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

[Dana V. Baldwin]

From: Matt Mihaly
> From: Par Winzell

>> As for a lack of depth in game design -- well, what does that
>> mean?  If it had been less shallow, a quarter of a million people
>> would've ended up subscribing? I doubt it. I don't see how that's
>> a reasonable assumption. I don't think the basic idea of E&B ever
>> had a shot at Everquest style subscriber's numbers. Yes, the
>> world was too static, and your role in it too constrained, but
>> E&B never really pretended to be dynamic, nor does dynamic equal
>> deep. E&B's primary urge, as far as I can tell, was to play out,
>> over several years, a truly first-class (deep) storyline, with
>> players participating but not really affecting the world a whole
>> lot. There is a compromise there, as you all know; plot and
>> simulation are difficult to mix.

> I think it's also worth pointing out that the massive success that
> is City of Heroes is built on the shallowest of shallow
> designs. Their trick is that they implemented it so well you don't
> care. It's the only graphical mud that's held my attention for
> more than 4 hours.

Timeliness in both cases is a major player. EQ was the first
populous 3D MMO at a time when we were plaing iso scrolling UO as we
had been playing UO for years.  CoH is also timely in that it came
very polished at a time when players of SWG were dead tired of
"virtual world woithout game" design ideas amd EQ players were
looking to move on. CoH is differnt in that it was high polish, low
content and players, on the whole I believe, are expecting content
to follow and let's be honest, high polish is something of a
scarcity in our business. Timeliness, in our business like most all
others, is a primary attribute to success though it is often the
most elusive to predict.

-Dana V. Baldwin
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