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MMOs: Are They A Dying Breed?
It is now 2013, and new MMOs are
continuing to be released yearly. Games such as Warhammer Online: Age of
Reckoning, Conan, Guild Wars 1 and 2, Rift, Terra, and SWTOR have seen rise and
fall of success, and future releases The Elder Scrolls Online, and Wildstar
promise to innovate the MMO experience. The majority of gamers are looking for
the next great MMO experience to top the industry giant, leading with 6 million
subscribers strong, Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft. However, with
the recent decay of World of Wacraft’s subscriber base, and the conversion of
many MMOs from pay-to-play business model, to free-to-play, are MMOs a dying
breed?
Here’s some insight into my MMO
background…
I’ll never forget my first online experience as a gamer. I was a freshman
in high school, only fourteen years old. I had always played video games with
my family offline, and had no prior experience with player-to-player
interaction. I was later introduced to Runescape, a free-to-play MMORPG by
Jagex Ltd. I had never been so immersed in a video game, taken by its unique
charms, as thousands of players were freshly starting out in the town of
Lumbridge. I never thought that the idea of a game that supports thousands upon
thousands of players per server could possibly be fun, until I logged in. Heck!
Even logging in was an experience, as I had never logged in to a game before.
Runescape kept my interest for years
with its story-driven quests, experience heavy skills, and the PvP wilderness.
I found myself playing during class whenever a computer was available, and, in
most cases, not doing my homework to log on and go questing or skilling with my
friends. It was the gameplay, as well as the social aspect, that held my
interest, until I had discovered the most popular MMO, World of Warcraft, and I
had then suspended my Runescape membership to play.
It was yet another fantastic and
immersive experience, which kept me hooked, and playing each and every day for
countless hours. World of Warcraft’s living, breathing world, so named Azeroth,
consumed what little social life I had outside of gaming. I didn’t mind that in
the slightest. My beginnings at Northshire Abbey were met with countless new
experiences, and new players to share those experiences with. I had chosen to
play a Paladin, a hero of light that judges his foes, chastising them with
spells such as Crusader Strike, and Hammer of Wrath. The class mechanic was
entirely new to me, and I found myself creating and deleting characters ad
nauseam, trying to find which class I enjoyed the most. From the rage-filled Warrior, to the demon
master Warlock, World of Warcraft’s classes didn’t cease to amaze me.
Runescape and World of Warcraft were the majority of my online gaming as a
young gamer, and were two specific MMOs that I had fallen in love with. As the
years went by, and I grew older, my tastes and hunger for quality gameplay and
innovative technologies grew. Currently, I have played nearly MMO available on
the market. Some had really impressed me with their new innovations, such as
Guild Wars 2’s active combat system. Others MMOs, such as SWTOR, I couldn’t
play for more than a few hours without succumbing to boredom. I have beta
tested for several MMOs, such as Warhammer Online, Guild Wars 2, and the latest
WoW expansion, Mists of Pandaria.
Dicussion…
The Possible Reasons behind the MMO Decline
Are pay-to-play business models and the $15 a month
subscription steering players away?
The pay-to-play business model for MMOs is still in full effect, as
industry giant World of Warcraft still charges its 6 million player-base $15 a
month (50 cents a day) to log in to their game. However, World of Warcraft’s
steady decline in players may indicate that this business model isn’t as strong
as it was ten years ago, as the countless number of account closures over the
recent fiscal year has been more than staggering. Future MMO releases, such as
the ever popular Elder Scrolls Online, and newly advertised Wildstar, both
shall be implementing pay-to-play business models at $15 per month
respectively. Wildstar is allowing players to optionally acquire game time
through the use of C.R.E.D.D, which can be purchased in-game from other players
via the auction house.
With the rise of free-to-play
business models in recent years, games such as Rift, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, and
recently released Neverwinter, all do not require a game subscription to play,
and instead implement in-game micro transactions, where vanity items can be
purchased for your hero. Do players prefer this business model? Certainly, and
will pay-to-play MMOs follow suit any time soon? No, and not if they’re still
making money off of their franchise. World of Warcraft has been pay-to-play
since its initial launch, and 4 expansion packs later, it still has a loyal
fanbase of 6 million strong, despite the decline. With release after release of
expansions, vanity items, and the newly announced Warlords of Draenor, WoW isn’t
going anywhere, and the pay-to-play business model is still viable. If players
are willing to invest money into these franchises, as myself and many others
have so readily done for years, there will be no change.
Is the MMO style of gameplay
failing to meet the ever growing standards of the industry?
This is entirely subjective.
However, it would seem that the continuous, repetitive nature of MMORPGs have led
to turning a degree of gamers away from the genre. Killing X number of
monsters, turn-in, fetch X item, turn-in, can tend to grow stale, as a variety
of gameplay is key in keeping gamers entertained. More importantly, it’s new,
engaging content that keeps MMO players, like myself, coming back for more.
Most new MMOs are still making these mistakes, as what led me to quit Guild
Wars 2 was a lack of end-game content at the max level of 80, and a severe lack
of reward from the structured PvP system, as well as a slow, repetitive grind
to the max level, despite several innovations to the standard MMO grind.
Another aspect that new MMOs seem to lack is that “feel good” feeling after
completing a quest, or a hard grind through a difficult dungeon. Players want
to feel rewarded for their efforts; it’s that “feel good” feeling that keeps
players hooked and coming back for more. Dedicating ample time to a game should
be met with a similar reward, correct? I would be inclined to agree. If I put 4
to 5 hours into grinding for hypothetical tokens, I should receive some sort of
great reward for my efforts. Now, I’m not supporting gear and or items being
handed to players, not in the slightest. What I am advocating is the simple
fact that the reward should be representative of what the developers are truly
looking to give the player, considering that most MMOs, even World of Warcraft,
can have taxing, slow earning grinds that result in mediocre rewards. Daily
quests are also guilty of this.
Daily quests are something that, in my opinion, should be removed entirely
from MMOs altogether. I shouldn’t feel obliged to log in on a daily basis and
repeat the same 10 or so quests, varying from day to day, that have mundane and
utterly lackluster gameplay, just to keep up with the majority of my fellow
gamers. The rewards for these repetitive grinds tend to only pay out generally
after you’ve completed several chains, which then lead you to another zone with
more of the same repetitive nonsense, only to be rewarded ever so slightly, with
the major rewards, such as vanity items, mounts, etc., until the very end. If players are amply rewarded for their
effort, especially considering that these tasks are as mundane as a day-to-day
job, they would be inclined to continue their quest towards completion.
If the combat isn’t good, and there is a lack of exploration, an MMO will
fail. Combat and exploration are two huge aspects to core MMO gameplay, without
them, you wouldn’t have a solid MMO experience. Neverwinter, recently released
by Cryptic, is guilty of one of the latter. The core gameplay revolving around
combat was excellent, cleverly implementing innovative action combat, similarly
to that of Tera. However, the over-abundance of instanced zones, and a severe
lack of exploration, which what brings the true magic to the MMO experience,
wasn’t there. I was forced to quest from district to district within the city
of Neverwinter, with minimal to no choice to where I could explore or quest.
Despite that this is a free-to-play game, this led to an empty feeling, which
left me no choice but to stop playing. Great combat mechanics and exploration
alone can only bring so much to the MMO experience. Together, they shape into
something great that any MMO lover will enjoy.
More of this discussion at a later date…
Leave a comment with your thoughts!
-Brian
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