Interesting article about MMOs

nithanath

http://mud.co.uk/richard/The%20Decline%20of%20MMOs.pdf

dirlettia

Main issue with that article is that 6 out of 7 references were to his own previous articles making the entire thing his own opinion. Sure a lot of the stuff is correct or rather are things I can relate to but there is little support of his opinions from other sources.

lauscho

Trained by Experience: This follows from the fact that so many MMOs are
clones. Players play an MMO and observe it to have particular features. They
play other MMOs and observe them to have the same features. They come to
believe these features are intrinsic to what it means to be an MMO, although
actually they’re probably not. For example, there’s nothing that says an MMO
must have character classes and levels, but most do and so players expect
both. If an MMO differs in one dimension (for example it has skill sets instead
of classes) then it might be given a chance; if it differs in several, though,
many potential players will decline to play because what’s being offered is too
different to what they’ve been trained to expect.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all video game genres have some kind of formula to them? I mean I know how to play most FPSs because I've played one, in theory.

timeladykatie

lauscho wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all video game genres have some kind of formula to them? I mean I know how to play most FPSs because I've played one, in theory.

Thinking like that is the only thing holding back Ever, Jane, the most popular conceptual MMO.

dirlettia

timeladykatie wrote: »

Thinking like that is the only thing holding back Ever, Jane, the most popular conceptual MMO.

The big issue though is that following an old formula with regards controls etc is beneficial to a company as it reduces the learning curves for its potential customers. Standards driven design is the accepted norm and will not likely change any time soon. Of course that is not to say a company cannot try to innovate in the hope of finding the next best thing.

Content wise I am not convinced by the argument that text MUD's have better physics than graphical MMO's as text still has to be coded in often leading to frustration by the player being unable to do something they realistically should be able to do. Graphical games normally have physics assigned to objects so they can be messed about with at will.

As for the questing systems being boring, that is unavoidable due to the way all activities tend to be basically the same anyway. Fetch, kill or visit/carry missions are generally the only types of missions available in almost any game. I do follow his point about some games trying to break the mould by getting players to do research out of the game to be able to proceed, ie secret world.

wombat140

I haven't time myself, but Ever, Jane sounds good.

Random thought: most MMOs that allow fighting at all, even ones that set out to make their non-combat features as big a thing as the fighting, end up veering back to being all about killing baddies, which apart from anything else is not good on the variety front. (I'm thinking of M a b i n o g i here, for one.) (EDIT: Can anybody explain what on EARTH causes the name "M a b i n o g i" to become caught in the swearing filter when I type it normally? "abinogi" gets through; "Mabinog" gets through too.) And I think one reason for that is that killing baddies is always the one main source of XP, so that fighting becomes the obvious way to progress in level and everything else is made to look like a bit of a sideshow. What would happen if you had a game which had a decent range of activities in it, including but not limited to combat, and you set it so that killing an opponent did NOT reward XP - maybe even an XP penalty? How would such a game play out? Most MMOs are the same in their underlying maths. Change the maths, what happens? Answer, a game that doesn't really work, if you're not careful, but if it does work, then what?

Random thought 2: have any of you played a game called Enigma, alias Oxyd, alias (possibly) Esprit, alias Rock n' Roll? If not, it's an unusual, meditative little puzzle game where you guide a marble through various patterns over various kinds of terrain. Extremely steady hand needed. At higher levels other obstacles come into play... It just seems to me that a game using this as a spell-casting system could be on to something. Do give it a try, it's a great game :-)

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therealmt

Nobody needs to read an article to see the eventual downfall of MMO's as we know it.
Its plain clear that such MMO's will be milked out and destroyed eventually. STO is by far holding spot 1 for that particular prize.

crypticarmsman

Yawn - another armchair analyst predicts the downfall of a game genre. they said the same thing about PC/Console stuff in general many years ago - yet how many CoD and GTA clones do we have posting record profits. Hell even SWtOR (which is the most expensive MMO to date, and failed to live up to RA's astronomical profit predictions) is STILL fairly profitable for EA and Disney.

