May 2009
- MUD-based Articles for Hartford Gaming Lifestyle Examiner Michael Tresca
- opensim and muds in general bristle2008@yahoo.com
- [NEWS] mischief & opensim Bristle Mischief
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Jeffrey Kesselman
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Caliban Darklock
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Sean Howard
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Nathan Yospe
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Nabil Maynard
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Threshold
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING bristle2008@yahoo.com
- Getting the word out about your game Threshold
- Getting the word out about your game Ilia Malkovitch
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Benjamin Tolputt
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Mike Rozak
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Matt Owen
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Mike Sellers
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games John A. Bertoglio
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Damion Schubert
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Richard A. Bartle
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Mike Rozak
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games cruise
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Mike Rozak
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Mike Sellers
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games cruise
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Dana V. Baldwin
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Threshold
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Dana V. Baldwin
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Threshold
- Fallen Earth John A. Bertoglio
- Fallen Earth Threshold
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Amanda Walker
- Fallen Earth Vincent Archer
- Fallen Earth John A. Bertoglio
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Benjamin Tolputt
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Aurel
- Fallen Earth Damion Schubert
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Jeffrey Kesselman
- Fallen Earth Threshold
- Fallen Earth Aurel
- Fallen Earth John A. Bertoglio
- Fallen Earth Dana V. Baldwin
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Tess Snider
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Tess Snider
- Fallen Earth Siege)
- Fallen Earth Tess Snider
- Comparing Worlds (was: Fallen Earth) Christopher Lloyd
- Fallen Earth Jeffrey Kesselman
- Fallen Earth John A. Bertoglio
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Matt Owen
- Fallen Earth Threshold
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Vincent Archer
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games cruise
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Vincent Archer
According to cruise:
> So I suspect the reason for WoW success isn't anything to do with the
> "heretical" idea of solo play and quick missions.
The reason for WoW's success isn't (probably) one thing, it's a combination
of multiple factors, which, strung one after the other, achieved a
multiplicative rather than additive effect.
World of Warcraft benefited from:
1) An extremely familiar setting - it's a standard high fantasy LOTR
derivative, via the descent of D&D/Warhammer that is easy, not only
for gamers, but also for reviewers to identify
2) A very polished game at release, with relately few bugs
3) An enormous amount of content from start to end game (no less than 6
different starting areas, a system designed to get you to move from
one point to a new, never visited before one every 15mn on the average)
4) A coherent and immediately identifiable art style
5) A skillfully managed buzz ("viral marketing") prior to launch
6) A launch at the right internet era, as broadband was overcoming the
old modem connection, and people were connecting to the internet in
the US and europe in droves (number of connected homes were increasing
by 30-40% per year around 2004)
7) The aforementioned quick-reward scheme
8) A well known company brand (Blizzard) behind it
9) A linkage to an established succesful game IP (Warcraft 1, 2 & 3)
and probably a few additional factors that I'm missing.
I think City of Heroes lacked a few of these. There was little to no
buzz about it; when game mag were making nearly monthly columns about
the upcoming Warcraft game, no one was writing about City of Heroes.
The content also wasn't there (the repetitive missions for levelling
seem about as exciting as Anarchy Online's random mission dispensers).
Besides, who among the gamer population had ever heard about Cryptic
(never made a game before) or NCSoft (outside of Asia, name recognition
is near zero).
The point is, if you remove some of these factors, your potential
following will plummet fast. The content, and ease of getting it, is
probably what has doomed most of the recent AAA games these past
few years. It's like a house of cards: while none of the cards,
alone, makes the house, remove one and you probably end badly.
--
Vincent Archer Email: archer@frmug.org
All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are Socrates.
(Woody Allen) - [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Sean Howard
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Vincent Archer
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Threshold
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games cruise
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Aurel
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Amanda Walker
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games John Buehler
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Bristle Mischief
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Bristle Mischief
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Siege)
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Nuno Silva
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Jeffrey Kesselman