Kicking one MMO in the shins at a time.

Carna - Kicking one MMO in the shins at a time, we explore the world of the MMO, the current market and where it is heading. From the viewpoint of an avid gamer turned business student, trying to uncover why we receive disappointment after disappointment!

Author: Carna

Why do we do it? In the forums there is always comparison from 'game a' to WoW. But why? People can argue that almost all MMO gamers have had experience with WoW and so its a good benchmark to use, devs aim to beat it, and customers look for the game that beats it.

Why should dev's aim to beat it? why even try to compete with it? I am always seeing people flame a game saying it is "too WoW-like" yet, the game isn't really like WoW..unless ofcourse the fact that it is an MMO makes it the exact same game? People need to redefine their standards and understand that WoW is not the be all and end all of the MMO industry.

Blizzard is a corporate giant, they aim WoW to appeal to the masses, look at the game in more depth, look at the pve, how encounters never change, once a boss is down its simply a question of rinse and repeat...there is no change, no further challenge. As for PvP, the skill cap is so low its in another world. If a game was to truely be similar to WoW Blizzard would act fast and look to dominate any rivals game, afterall...this is big money we are talking about and blizzard will look to protect its investment.

As for these forums, there seems to be alot of dislike for WoW for the above reasons, the community here appears to be a PvP loving one, and that is WoW's biggest weakness. But with the constant comparisons to WoW are we not in a way admitting that WoW is good by giving it the status of a benchmark that should be beaten?

To keep it short and sweet, Im an english business student, with a love for gaming, RTS, FPS and MMO. I feel, as most of the community a real lack of quality games comming through to us, but why is this? Are we simply a niche that cannot be satisfied?

Of late I have really felt the desire to be immersed in an MMO again, yet I cannot find what I am looking for, the aim of my blog is simple, to express what I am looking for, find like minded players and whilst it is unlikely some corporate big wig will stumble across ideas here and think Im a genius, a more realistic thought is that maybe an indie developer will read it.

  I and others can simply highlight what has gone wrong for other games, steer them away from making these mistakes again...show them what we really want. But thats a long shot, Im a realist, a business student that knows profit is everything.