agreement with this post. I play these games to be part of something greater than myself and I never understood why there was so much solo content in a Massive Multiplayer Onlne Role Playing game.
If you want a good solo RPG play some good standalone games like Dragon Age II or Witcher II that has great RPG elements for a single player to enjoy.
City of Heroes/Villians offered the best multi player experience for me because the game encourgaed players to play together which is why I play an MMO in the first place.
I am also not a big fan of chat in a game, it takes away the game experience for me. I see where it is necessary for raids but not for regular gaming.
One postive note, if you are lucky enough to have joined a small guild with good people, you can have a great gaming experience in almost any game.
Vodun
You don't understand thats why.
A true MMO setting is about having thousands of thinking players in a single world; They should never be forced to do anythi9ng in the world that they do not wish to. It is about longevity and community.
So if you want to hunt solo ; explore and travel do it ; if you want to craft and trade do it ; if you want to govern parts of the world via land grab/ village/City/Capital do it. If you wish to group to face greater challenges do it.
The MMO in reality was always about numbers of players in a world not a definition on the fact you have to play together its about choice.
Enforced gameplay is a job not gameplay.
I remember games where crafting was an acheivement: That is noit the case anymore
I remember games where traveling was dangerous: Not anymore
I remember games where markets existed: Not anymore
It is just all too easy these days; The Developers have killed the Genre with easy mode ; easy win easy everything.
But there are a few shining beacons and eventually one Developer will deliver again soon; because people want a real game to play.
But MMO developers are not building worlds anymore,we are just getting backdrops for gameplay.Rift is a perfect example.
In the land of Predators,the lion does not fear the jackals...
Hey now, I like Rift's world and storyline, I find it way more engaging that most of the generic fantasy backdrops you find in MMORPGs.
But anyways.
Dear solo-ruined-my-game-QQers: go ahead and blame solo players for your MMO woes. Then, once your done, blame those who don't roleplay while playing MMORPGs. Then, when they're out of the picture, blame those who aren't in the same age bracket as yourself. Or have the same amount of free time as yourself. Or financial status as yourself.
But really? If you don't feel a game is social enough? Go try Farmville, I hear it's great. Huge community. Stop expecting games to go back in time to their so-called "golden years" just so you don't have to ball up and actively seek out in-game friends on your own.
Its why most mmo's fail this day in age. See dozens of new mmo's coming out every month. F2P, P2P, Item shop, etc.... And a majority of them flop or have a real small player base. WOW may have been a success with the easier play style, but that doesnt mean all mmo's should follow suit. Companies need to take a step back and return to the basics.
- removal of decay and death penalties
-lack of crafting
-lack of player housing, sure u dont need it, but its good for rp value, show off collections, etc...
- grouping not needed
- a need for things in game is gone when you can have 8 alts crafting what you need
- loot items should never be better than crafted
- player based econ faultering
- cash shops give more content than game updates
- game companies trying to suck in one type of gamer instead of just making a good game.
- too easy in general, not complex. Doesnt make the gamer use strategy, skill, their brain....
Just a few things i can think of that have made newer mmo's horrible, for me anyways.
But sadly, this is the current playerbase, most of this came with wow as did the massive amounts of players, who are now the most vocal community, and ruin 99% of new games and leave the smaller companies trying to go back to MMO roots in the receiving end of the shaft, because they cannot handle the challenge, it's NOW, not a week from now these days, gone are the days actually having to work over something.
I used to love coming home from school and setting up for my EQ session about to start, i FELT the immersion when i dove into my bard, i LOVED being in the "other dimension" outside of my real life. Nowadays i don't even get that immersion anymore, because the games are just bang bang to top level to get the best gear and then hang around at the capital cities, auction houses, bazaars and mailboxes.
Gone are also the days when MMO's were made from the heart and here to stay are the days of PROFIT, by any means necessary, be it cash shops, micropayments or copying the most succesfull MMO on the market.
1995 > 2003 was the Golden Age of MMORPG's.
And finally my personal answer to the OPs question:
I don't think it "killed MMOs" per say, but it certainly has taken most of the "MULTIPLAYER" part out of the experience and made players less and less willing to team up for goals as they do not need to. It has also brought alot of bad behaviour into the genre as people don't need to be courteous towards others, since they don't "need" them.
November 23rd 2004 introduced -- SOLOISM -- in future MMORPGs, I mean MMOs.
