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[Column] General: What IS the Next Big Thing?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
A lot of people have been loudly championing the idea that MMOs are a dying breed and that the golden era marked by World of Warcraft, Ultima Online, EverQuest, EverQuest 2, EVE Online and others is over. Yet developers, both ‘big house’ and indies alike, continue to make MMOs and players keep playing them.
Read more of Suzie Ford's What IS the Next Big Thing?
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mk, MMos are much better nowadays, Wildstar, WoW, ESO, Swtor, are all quality.
The reason their seems to be less players is because there are SO many mmos nowadays.
If Project Gorgon gets more funding and updates the graphics < game content is amazing already >, it could become the Next Big Thing before the end of 2015. Currently its in a pre alpha testing and is open and free to play during this time for everyone. No cash store, completely free for testing. ( Dev's have said they favor a small monthly sub vs a cash store to support game after launch, like $5 - $8 , we'll see )
Check it out if you havent at projectgorgon.com . I highly recommend it!
I think you hit the nail on the head with the Niche-Orientated games being the key.
I am a avid fan of beta testing games and I can't tell you have many game I have beta tested now that had amazing potential early in beta but as the game developed, they got greedy and tried to become the WoW-killer and instead ended up floundering.
SWTOR is a prime example for me. I got into fairly early beta and the game was truly amazing beyond words. Then as the game developed, people started complaining they had to grind to much if they were playing solo or that heroics, which were suppose to be group content were too hard unless you were in a group, then more and more features got dumbed down and at some point it went from amazingly fun to feeling like I was playing a Star Wars themed WoW clone. I played about 6-8 months of beta, about 8-10 hours a day through character wipes and everything. In the end, I only made it 2 months into release before quitting. That says tons and virtually all the games I have beta tested and/or played seemed to follow this same path.
Anyway, the point is, shooting for a smaller, but stronger player base makes it much easier to accomodate their player community which leads to a much higher player satisfaction rate. Trying to accomodate everyone means your not going to accomodate anyone. Lastly if I want to play a game like WoW, well I will just go play WoW.
WoW is multiplayer.
LoL is multiplayer.
WoW is online.
LoL is online.
WoW has defined group roles.
LoL has defined group roles.
WoW has become a lobby game.
LoL has always been a lobby game.
WoW is played primarily solo and the limited group action requires no interaction.
LoL has to be played in groups of 5 and interaction is a must.
So why is it WoW is declared an MMO and LoL is not when LoL actually contains as many if not more MMO qualities than WoW.
I would say that survival shooters like H1Z1 are the next big thing. I would also say it's only matter of time till Hearthstone becomes the most played online game.
Is either one of these games qualified as an MMO? I don't know and frankly, I don't much care. What I do know is the next big MMO won't crack the top 20 games played list for longer than a month.
You forgot 'Massively' in MMO. The simultaneous player interraction between players is very limited in LoL versus WoW. Its not 'Massively Multiplayer'.
WoW being a lobby game? Thats your personal opinion. I personally don't think so, when I think of a lobby game I think of LoL, Dota2, WoT, etc. You're not adventuring in a large gameworld, you're waiting in a lobby for a game to start. Sure, WoW has implemented some lobby-like features such as group-finding, etc. I still don't think you can consider WoW a lobby game.
As for staying somewhat on topic, I have no idea what will be the next thing for me. I want this new amazing MMO, but maybe I'm just to naive to think that will ever happen again. I might need something drastic to happen with the genre, a new era if you will. Maybe VR can help with that? Who knows.
My radar is currently in passive-mode. Star Citizen is probably the next "semi-big" thing for me, but not the end-all-be-all MMO.
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You forgot the most important thing in every real mmorpg the "persistent world" and LoL dont have it
gg wp gl
l2p
Because the grind is what some of us consider fun, and doing it all over again with new content is more fun than repeating it in the same old game once again.
Doing the same endgame many times on different characters grows boring very quickly, so as long as there is some new unseen content ahead, and gameplay is even remotely interesting, i don't mind if the grind takes several years.
This year: SW Battlegrounds will probably be a big thing. And the prospect of a Star Wars skinned DA:I makes good business sense to me. (For any unaware both SW BG and DA:I have been built with the same game engine)
And a key questions for PC gamers: how will Windows 10 fare?
The threat of large tablets + wireless keyboards replacing laptops in the next few years is real. If that happens PC gaming will be in the same place as gaming on the Mac.
The next big thing though: what is going to happen to TVs. Those things that connect to consoles and - increasingly - to PCs. That are getting more memory, ever more powerful processors to cope with 3D and 4K, wi-fi and blue-tooth to connect to the internet and surround sound speakers. They are usually hooked up to blu-ray players as well. Couple that with the fact that Samsung, LG etc. don't want TV operating systems to go the way of the smartphone and things could get interesting.
