http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/07/09/mmorpg/
Wagner James Au Uber Alles!
Still, as much as I may complain, Salon’s financial woes are depressing. It’s hard to believe any content-driven literary site can make it if Salon can’t. Perhaps if I repeat the magic word “micropayments” three times?
Also, didn’t he leave the upcoming online Final Fantasy game out of his list of upcoming MMORPGs? I think that’s going to be released on the PC, right? And it’ll definitely be a player, given the name and brand recognition.
can u respond to yourself a third time to let me know just wtf your first 2 posts tried to say.
I don’t think his list was meant to be comprehensive.
I thought it was an interesting article. I do wish people in the game industry would stop complaining about not reaching a female audience. If that audience is there, go make the games and make millions. Who’s stopping EA and Vivendi from making games that appeal to women?
There are a few out there. Even besides the Sims.
My wife’s a big fan of tycoon-ish games. She’s probably a little more “game-oriented” than most women, due to my influence, but not immensely so.
I don’t think the problem is that there aren’t any (though there admittedly aren’t many) games that women like, but rather that women don’t realize that those games are out there.
The only big players in town are SWG, SimsOnline and Worlds of Warcraft. After that its a toss… its going to be a sobering experience… most of the other mmrpg will have to learn to live with less than 20k subs to survive. Its impossible to have mega subscriber numbers with so many game coming out (and I think thats what they all are shooting for). To survive many of them need to focus on a limited subscriber base, and making money on that.
The one I’m most interested in is actually Dragon Empires (if it does what it advertsises). The screenshots for DE look very cool… particularly the vast landscape. Plus the trade options sound cool… defending caravans and running tradewars! who knows if it makes it anyway…
Also, I place my bet on the Sims beating out SWG and WoW. The Sims is so damn big it cant fail, especially considering its wide appeal… but WoW and SWG will do okay anyway. Though consider how Star Wars episode 2 is somewhat a dud at the box office… maybe Star Wars is dying? Im sure Tom would be happy with that!
Actually I’m tired of mmrpg’s… or at least the current treadmill its on. Like Au says, “The genre restrictions create a kind of hardcore role-playing gamer ghetto.” Its ghey playing with ultra hardcore mmrpg players. Its just old.
etc
Though consider how Star Wars episode 2 is somewhat a dud at the box office… maybe Star Wars is dying? Im sure Tom would be happy with that!
What does “somewhat of a dud” mean, financially? Anyone have numbers? Whatever the numbers, I doubt it’s enough to kill Star Wars before Episode III inevitably appears. And that’s the end of that, according to Lucas, anyhow.
I read somewhere that its not doing as expected. Of course they were probably expecting Titanic numbers? Who knows! I dont care. I’m just sick of Star Wars games! I think I’m starting to side with Tom and his “Fuck Star Wars” mantra! :lol:
etc
What is the big deal with Star Wars, anyway? It’s Quake with lightsabers.
C’mon everyone, say it with me: Fuck Star Wars.
My only MMORPG experience is with Dark Age of Camelot and I may have had my fill. If I’m going to level treadmill, I’d just as soon do it solo(Diablo, for instance). Maybe DAOC wasn’t a good example, but I’m not interested in a MMORPG unless there’s some sort of appealing content beyond combat and leveling up. Maybe I should have stuck around DAOC long enough to try this realm vs. realm stuff.
Having said that, I recently enjoyed Warbirds and I’ll be taking up World War II Online again. But those aren’t RPGs.
-TomWOO HOO!
Last I saw, Episode II was in the 250 million range. It’s nowhere near a failure or a flop. It’s doing the amount of buckage that Lucas expected. They only people who expected more are the same analysts gamers always complain about. :)
I disagree with the assertion that World of Warcraft, Sims Online and Star Wars Galaxies are all there is. Dark Age of Camelot did really well for a basically unknown company and game before its release. I don’t see how anyone can just write off all the non-name brands.
In fact, someone that goes out of their way to really create a world that’s both familiar and yet original is probably going to trump the licensed properties. How many times do gamers have to learn the “licensed game” lesson?
