The three factors that have lead us to this impasse are the growing amount of player MMO choice, the increasing influence of corporate policy on MMO companies and the change in the MMO player age demographic.

That’s a pretty big mire to get out of, I see no way out of the swamp soon.

----

"Btw, are all the authors really as diabolical as their portraits make them look?. Taken together, they look like something out of Batmans' rogue gallery.."

You didn't know Mr Wachter is secretly the Penguin? I guess a monocle and top hat can fool anyone.

Victor wachter a failed writer.

Its clearly that he experience only few mmo's that he himself played, he also only mention big ones and typical the ones that are eather succefull or comming soon from a big company.

Yeh some some smaller ones that are already dead MISTER negative.

If you guys keep comming up with same old shit we already knew nothing will chance.

Mister wachter your one of zillion writers that already have talk about before what you in your article again atalk about, try bloody something thats realy helps this industrie instead repeat yourselfs.

You also hope that big IP bring us succesfull IP's man you eather S....... or P......... i dunno but you want only repetiton of mmorpgs other wise why even mention SWTOR?

Ass long you game writers or developers think what mass want becouse it get you$$$$ we will go down hill untill mmorpgs are no more or so bad its not playable anymore by a serieus gamer.

If you also mentioned games like darkfall that realy had the nerf to be totally different then your beloved THEMEPARKS i would give you more credit.

Your article bring nothing new its a path we have discussed so manytimes and always about same shit:(

Dare mention developers that are small and be different instead always make free advertising in your articles for the already big ones that are totally boring and bring nothing new.

Failed topic:(

PS was very fun until the BFR mess. Also the rather radical balance changes killed some playerbase off too.

Also some lack of some serious FPs issues on the client was a problem too.

But in the end it still is one of the best MMO enviroments i've played around in long time.

Originally posted by JYCowboy

Great post Bob_Blawblaw. 

I agree except you need to consider the wieght of a given IP in the mix when suits decide to make an MMO on a franchise.  In a big way, that property hinders the conception of the MMO and expectation of returns reguardless of what "crap in box" is delivered.  I think we are starting to get over "WOW envy" now but its still used to sell a concept to board members.  There are just no management of expectations in this arena.  To use your example: Star Trek is a big IP; MMO's can make a lot of money.  Combine the concept and you make an easy sell to Paramount.  Now what is going to make this MMO a break out hit to the MMO player as defined on what was pitched to Paramount?  Do you focus on the Trekker/Trekkie?  No, you focus on the MMO gamer demographics and loose the chance to make a unique Star Trek MMO experiance.

I have said this before: "If your not Star Trek, then why would you play a Star Trek MMO?"

Yeah, this is a big problem.  Looking at the game at this stage, you see a lot of the tropes of the Mk1 MMO design.  They've been touting forever that the game will be designed "to appeal to all MMO gamers, not just Trekkies", which to me says "We're going to make a bland, generic product instead of one that really represents the IP."  This is phenomenally stupid.  If there is a "niche" for an IP that can generate revenue, it's the Trek folks.

These are the same people that waged a successfully OVERKILL letter-writing campaign in the '60s to keep the show on the air.  They got the first space shuttle named after the goddamn FICTIONAL STARSHIP.  They kept it going so hard another show started up 20 years later, only to spawn 3 more.  This is an IP with staying power, but more than that, with enough warm bodies and devotion that, if you went and made a hard-core all-Trek MMO, you'd have all the subscriptions you'd ever need.  Also, if it really WAS that, it would have to be different.  It would be GOOD.  And on THOSE merits, it might just attract other MMO gamers ANYWAY.

Blaiming failure of a MMO on development team isn't always right... Most likely you are to blame publisher - they usualy task development team with something like "Make a WoW clone, you have one third of time they had and one quarter money they had. And don't even try to say it's not doable." This is how the game development world works. Only very few studios can afford developing a game on their own funds and the one who has the money dictates conditions.

