GenGame - The Trouble With MMO's

Couchpotato

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Bre Melvin has wrote an article on GenGame that MMO's need to escape the bounds of pre-established conventions.

Too often have I been tempted by the allure of a cinematic trailer for a game, and this is especially true for fantasy MMORPGs since these trailers are essentially high-end eye-candy. But let’s face it, while they’re fun for everyone and especially rewarding for pre-exisiting fans of the game, they are unrepresentative of the gameplay (or even the cutscenes in many cases), since these cinematics feel more like movies than dungeon crawlers.

For me personally, the problem is that when I see these cinematics without any knowledge of the gameplay, I start to imagine what type of game I’d like these trailers to represent solely based on the presented visuals, and these types games more often than not simply do not exist. The end conclusion is that when these MMOs are finally released, despite my interest in their aesthetics, I have no interest in the actual games. However, it’s rare that these desired aesthetics ever crop up anywhere beyond the MMORPG sphere. There is a big a glaring reason for this, and it’s one the game industry as a whole needs to move beyond.

The trouble begins with our definition of MMOs and MMORPGs.
More information.
 
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I'm not a fan of cinematic trailers. But if a story must be progressed through some kind of cinematic presentation, I like it best done using the game engine itself, like the intro to Skyrim.
 
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I hate it when they release a trailer for a game, and all you see is a movie-style trailer, with no relation with actual gameplay at all. Sort of reminds me of how Atari age game boxes came with awesome box covers with spaceships and explosions, but actual game was just a bunch of big white pixels moving around and doing 'bleep' sounds.
 
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Trailers don't reflect actual gameplay?

Now there's one significant discovery!
 
Trailers don't reflect actual gameplay?

Now there's one significant discovery!
Read the whole article not just my quote.:p It's not just about trailers but gameplay also.
 
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I believe the gist of it is: "Don't keep cloning WoW" - right?

Tell me I'm wrong ;)

Your wrong.;) I had to say it sorry. Though you are half correct also. ;)
 
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These cinemativ movies can also be *heavily* mis-leading !

Quoting myself from the SWTOR forums (in a rather cynical tone) :

A Sage is [to me] rather a "bookworm" - and that's how I *originally* wanted to play him - that was, until I found out that SWTOR is a mere hack & slay with no real role-playing content at all.

And then someone replied to me that the "Consular" class is supposed to do all of the fighting - and my instant thought was : "Consular is a fighting class, eh ? So why aren't the soldier [and the Jedi Knight] classes called "Consulars" as well ?
 
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I've played a bunch, and still none touch Everquest in just how dynamic it is, as well as being difficult. I'll forever miss the early days of EQ1, it really seems nowadays that all the newer mmo's are just very simple and being made for people that don't have brains or something, really dumbed down for the most part. You'd think they'd evolve to be harder, not easier.



-Carn
 
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I've played a bunch, and still none touch Everquest in just how dynamic it is, as well as being difficult. I'll forever miss the early days of EQ1, it really seems nowadays that all the newer mmo's are just very simple and being made for people that don't have brains or something, really dumbed down for the most part. You'd think they'd evolve to be harder, not easier.

You (perhaps) forget that during EQ1's hay-days everyone bitched about how hard the game was from leveling up to death consequences. It was bitch bitch bitch all day long every day for years. So as a community of gamers, I guess we've gotten what we've asked for - easy mode and coming soon (if not already), the IWin button.
 
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I never complained, who wants a game with zero challenge or consequence? Doing hard stuff in EQ1 forced you to think about what could REALLY happen if you messed up or were wrong about something, and to me that has real value. You might alienate some 10 yr olds with a hard or difficult game, but I guarantee you'll more than make up with their loss by drawing in the older, hard school people of the past.



-Carn
 
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I never complained, who wants a game with zero challenge or consequence?

Well I'm with you. Clearly though, we are in the minority.
 
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I don't mind challenges - but I'm glad endless grinds towards tiny increments of progression are not as prominent as in the past.
 
some people think MMOs are all about the so called "end game". To me, the "end game" is when the game ends.
 
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The problem isn't that gameplay styles come and go and he doesn't like the current ones. It's that gameplay came and went, never to come back at all. He doesn't like the mechanics because they are 100% timefiller. Nobody likes them, and for most people story and cinematics aren't enough to make playing worthwhile.

But if they make actual gameplay they will alienate some people, not to mention it's difficult and time consuming to produce where art can be added in like legos.
 
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