What if...

[Yaguex]

Ok, let's assume WoW is a complete let down. Yes I know everyone is loving the website FAQs and screenshots and stuff, but just for the sake of it let's assume it doesn't deliver what was promissed (like SWG).

The Question is: How much longer could the genre of MMOs keep floating up with just a good game released in the last 5 years (EQ)?

Why am I asking this? Because after having played EQ, every time I try a new MMO that hits the shelves like AO, AC, AC2, DAoC, Earth and Beyond, SWG, ShadowBane, etc etc, I get more and more desapointed at the genre as a whole, and I find myself going back to the one-player or LAN-based games. Let's be honest: other than DAoC (which was just so-so), every other game has been a real let down indeed.

So, assuming WoW doesn't turn to be the MMO messiah that everyone claims it to be, how long till the genre plummets down into a "crisis"? I mean, consumers can take shit for just so long, and the MMO market consumers have certainly taken their good share already.




Yag.

[ChewieTobbacca]

I think part of the reason so many games become let-downs is because of the insanely high expectations set out for them.

Another part is simply how the majority of MMOs released have been a reflection of either the company (from bad companies to inexperienced ones) and the computer gaming industry in general (fewer and fewer of the old vanguard of companies exist today, and most today are under demanding publishers and what not.)

Personally, if WoW never existed, people will still call the next MMO the next big thing and people will still try em out and play em. With so many MMOs planned/projected compared to a few years ago, I would not be surprised at all if the industry went towards smaller bases than larger.

[Drewon]

I'd say that then it's time for: Halo2/Half-Life2/Doom3/BF1942/OnlinePokerAddiction to take over.

Oh btw. www.pokerstars.com !

[Squink]

I'd say out of all of them released so far, WoW is going to have the highest expectations to live up to. Which gives it the most oppurtunity to not live up to said expectations.

Who knows, time will tell.

[DalamartheDark]

WoW is going to be tapping into a HUGE player base, from pretty much every MMO out there right now. There's also tons of people who have never played an MMO that love warcraft (Read the WOW official forum for proof of this).

The combination of the two will make it very difficult for blizzard to live up to the hype. Since you have people who like certain things from the games they play currently.

The EQ power junkie
DAOC RvR Player
The UO homo
The SWG fanboi (at this point these people will be pleased with a piece of shit on a stick called an MMO)
The New player from the WoW boards who expect that they'll be able to boss people around like in War3 or the clueless MMO'er from Diablo.
Etc...etc...

When EQ came out the only game to compare to was UO (and meridian 59). Made it alot easier for them to find their own stake in the MMO market as something new and innovative. Too much of the MMO designs that are out there today is very drab and hum-drub...been there done that.

WoW is going to have to do something very innovative and that taps into each of these markets accordingly to live up to it's hype as an overall MMORPG.

[Lizard Warlord]

Wru Warhammer Online :/

[Lleauaric~EW]

Right here my good man.


soo tasty looking.

[Tuco]

I get more and more desapointed at the genre as a whole, and I find myself going back to the one-player or LAN-based games

Those players(Actually, me!) will STILL be interested in a mmo game if they hear about it. ESPECIALLY if the beta reports are good.

I think it will take a long time indeed of 'good mmo desert' before game producers stop making them because of no money.

[Iannis]

I think we all know what we would have to do:

here

[kale717]

Originally posted by Iannis
I think we all know what we would have to do:

here

ha, NO! go back to your babes of norrath

[doharg]

How good would a kiss have to be in order to beat out that first kiss? Rather you like it or not, rather you will admit it or not, the truth is painfully obvious. You only get one first time. For many of us, EQ was our first Mass Multi-player game; we can never feel the same way today as we did once for EQ...period? However, WoW does not need to compete with EQ as it was to us then, but rather what it is to us now. And in the here and now, EQ is more a job then a game, and more about what you can put into it, then what you could ever get back out of it. If you have realistic expectations, WoW has a good chance to surpass them. If you are looking to recapture the magic, might I suggest... http://science.howstuffworks.com/time-travel.htm

[Worfless]

i whole heartedly support the "wru warhammer online" with a

CARNIFEXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zurren]

And you know, there is a supprising number of people who play UO and DAoC, and AO, and AC who havnt even touched EQ.

The first MMORPG most people play, sets the bar for what they are expecting, and moving from their first MMORPG to a 'new one' usualy tends to be a dissaponiting factor.

Hell, most people I know from UO, they hated EQ, didnt live upto their expectations at all, and they went back to UO. I still flop back to UO on occasion, as EQ isnt all I had hoped it was going to be.

Its almost impossible for a new MMORPG live upto the expecation of players who have invested 4+years of their lives into a game. They want something so good that they can justify breaking off those soical ties, and the time wasted/spent on a character, that its a pretty damn hard expectation to live upto.

When I had first gone to DAoC, it was an easy move for me, and I loved the game ALOT, but I had also been 'quit' from EQ for a number of months, and had no real ties left to the game. If I had tried going to DAoC when I was still playing EQ on a regular baises, it prob wouldnt of been the same.

[Skidogg]

How good would a kiss have to be in order to beat out that first kiss? Rather you like it or not, rather you will admit it or not, the truth is painfully obvious. You only get one first time. For many of us, EQ was our first Mass Multi-player game; we can never feel the same way today as we did once for EQ...period? However, WoW does not need to compete with EQ as it was to us then, but rather what it is to us now. And in the here and now, EQ is more a job then a game, and more about what you can put into it, then what you could ever get back out of it. If you have realistic expectations, WoW has a good chance to surpass them. If you are looking to recapture the magic, might I suggest... http://science.howstuffworks.com/time-travel.htm

I read that entire thing, good stuff. Nice way to Sum it up. Thanks for posting that.

[Quiksilver Roxdasox]

RPG's are still around, MMORPGs will be too... I don't feel an increidble need to bust a leveling treadmill and work for small power gains anymore though. There needs to be some innovation.