So... you have a team... you know you'll never be able to fully finish the project with given time span, but well, you have to pay salaries and all so you'll rather get 2-3yrs paid and know you won't finish than otherwise...

Point two... completing a project to 80% takes 20% time... that's an iron rule and simply works... so even you know you miss one year to make a project 100%, you spent two years on it and you are at about (rough shot) 95% of development process... Your producer wanting his money to generate new money says it's enough and you've got lecture book early release.

Ofc, there are still cases the dev teams underestimate the task and get in troubles.

Why the MMO are so mediocre-successfull? I think there might be one completely different reason than those named earlier. Back in starting days of MMO, there wasn't that many people with good enough internet connection. Those who had were usualy students, IT folks and similar. The audience capable of playing the game was totaly different than today. I wouldn't claim it was all people with master degree nor that it would be that different on average player IQ than today, but on social level it definitely was different. The games were made for pple of age 20+ (maybe even a bit more). These days the biggest audience is among teenagers and honestly... who else than teenager can play (for long) with teenager? Damn, I wouldn't be able to play with myself in my teens.

There is no doubt teenagers are much more unstable than an adult person (on psychical level) so it is much more likely they'll be changing their MMO on today-mood basis.

Factor two being the fact the new MMO aren't able to offer a fraction of what old MMO were capable of. Yes, they have ultra super mega giga graphics, super brilliant hi-fi sound, but the most important factor - the fun factor isn't that great... 

In my case... I play MMO to play with group of friends... back in old days I played DAoC... Everyone with a bit of brain was teaming in groups because the game was designed to give you more xp over time than while soloing (ofc, with necromancer exception). In Age of Conan and Warhammer grouping actually slowed down your progress. WTH, MMO not supporting it's players to play together...

Next point is the community... Imho community can make the MMO more than the software itself. Again, back in DAoC days I remember whole realm storming RvR areas on even slight warning enemy realm was doing relic raid... That is _hundreds_ of players in same zone, even in visibility range. Nowadays... "You can't enter the zone, it's full" ... lol, how is that supposed to make community work together? I'd rather not mention server processor capacity these days and old days is on totaly different scale... And they were able to do that on that slow hardware... why can't they do it on modern one?

Old days, there was much less of cross realming than these days - accounts on different realms etc. And again, there was much less teenager headaches among the community.

I am still waiting for a MMO that gives me back the feeling of massive hate against my enemies. Once it happens I'd call it a success because it would mean the game has pulled me in.

My 2 cents... sorry they got a bit oversized :-)

Nice read. I think the mmo's are all so alike, that is why they fail. Why pick up a new game when it is so similar to the one you just left?

Originally posted by Evasia

Victor wachter a failed writer.

Its clearly that he experience only few mmo's that he himself played, he also only mention big ones and typical the ones that are eather succefull or comming soon from a big company.

Yeh some some smaller ones that are already dead MISTER negative.

If you guys keep comming up with same old shit we already knew nothing will chance.

Mister wachter your one of zillion writers that already have talk about before what you in your article again atalk about, try bloody something thats realy helps this industrie instead repeat yourselfs.

You also hope that big IP bring us succesfull IP's man you eather S....... or P......... i dunno but you want only repetiton of mmorpgs other wise why even mention SWTOR?

Ass long you game writers or developers think what mass want becouse it get you$$$$ we will go down hill untill mmorpgs are no more or so bad its not playable anymore by a serieus gamer.

If you also mentioned games like darkfall that realy had the nerf to be totally different then your beloved THEMEPARKS i would give you more credit.

Your article bring nothing new its a path we have discussed so manytimes and always about same shit:(

Dare mention developers that are small and be different instead always make free advertising in your articles for the already big ones that are totally boring and bring nothing new.

Failed topic:(

Oh man! Talk about failed writer ^^ 

Nice article Victor I couldnt agree more with you. 

