November 2005
- Computer Security for MMOs and Online Games Greg B
- Discussion of MUD system design, development, and implementation Chris Duesing
- Commentary on Recent PlayOn Blog Social Cohesion Christopher Allen
- quest engine design documents? Johnicholas Hines
- Effort to produce a quest Mike Rozak
- Effort to produce a quest Ghilardi Filippo
- Effort to produce a quest Mike Rozak
- Effort to produce a quest Kiztent
- Effort to produce a quest Vincent Archer
- Effort to produce a quest Damion Schubert
- Effort to produce a quest Mike Rozak
- Effort to produce a quest Damion Schubert
- Effort to produce a quest Mike Rozak
- Effort to produce a quest Randolf Richardson
- Effort to produce a quest Lachek Butalek
- DGN: Starting with Nothing (Requests for Resources) Sarah Bonner
- DGN: Starting with Nothing (Requests for Resources) lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- DGN: Starting with Nothing (Requests for Resources) Otis Viles
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? John Mauney
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? Sean Howard
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? Sam Pointon
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? John Mauney
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? justice@softhome.net
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? Lachek Butalek
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs CHRISTOPHER LLOYD
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs cruise
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs Mike Rozak
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Roger Hicks
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains cruise
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Lydia Leong
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Dave Mitchell
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Lost
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Lachek Butalek
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Lost
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains jack fredricks
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Mike Rozak
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Arnau Josep Rosselló Castelló
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Damien Neil
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains ceo
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs cruise
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs Jaycen Rigger
- (no subject) Koster, Raph
- Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) cruise
- Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Lachek Butalek
- MMO a temporary phenomenon? John Buehler
- Sexism in design lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- Sexism in design Marc Bowden
- Sexism in design Louis d'Ambra
- Sexism in design Sean Kelly
- Sexism in design Amanda Walker
- Value Brian "Ayavaron" Ross
- Griefing Brian "Ayavaron" Ross
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Jean, Yannick
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Marc Bowden
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Lost
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Damion Schubert
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Lachek Butalek
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look)
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Caliban Darklock
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
"Caliban Darklock" <caliban@darklock.com> wrote:
> Is the MMO market today like the RPG market of the 80s?
What isn't? :)
> Is that what WoW has done? Are the other MMO games on the market
> inevitably going to be viewed as "the next WoW" or "a WoW clone" or "a
> WoW wanna-be"?
That's how it worked with Everquest, but to be fair, at the time,
everybody wanted in on that piece of pie. Every game company and their
brother had a MMORPG under development. This lead to people branching out
to differentiate themselves amongst a VERY crowded marketplace - it's also
why WoW, being a better Everquest, quickly rose to the leader of the pack.
If WoW tried to differentiate itself in any way, it wouldn't have gained
the support of both the hardcore and casual player so quickly.
> Are we waiting for WoW's different-demographic counterparts to show up?
> Are they likely to show up? Can the market handle more than one or two
> MMOs?
Unfortunately, so long as MMORPGs use a subscription model, there will be
preciously little room for true competitors. There's only so much money
per month that people are willing to pay, and many people can't afford to
play more than one MMORPG at a time (barring SOE's Station Access). This
leads to a situation of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poor
as established games quickly gain enough money to stay competitive while
new products live or die based on their release and aren't given the time
to find their groove.
Obviously, this is not a total dead end. If someone were to release a
MMORPG in the state that WoW was (few bugs, clear communicatable vision,
not boring newbie areas, lots of hype), it will have the tools needed to
succeed. I can think of a few games that this worked well for (City of
Heroes, for example). But, like a school graded on standardized test
scores, we run a very real risk of students only studying for what's on
the test and nothing else. We'll end up with more games like Guild Wars
and City of Heroes which have great first impressions and not much else.
Ultimately, the subscription thing is going to go away, and I believe that
WoW will be to thank for that. WoW has such a significant lead that no
established game can compete and nothing coming out has much of a chance
of beating the game which brought most new MMORPG players to the table.
Instead of fighting over scraps, I think WoW's main competitors will seek
more aggressive means by which to steal WoW's marketshare and make money
above or instead of subscription fees - we're already seeing that happen
with SOE (station exchange, adventure packs, eq2players, free EQ2 for
fileplanet subscribers, $40 Station Access set which include a half dozen
mmorpgs for one monthly fee, free self contained trials for the games,
announced subscriptionless game) and I won't be surprised if NCSoft
decides to do similar things with their properties.
I think the market can easily handle more than one MMORPG if it become
financially viable for players to be active in more than one at a time.
Right now, unfortunately, I don't think it can. I mean, I play all the
MMORPGs on and off and follow their development closely, but I only
subscribe to SOE's Station Access because it allows me to play more than
one game, and just drop in the other games as they release expansions.
- Sean - Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Ryan S. Dancey
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Jeffrey Kesselman
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Ken Sewell
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Joe Ludwig
- Discussion of MUD system design, development, and implementation Chris Duesing