WoW is not the greatest MMO ever created, nor will it reign supreme for ever. Part of the success of WoW was because it was the best thing at the time. The best mediocre game among other mediocre games as it were. Sure, they did a lot of things right (obviously, given their success), but they did a lot of things the same boring ways everyone else has. And I’m sorry, WoW is loaded with the same mindless tedium in other MMOs. Nothing new there.

The market for MMOs isn’t giant or mass market for a reason…its because the games coming out suck or are simply variations on the theme of another MMO. Yes, the vast majority of WoW subscribers are indeed from Asia. That is one insightful point…

MMOs will eventually be mass market, but there must be dramatic paradigm changes in the design and development of MMORPGs. There are very few people in the industry that actually understand what an MMORPG is, or should be. The rest of them are just making large scale hack and slash fps style games set in a fantasy environment.

You are right that a revolution is needed, and you are right that the chance of getting the funding is near impossible. But that isnt to say that it can’t be done. Hell, I might just attempt it myself to spite the big money guys.

Blizzard has a lot of potential, but WoW isnt the killer app it seems to be. SoE, Mythic/EA, Turbine all fail to impress me, and it seems that they are just getting worse over time. NCSoft isnt the greatest, but I feel like they are at least making an effort to make original games and innovate.

The industry needs more competition and more titles…not from the same big gorillas on the block that keep manufacturing the same crap, but from smaller more original and innovative studios. We need new blood.

There are entire vast markets being completely overlooked and ignored by the current crop of developers and publishers…they are doing nothing for the market other than hastening its decline.

Venture capitalists need to stoke the fires and get some small studios going. Our industry is too top heavy.

//rant rant rant//

Nicodemus

Quite simply, Blizzard understands how to make a great game. It DOES NOT MATTER the genre, they just put the required time, polish, and development expertise into thier products. No other developer or publisher has better brands then they do. WoW was successful because it eliminated most of the pointless tedium of previous level-based MMOs, AND they coupled it with one of the more beloved gamer brands of all time.

Also, the market for MMOs, even post WoW, is really not that large when compared to the rest of the game industry. The 6 million global number includes the masses in China, and no one looks at the gamers that are leaving or have left the competition to play WoW.

Final point is… MMO’s will never be mass market because they require far too much time, and a significant time investment that most people who care about life don’t want to put in. The only way this will change is with a revolution in MMO design, and even if there is some genious in a garage somewhere with that mechanic, the chance of him aquiring the resources and experience to execute that idea are for all practical reasons, nil.

Well the best chance for non WoW clones are the games that are soon to be released…or the ones who got cancelled. The reason I say this is all these games (well the well thought out ones…Vanguard doesn’t count)were started BEFORE WoW hit a homerun. So they didn’t have a chance to really copy it. I think after this year at the most the beginning of next year everything we will see for a bit is going to be a WoW clone. It’s going to stay that way until developers start to realise that their WoW clones aren’t selling

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Side note

” the static world, the dysfunctional crafting system and economy”

Heh I have yet to see n MMO that has what I would classify as a “working economy” along with good game play. I think economy is one of the hardest things to nail down in an MMO. It’s only made harder by RMT’s going on.

“Your skill in proofreading just went down by 1 point”.

On the other hand, I think his mindset is wrong - you can’t produce an MMORPG to steal all of WoW’s subscribers, but you can produce one that complements it. Perhaps an equally slick “clone” that’s modern-day or SciFi based. Even better, make one that addresses WoW’s shortcomings - the static world, the dysfunctional crafting system and economy, the endless grind, the hostile, immature community. You will get many recent MMORPG converts who got into the hobby with WoW, but are now looking for something more meaningful. You will get many WoW subscribers who are looking for a different style of game to play in addition to WoW.

Lastly, the industry seems to think that in order to break even financially you have to reach multiple hundreds of thousands of subscribers, because production values must be extremely high to get any sort of marketshare. This may work (in the short term) for standalone game titles, but MMORPGs aren’t that. MMORPGs are growing entities, and work more like “the business” than “the product”. Sure, if you’re a multibillion dollar international monopoly you can sink a gazillion bucks into your new startup and have it become a runaway success, but most people start businesses by starting small, reinvesting their earnings, and growing organically. Incidentally, this is also the only correct way to build a community. In the MMO world we suffer from a lack of empirical data, but two examples of this are Second Life and Eve - both are growing, both are financially solid (IIRC), both have excellent communities with die-hard fans, and both started out (relatively) small and primitive but with good ideas.

That is the path I want MMORPGs to take in the future.

I think the root of my rant was that Farrell claimed that anyone trying to compete with World of Warcraft right now is misguided. To be sure, it is a difficult prospect, but I don’t think that is a good enough reason to avoid competition or to just sit back and wait for WoW to decline. It takes a few years to properly design and build a MMORPG…if you wait for the big boys to decline, it would leave a gap in the industry. People are disillusioned with MMORPGs enough as it is. The industy as a whole will not move forward much (if at all) if everyone decides to just sit back and wait it out. With a lack of choice, people will just play what is available to them and if they aren’t happy, it just depresses them further and jades their point of view so much, that a new title might have problems.

I guess I want to see some new blood, new ideas, and some innovation for a change. No more EQ clones. No WoW clones…

And yes, sometimes I do feel like the people in garages “get it” much more than the people actually making the MMORPGs.

Heck, maybe I am a jaded cynic these days….