I know 2D is the past and even games "considered" 2D are really isometric view (fake 3D) games like Diablo 2. The point I'm looking at here is that in a 3D world unless the game is Themepark, the learning curve is going to be steep (I'm look at you Everquest and Darkfall) Therefore it's hard to sink yourself into without feeling lost. Before EQ and the rush of 3D MMO that we have now, they were all 2D and mostly just graphical overlays on top of  a M.U.D. Sierra Online's The Realm was one of the first as well as NexusTK which was probably the first non MUD Graphical Online Game. One thing you will notice about the older 2D games are the level of Roleplay and involvement the community has in world and mechanic development is way higher. I sense people miss the community aspect of online gaming and the depth of roleplay where it went past pretending to be someone and it went to a mechanic level (NexusTK's subpaths were run by players... a voted Elder with Guides below him to train students who wish to join) And that doesn't even touch the depth of that game but things the average gamer couldn't even imagine ARE possible.

My question, Do you think 2D is still viable? Would you play a 2D game if you knew the gameplay/mechanics were solid? Are you interested in a game that involves the players on an individual level? Would you play a game that required you to  win a monthy story or weekly poetry revel/or become a master of a trade to progress to the next tier of power?

Honestly? No.

If this were the 90's then I probably would have, but it's not. I don't see the point in using old tech considering we were leaps and bounds above that even in the late 90's/early 2000's. Gaming doesn't have quite the same charm as movies being shot in black & white for effect.

Short answer. No. I wouldn't even play WoW because it looks like crap, I definately wouldn't play a 2D MMO.   As for a 2D mmo being a hit, I'd say it's entirely possible, it just wouldn't have me playing it. I want the immersion of 3D, and would like to see it reach a scale way beyond what we have currently.

Of course it can. Anything can be a hit if it's released at the right time to the right audience.

You and I might scoff at these "lesser" low res 2-D games but quite honestly, we're not a majority of the population. And there have already been a lot of 2-D MMOs that are very popular. I remember when I was a freshman in highschool EVERYONE was playing maplestory. At least for a year or two maple story was making some serious money. And it's still very popular and fun.

It's just a matter of how well it's made and whether it's fun or not. It's all about the gameplay. :P

I'm suggesting a 2D format to make it easier for devs to incorporate a roleplay element into the game/class/role/social/evolution aspects... Maplestory is a grindfest although I will say I got the most enjoyment in that game from it's unforgiving platforming zones... Metroid style climbing ya know? thats fun! But give better rewards! they are hard! XD

But like I said... and a prime example being NexusTK....  from noon EST to 1PM sometimes later, every 2 hours there would be a schedueled game event that is part of the game yet run and hosted by elected players who determine the teams splitting tops and then the rest for multiple playstyle games... All out wars in Carnages, while the strategic mind could play in an elixir war, a game of freeze tag and blocking played with Bows and dye arrows =P Fox hunts for the even play field fast action game and each even gave a realistically worthy reward as well as ingame fame with a mark on your chaacters permanent legend.

Each path(class) Warrior, Rogue, Mage and Poet has 4 subpaths... each path has 1 game run and 3 player run paths.... Game run paths have item and monetary requirements to join and no roleplay involved... Player run paths have slightly better more unique and stronger spells, their own game area... Barbarians have their Cave, Druids have their Grove.... To join a path you have to be accepted under a guide and then trained for anywhere from a few weeks to a year before you are able to join and learn any abilities

Does this sound fun to others? It excites me but I can see that others mind find it a horrible idea.

I think a 2D MMO could be successful, but it'd need to be released on the right platform, namely smartphones and Facebook. I don't think it would stand a chance if it were competing directly with current-gen MMOs, but it could find a market among non-gamers or gamers-on-the-go.

The gameplay sounds great but i think you miss the point. Why pair a game with great features with visuals that are nearly 2 decades old at least? This people on this site in particular don't mind the look of old games with great gameplay, even when we can see actual squares the image is made up of. But for a new game to intentionally go down such an old graphical route just seems silly, it's nostalgia for nostalgia's sake.

For a new MMO about the oldest style I could bear would be something along the lines used in City of Heroes/Villains, i'd be completely fine with that but for what you are talking about it would have to have really, really... really good reviews after release for me to consider playing. Not a winning formaula for a hit heading in to 2012 imo. Of course that's just my view.

Yes.  I still play an old overhead, 2d, click to move and attack game to this day.  It was actually shutdown back in 1997, but some genius fellows reverse engineered it and put it back up.  They even added new content, scaled it a bit harder, and still kept the community intact.  People discovered its existence and came back on their own.  Ahh the good old days.

To a degree yes. It would need to be released as an indie game of course, and it would need some very interesting features and mechanics.

Moreover, it would need to be very sandbox with many of it's elements. Look at games like Minecraft and Terraria, they don't have the best looking representations, but both games have seen much success through word-of-mouth.

Gameplay and Mechanics will always be more important than visual appeal, as long as the gameplay and mechanics are extremely interesting and relatively bug free.

If we were talking about something like Baldur's gate online certainly.  Something like that could bring the lost magic back. Roleplay as well.

Can one be a hit? Yes, just look at MapleStory.

However, I think it would be difficult for a new 2d mmo to be a hit today. It would need to be f2p and be highly unique in some way.

Personally though, I wouldn't mind playing a 2d mmo. I really like the feel of Maple, I just wish that it had actual meaningful content.

Honestly,

It depends on how fun the game is, and the community in the game. I don't base a game off of its graphics unless its like Runescape.. I think a 2d game that is extremely solid and has a good development team would do very well, because there are alot of people in this world that don't have good enough computers to run these graphic intensive MMOs.

There are hundreds of thousands of people not playing maplestory because of the disgusting nature of the company behind it. If someone good comes along and makes a quality 2d sidescroller, it will be massive.

hell yes it can. just take a look at maple story.