Stop building MMOs from marketing research.
Allow players to really build the world, literally build it as in what they have 'promised' in EQN.
There has to be more than gear grind. There has to be something the encourages players to simple play because its fun.
Go away old school raiders and MMO players who simultaneoulsy curse new games and complain when something new is tried.
MMO maker, find your vision and its core audience. Stop making games that have mass appeal and make games that have core player base appeal.
NEVER cater to the PvP croud that calls non full loot PvP games care bear titles. This is entertainment and you sound like idiots when you pretend that that kind of environment makes you more of a player. I'm impressed if you are a solider or maybe a kick boxer, not so much if your ideal of combat requires a mouse and keyboard. Have rock solid PvE/PvP.
In alot mmo yeah what keep people in is that grind, but thats a trap to leave too, to move on to other mmo with same grind.
Star Citizen is the next big thing obviously as a crazy genre crossover never been done before
open universe spacesim, FPS, single player campaign, Mass Effect type story, RPG, housing
I have no idea what the new big MMO thing will be but I hope it's a rekindling of immersion. I'm currently playing H1Z1 and I gotta admit, for my first zombie survival MMO, it is the most immersive game I have played since the beginning of my MMO career. Well maybe a couple games I can add into that same feeling. (EQ, DAoC, AC, WOW)
I love being afraid of logging onto my character in fear of losing my gear or dieing or leading someone to my fort. Not so much that I enjoy feeling fear about a game, not at all, but since for me the game is that immersive, I have to remind myself, "it's a game..." . That in itself is a drawing feature. If I have to remind myself that I am playing a game, than that game is doing something absolutely right. Whether it's a great game or not can be disputed and argued of course, but for me, if I am playing something that I have to remind myself it's a game, than it's hitting that immersion factor for me and that's a huge plus.
I think the genre has many different ways it can go. Personally I hope/think it will start aiming more towards niche games like the columnist mentioned. For me those are with focuses on player interaction, player creation and immersive worlds. Right now, I am getting those out of H1Z1 which I am thoroughly enjoying, even if I don't get to bed till 4am on workdays where I have to wake up at 7. So maybe not the healthiest thing, but I am enjoying my time.
There are a lot of MMO's out now then ever. Of course MMO's were more populated in the past because you only had a few to play.
Letting the players design the game is a problem because different players want different things, so it becomes a popularity contest of friends bringing in friends to lobby for what they think is important. In considering what other players want they tell them to go look for another game. Then they complain when the population drops because nobody wanted to play their way but a small group.
I think the next big MMO will be more immersive and take advantage of future tech such as virtual reality headsets, devices that bump your chair when you get hit, and other sensory features like smelling flowers when you run through a field of them, or smelling an NPCs perfume or cologne when you walk up to them.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
See I think the issue with MMOs today is that there isn't enough of a grind. Instead they are all dumbed down and too easy. Rift is a fine example, the first player hit max level only like a week or so into release. I am an old school MMO player who started out on UO and EQ and I remember playing EQ for like a year or more before I hit max level and despite that massive grindfest, it is still my longest played and most memorable MMO of all times.
Honestly now way to many things are handed to you which is why people reach endgame and get bored in only a few months. Nothing is hard, nothing takes time and everyone gets an "A" just for partisipation all of which equals lame in my book.
Meh... The 'next big thing'...
This boom and bust mentality, always looking at what is coming and destroying what is here, is what has helped reduce this genre to the pile of rubble it is.
MMORPG.com, because it needs clicks and feeds the cycle of sensationalism and condemnation to get them, all the while pretending to be above such things and the behaviours of it's users, is part of the issue.
Stop it.
I agree to some extent with what you're saying, but you have to understand that the genre has changed too much for a game like that to survive. People have become so accustomed to games that you can power through to max level in a week, that they'd never accept a game where it took you a year to do so. The majority of people these days want instant gratification.
We are just so inundated with MMOs these days that people don't care about immersion. Back in the days of early MMOs like UO and EQ, it was new and fresh so people weren't so picky. It's kind of a catch-22 if you think about it. People power through to endgame and get bored, but if you made a different kind of game they wouldn't accept it in the first place. Games these days have to ensure that everyone feels like a special little snowflake. No one can ever lose anything or feel like they aren't the best.
Word.
I am actually very excited after hearing some things on crafting now as well as Raph Koster working with them on the game.
This is basically how I feel about it. If I'm having fun, I don't care if I have to restart. If I'm not having fun, I move on. It's realy smple.