General Discussion

I think Age of Conan is going to be a big hit, and I think it's going to enjoy a very large population. It's a solid game, with a very distinct look and feel. I'll let the reviews that are forthcoming from all the gaming sites to get into what and why.

But it will never come close to dethroning World of Warcraft, and I think there are two distinct reasons why:

Not for Kids
This is going to be the primary reason why it won't have a social phenomenon affect like WoW did. There's no way on earth Age of Conan is going to be tolerated by the average household of adolescent gamers. That, by itself, is a significantly diminished market share.

Computing Power
I run a 4 year-old machine with a recently-upgrade 8800 GTS card. I have the game on high settings and it's phenomenally beautiful. But there is no way on earth this game is going to run on my work laptop. I liken my laptop to an average person's computer...capable, but not a gaming powerhouse. Yet another significantly diminished market share.

I believe this is all okay with Funcom...they knew they were going to reduce their target audience by focusing on the content in this manner. I still think they're going to clean up on this game. They sold out of all 110,000 collector's edition copies before release...I suspect they're going to have no problem hitting well over a million subs for this game.

I agree with what you say about the system specs but about the kids i have to disagree.I have 5 kids so i know how kids minds work simply if you tell kids they cant have soemthing they whant it all the more.I would never let my kids play this game or watch me play it but i know lots of parents that would. Take grand theft auto series how many kids do you think play them games knowing full well that the age rating is 18+ on them.The only thing that %^& me of more about this than anything is the parents that go out by the game for the kids then start protesting againsed content in games and that they whant them banned. Basicly if youre going to ban any game you may as well ban every single 1* rated movie on the planet. So when comes to age rating i dont think its going to have to much of impact.

WoW certainly won't die from AoC any time soon... it could probably live off the gold farmers alone selling eachother gold.

According to polls the average MMO player is 18+ so your first argument doesn't hold much water.

Although, the argument with compatibility can be believed. If they made AoC able to run on the dinosaurs WoW can, then I think Blizzard might start to sweat a little.

The younger kids already play games like Runescape and maplestory.. I rarely met that many kids in WoW.  Actually for a while i was the youngest in my guild (in 2005). 

It really depends on if the game developers can satisfy the players so they subscribe after the first month.

I am really tired of this ignorant "Not for kids" shit.

As a kid, twelve years old, I can tell you, us kids don't give a rats ass what the game is rated. I watch porn and hentai, I play 18+ rated games. There are probably going to be a copious amount of kids playing AoC. Kids really don't care about the ratings and such. All my friends play Grand Theft Auto, it's rated 18+ for violence, sexual content, use of drugs, and a slew of other things. My friend, who is twelve, lost his virginity on saturday, and underage sex isn't allowed, but he still did it. The "Omfg not for kids lolololololloolololl dey wunt play tha game lolololol" really fails, epically. And, tons of kids play WoW, Eogris. I know a twelve year old girl, who is a NE specced beast mastery hunter in full S3 With enchants that could whoop your ass

Originally posted by knight0151

I am really tired of this ignorant "Not for kids" shit.

As a kid, twelve years old, I can tell you, us kids don't give a rats ass what the game is rated. I watch porn and hentai, I play 18+ rated games. There are probably going to be a copious amount of kids playing AoC. Kids really don't care about the ratings and such. All my friends play Grand Theft Auto, it's rated 18+ for violence, sexual content, use of drugs, and a slew of other things. My friend, who is twelve, lost his virginity on saturday, and underage sex isn't allowed, but he still did it. The "Omfg not for kids lolololololloolololl dey wunt play tha game lolololol" really fails, epically. And, tons of kids play WoW, Eogris. I know a twelve year old girl, who is a NE specced beast mastery hunter in full S3 With enchants that could whoop your ass

I never said kids don't play WoW, just said i haven't met many :).  And i bet she would.. i haven't played seriously in a good year or 2. 

