Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Not the first true cross-platform MMO
Phaserlight
Member EpicPosts: 3,072
Since the devs for Albion Online appear to be reasonably active on these boards - although AO looks like a pretty nice concept, and it has received some significant press as of late, something has bothered me as I've tracked its development over the past months. People appear to be largely unaware of this, or at least only marginally aware. Nonetheless, to me, this is an important issue:
http://www.reddit.com/r/albiononline - "the first true cross-platform MMO"
https://albiononline.com/ - "the first truly cross-platform MMO experience"
My question...
Why are you claiming to be the first true cross-platform MMO?
A) You have Vendetta Online, which was featured in a nation-wide, 2011 Motorola Xoom commercial, and has featured a persistent, cross-platform universe for Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS since 2013 (including a variety of other devices like the Kindle Fire and the Ouya). It was even labeled "The Most Multiplatform MMO Game Ever"[1] by TechCrunch.
War Thunder devs were referring to their game as a "cross-platform MMO" as early as May 2013, when discussing their plans with Forbes Magazine for porting to the PS4. To my knowledge, they were successful in this and other devices like the Nvidia Shield.
I don't mean to belabor anyone's success, but I'm assuming that you do research these things. This leaves two possibilities:
A) You don't consider War Thunder or Vendetta Online "true MMOs". If this is true, it would make the claim appear petulant at best. But let's examine this; War Thunder involves instanced battles between groups of players. It lacks persistence. I can see how one might think of this as being "not-an-MMO" or at least "not-a-true-MMO" in the same way that Call of Duty is "not-a-true-MMO". Vendetta Online, on the other hand, does involve a persistent universe; when players log off, the game world remains. It is as much of a true MMO in design as Eve.
Perhaps it is because neither War Thunder or Vendetta Online involve Ultima-Online-esque humanoid characters (avatars). Nonetheless, the games themselves do involve MMO-like progression.
You have been hitherto unaware of either of the above games. Vendetta Online's studio is based in Wisconsin, so I can see how this might be the case for this game, as your game is being developed in Berlin. However, War Thunder is made by a Russian studio, and I find it less likely in this case.
Why does this matter?
This matters because we live in a world of "firsts". It is a prestigious thing to be able to claim "first game to do X". History is made by individuals being the first. "First true cross-platform MMO" is a bold claim, and I'd like the developers responsible for making this claim to have the opportunity to back it up.
If it turns out that this is not a claim you wish to forge boldly ahead with, let me offer a suggestion: add the word "terrestrial" in place of "true". This is still a worthwhile claim, and certainly improves its veracity.
Comments
Well-documented, constructed, and thought out post.
I'm not very familiar with the games you mentioned, but they did add this qualifying statement: "with all players on one master server in one massive, sprawling world"
Does that exclude the games you mentioned?
Vendetta, certainly not; it has the same architecture as Eve: all players have the potential to interact in the same, virtual space.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
Based on that it seems logical to assume that Albion cannot make that particular claim then.
Personally, I don't find that claiming "first" status increases my chances of purchasing a game. For me that falls under the same marketing jargon as "revolutionary."
Given the scope of the MMO market it seems misleading to claim your game is first at anything because every gameplay mechanic or feature is interpreted differently by different people. It really comes down to marketers being marketers.
If in 30 years a game comes out that supports 20,000+ players interacting simultaneously with server side physics and someone claims it's the first "massively multiplayer game" we would disagree on whether that is a valid claim. I think the root issue is less about a company making an untrue claim and more about human nature's susceptibility to marketing.
That being said, this thread seems fairly conclusive that they can not make that claim.
Thanks for the feedback. We have not heard of Vendetta Online before.
We will look into this and - if we agree with your assessment - adjust our website accordingly. This could take alittle while as everybody is extremely busy with preparations for the next alpha test on January 26th.
War Thunder is not an MMO, it's a lobby game where you are not in a world with a "massive" amount of people. Yes, it's multiplayer and online but it's not more MMO than CoD, as you said so yourself.
Vendetta Online is probably a true cross platform MMO, but was probably overlooked since it's so old.