Drak, I do not believe that is entirely accurate, and I hope you will allow me to provide an alternative view on the matter based on my 11 years in the industry.


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Game companies are laughing all the way to the bank at what they perceive to be an indulgent, and decadent group of social misfits.



This is untrue; game developers are gamers themselves. We come with all of the fallacies of humans across the globe, to be sure... but gamers at heart we are.

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As they rake in millions of dollars each year as you buy up their various game related merchandise and mass marketed super MMO's, they are using the bare minimum of the resources dedicated to producing a quality experience when compared to the social dynamics.



I assume you mean in-game quests? Creating an MMO service is an entirely daunting endeavor, and a very difficult one, at that. This sort of thing is often overlooked, or when times get tough, is the first one cut.

It is one of the great experiences working at a game company. It is one of the more traumatic experiences losing it through layoffs.

But most companies don't ever get to that point because for every MMO that launches, twenty fail. Many don't know what they're getting into. Some run out of capital with cost overruns at every turn. Some wander back to singleplayer games. Some find they've created a technical monstrosity, and others find at the end of the day that their game just plain sucks.

All of this before considering the service and operations of being "live", in-game quests included. It is a hugely expensive mission to develop and publish and support an MMO, something that requires hundreds of man-years of labor to build and maintain.

Operating costs are high, profits not so much.


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Ever wonder why many companies merge or fold? Because there is a terrible monster out there, big business. They want the entire pie chart and are willing to devour all who oppose them. The small independents have only the slimmest of chances against such a foe, and it's these niche companies which are our future hope. The larger companies concern for vast wealth to appease shareholders, executives, and support partners is all about keeping the great money engine churning out proven design.

Risk taking is only an option after intense market research gives the OK, this is why I don't do questionnaires anymore, let them figure it out on their own and stop over analyzing my gaming tendencies. We are not lab rats, we are an ARMY! In opposition to the oppressed market, restrictive design, monitored communities, and enforced labor camps which are in essence what treadmills regardless of their design really are.



I believe that's a little premature to make all of those claims. Two things:

1) Evolution of the industry (finally). It was not that long ago MMOs did not exist at all; now it is common to see developers and players who have been on two or three MMOs, and that experience in invaluable. It allows consumers to know what they want and developers to know what is realistic. I really believe by 2010 we will have turned loose the creativity.

2) Market reality. There is a lot of money in MMOs if done right, and as long as the public keeps consuming Tolkien-esque worlds, there will be people coming into the market ready to supply it to them.

Why? Consider this:

Would you as head of development, choose to fund a high risk product on a design that is not proven, or at best, shown to be incredibly risky?

Or, as a responsible steward of a business venture, choose the safe product that will earn your company a decent profit?

Remember, this is $10-20m and a heck of a lot of people's careers you are gambling with.

I work for a publicly held MMO publisher with 2000 employees worldwide, and we have chosen both routes in the past three years. We abandoned the proven designs and ventured out on our last two titles, trying to be "bold" and "adventurous".

Both titles were abysmal failures as games and as multimillion dollar projects. Worse, about 100 people lost their jobs.


The good news is that all of these folks are learning these lessons, trying to incorporate them, and working to create better games.