As with all markets that can make serious money, the MMORPG genre began to attract the attention of the sharks (big corporations, clueless share holders, people that only care about ching! ching! cash).

While 10 years ago the mmorpg games, like Ultima Online, Everquest and Asherons Call opened a new genre of games with persistent online world, where players gathered together to adventure and challenge the unknown, and the genre started to attract attention of the media and players. During the next years other games were released, games like Anarchy Online, EVE Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies and many others that weren’t that popular, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t great. The Developers of these games had a large freedom in design and they came up with some great things, like total freedom over your character evolution, superb features, like the vassal<patron in Asheron Call, pvp system in Ultima Online and EQ, and a multitude of features on SWG, RVR in DAOC, and that stop when…

What did WOW for this genre is at the same time good and bad. At first with the uber Blizzard marketing department, that could promote horse shit and sell it to 10 million people(RESPECT!), managed to inform the people and catch them in the mmorpg genre which is great for all the games, companies. The Bad thing that WOW did for this genre, is that it destroyed it. Why? Well when the sharks found out that so much money can be made, they started to tell their companies to make something similar, to get their money for their 10 houses, 10 cars, and the 10 women that  they never know their names, and of course power. Our Society these days teaches us, that financial power is a part of evolution process, not knowledge…With these facts in mind, developers stopped to innovate, or to take the genre to the genre to the next level because they had people screaming in their ears, that they want money!

WOW was made with the idea kept in mind, to be played by everybody, and thus no conscience in PVP, no harsh world, only a fantasy game, very polished, that copied everything that was made so far, where most of the things dropped from the sky,  and made it better, and also made a system, so the player can grind multiple months for equip, fame, glory until next addon, expansion, thus subs, and cash in, much like cigarettes, drugs, you got to keep the player in it. WOW didn’t come with innovation to the market, just took what it was there, and made it 100% commercial and more accessible, which is not bad overall, but there are big design flaws there, intended :)
 
When making a game “FUN” like producers, share holders ask us these days, usually means try to make it accessible to as many people as possible, more people equals more money, and destroy the genre eventually. Let’s take for example the FPS genre, which is made for people that like to shoot things from first person view, with big guns, explosions, and uber graphics, and from time to time, we actually have a good story (see Half Life, Stalker, etc). Of course it’s not bad to add some rpg elements like Deus Ex, or Stalker did, but don’t destroy the genre, keep in the basic recipe which works, evolve it as a genre, don’t dumb it down. The only games I found that did something for this genre as in taking to the next step are Half Life(story and presentation), Call of Duty(gameplay elements), Stalker (rpg and story elements based on FPS), and the old and fascinating System Shock 1, 2, and Deus Ex.  

Now you would ask how come a multibillion company as Blizzard, didn’t want to make a superb mmorpg game, with tons of innovation features that work, thus, evolving, taking the genre to the next level (they did but only to a limited level) , for a player base of 1-2 million, or copy everything and make it better, and get 10 million sub with a powerful brand and marketing. Which one will you choose? Money and innovation, or just money? If I will make a poll, I am sure that most of you will choose 10 million. Why? Because our society has indoctrinated us so badly that all we want is money, and after that, more money, so there is no place for art, passion, things that the old game designers from 10 years ago had, when making a game.

In the last years, the most pleasant surprises in this genre I received from titles that are not promoted that heavily, they are unknown, with a small player base, games like Saga (made and taken to the professional level by a few enthusiast gamers), Shattered Galaxy (old rts online game, that could score huge, with decent budget), Mabinogi with its simplistic but great features in, Project Torque and even Navy Field, Jumpgate. And on commercial level EVE Online ( the only mmorpg game that had the balls to do something different and survives very well with his 300-500k player base) and Anarchy Online with his unique universe and features.

So what happens these days? Well we are waiting for games like WAR ( I have high hope because of Paul Barnett, I hate you Paul:P, great marketing skills he has), Aion (tho original is made for korean people so I don’t have high hopes for this title), old skool Jumpgate Evolution, Earthrise, Spellborn, Fallen Earth and the resurrection of Ryzom. While every major company like SOE, NC Soft, Mythic maybe?! (will see), tries to bring features from WOW so they can get more subs like Blizzard did.

I don’t want to say to you guys, that they are not developers out there that are trying to make great mmorpg games, but those usually you won’t see them on every mmorpg portal, with videos, “paid” previews and other things, because they are small, and probably they are not interested to sell bullshit to you, they are busy working their ass off. If they get 100-200k subs they are happy and they can get enough money to survive(no! not to buy 1 mil houses, and wifes, but to have a decent life), and develop the game further.

In the end it’s all our fault, us, the players, because we buy their incomplete, or flawed products,  see Age of Conan. Age of Conan is the most sold MMORPG (Beta) ever in the history of mmorpg games in the first month of release, they say, but in reality in my country you can even buy the collectors edition from the store. Where you saw that on a successful commercial mmorpg? Indeed I think they made lots of money in the first month, but after that, collapse…

Ending Note:

This is an opinion of a one man, gamer for 20 years, developer, and MMORPG Center Owner. This article must be taken as it is, I don’t want to influence you in a way or another, read and understand what you want. Also you must understand that this portal, website, is created and maintained by gamers, players like you, not people that can be bought on the first sight of a euro or a dollar. We try to make some money, but we won’t sell our mothers just to promote a commercial title that doesn’t bring anything new, or doesn’t have a place in our standards which some are similar to yours and some are not.

Have a good day

“In the end when the papers will burn, what will be left of you? They will love you for you character, for your looks, for what you accomplish in the past, or for your wisdom?”

Iorya Dragon,
Diary of the Fallen.