World of Warcraft

People like to find something and blame it for anything that goes wrong, or that goes badly. If you do bad in school, you blame it on the teacher. If you forget something, you blame your parent's for not reminding you. And lately it seems that MMOG enthusiasts are the exact same way, blaming WoW on failures in the industry including dropped project. Recently the Marvel MMOG project was even shut down because they didn't think it would be successful with the P2P model they originally wanted it to have because of World of Warcraft, saying it dominated the industry and provided little room for other games in that model type. Now everyone is moving on to F2P models, trying to revolutionize those with new innovations. But has the vast success of World of Warcraft actually hurt the industry, or has it actually been a blessing in disguise?

First off, most people are mis-led by the numbers. Having a friend who compiles MMOG information and analyzes it to see which models are most successful, and which games are most popular, I understand the numbers that are actually being compared. First off, most people gasp in amazement when they hear that WoW has a whopping 10 million subscribers. But unlike what you might think, that doesn't mean there's ten million players today. The game itself has been around since 2004, and has exploded ever since with millions of sales of the game. But that's what the 'subscriber' count is based on, the amount of people who have purchased the game. So if 5 million of those subscribers purchased the game, played for a month, hated it, and quit, they are still being counted as a subscriber today even if they haven't played since 2004

Originally posted by CCDeathCC

First off, most people are mis-led by the numbers. Having a friend who compiles MMOG information and analyzes it to see which models are most successful, and which games are most popular, I understand the numbers that are actually being compared. First off, most people gasp in amazement when they hear that WoW has a whopping 10 million subscribers. But unlike what you might think, that doesn't mean there's ten million players today. The game itself has been around since 2004, and has exploded ever since with millions of sales of the game. But that's what the 'subscriber' count is based on, the amount of people who have purchased the game. So if 5 million of those subscribers purchased the game, played for a month, hated it, and quit, they are still being counted as a subscriber today even if they haven't played since 2004

If you actually *read* the news .. for example, this article:

http://kotaku.com/347552/world-of-warcraft-reaches-10-million-mark

It clearly stated that the 10M figure is for CURRENT subscribers defined by, and I quote:

"Blizzard's numbers included paying subscribers, people within their first month of free game time, and internet cafe users who have accessed the game in the past 30 days, but excludes those using promotional trials and of course, those who have managed to kick the habit entirely...for now."

These are clearly NOT people who have played in 2004 and stopped. Within past 30 days is quite reasonable.

Next time, do some research before you open your mouth.

Originally posted by CCDeathCC

 Recently the Marvel MMOG project was even shut down because they didn't think it would be successful with the P2P model they originally wanted it to have because of World of Warcraft, saying it dominated the industry and provided little room for other games in that model type.

Microsoft shut it down due to that. However Microsoft is 100% greedy for maximum profit. This is the 5th mmo they've shut down because it wouldn't be "profitable". However, the devs (Cryptic) have merely changed the name to base it off a pen & paper rpg known as Champions, and the game is now Champions Online. So WoW has nothing to do with it.

All that effort into your post and you didn't know that 10 million subscribers really means current paying subscribers...hehe.   A little basic research would've cleared up that one.  You pulled a Dan Rather=)

Warcraft is bad for the MMOG industry in one way. There's no room for anyone else. Games being shut down cause they can't compete and Blizz is just  loving it. I actually read a statement once that had an employee quoted as saying.. "We're on top and no one can stop us." Seriously.. Blizz is king for the next decade and they know it. It's just a shame that all these other games are slowly dying cause of it.

It is bad for the industry, since most people may be like :

Is it worth making this game?

Oh I don't know, it may not be better than WoW..

Should I put it on the market?

No!@  I will never compare to Wow!!!

*Throws computer out window*

Unfortunately, WoW just takes away people trying to make a risk to make new games, on the fact that games cost money, and they do not want to risk losing what they paid to make the game. 

Although there are many others who don't play WoW, most games are now compared to WoW, and if they do not live up to this "standard", then they think they will not go far.  This is true in some ways, but false in others.

Microsoft  is great for starting and never finishing an MMO. The problem with companies like M$ is they want to make more money than the guy at the top, and if they feel they can't, they scrap the project all together.

Most companies now realize that it would be close to impossible to beat Blizzards Beast, so they dont bother trying. Instead they aim to make a game that appeals to a smaller number of players, mostly focusing on one of the 2 play styles (PvE/PvP).

The only problem is the WoW philosophy. Many people who play WoW are new to the genre (WoW being thier first MMO). Blizzard knew that to get new people into the MMO scene, they had to make the game easy to learn, highly polished (well, more polished than most games were after 2-3 years of being online) and constantly updated with more content on a regular basis. Thing is, Blizzard had the money, the talent and a franchise to build upon. They knew what people thought about thier games and knew how to exploit the Warcraft world. Other MMO developers had to start from scratch, or partner up with another company for the rights to thier IP. They had to plead thier case to investors, find and hire people who could build the game and, if they IP was licensed, constantly show the owner that they are doing the IP justice. What does that lead to? More MMOs go under before they even hit beta, those that survive have to explaing why they are not getting the numbers Blizzard is getting, or in cases of the licensed IP, give into the demands of the owner, which leads to poor choices and game breaking changes.

So all in all its not Blizzard or WoW who are really bad for the industry. Its the industry thats hurting itself. Gone are the days of starting small and expanding from a core concept. Now its all about how to bring the king to its knees.

Also, its the fans that are not helping. Some people following newer MMOs like to use the infamous "WoW Killer" term. They hype themselves up by going on the forums proclaiming or asking if "Game XYZ will be a WoW Killer". Will it kill WoW? who knows, and who cares. I myself can't stand WoW. I am following 2 or 3 games at the moment. All I care is if the game will be fun, offer something new and make enough money to keep up support rather than going the way of Auto Assualt.

What used to be a nerd passtime is now mainstream. There will be a lot of new MMOs coming out every year or so. Some will be good, some will be bad. Few might even come close to half the number of subs/profit that WoW gets. Just find a game you like and play it. Don't worry about WoW.

Originally posted by CCDeathCC

 Recently the Marvel MMOG project was even shut down because they didn't think it would be successful with the P2P model they originally wanted it to have because of World of Warcraft, saying it dominated the industry and provided little room for other games in that model type.

when they shutdown their own mmo, Mythica

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythica

and that was 4 years ago      (before WOW)