Old school mmorpg's died this year as well.
Yawn ... You know, I can play solo and RP 1000000x more than top 10 guilds on server doing their raids ... It's not that MMO part is going away from MMORPG games, it still there even if ppl play mostly solo. It's RP part that IMO died. When I played Aion I started to play on RP server, it was disgusting that majority of 'comunity' ridiculed everyone who wanted to do some RP ... yea in RP game on RP server ... thats the true picture of ppl playing MMORPG games and reason why these games feel so shallow, not soloing ....
The WoW style raids and gear centric end game are what ruined the genre. Soloism has always been there to varying degrees. Soling does not remove from the mmo experience. Crafting and farming mats are solo based but help drive the game economy but with no gear decay and raids it removes the need to have viable crafting which lessens the community.
Comments
Agreed,and in Asherons Call you could gear up your charakter solo and even trade your old gear when you found better,the loot system in AC is the best I have seen in any mmo.
I am in agreement with this post. I play these games to be part of something greater than myself and I never understood why there was so much solo content in a Massive Multiplayer Onlne Role Playing game.
If you want a good solo RPG play some good standalone games like Dragon Age II or Witcher II that has great RPG elements for a single player to enjoy.
City of Heroes/Villians offered the best multi player experience for me because the game encourgaed players to play together which is why I play an MMO in the first place.
I am also not a big fan of chat in a game, it takes away the game experience for me. I see where it is necessary for raids but not for regular gaming.
One postive note, if you are lucky enough to have joined a small guild with good people, you can have a great gaming experience in almost any game.
Vodun
And if you don't like ice cold water why don't you just go and drink boiling water?
The point is most people like a mixture of the two, something in between, and even a single player experience is way more fun in an MMO than in a single player game. Sometimes in a city I like to go for a walk by myself and I enjoy the people around me, the sites and sounds, even though I am taking a walk by myself. And maybe I like to wear my sweet threads and see if the ladies are checkin me out LOL.
I'm pretty tired of people saying go play a single player game if they like solo content. Maybe I say get out of my MMO if you only like group content. Tell me again where in MMO is the word "group." It is not MMOG it is MMO and in no way implies you have to group.
Now, I like grouping and think its fun, but I also like to just mess around, or enjoy the story, and it is sometime hard to do that at a leisurly pace in a group.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
I can summarise the issues that are killing the games for me as a very long time gamer as some of us have been in it from the start.
Firstly soloing has nothing to do with the demise.
ccesability: The internet has grown now anyone can access and play a game it used to be the case that only people with money could play and the servers had tighter player limitations. Now the dumb and the poor and the insta win crowd want to play but what they are playing is just not like the original MMOs . Where longevity / Gameplay and Community were key
Lame features, that have distracted from real MMORPG play:
Auction Houses: Killed traveling and hawking items at the capital city , setting up a shop and other interesting game elements
INsta Mail: Killed the need to communicate, this is how communities form.
INsta Travel: Killed the need to work together and travel in groups via that dangerous Mountain Pass or Impassable swamp. More degradation of co op and community.
No penalty for bad play: Death is no longer an issue oh i died, whole gameplay sessions could be based around corpse recovery.
And then it gets worse, as the popularity grows:
Dumbing down of gameplay
Removal of longevity
Guild Mechanisms do not promote healthy gameplay self motivated; Guild features should be an integral part of the world where factions vi for taxes or dominance in cities/regions of the world.
Insta win; where did the charachter development dissapear to.
Side effects of popularity ; Gold Farmers
Win at all cost players not wanting to play the games anymore but just pay to win. (Godl farmer generated and F2P-Greed generated)
And we can go on and on; Some of the MUDS that have a 50 - 200 player community beat a lot of the cyrrent MMOs hands down these days. If you want real community based gameplay and fun then sadly 98% of current MMOs do not deliver anymore they have turned into a different beast.
Some of us have seen the good and the bad; Most players these days have never played an inspiring game.....
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
You don't understand thats why.
A true MMO setting is about having thousands of thinking players in a single world; They should never be forced to do anythi9ng in the world that they do not wish to. It is about longevity and community.
So if you want to hunt solo ; explore and travel do it ; if you want to craft and trade do it ; if you want to govern parts of the world via land grab/ village/City/Capital do it. If you wish to group to face greater challenges do it.
The MMO in reality was always about numbers of players in a world not a definition on the fact you have to play together its about choice.