Quote:

"To this day, I maintain that PlanetSide was one of the best things that SOE ever released. But the market didn't understand it."

Sorry, but isn't that the same arrogant bollocks the politicians tell us. Our politics is good, if one the stupid masses would understand it? I didnt like Planetside, because I dont like PVP, and my guess is most people dont like it enough to center their entire gaming around it.

Companies and dev just DONT LISTEN. Sometimes the explanation just IS simple.

And as a second note, there are just WAAAY too many MMOs out there. At least half them has to close right away. Every dumbass company today thinks they can quickly tinker the next WOW together. I have seen enough MMOs fail due to reason the beta testers had said a damn long time before launch. I was in many betas, often a year before release, and I among many have said the expected issued over and over, and companies JUST DID NOT LISTEN.

Many TOLD Cryptic about the CO issues. Many TOLD about the expected Vanguard issues. The list is long. Tabula Rasa, PotBS, Dark & Light, WAR, AoC, I was in all those betas, I saw enough people saying what would be an issue, but the devs and companies preferred to listen to FANBOIS. They DAMMIT NEVER LISTEN. And I swear, the next time it will be the same again and again and again. Those devs prefer to listen to fanbois because that more comfortable and we who warn and critizise are always branded as trolls and haters, and in the end, we are right. Always. But do they learn. Nope. The story ends always in the damn same way, and god knows I wish just for once I would be wrong and my doomsaying would be a mistake.

Originally posted by Elikal

Quote:

"To this day, I maintain that PlanetSide was one of the best things that SOE ever released. But the market didn't understand it."

 

Sorry, but isn't that the same arrogant bollocks the politicians tell us. Our politics is good, if one the stupid masses would understand it? I didnt like Planetside, because I dont like PVP, and my guess is most people dont like it enough to center their entire gaming around it.

Companies and dev just DONT LISTEN. Sometimes the explanation just IS simple.

And as a second note, there are just WAAAY too many MMOs out there. At least half them has to close right away. Every dumbass company today thinks they can quickly tinker the next WOW together. I have seen enough MMOs fail due to reason the beta testers had said a damn long time before launch. I was in many betas, often a year before release, and I among many have said the expected issued over and over, and companies JUST DID NOT LISTEN.

Many TOLD Cryptic about the CO issues. Many TOLD about the expected Vanguard issues. The list is long. Tabula Rasa, PotBS, Dark & Light, WAR, AoC, I was in all those betas, I saw enough people saying what would be an issue, but the devs and companies preferred to listen to FANBOIS. They DAMMIT NEVER LISTEN. And I swear, the next time it will be the same again and again and again. Those devs prefer to listen to fanbois because that more comfortable and we who warn and critizise are always branded as trolls and haters, and in the end, we are right. Always. But do they learn. Nope. The story ends always in the damn same way, and god knows I wish just for once I would be wrong and my doomsaying would be a mistake.

I wouldn't bring politics into this. The topic is muddy enough as it is. And the example you used actually IS true, democracy only works with a public that is educated and willing enough to defend it's own freedoms. I don't think many can honestly say that is still true for our general public.

This kind of goes back to a difference in how MMOs actually get made, and how we as gamers perceive they do. Developers don't always get the final say in a game. They are usually (especially now that MMOs cost so damn much to make) under a tremendous amount of pressure from outside investors and producers. It is not uncommon that developers say "hey the players are saying this" and then they are told "so what, do it this way". This isn't even getting into the problem with having so many developers, and no one really knows which players to listen to half the time. They just have to make their best educated guess.

With such a saturated market, we as players really do have some strength to pick and choose what we want to play. I think we are already starting to see a shift in the way developers are approaching this genre, after the last few train wrecks. These games aren't made overnight, and neither will the changes we want happen this way. I know it sucks having to wait so long for big changes, but this is one genre where patience really is a virtue.

