[MUD-Dev2] [Design] Where are all the amateur MMORPG devs?

[Mike Sellers]

Mike Rozak wrote:
> Several amateur MMORPG development kits are now on the market (Multiverse,
> Realmcrafter, Torque), with more to come. Some amateur authors are using
> the toolkits, but despite the fact that there are around 100x as many
> MMORPG players as MUD players, there only seem to be 10x as many amateur
> MMORPG authors as amateur MUD authors. Why is this? Where are all the
> amateur MMORPG devs?

Mike, I think the basic answer to that is that, first, it's all but
impossible to create an MMOG by yourself, and needing to get 2-5 people to
work together on even a very simple project increases the complexity and
risky, and decreases the actual pool of potential participants significantly
(down to 0.001% maybe? No idea, but it's much smaller than 1% or 0.1% as
indicated by your numbers).

Second, there are other easier outlets for those with a moderate desire to
create something online.  Flash games for example can be created by a single
person and there are multiple places to host them and get noticed.  So some
of those who might have tried creating an MMO go another direction instead.

Third, MMOs currently are interactive in the play, but much more passive and
packaged (like TV or movies) in the creation than are MUDs.  Even with the
current toolsets, the creation of an MMOG is an experience far afield from
playing one -- we are very far from the equivalent of "write up this room
text and see it in place after a fast compile."

Fourth, the tools suck.  There are no good, all-encompassing tools that
enable someone, especially an indie or amateur, to create an MMO.  NWN is
close, but it's not really for MMOs, and even it is highly complex.
Mastering world generation, art creation, scripting, user interface, etc.,
all entirely apart from actual game design, and doing so with tools that are
incomplete, poorly documented, difficult to learn, balky, etc., is difficult
enough to wipe out most of those who might otherwise take a stab at this.  

Taken together, I question whether there really *is* a large population of
people both willing and, given the right tools, competent to create
amateur/indie MMOGs.  We might see the equivalent of YouTube videos popping
up on MetaPlace once it's done, but those are a long way from MMOs as the
equivalent of professional motion pictures or TV shows.   And then of course
there's the question of quality: how many of those will be completed, and
how many of those will be worth anyone's time?  Difficult to say, but I
don't believe it's a large number.  


Mike Sellers