So, yeah, call me unimpressed by this author's 'analysis' (which will now be used by players who are dissatisfied with one or more aspects of their MMO of choice (be it STO, WoW, EVE, etc.) as 'proof' Cryptic's/Blizzard's/CCP's, etc. sub standard development practices are numbered; and MMO's are 'dying'.

As I said in my opening sentence 'Yawn'.

mirrorchaos

i only saw the first line, a professor. im extremely skeptical to the point of cynicism about this mans claim already. will read it all out when im slightly less busy then boredom :P.

oldkhemaraa

decent article.

Much food for thought. Noted a comment from some one that the writer is an armchair expert. Um.. the writer is a tenured professor at a major university.

I'd put a bit more stock in the writer of the article then I would put in a number of industry "professionals"


I recall recently finding out that the original Star Trek series was in reality THE most popular show the network had in its line up at the time, but they didn't know that because AC Nielson was cooking the numbers and presenting the results of their polls and customer surveys in a way that would appear to have shown the show as much less popular then it actually was.

For the same basic reason I absolutely put no credence into Cryptic studios "Numeric's".. those sort of numbers can tell you any thing you want and justify any decision depending on how they are presented. The numbers have to be translated into plain language to be understood. a very old old saying... "traduttore tradittore" (literally "The Translator is a Traitor") its a very misunderstood quote. It's a cautionary warning to beware of allowing yourself to only hear what you want, and the dangers of relying on others to translate information for you. I've done sales.. Numerics are most used as smoke and mirrors to sell or justify a decision.

The only numeric that real matters is the one showing net profits in ones annual financial report, and the only data that matters is what contributed or didn't contribute to that number.

*wanders off singing Glen Frys Smugglers Blues "Its the lure of easy money...."

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mirrorchaos

oldkhemaraa wrote: »

I recall recently finding out that the original Star Trek series was in reality THE most popular show the network had in its line up at the time, but they didn't know that because AC Nielson was cooking the numbers and presenting the results of their polls and customer surveys in a way that would appear to have shown the show as much less popular then it actually was.

For the same basic reason I absolutely put no credence into Cryptic studios "Numeric's".. those sort of numbers can tell you any thing you want and justify any decision depending on how they are presented. The numbers have to be translated into plain language to be understood. a very old old saying... "traduttore tradittore" (literally "The Translator is a Traitor") its a very misunderstood quote. It's a cautionary warning to beware of allowing yourself to only hear what you want, and the dangers of relying on others to translate information for you. I've done sales.. Numerics are most used as smoke and mirrors to sell or justify a decision.

was never into sale or did anything of the sort but i have seen politics and their effects long enough to smell a rat when i see one, i apply the same logic to specific companies and the personalty type that goes with it after a while and you know which ones are no good. thats why i have never been anything more then skeptical about PWE since the start when they took over STO.

centersolace

skollulfr wrote: »

considering he quoted himself as basis for his own assertions, and failed to address a plethora of identifiable issues well known to game designers, including but not limited go item stats and economy ingame, as well as using the term mmo in specific relation to the rpg without specifying means the entire piece fails to stand up to academic standards.

the only thing his title means here, is that he should have done a better job with this piece.

Much like most MMO's. :cool:

iconians

skollulfr wrote: »

considering he quoted himself as basis for his own assertions, and failed to address a plethora of identifiable issues well known to game designers, including but not limited go item stats and economy ingame, as well as using the term mmo in specific relation to the rpg without specifying means the entire piece fails to stand up to academic standards.

the only thing his title means here, is that he should have done a better job with this piece.

I like you.

crypticarmsman

oldkhemaraa wrote: »

decent article.

Much food for thought. Noted a comment from some one that the writer is an armchair expert. Um.. the writer is a tenured professor at a major university.

I'd put a bit more stock in the writer of the article then I would put in a number of industry "professionals"

Well, there's the old adage:

"Those who can, do; those who can't, teach."