I'm not really convinced you can ever not blame the developers, except in extreme circumstances.  Yes they have pressure, and yes they may have someone trying to tell them what to do or not to do, but what creative profession doesn't?  While you can argue differences in capital investment, I still believe that if the senior developers, i.e. the ones who interact with the publishers, had enough cojones to back up their way of making the game, then the publishers wouldn't insist on interfering to the point of ruin.  It's part of a senior developer's job to convince the investors of the team's vision of the game. 

Certainly there have definitely been some cases of publisher interference, but on the whole I think that we gamers let developers pass the buck far too easily.  At the end of their day, it's their game and if it fails, then they are the ones who made it that way.  If any blame lies at the feet of the publishers, it is because the developers promised something they couldn't deliver or failed at the planning stage or lacked the spine or charisma to push their vision forward.

Great article. I would say though that we are indeed waiting for another breakthrough "AAA" MMO. I fully expect TOR to be a huge hit. DC Online? eh not so much. I expect STO to be a moderate to huge hit as well, but the truth is, whether those in the industry or we the fans out here reading these threads about the industry just DO NOT KNOW when or where the next "Big Thing" will come from. For all we know some little, barebones company puts out a game and BAM! It becomes a huge hit. One just never knows. If you all remember, there were many thoughts that Blizzard would not put out a successful game because they had only done single player games. Well, I guess those critiques were really wrong there.

Just as a footnote, for that very reason that critiques are concerned that Bioware is great at making single player PC games will hamper their ability to make a good MMO, for me that gives me that gut feeling that TOR will be spectacular

Nevertheless, within the next few years, I'd be very surprised if at least a handful of games reach that so called "AAA" level of success. And don't be surprised by a game or two that come out of nowhere to shake up this industry.

So Mote It Be.

Its just a long bla blah "we are all victims of the system" shit. I can't hear it anymore. SOME people make decisions, and it is not us gamers. I don't care rats ass if developers or managers or goddamn cleaning personell decides, but SOMEONE in those corporations makes decisions, and they are apparently not smarter than those who ran all those bankrupt banks.

I am not even pointing at myself, but in every single beta there were enough clever people who pointed at the issues long before and the companies and whoever responsible WITHIN those companies chose to ignore the warnings. Devs, managers, I don't care, but the truth was THERE.

I for one am getting alittle more worried about where the MMO market is going, as bad as the globle economy is getting I would not be suprised to see the $14.99 sub-game's goto $19.99/mo or higher just to try an make up loss revenue and to prevent mass lay-offs just to keep their company(for some) above water. but as I see it the gaming industry is going to get hard hit in the wallet and many companies are going to start tightening their belts of which projects have more priority and which can be trashed.

Originally posted by Elikal

Its just a long bla blah "we are all victims of the system" shit. I can't hear it anymore. SOME people make decisions, and it is not us gamers. I don't care rats ass if developers or managers or goddamn cleaning personell decides, but SOMEONE in those corporations makes decisions, and they are apparently not smarter than those who ran all those bankrupt banks.

I am not even pointing at myself, but in every single beta there were enough clever people who pointed at the issues long before and the companies and whoever responsible WITHIN those companies chose to ignore the warnings. Devs, managers, I don't care, but the truth was THERE.

Exactly Ellkal, and that is why I am asking these questions. We have a seemly smart and informed community here and their thoughts and ideas should be heard and heard loudly by the powers that be. Eventually someone in the industry will listen and maybe then we can start having quality games that at least make the grinding part fun, exciting and/or at the very least interesting.

Originally posted by Elikal

Its just a long bla blah "we are all victims of the system" shit. I can't hear it anymore. SOME people make decisions, and it is not us gamers. I don't care rats ass if developers or managers or goddamn cleaning personell decides, but SOMEONE in those corporations makes decisions, and they are apparently not smarter than those who ran all those bankrupt banks.

I am not even pointing at myself, but in every single beta there were enough clever people who pointed at the issues long before and the companies and whoever responsible WITHIN those companies chose to ignore the warnings. Devs, managers, I don't care, but the truth was THERE.