Edit: To be completely honest.. any beast mastery hunter could whoop my ass. I was a mage :(

Originally posted by Eogris

Originally posted by knight0151

I am really tired of this ignorant "Not for kids" shit.

As a kid, twelve years old, I can tell you, us kids don't give a rats ass what the game is rated. I watch porn and hentai, I play 18+ rated games. There are probably going to be a copious amount of kids playing AoC. Kids really don't care about the ratings and such. All my friends play Grand Theft Auto, it's rated 18+ for violence, sexual content, use of drugs, and a slew of other things. My friend, who is twelve, lost his virginity on saturday, and underage sex isn't allowed, but he still did it. The "Omfg not for kids lolololololloolololl dey wunt play tha game lolololol" really fails, epically. And, tons of kids play WoW, Eogris. I know a twelve year old girl, who is a NE specced beast mastery hunter in full S3 With enchants that could whoop your ass

I never said kids don't play WoW, just said i haven't met many :).  And i bet she would.. i haven't played seriously in a good year or 2. 

Edit: To be completely honest.. any beast mastery hunter could whoop my ass. I was a mage :(

Ahh, I see. I'm installing WoW again on my new rig ^.^. Want to start playing again? I might start Rohan on the 27th, just uninstalled Neo Steam and Requiem, and shaiya. Decent games, but, WoW> Them.

Zone instancing is another reason Imo. Don't get me wrong I like AoC so far, but I think the zoning may turn off most MMO players in the long run.

Here is a theory why WoW can remain big:

Here's my take. The average WoW player lives at home and they find their biggest level of comfort there. They develop comfort zone type habits, and regardless of the level of strangeness they might be, they find the most balance from doing these acts. A lot of this involves being alone, not really interacting with people etc. They have a social life, friends etc. But they never feel naturally comfortable when they're out. For the younger players (pre-21) I think this is a bigger issue. They might go out in participate in under age drinking, blah blah, but they're doing it so they can attempt at functioning normally. They try to break the wall down between awkward gamer, and socially acceptable. In the end, you still feel socially unacceptable, and you don't have the safety and comfort level of your home.

While playing WoW, these players feel they develop relationships, that on the surface, appear deep and meaningful because the players they're playing with are much like them. They need this safety zone and blanket to keep them comfortable. They can avoid the awkward, unnecessary to them, personal interaction outside that becomes so foreign feeling. It's as if they can be alone, in their comfort zone, while at the same time being in a fake concept of what the real world is. That's the image WoW provides.

Now WoW doesn't have good PVP, the PVE is completely pathetic and lackluster compared to some other games in the minds of the hardcore as well - but what it does have, is by far the best community experience of any MMORPG. WoW created the community that becomes a safe haven for some dysfunctional, while providing minor bits of entertainment at the same time. Providing to the casuals that can't handle the more competitive/hardcore nature of other MMO's is so successful because it applies to the largest insecure player base possible. Players continue to play, when they don't know what it is about it that appeals to them, because there's the existence of that very level of comfort they want and interaction with people, without leaving the comfort of their own homes.

Guilds become small high school communities, raids the prom parties and drinking binges while the parents are away. PVP and Arena provides a way to, on paper, provide a medium in which one can build a name in these communities - fit in with the jocks and the popular crowds.

With the overwhelming unimaginable number of WoW players, the community has become a large chunk of the internet itself, and has become a true world of players in which a social hierarchy is almost completely established and those that want to, can fully submerge themselves and progress up the ladder. Players have invested so much time in their reputations and online characters that, even though WoW has lost so much of it's appeal, they fear losing all the time they have invested and reputations they have developed and refuse to move on to bigger and better things, and subsequently blind themselves with their devotion to their own characters, not the game itself. Regardless of the quality of what WoW has become, the community is only getting stronger, and that's almost all that matters.

(Those are not my words, those are the words from Ming a rather (in)famous PvP rogue in USA that has made several PvP movies.  http://www.gameriot.com/blogs/World-of-Ming/