WoWs popularity was much more about timing. They happen to hit right at a time where broadband was becoming readily available to a wide group of people. Most people were still on dialup when I started playing EQ, that was a huge limiting factor market wise.
Blizzard sort of hit a perfect storm timing wise. The people that did play EQ at the time, had been playing it for years and were looking for something a bit easier, and a bit less time intensive. EQ was a job, WoW you can play in short bursts and get something done. In that respect, Blizzards design was right on the money.
In my opinion, EQ was a much better game though. That’s just how it hit me. The first couple of years of EQ, before sony got ahold of it and ruined the first person rendering graphics, was the single most immersive game I’ve ever played, and still is to this day.f
In EQ the world was dangerous, and the punishment for dying was severe. It made the game exciting, because you really felt you had something tangible to lose. All the MMO-lite games that are out today are all well and good, but there is no fear, no excitement. There’s a reason for that. When was the last time you were scared in WoW? I’m guessing never.
As far as mass appeal goes, pretty much everything from food to music has proven that what the largest majority of people like does not equate to depth or quality, it equates to a lowest common denominator.
The player base at large doesn’t understand the psychology of gaming. They think they want things easy and handed to them, but don’t seem to understand without some level of difficulty and risk, there really isn’t much of a reward.
/shrug. Nothing will ever beat the fear of going down into lower guk, before there was even a map of it on the net, and the very real possibility of dying and never being able to recover your gear. Let me tell you, you were AWAKE during that run. Modern MMOs are a snoozefest where wiping is nothing but a minor inconvenience.
Other than the social aspects, MMOs are mostly very boring, except for PvP lol.