As anyone who has worked for any large corporation will tell you corporations waste money because they do not take the time to look into the small everyday operations. Personally I work for a very small company, and yes I still see waste, but my girlfriend has worked for three very large corporations since we've known each other and they all waste amazing amounts of money because they don't take the time to deal with the individuals who run each division, more managers equals more waste, time and again she's seen this. Recently they even told all employees that they would no longer match the 401k, no college reimbursement and freeze all raises but a month later hired a new VP and spent half a mil on party in her honor, in the building she works in. Most corporations are not smart, fast or agile, they are plodding old dinosaurs.

Gaming corporations are as well. I think it's safe to say that most of us are looking for something new in this genre but we aren't seeing it from the large corporations. The biggest launch of this year, with the possible exception of Aion, could be FE. Yeah CO is chugging along but the free Halloween weekend just reaffirmed, for me anyway, that it wasn't a game I'd be interested in long term. FE went a slightly different direction and although no one is expecting the numbers of an Aion the community seems pretty stable and growing. It's still too early to tell but will Funcom be able to do something similar with The Secret World because it is different, let's hope. But games like STO, which I am still holding a bit of hope out for, goes and alienates what should be their core players by simply ignoring several main components of the IP, is that smart, is that even sane?

On a personal note, I played Planetside when it launched, the biggest problem I had with this game was a simple one that I believe still exists, if the bullets, beams, etc. do no hit the aiming reticule why have one at all? I'm not talking about a shotgun here, or the sniper rifle for that matter, but when you hit 5 feet to the left with a rifle blast of where you are aiming the game becomes pretty pointless. Let's hope this gets fixed in PS2 and I'll be back.

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

"Lord of the Rings Online launched in April of 2007 and as far as I am concerned, it was the last successful triple-A MMORPG launched (I think Free Realms is a good game too, but it's kind of playing a different ballgame). That means that we're coming up on three years before another MMO succeeds and we're placing a lot of hope in Star Wars: The Old Republic and DC Universe Online to bring us back to a place where we can feel good about a major game release. But I'm also hoping that past failures don't scare developers from innovating. I'd love to see another stab at an MMOFPS (which SOE has made mentions of, yay!) or even a new sandbox style fantasy game like Ultima Online back in the day."

 

I wouldn't put too much hope in those two titles. SOE has it's reputation which will forever (or at least until they let Smedley go) hamper any MMO they put forward. Add to that CO's launch and it looks to me like the "super hero" novelty has come and gone. If it was to succeed again it'd have to be done by a company that doesn't have the baggage that SOE and Cryptic have now. As for TOR...I really don't see it being the hit you hope it will. I think it'll be alot like Dragon Age: Origins, and there will be thoughts that while it is a good storied game, it's not something I'd want to pay monthly for. I'm loving DA:O right now, but there's no way I'd pay monthly for it, good story and all.

 

As for the second point (in orange) I don't see how it could scare them from innovating. They haven't been innovating, they've been chasing the dragon of WoW dollars and it is fairly easy to say those companies have already stopped innovating. The big name companies haven't put out MMOFPS' and Sandbox games. Only the small, severely underfunded indy companies have, and many have to resort to launching the game prematurely as you mention. Adventurine did it, Icarus the same and now Star vault is blatantly saying "Hey guys, we need you to buy our game so we can finish it".

the funniest thing i keep seeing is how people keep under estimating Bioware.  And what is even funnier is before WoW came out people said the same things about Blizzard.  Bioware is a tried and true company, if anyone can knock blizzard off their high horse it would be them.   And if they can't do it, then honestly i don't think anyone else can.  It may only sale a million off the start but in time it will gain ground i'm sure.

But i'm willing to bet that when TOR comes out it will be the greatest SW game ever and they will add in content every month or more-so.  Because if anyone payed much attention to the development they would know TOR is designed on the same engine as Hero's Journey.  Which enables them to make changes on the fly and add in content on the fly.

