[MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?

[Derek Licciardi]

From: Threshold RPG

> What this is showing is that the huge, mega-corporations may not
> be in as dominant a position in the MMORPG market as they are in
> other areas of gaming (I'm not saying they are in a bad position,
> just that their position may not be as absolutely advantageous as
> some would believe). This should give smaller developers a lot to
> be happy about.

My outlook on the genre is pretty positive despite these
cancellations.  I tend to believe that the major publishers might be
finally learning that there is no secret formula.  MMOs require USPs
like has been stated in a previous thread.  While I know that I
argued that USPs weren't as important in the other thread, the
cancellations are leading me to believe that they might be becoming
more important to future games.  What are the current hopes for
Dragon Empires, Worlds of Warcraft, Guild Wars, etc?  All of them
start with a combat engine throw in a beautiful graphics engine and
build a game from there tacking on features until it's called an
MMO.  Not exactly the focus you're talking about being required for
these games.  I've read the reviews, seen the screenshots and been
to the websites.  If any of these are more than just a combat engine
covered with a healthy dose of feature-it is then their marketing
departments are doing a horrible job conveying that message to the
masses.  There's a reason UO is still around after all these years.
It's very different from the single-player game played with
thousands of others, combat treadmills we've been fed for the past
five years and counting.  I wish each of those games the best of
luck and no doubt one of them is going to succeed but the
cancellations signal a changing of beliefs by major publishers.
Perhaps they are realizing that if they are sinking 10 - 15 mil in a
game then they better make sure it's not going to be a
has-been-done-that game before it's even released.  Have you noticed
the change in reviews that the PC Gamer's are giving new MMOs.  This
months CoH review has this description as its low point for the
game: "Not much depth; enemies and dungeons lack variety; no PvP;
$14.95 / month subscription fee".  A low point is that you have to
actually pay for the game???  Not exactly a glowing response to an
investment worth three times what it takes to make an average
console game.  This is a marked change from the idea that EQ is the
model, clone it and we'll all sip fruity drinks on a paradise beach
somewhere...

>>From my standpoint, one of two things will happen.  A major
publisher will come out with a game much like what we are designing
and we'll be driven out of the market or someone will catch on to
the idea that we might be worth looking at.  Either way, I get to
play the game I've wanted to play for a long time.  I might be
looking at it rosy but there's a lot of positive ahead from where I
am standing despite the cancellations.

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