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

[Samantha LeCraft]

"Sean Howard" <squidi at squidi.net> wrote:

> I don't agree.

So you don't think we'll pendulum-swing back to "world" oriented
rather than "game" oriented, but you also don't think that a new
generation of MMO designers will change the direction of the genre?
Are we then neither moving backward nor moving forward?

> I think that someone who sees possibilities will still see the
> same possibilities regardless of his past experiences. I never
> made a webcomic before I started making one, and now it's one of
> most popular webcomics out there.

If we all saw the same possibilities regardless of our experience,
we'd all make the same games, and the world would be devoid of all
creativity.  I would be willing to bet that the success of your
webcomic is at least partially *because* you had never made a
webcomic before.  You offered a new point of view and a different
style from all the other webcomics out there, and that creativity
and new-ness interested people.  If your webcomic was exactly the
same as three or four others out there, why would I read yours
instead of one of the others?

> I think that, if experiences are all you have, then that's the
> only place where you can draw conclusions from. But you've got
> knowledge in addition to experience. You don't need to have played
> MUD2 to appreciate the literature written about it - and take some
> important insight from it.  Kind of like how you don't have to
> have been in the Vietnam War to avoid making the same mistakes.

I agree, and I think reading what has been written about MUDs and
early MMOs and MMO development in general is important.  But just
because I've read "My Tiny Life" and know how Julian Dibbell felt
about LambdaMOO doesn't mean that I'll ever understand what it was
like to be there at that time.  I'll never know what it would have
felt like to *me*.  Similarly, I learned about the Vietnam War in
school, but I can't really imagine what it was like to be there.  I
can read accounts and understand what happened, but I still won't
feel the emotions for myself.

So yes, we can draw on the experience of others, as they have set
down in writing or tell us personally, but that can never replace
our own experiences.  The things I felt the first time I logged into
an MMO and realized that everyone walking around there were real
people cannot be replaced by anyone else's experience.  And I think
that because my experiences are different, I'll see different
possibilities and value different ones of those possibilities higher
than others, which will in turn lead me to make different sorts of
MMOs than those that have been made to date.  Maybe not radically
different, but different nonetheless.

>> We're still a fairly young industry

> You mean inexperienced, not young.

Not sure at the distinction here.  We've been making graphical MMOs
for what, less than 10 years?  That's still very young compared with
every other entertainment industry out there.  And inexperienced
goes hand in hand with that.

> Nah, the swinging thing only happens when you've got one string
> and one weight. I expect that, like videogames genres, MMORPGs
> will eventually split into sub-genres themselves.  It's already
> happening.

So then we'll be moving forward, and possibly splitting into
sub-genres?  I think you're probably right on this, and I think it
might be healthy for MMOs in general.  But who is driving the split
into sub-genres?  Is it the same people who were making MMOs five
and ten years ago?  Has it been completely unaffected by the
opinions of those who have entered the industry in the last five
years?  Five years from now, will the same people be driving
whatever new innovation we have then, or will it be at least
partially driven by yet another new generation of MMO developers?

> The only problem is that those making the games are so few and
> elite, that we don't have the breadth to support those R&D and
> possibly unpopular and risky projects.

If you think that those making the games are so few and elite then
you might have missed my point entirely.  There are people who are
professionally designing MMOs right now who are not in the "few and
elite" crowd we usually hear about.  There are people professionally
designing MMOs right now who were not even of an employable age when
most of the "few and elite" started making a name for themselves!

We do have the breadth we need to explore many more ideas than are
currently on the market.  What we don't have is the money necessary
to take a risky MMO to market.  Which leads me to the next point...

> What we need is indie MMOG development. Most game companies can't
> support a side scrolling shooter, but indie developers with less
> to lose and more heart to give keep the genre alive.

We *have* indie MMO development.  Have you ever looked at the list
of MMOs in development, and noted the number of titles and the
number of companies you've never heard of?  There are hundreds, if
not thousands, of indie MMOs in development right now.  Most will
never see the light of day, because of lack of funds.  Those that do
launch successfully will most likely not be the next big thing,
because of lack of marketing, or because it's obvious to players
that the game was built on a budget.

And in my opinion, there's no such thing as "less to lose".  MMOs
take millions of dollars to get to market, and someone has to pay
that.  If its not a large company, then its the indie developers
themselves.  They sacrifice their own savings and go without
paychecks so that they can work on a project that they believe in.
Most will never see a return on their personal investment, nor will
they be skyrocketed to fame.  Many will never even see their game
played by anyone outside of the development team.  And yet hundreds
of indie teams do it every year.

> Perhaps streamlining the development process to the point where a
> small team can make a MMOG is the best direction we can take MMOGs
> at this stage.

Heh, if you know of a way to streamline the development process down
to six months and $100k, let me know.  My bank account would thank
you.

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