Originally posted by Xenrathe

Also thought it was a good read.

I've rooted for so many MMOs that ultimately failed... Ultima Online 2 and Shadowbane to name a few, yet I am still astounded by some of the poor choices that developers and management make.  I never played Asheron's Call (I was playing Ultima Online at the time) but I heard such wonderful things about AC's PvP that I was rather ecstatic to have a second chance with Asheron's Call 2.  Yet when I loaded it up, even I could tell that it was nothing like Asheron's Call.  How is such an obvious blunder made?

Ignoring AC2's other issues (as another poster mentioned), I suspect that it failed at the conceptual stage.  They wanted another WoW-esque hit.  But developers, and investors, and whoever else need to realize something: you aren't going to out-WoW WoW.  It's not going to happen.  Ever.

So stop trying.  Look at EvE Online, which is moderately successful because they offered an MMO experience that wasn't just WoW in a different set of clothes.  It fulfilled a desire for exploration and diplomacy and space fighting, a desire that no one else had managed to successfully tap.  CCP, the makers of Eve, seem to get their business in a way that few others do.  Though Eve isn't my cup of tea, I've seen enough to believe that CCP knows how to patch the game in a way that doesn't alter the fundamental experience, the social empire-building aspects.  Because of this, CCP has earned their fan's loyalty and trust.

 

Getting back to failed MMOs, I would be keenly interested to read an interview with a developer of a failed MMO, for some insight into how and why the ball was dropped.  Sadly such interviews are often lacking in said insight, usually full of marketing lines, excuses, or an outright demonstration that the developer at no point knew what he was doing.  Though not a MMO, I remember reading an interview with one of the creators of Kane & Lynch (which achieved some fame in the critical realm because of the Gamespot controversy), which was fascinatingly honest.  Any chance anyone could link me to a similiar MMO interview?

In my opinion, what it often comes down to is that developers (and the 'suits') are unwilling and unable to throw away bad work.  As a writer, I've learned that you've got to be willing to chuck something that isn't going to work.  I've spent hours upon hours on a short story, or a chapter in a novel, or an article only to admit that it was bad and throw it away and start fresh.  Unfortunately while writing is basically free, games require lots of capital, and sometimes these developers are left with basically no choice but to hype their game in order to front-load box sales.  Sucks, but I'm not sure that it's reasonable to expect otherwise.

But because I prefer to never end on a sour note, I admit to being somewhat happy that the big publishers are unable or unwilling to take risks.  That makes your more independent titles that much more refreshing, that much more bold.  Anyone hear about Love, for example?  Only a matter of time til one of these smaller titles scores big.

Red by me:

I don't know if you're speaking in generalizations or if you actually think AC2 came out after WoW.  For what it's worth, AC2 was out roughly 2 years before WoW.  WoW actually has more in common with AC2 than any other game I've seen/played.

AC2's failures were epic. 

First, as has already been noted, AC2 was NOTHING like it's predecessor.  The only common item between the two besides the name, was the lore.  That's it.  AC1 and AC2 were at polar opposites as far as game play.  Second was the plethora of brokenness.  Chat, skills/combat, crafting....pretty much everything at one point or another.  Third, and I think this is one that gets glanced over often, is the system requirements for AC2 at the time of release were mammoth and precluded many interested in the game.

AC2 was a game that was conceived by bean counters.  It was the game MS thought they could make to be as generic as possible so as to appeal to as many as possible, and they ended up not appealing to many at all.

I will say I am surprised it lasted as long as it did.

More OT:

Awesome article.  One of the better reads I've had in my years lurking the MMORPG site.

I also want to throw my endorsement hat into the ring for Fallen Earth.  The post apocolyptic MMO/FPS/RPG.  Excellent game from an indy developer.  It's a breath of fresh air in a sea of WoW wanna-be's.  It's not the perfect polished game, but lots of fun if you take the time to learn it.

