MMO Excuses?
 

I was reading the beta forums for Tabula Rasa today and came across something I think is a bit of a pearl of wisdom from someone a little sick of MMOs:

Now I didn't play Diablo much myself, I was mostly into RTS around that sort of time. I do think, however, there may be something to his point about MMOs hiding behind the "we're constantly changing" excuse. Most of the ones I've played recently, Tabula Rasa included, have done little to keep my interest and just seem to be the same clones of each other. If they were MUDs I'd call them stock ROM with a couple of extra bits.

So what do you think? Are MMO developers hiding behind that excuse? Should they be doing more to innovate rather than just trying to make the next WoW clone with a different IP license? (Read: Lord of the Rings Online) Is there really any point in playing a multiplayer game when the game itself sucks, just because of the social aspect?

Re: MMO Excuses?
 

Many graphicals and many text-based games hide behind that excuse. Most are indeed nothing more than clones of one another with little to distinguish themselves other than their "theme", itself a variant of some cliches.

With graphicals, the phrase you often hear used is "giving the player something they've never seen before." That's entirely accurate but the phrase isn't complete. It should read "giving the player something they've never seen before but certainly have played before."

Heh, that's why most of the games I play are nearly a decade old. They got it right then and since that time it's just been repeats with prettier pictures (and often worse gameplay).

Take care,

Jason

Re: MMO Excuses?
 

It's risky to make something too different. There is a reason a lot of games are so similar. When it comes to MMO games I believe it is also important to remember that they are abstractions of the real world, or some fictional world atleast. So naturally many things in them will be very similar. Together these games define a set of "tools" that can be used to create new games. E.g experience points of some kind seem to be used in many MMOs. Same with guilds, raids, and chat channels. Usually new MMOs introduce atleast something new to further the genre.

When it comes to excusing poor quality of a game I believe the issue might be mainly that they target such big audience. With the amount of content some of those games have it is amazing they has as high quality as they have. I've also noticed people tend to compare MMOs with the first MMO they played. Usually that first MMO just seem to get better and better each time they talk about it :).

Re: MMO Excuses?
 

Aye, originality is a double-edged sword. Players often ask for something new, but what they usually mean is "Just like my old game, except with a few new shiny toys". One of the nice things about developing my mud as a hobby is that I can afford to take such risks.

Very true, for both text-based and graphical muds.

Re: MMO Excuses?
 

Someone else posted on that thread and whilst I won't quote the whole thing cause it's basically an essay, I found this bit interesting:

I find it interesting because it's one of the biggest differences I can see between a MUD and a MMO. On many MUDs I've played, the entire system has changed over the years because they re-did or drastically improved the underlying code. With most MMOs I've played, however, all they tend to do after release is exactly what that quote illustrates.

If you're interested in reading his entire rant (WARNING: Long!) then . If you have the patience then take a look, I found it fascinating even if I didn't completely agree with some of his points.

Re: MMO Excuses?
 

I think I've said it before in another thread or maybe it was in a PM that very few games focus on game design now, and players focus less on what is available NOW than what WILL BE available, especially in MMOs. For me, I'm not a waiter. I want to like the game that I'm playing and new content is welcome at spaced out interval. I hate the constant cycle of nerfing, unnerfing, re-nerfing, more nerfing, new systems added, old systems removed, etc. that goes with several of these games. It's very traumatic to the people who actually LIKE the game, and it's traumatic to players when gameplay changes drastically.

I have a problem with the quoted post above just because I think that's NOT the way to go about it. "Crafting in the same old way", as long as it's a GOOD system (rather than just a click of a button), is perfectly fine with me. DO NOT give me a brand new system to tinker with every two or three years if your system is already good. I don't want it. I don't need it. The constant release of half-done games and patches has created a bad precedence in the gaming community as a whole, imo. If you're going to make major changes to your game, GREAT!! Do it before release! If you're going to add a major system, GREAT!! Make sure that it's designed to mesh with your world and won't end up crushing or completely changing your economy.

That may just be me, though. I would rather pick up a new game than have a game that is constantly tinkered with.