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

[Paul McInnes]

From: "Derek Licciardi" <kressilac at insightbb.com>
> From: Threshold RPG

> 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.

Forgive me if I am reiterating some else's point here but the
problem with talking about USPs and MMOs is that I'm not sure that
people are looking at the right kind of USPs. The medium is still
very new and raw[1], and only a few games have come out that tap
into something sufficiently different at the core of the MMOG
playing experience to make a difference.

A shallow USP is the kind of "back of the box fodder" that helps
raise interest but the USPs that matter are the equivalent to RvR,
things that take the known features of the medium and give it a real
twist. Anything else is relatively small in impact compared to my
500 hours invested in EQ (or whatever). Why would I change games for
better housing or trainable mounts or some other modest extension to
the existing formula? This is one area where MMOs differ from single
player games. Longevity is more important than box sales and
marketing only gets you so far.

My guess is that the features (and hence USPs) that really matter
will be those that allow players to engage with community,
persistence and shared challenges or experiences in a new way (hence
exploiting the fundamental strengths of the medium). The rest, while
important as part of the package deal that helps solve the "1000
hour problem", aren't going to help establish a viable niche.

Paul

  [1] I realise that the text side of things is very well
  established but I'd argue that the 3D commercial games are
  different enough to be a different medium. Lots of overlap and
  some deep differences.
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