Enforced gameplay is a job not gameplay.
I remember games where crafting was an acheivement: That is noit the case anymore
I remember games where traveling was dangerous: Not anymore
I remember games where markets existed: Not anymore
It is just all too easy these days; The Developers have killed the Genre with easy mode ; easy win easy everything.
But there are a few shining beacons and eventually one Developer will deliver again soon; because people want a real game to play.
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Meh, could care less about grping with others. I like the fact that if I see someone running by its another player. not an npc on a loop. If I wanna chase them down and kill them or grp with them thats what matters. Mmos are spossed to be about you being the hero or another star in the galaxy. To take down something epic you group, but why you think i should group to kill these pigs is beyond me.
How many delicate flowers have you met in Counterstrike?
I got a case of beer and a chainsaw waiting for me at home after work.
I was poor then and i'm still poor now, but I have always had the love for games.
It's the player not just the mmo, as a result I think know should make it worth their while to group and not play solo but to allow the
To solo of they want .
Well I know personally from playing EQ...sure, toolbags existed even then in MMO's. But there weren't as many because MMORPG's were still a small niche genre. And even the ones that were there got dealt a nasty hand rather quick when they acted up. They were usually scolded by the masses to quit acting like an idiot, if that didn't work, they were quickly blacklisted across their respected server. This usually resulted in them straightening up if they wanted into a Guild or to accomplish most grouping content, or they left the server all together. The communities then were friendly, helpful and informative...and almost all were great to talk to (Mainly during mana/hp regen downtime) and get to knowing.
This just doesn't happen in today's MMO communities. People acting like idiots is encouraged by the greater part of the community that also joins in (See WoW and the whole Leroy Jenkins/Chuck Norris era crap). Barely anyone is friendly or helpful...they rather ignore you, give a smartass reply, or call you a noob for asking questions. They are too busy rushing to cap in these solo happy MMO's of today to bother with creating any type of community....
I don't feel you can really say more and more solo content is created because the communities are terrible. They are terrible because TONS more people now play MMO's due to it's mainstreaming. More and more solo content is added to replace group content because these players WANT it. It's both ruining community AND desolving the need for one.
Those were also smaller commuities compared to the communities they have now. When you have twice the volume of people than you had then of course you are going to get more screw ups as you would get in Uncle Sams's Yatch Club.
Have you played WoW recently? Most of the time (I'm not saying there aren't exceptions), if you post a question in public chat, the very same people making joking remarks will follow their comments up with a serious, helpful response. Or, 4-5 other people will respond helpfully. Or, you may get joking responses, but then you will get 4 tells with people actually being helpful, then offering to send you bags, gold, gear, etc. I've found that it's like this in most games. You get your asshats, and you get your cool people and a lot in between. That's life for you, mmo's are the same way, they are played by people after all.
I feel like the decline of mmo communities is greatly exaggerated, but hey, that's just me.
Here is my two cents on it.
The problem with MMORPGS is not solo ability or for that matter grouping ability. It is a social problem in the design.
In every mainstream MMO I have seen to this day. You start at level 1 and strive to obtain level xx where you can then either get on with high end raids or PvP. In the progression you are in no way effecting the world around you nor are you effected by others interaction with this world. There is never a need for you to worry about consequences of your actions because they really have no effect on your game play nor on the others in the world around you. The experience grind is to obvious and the social status aspect of the game is directed at the end game loot or your level.
I think that If there were no levels to start with then every part of the game world would offer some level of threat. I think that if your actions had some consequence toward the game world (hard coded rules) then one would be much more aware of what they are doing. I also think that a person should be able to wander the world alone and every quest you took could be done solo or grouped but the speed at which you completed quests to gain status in the world would be a benefit to group. Yes we exchange experience grind for status grind but the status gain is not going to give you a distinct edge in combat but in the social aspect of the world itself.
I had hope at one time that developers would build a real world simulation for role playing but that was a false hope. I have lost interest in these games over the last few years because MMOs are not going in the direction I had hoped for.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
I agree that the problem with MMOs today is mainly the players. Hell, even FPS titles suffer the same problem of idiotic players and wannabe trolls. This is why I tend to avoid playing MMOs for the most part. I'm playing FFXI, but I'm seriously thinking of dumping the subscription since I know full and well I'm likely to find a gaggle of a---hats. 9_9
November 23rd 2004 introduced -- SOLOISM -- in future MMORPGs, I mean MMOs.
