[MUD-Dev] Total Annilation of Downtime

[Koster]

From: Matthew Dobervich
> From: Raph Koster
>> From: amanda at alfar.com
 
>>> The game [AC2] has some rocky bits, but over all I think it's
>>> definitely a success on the "fun" scale.  So is E&B, but that's
>>> another essay and I've just been told dinner is ready.  More in
>>> a bit.
 
>> And yet neither seems to be finding an audience (which I find
>> very distressing). Why is that, if they are so fun? If anything,
>> the MMORPG with the most buzz among players right now is Neocron,
>> a come-from-nowhere German game with a very rocky launch.

> I don't know if it's just hard for you to say this due to your
> personal involvement or if it's just hard for you to see this
> because of your personal involvement, but the MMORPG with the most
> buzz among players right now is SWG.  By a large order of
> magnitude over it's next closest competitor (and I also feel
> that's Neocron, at least on the buzz scale)

I was referring to newly available but actually launched games. :)

Of course SWG has buzz--it has a high profile property name, which
is increasingly important. It has a high profile team on it as well,
which helps attract the hardcore crowd who is knowledgeable about
such things. As I said in one of my GDC talks last year "How do you
get a community? You steal it."

However, I am more interested in finding out the reasons for the
buzz behind games that don't have such huge legs up. Neocron is one
interesting one, because despite the lack of general knowledge about
it, it's where many of the hardcore MMORPG players, the most
cynical, jaded, and bitter players, the canaries in the coalmine so
to speak, have gone right now.

City of Heroes also has significant buzz, and i think that's because
it taps into the cultural gestalt of the moment, the fact that
superheroes are hip and popular (irony is out, earnestness is in;
distrust of government is out, uniforms are in; subtlety is out, and
uncomplicated heroism is in). Of course, I also think they probably
need to hurry to get it out, because Hollywood is gonna run this
particular zeitgeist into the ground in short order with some really
awful forthcoming films. ;)

-Raph

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev