(first real blog wewt)
For me, gaming has always been about the MMORPG experience. Having played 11 titles in the last 7 years, I consider myself quite the connoisseur on the genre. However, I started with Everquest and I feel as though I will end with Everquest as well. Lately, there has been a massive amount of FAIL in the genre itsself and for good reason: I can't imagine its easy to create a living, breathing world... one where your gamers will stay longterm and form a closely knit community and thriving economy. I feel as though the days of plot, lore, faction, and epic journies are over in favor of the eye candy, casual MMO experience, which is mostly why I play Everquest, 10 years old and still going. And this blog is why.
How does one begin? First, you create a world. Easy enough, huh? Just a planet (or more considering EVE and SWG!) with its own sprawling plains, jagged peaks, vast seas and unique flora/fauna. If you're at a loss, you can always borrow the ideas of others, such as Norse, celt, and British mythology (Dark Age of Camelot) or the settings of books/movies (Age of Conan). Now, you've got a world... but no one in it. How do you draw people to YOUR game? What's so special about living a second existence in the world YOU'VE created? You give them a role to do, be it healing the hero, tanking the monster, poking things with sticks, making biscuits... they now serve a role in the greater scheme of the functioning community, relying on others to band together and accomplish tasks. Now we add money. Yes money, as big a driver in games as in real life. Suddenly players are exchanging goods, trades, and services for money. Congrats! You've now got a working economy based on supply and demand!
And then you take all of this: the years of hardwork, the back story, the lore, the world itsself, the playerbase.... and you flush it all down the proverbial toilet because the game is rubbish and you epically fail at creating an enjoyable experience.
At least, that's what Funcom did with Age of Conan and what Sony Online Entertainment did with Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
It really begs the question: Why do games like Everquest last so long? Why do games like World of Warcraft draw in 10 million players? Can you really chalk it up to the feeling of
je ne sais que?
I'm not a game creator, but I would hazard a guess that the missing ingredient as of late to the MMORPG soup is Ambience. Yes, nothing to do with the world itsself, only the feeling, unique to each and every player, that the subscribers get from the experience. From teabagging the opposition right the way down to roleplaying. Now as far as success is concerned, Everquest's longevity and WOW's playerbase are proof that they are the most successful titles in the industry. Why? Ambience.
WHen I play I don't want to feel like I am playing a game, I want to feel like I am in a whole other world. I don't want to feel like I am merely hitting a few attack buttons, I want to feel like I am stalking and pouncing on my prey. It may sound a bit silly, but its what we as MMO players have come to love and expect, and what the pretty eye candy as of late has failed to deliver. PLayers have to feel apart of the lore, and recognize where they fit into the grand scheme of the game experience. The lore, the essence, of the MMO has to be thick and prevelant, not just a cheap backdrop to the generic MMO experience (Age of Conan).
This is why I am still playing, after 7 years, Everquest. No other game matches the rich experience, the intricate lore, the factions, the creatures, the ambience! No other game world, except maybe EVE online, is as HUGE as the world of Norrath. The playbase are not using general chat to tell Chuck Norris jokes or wiping raids... most who play are experienced veterans. Not since Everquest have you seen a 72 man pick up raid on a god ran by one person using the chat box to give intructions! I like WOW, but 5 people can barely pull it together for a normal group using voice chat! The world and the players within have grown, and changed, and been molded with time... and the result is like a fine wine.
That, is why I like MMOs... and still play Everquest.
Quality: Everquest:
Eye Candy and thin: Age of Conan:
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This new PS3 isn't helping. Not one bit...
City of Heroes/Villains was a hell of a lot of fun, esepcially for a giant comic geek like me and the people on it were brilliant. It also had a nice way of levelling as you play as opposed to the playing to level style that puts me off of most other MMOs.
Planetside is still my favourite game purely because of how much that game was made of everything I look for in a game. It had shooting, war stuff, sci-fi, player vs player with no NPCs in the way and fantastic people on it. I am sad it died but that's the way of most games I suppose.
Also, nice write up
I tried WoW for 2 weeks, then I realized I was just spending hours upon hours clicking in a very bland looking world filled with clones clicking all the same things I was.
No MMO has provided a rich enough story for me to give a shit about anything I'm doing. It's all so impersonal and bland, boring grinding missions that consist of click click click and repetitive "go here and kill/collect this missions". I can understand the strategy aspect of the combat, but without an interesting back story, I just don't care.
Orcs and elves are not interesting.
But either way kudos for a very good first post. admittedly though if i got addicted to viva pinata as easily as i did, i don't think a person like me should EVER go near a MMORPG!
DAoC's strong points were always in the RvR design, though... and I wish Mythic had modeled WAR a bit more similarly in that regard.
I was a guide for about six months on Cazic Thule about seven years ago. Wow, that feels like a long time! While answering petitions could be sort of fun, participating in GM-run world events was the most awesome thing I've experienced in a MMO. From killer gnomes to lost ice giants, it really was a rush as people would rush in to participate.
Of course, sitting at Lord Nagafen's feet while answering petitions was pretty nifty too. :)
Time for a trip down memory lane: WW2Online
I played world war 2 online from 2001 all the way till now, I played it for 4 years straight and then on and off every year after that till today. Now whats strange about this game is that it is hailed as a very bad game, buggy, and not noob friendly. While I can agree with it being not noob friendly this game is far from bad.
Imagine a game, that is half the scale of Europe, you are literally in a world that is a virtual battlefield. You have thousands of combatants that are constantly trying to defend or push their lines forward. With a realism system so vast that you have to range your weapons and estimate how far an enemy target is before you try take them out (this goes for rifles, artillery, tanks, etc). Then take into account shell shock and battle damage that can come so easily you really are at the edge of your seat trying to survive every second you are on the ground or in the air.
World War 2 Online gave that, and still gives me that, 200+ people on average are in every town battle in that game. That includes people playing s infantry, armored personnel, artillery, supply, naval, and air. Over 200+ in a combat scenario.. you want to experience a real battle? WW2Online is as close as you can get.
Now this game isn't for the simple and those without patience, this game requires a lot of dedication much like eve online. You can spend 40 minutes preparing for a airborne drop on some village only to have your ass shot the moment you jump out of the plane.. or even on the way there. What do you do? You pick up the pieces and you try again, or you go down to the mobile infantry spawn points and join the ground invasion. Its a hell of a grunge match, but if you love history, and you love the concept of virtual warfare.. look no further.
WW2Online set the ambiance perfectly, while its graphics are nowhere near spectacular, and its learning curve is quite aggravating for new comers, it still is one hell of an amazing adventure to go through. If you can join that game with people that are experienced with it I can promise you, if you are a history & military buff, you will not walk away from this game.
And you know what.. no other game has been able to hit that tone like world war 2 online has. Everquest is the same way, even its squeal felt like it bit to much into the main stream for me. I'm glad to see these two oldies still kicking and screaming. Its comforting to know that if I ever want to go back and get a taste of the way the MMO's used to be, I can just reactivate my account's :).
I agree with Butmac too. He's kind of a big deal.
I can't say I've ever sampled an MMO properly, except Guild Wars at a friends place. I'm glad that some out there still enjoy these games, but the monthly payment of anything just kills it dead in the water for me (each to their own).
I do like the free play set up of Guild Wars though, and if I was ever going to forsake normal games or just indulge in MMOs, this model is the only one that would interest me. I shell out to much bucks on games as is (let alone bills), to dedicate so much money to just one (and that's before upgrading my crap PC).
I agree with you ambience idea, for if a world is not compelling enough for someone they won't stay long. However, this also appeal to other factors like story and enough general variety in MMOs themselves. MMOs are too fantasy/scifi based for their own good, and that's another major turn off for me.
So do any MMOs interest me? Well, yes. I love the look of Sony's The Agency. When I bag a PS3 I'll invest in a copy, providing I don't have monthly fees. Its this kind of variety, that MMOs need if they are ever to break their stigma. Kudos too to those little known korean MMOs out there, also offering more diverse experiences, than those laced in swords, spells, spaceships and guns.
Go to school and hunt demons on the side, a nice change.
I've tried many others like Vanguard, Star Wars Galaxies, and *shudders* Asheron's Call 2 to name a few, but none have reproduced the same sense of adventure that EQ had.
Funny your username is Trickynicky, my real name is Nicky and I use Trickynicky42 as my logins and sometimes usernames!
no no that's not true! :( I just need a life, I have way too much love for older video games :x.
a wild hamza appears?!
P.S. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should start off with, or if I should start at all?
@ETERNALDEATHSLAYER: MMO'S are like a white horse.....?
I am abit biased tho, I recommend EQ ^_^