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Now that Earthrise has officially failed....
GeeTeeEffOh
Member Posts: 731
(http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/340512/Earthrise-shutting-down-today.html)
Will developers be even more deterred from open world MMOs? With EVE being a notable exception, Every sandbox MMO since the Themepark Invasion, has failed to live up to its expectation. But is it because there is no market? I don't think that is the case. I don't think Earthrise failed because it was an open world sandbox. It failed because it was incomplete.
In late 2011, an Indi game litterally exploded onto the scene out of nowhere, with no hype with little to no announcement, Perpetuum Online blasted it's way to the top of the charts here. It got recognition and it got a lot of people in it's doors. And it did so fully aiming at being an EVE clone. The game ultimately lost it's momentum for several reasons. Some of it scandelous. But the point is, when it hit the scene, it generated a lot of initial interest. Had this game been able to deliver, It would be a success story right now. And I don't think that it's because "Everyone went back to EVE" The people I met never actually played EVE.
Again, my point is that PO was able to generate initial interest. Keeping it going was a different story. But the market was there.
What's missing? I am guessing a transition. Some content to assist in laucnhing your character.
Everyone looks at the old school open world games and uses them as a foundation. But I don't think that has to be the case. Does an Open World sandbox NEED FFA PVP looting? No.
Why not put a little themepark in the sandbox? This would do several things.
1. It could act as an extended tutorial for new gamers. They start off with the familiar but the game is designed to transition the players to go off and start contributing to the game to generate their own content.
2. Help people get used to steep learning curves by doing instead of having to read and read and read and read before playing.
3. Sometimes you may just want to do something solo for a few hours.
Anyway, my 2 cents.
Comments
I would point to the success of Minecraft. Thats a pure no frills sandbox that has sold 5 million plus copies. It is not a MMO, but it shows that style of gameplay has serious interest in the gaming community.
It had nothing to do with the game being sandbox or themepark. The game was simply unfinished and full of issues. The usual story of recent years, beta testers begging the studio to not release the game till it's actually in acceptable state, game being released anyway, game failing quickly.
No one will play sandbox just because it's sandbox. It's not how it works. With how much choice when it comes to games we have these days, developers can't afford to push out unfinished products and hope that people will play it "despite" the flaws.
Want to have successfull game - put some effort in it. Doesn't matter if it's sandbox, themepark or a mix of both. There is plenty of peple wanting to play either, but they also expect certain level of polish/quality.
Agreed. I think an MMO with a building/construction focus that lacks the creepiness of Second Life would make a definite hit.
Also, OP, here's the manner in which Perpetuum 'blasted its way to the top of the charts' :
http://www.mpog.net/gamelist.cfm?game=438&view=forums&thread=296479&page=3
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I am aware of this. It's one of the things I was thingking of when I said they did some scanelous things. Both in and out of the game. These are the things that came back and bite them but good.
Believe me, I am no fan, and I didn't appreciate the dev's hidden agenda. Ironically enough, it wasn't motivated by financial greed, but that they wanted to dominate in their own game. LOL....Geeks!
If only they had delivered what they said they had delivered. They wouldn't have needed to falsify the ratings. People still went there. I don't think anyone signed on to PO expecting to see a Mechwarrior Themepark.
QFE
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Almost every indie sandbox game fails...why?
1. So many bugs
2. So much unfinished content and content that is listed as a feature, but isn't in-game
3. Most are pure PvP for some reason, there is a lot of players wanting a PvE sandbox (judging by various forums, including this one)
4. Did I mention every indie sandbox game I've seen, has unfinished content and is lacking features? EVE was the same at release, but I guess it was unique enough that it grew into a solid playerbase...an exception and it was also in earlier times when people didn't expect a feature complete, non-buggy game
5. So many bugs...
A successful sandbox game will most likely be made by an AAA company, not an indie one that has too limited of funds for a large sandbox game. Sadly, AAA companies only want to cash in on WoW or make their MMO a singleplayer pay to play RPG.
Also, singleplayer sandboxes (like Minecraft) are vastly different than MMORPG sandboxes. Indie singleplayer sandbox games tend to be a lot more successful, for whatever reason. I guess because MMOs are huge and cost tons of money to make.
I would also include that most of these developers have taken the lazy route. They went sandbox, thinking they could get away with less content. So they created less of a game. It's one thing to be unfinished, it's another to think "It's a sandbox, it doesn't need as much as a Themepark"