[MUD-Dev] When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay?

[J C Lawrence]

On 09 Jul 2003 12:23:50 +1000 
Byron Ellacott <bje at apnic.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 2003-07-08 at 14:01, J C Lawrence wrote:

>> So, are you willing to front your money, your house, and your
>> financial future, along with your spouse's and kid's financial
>> futures to do an "original game"?

>> Why not?  Why would someone else?

> So the issue is tied quite strongly to the huge cost of development?
> If so, attempting to lower the cost of development would be a good way
> to reduce risk and thus increase diversity.

Not exactly, that's just a significant force when combined with the high
risk of failure.  If I were to attempt to isolate the single largest
problem in the field it would be:

  We have no external objective metrics which can either detect or
  demonstrate a "good game design" (where good is defined as fun, large
  enough player base, profitable, sustainable etc) without implementing
  and thus sustaining the costs of that game.

It makes for an industry which lives and dies on prayerful hail marys.
Sure, we have some metrics which define Bad Games, but even those are
pretty dodgy and full of exceptions.

> Cut down the development costs, cut down the risks, increase diversity
> and competition, and we will see original ideas coming through.  Or,
> alternatively, we might see the market dry up due to too few
> subscribers spread out over too many games. ;)

There are quite a few companies making exactly this pitch.

--
J C Lawrence                
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas. 
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?		  
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.

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