The KGB Oracle Forums General Public Discussion (PUBLIC) The Pub Decreased popularity of the MMORPG genre

Decreased popularity of the MMORPG genre

I think MMO industry shat the bed. For example, I would be playing if only they didn't try so hard to force to P2W or railroad me into ding-gratz.

My wife and I are back to playing Guild Wars 2. After only three weeks I can tell our interest has faded again. I don't know why because the game looks and plays even better than before.

But.....

Every few years I get an itch to play the original Everquest. That game can still suck me in to the point that I am playing like a 15 year old again. It still has a thriving community even after all of these years.

The older MMORPGs really figured out the risk/reward ratio. I can't find new MMOs that will make me really calculate whether it is worth going into that dungeon or not. In Everquest you literally might be worse off by the end of the day then when you logged in that morning. There is no promise of progress just because you are online.

In Guild Wars 2 you can log in and just stand still for several hours and your exp bar will probably go up. It is just too easy to feel rewarded for doing anything.


I generally blame my age for not wanting to invest in new MMORPGs but that doesn't seem to be it.

Sidara and I started with Everquest way back in 1999. That game required a lot more thought and preparation than most these days. You had to figure stuff out for yourself or actually socialize and ask questions in chat and hope someone answers. We didn't have wikis and such that you have now.

You had to run around to various NPCs and hail them and then figure out how to respond via text to get a response. It was a different time, for sure. We met a lot of our friends there including Gremir and Brommas. They were good times.

Now you have queues, fully detailed minimaps, quest logs and more. It's just changed the whole dynamic and feel of the games. Time could also be a factor. I used to have a lot more free time to invest in gaming in general and that made accomplishing tasks in games like EQ that much easier. Now if I can get on ArcheAge for a few hours and do some trade runs and events I am happy. Alternatively, a few rounds in War Thunder or Battlefield can be fun.

Yeah, I certainly don't have the time to invest anymore. I don't have a crazy social life or anything, but I do have a job, a house, and other responsibilities (sometimes I neglect...)

I LOVE Everquest, there is no past tense there. I still love it to this day. I met some of my best friends in that game, which Zsane mentioned. However it did lead me down the road of MMORPG addiction =P

I got some messages about going back and doing the Ragefire TLP Everquest server. I thought about it, as I have done previous TLP servers, P99 etc. The problem lies with "poopsocking" I have no time, nor the desire to sit around for MANY hours at all times of day to wait for a raid boss that will die in a few seconds and that my hypothetical guild may not even get loot rights to.

Two things I know for sure has happened. I have changed (grown up) and MMORPGs aren't the same anymore.

I just learned a new word. :P

I get really annoyed when MMOs keep repeating the same mistakes decades later. While the same folks keep making them, apparently there is no knowledge transfer from project to project.

Seriously

This is why I disregard most MMOs at a glance, cant follow future releases.

Mad Martigan asked for a sword, all I need is a dev team and I'll win this war for you.

Well, maybe not win, but I know I could produce a better game that 99.9% of the ones out there right now.

Looking at the shit that getting pushed out these days, I think an ass (har har) could do a better job.

Because making an MMO became a way to extract short term profit from a growing player base. Basically the success of WoW gave rise to quick hitters looking to cash in and get out. You good and damn well know the ROI decks look like an exercise in risk analysis and payback cycles of how little can we do and still make a boat load of money...fuck the consumer, they are sheep to be fleeced.

Now its Cash Shops and MOBA's that are the flavors. For fucks sake look at the Steam store, that is a case study in the decline of Game Development as an art form and skill set.