–Dave
Dark Age of Camelot did well mostly by cannibalizing the subscribership of other, aging games such as EverQuest and Asheron’s Call. I think there is some room for growth in the MMORPG realm… but not nearly as much as the industry thinks there is. I guess we’ll see. Star Wars Galaxies may attract some new blood. Sims Online will do well.
Unless they are banking on small subscriber bases (and they aren’t), however, most of these games are going to fail. Too many of them are too similar, and people will end up gravitating towards whichever game is best, or (more likely) whichever one has the biggest name (EverQuest 2, for instance).
“Unless they are banking on small subscriber bases (and they aren’t), however, most of these games are going to fail. Too many of them are too similar, and people will end up gravitating towards whichever game is best, or (more likely) whichever one has the biggest name (EverQuest 2, for instance).”
I suspect DAoC will be cannabilized the most heavily as these new games roll out. I don’t that game has engendered the loyalty that EQ and UO have.
I think that if you want to make a MMOG and you’re not one of the established heavyweights, you’d better figure out how to make money on 25,000 - 50,000 subscribers. I don’t see many besides the big names getting to that 100,000 mark.
Hey Tom,
Let me know what you think of the new changes for WWII Online. I’ve been thinking about playing it again, especially with those new visuals. I liked it back when they had they free month thing going on and enjoyed what I saw, but I really didn’t know anyone else playing and it’s much more fun to run around with another person or more importantly drive a tank and have someone to shoot the gun at the same time.
I recently came back to WWII Online to try out their latest version.
They’ve done alot of fixes and tweaks, as well as add some new vehicles and animations.
Stll, the basic gamesplay hasn’t changed other than adding alot more CPs, flag capture rules, and supply rules (which seem more like place holders until a real working supply is introduced).
I think the most intersting aspect of the game is actually using real-time voice communications when playing.
Playing the game as-is get’s extremely boring. You have all thes people playing around you, yet typing to them really sucks. So, you head into battle deaf and mute.
With voice communications, it really gets exciting. Radio chatter becomes confusing, reports of locatiions coming in, objectives met or failed, etc. The game then becomes immersive and fun even if you do die over and over.
I ignored the WWIIO offer, so can someone who is playing it answer this - if you compare game features from the back of the box, to game features in game - are they at the 30% mark yet?
Chet
“Dark Age of Camelot did well mostly by cannibalizing the subscribership of other, aging games such as EverQuest and Asheron’s Call.”
Thats what people “said” but that hasn’t happened at least not yet. Either thier are allot of people paying for DAOC and EQ still or they have gotten some new people. EQ increased its base sine then, andDOAC is over 200K(faster than EQ was). There is a finite limit but nobody knows what it is yet.
What I don’t think people realized was that DAoC attracted the people who had already left EQ. These people wanted to play an MMORPG, but they were either bored or frustrated with EQ. So when DAoC came out, the first influx of people were those who used to pay for MMORPGs, but had stopped. There wasn’t a lot of cannabilizing going on because they had already cancelled their subscriptions months before DAoC was released.
I’m sure there are many people who are paying for more than 1 MMOG, but not as many as people seem to think. Most people I know have chosen their game of choice and are sticking with it. There is a little migration between the games, but it’s quite limited.
EQ’s numbers keep rising. DAoC’s numbers keep rising. Every day there are people getting turned on to MMOGs, and the trend will continue for quite some time. As long as new people keep coming on board faster than old people are moving on to other games, the companies will be durn happy. And games like Star Wars, while undoubtedly able to steal away subscribers to other games, will most likely get a majority of their people in the long run from the crowd that hasn’t even considered MMOGs as an option. Once these people start playing Star Wars, the cycle starts again. New people keep joining, while the old people get burned out and move on to other games.
There will be a critical mass someday, no doubt, but I doubt we’ll see it until the majority of the gaming population is playing MMOGs.
I can’t recall from where I sit if MMOG subscriber numbers have grown a great deal in 2002. What I’m getting at is, this has been a superb year for non-MMOGs. Has the bumber crop affected MMOGs? Are MMOGs more attractive in a year when you think, “Well, I can spend $10 per month on this MMOG until the one game I want this year comes out 3 months from now.” I’m wondering to what extent MMOGs are something like a “hedge” against a slow year for other types of games. I readily concede that this is rampant speculation on my part.