Originally posted by erictlewis

That was a very good read.

I agree SOE has messed up a bunch but they have a couple of really good games haging in there. 

You had turbine who completely blew it with DND to come back out and with the FTP model to almost save it.  LOTRO is floudering, despite what some of the fan boys say and the possibilies in china.  The game in the states has seen a huge downturn, maybe with this xpack they can save it,  but I really dont thing so, lacking any clear dirrection.

Other gaming companies, funcom with there problems with AOC, NCSOFT what a joke I have seen so many post where folks went to AION then going back to their respected games.  

It is a harsh market, and I think were in for an MMO crash soon, total and across the board. 

Main reaon why,  folks are board.

 

Red by me.

RE: Turbine

An announcement from the devs at roughly the beginning of the summer indicated subs were increasing, even in the western markets.  This was made right before they released in Asia where they sold 2.5 million copies.

Add to that they are releasing a new x-pack in roughly a week and it doesn't sound like a company in trouble, or "floudering"(sic) to me.

Doesn't sound much like a company in a downturn either.

It doesn't help that there are great single player games out there that gives players an epic experience minus the awful communities and gold farmers...

I personally think that the reasons we're seeing so many lackluster releases are twofold.

1. As touched on in the article, too many companies are pushing out their games too early too get a revenue stream coming in. Perfect examples recently are AoC and WAR. It's all been about getting a chunk of the WoW pie too.

Both those games were developed by companies that should have known better than to do what they did, but both did it anyway. Or more correctly, they were forced to push out their games incomplete because "big brother money man" was breathing down their necks because "big brother" was looking over at WoW and salivating at the prospect of getting some of that dough encrusted filling.

MBJ got his truckload of cash (his words at the time) from EA, and Mythic lost it's say as to when the game was released. Oh he'll deny it till he's blue in the face, but those of us that were following the game's development saw the cuts in planned content begin and the feeling of rush rush set in. Funcom signed a publishing deal with SCi/Eidos and SCi/Eidos and major Funcom shareholders started getting anxious about not seeing revenues and we know how that went.

Unfortunately we still see it happening even after those huge mistakes. Take a look at what's going on with Cryptic/Atari and STO.

2. For some reason a bunch of the mmo developers didn't look at what Blizzard did with WoW properly. Blizzard didn't worry about being overly innovative. They didn't worry about getting the pats on the back from other devs at conventions, pseudo gaming experts and journalists, and us talking heads on forums, over their rad design concepts either. They simply took a bunch of things that people obviously liked in other games, put them together in one, and did most of those things better than they'd been done before. They evolved the genre just a little bit. They didn't try and mutate it in one go.

Again we can look at AoC and WAR for good examples. It was evident from the popularity of PvP in WoW that PvP was becoming a more popular activity in mmos. So what do these companies do? Instead of just tweeking the PvP in their games to improve on what WoW was doing, they go whole hog way too far in that direction and promote their games as PvP games. They failed to see that although PvP was becoming a more popular activity for mmo players to participate in, it wasn't something that most mmo players wanted to do most of the time. Sure they both offered PvE too, but it was done in a half-hearted manner.

Then we have games like Darkfall, where apparently the company bought into the rhetoric of the wannabe gaming intelligentsia at various sites (including this one at times), and on the various forums/blogs on a lot of those sites (including this one at times), about having the games hearken back to the early days. The problem is that all these flapping lips seem to forget, or conveniently fail to mention, that there was a good reason why most of those elements fell to the wayside eventually. Most people didn't like them back then, and just because these people remember those things fondly isn't going to make enough others like them now.

I think that we are going to again see some big numbers for some upcoming games, but it'll be the games that make darn sure they have a full game experience at release that's relatively bug free, and offer the players what they are showing they like in what they're playing already. As opposed to thinking they know better what players will like.