Old school mmorpg's died this year as well.
I agree that the soloist trend is partly coming from WoW's success and the following casualization of the genre. But it's also a sign of the times in more general terms; today's consumer (i.e. the one big AAA titles aim at) wants to feel special and unique, he wants to feel at the center of things and get the illusion that he's accomplished something because he leveled a toon and got some epic loot.
I personally detest the bizarre storylines of games like AoC, where every single player gets the same single-player game intro telling you that you have some kind of special destiny and so on. It's just absurd - everyone can't be that kind of hero.
Unless of course you are living in a totally fake and static "world", in which no action leaves any trace, in which the same boss gets killed 10 000 000 000 times and the same tedious quests are done 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 times, wihout it having any effect whatsoever on the world. That is, unless you are living in the typical modern themepark MMO.
It's the self-entitlement generation types of games now. Me me me now now now!
I agree the "I am a hero, or everyone is a hero" storylines in MMO's is ridiculous. I can see this in a console rpg...but it has no place in MMORPG's at all... IMO anyways.
But MMO developers are not building worlds anymore,we are just getting backdrops for gameplay.Rift is a perfect example.
In the land of Predators,the lion does not fear the jackals...
Sure, but look at how it did noticeably better than other weaker releases of the past years. Gameplay is entertainment. Gameplay is king.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Some of us like to jump on and play for 4 and a half minutes without screwing over other people.
Solo with optional-grouping is the best option.
Doesn't MMO = Massive Multiplayer Online?
They aren't dead at all. There are many different style's, some do better then other's
Sandbox's are only as fun as their player's
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Hey now, I like Rift's world and storyline, I find it way more engaging that most of the generic fantasy backdrops you find in MMORPGs.
But anyways.
Dear solo-ruined-my-game-QQers: go ahead and blame solo players for your MMO woes. Then, once your done, blame those who don't roleplay while playing MMORPGs. Then, when they're out of the picture, blame those who aren't in the same age bracket as yourself. Or have the same amount of free time as yourself. Or financial status as yourself.
But really? If you don't feel a game is social enough? Go try Farmville, I hear it's great. Huge community. Stop expecting games to go back in time to their so-called "golden years" just so you don't have to ball up and actively seek out in-game friends on your own.
To the OP..
And I say ' Welcome to the AGE of the Console Gamer Mentality'.
MMOs aren't for geeks anymore. We managed to get the RPG out of most MMOs too.
But sadly, this is the current playerbase, most of this came with wow as did the massive amounts of players, who are now the most vocal community, and ruin 99% of new games and leave the smaller companies trying to go back to MMO roots in the receiving end of the shaft, because they cannot handle the challenge, it's NOW, not a week from now these days, gone are the days actually having to work over something.
I used to love coming home from school and setting up for my EQ session about to start, i FELT the immersion when i dove into my bard, i LOVED being in the "other dimension" outside of my real life. Nowadays i don't even get that immersion anymore, because the games are just bang bang to top level to get the best gear and then hang around at the capital cities, auction houses, bazaars and mailboxes.
Gone are also the days when MMO's were made from the heart and here to stay are the days of PROFIT, by any means necessary, be it cash shops, micropayments or copying the most succesfull MMO on the market.
1995 > 2003 was the Golden Age of MMORPG's.
And finally my personal answer to the OPs question:
I don't think it "killed MMOs" per say, but it certainly has taken most of the "MULTIPLAYER" part out of the experience and made players less and less willing to team up for goals as they do not need to. It has also brought alot of bad behaviour into the genre as people don't need to be courteous towards others, since they don't "need" them.
Yawn ... You know, I can play solo and RP 1000000x more than top 10 guilds on server doing their raids ... It's not that MMO part is going away from MMORPG games, it still there even if ppl play mostly solo. It's RP part that IMO died. When I played Aion I started to play on RP server, it was disgusting that majority of 'comunity' ridiculed everyone who wanted to do some RP ... yea in RP game on RP server ... thats the true picture of ppl playing MMORPG games and reason why these games feel so shallow, not soloing ....
The WoW style raids and gear centric end game are what ruined the genre. Soloism has always been there to varying degrees. Soling does not remove from the mmo experience. Crafting and farming mats are solo based but help drive the game economy but with no gear decay and raids it removes the need to have viable crafting which lessens the community.