[MUD-Dev] Majestic and Failure of Episodic Games

[Dan Hon]

Christopher Allen wrote:

> There is an interesting article on the failure of EA's Majestic at
 
>   http://gamepen.ugo.com/gamepen/Features.asp?itemid=130&pageid=1
 
> The article's main point was that in general, the 'game play'
> sucked.

[snip]

> So if there is to be another start for episodic and/or casual
> games, I think the designers need to start much earlier in the
> design how to encourage and support player communities to form.

I was one of the moderators for the online community that formed
around Microsoft's equivalent project (the web-based marketing for
the Dreamworks film A.I.) that launched in March, before the trial
episode of Majestic came out. Whilst there are some obvious
comparisons to be drawn--Majestic was a pay-per-episode experience,
Microsoft's effort was free to all; Majestic was hyped to a large
extent, Microsoft's effort was decidedly low key.

I didn't get a chance to play Majestic-- but it seems that the main
complaint from those who experienced both efforts is that, for all
intents and purposes, Majestic's gameplay was decidedly
lacking. Less emphasis is placed on the community aspects that were
lacking from EA's quarters.

There's an excellent analysis of Microsoft's effort at

  http://cloudmakers.org/guide/index5.shtml.

Of course, I'm slightly biased, but I do believe that the community
that I helped foster and then manage at http://www.cloudmakers.org/
and along three mailing lists (details on the Cloudmakers site)
really did add to the experience of the "game". Fans created and
shared resources, there was a 24hour staffed IRC channel and at its
peak, 7,500 members were subscribed on a mailing list generating up
to 700 messages a day.

Even though content was delivered episodically, the fact that a
well-organised community had sprung up around the game led to
entertaining speculation on the part of its players and provided
something distracted whilst waiting for the next installment.

Regards,

Dan Hon

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