I really liked Rifts when I played it, but my friends and I were so amped about Star Wars that I never paid that much mind. Now that Star Wars has come out and it ended up so bland and average, maybe it's time to give that game another shot.

This is going to be a great year for MMOs though.  EA's first salvo with SWTOR was a little weak, but the more I learned about who was developing the game, the more I realized that getting my hopes up would only result in disappointment. 

The Secret World and Guild Wars II at least both have features that they can point to and say "This is what we are doing to make the game play different than what you are used to."  My bet is that The Secret World will be the game that gets the win for me.  Tera and Wildstar are definitely contenders as well. It'll take a miracle for me to stick with Star Wars though. 

And I loved seeing Glitch up there.  For what it is, Glitch is pretty awesome. 

ROFL at people voting for SWTOR as being innovative.  I mean... c'mon!  All they did was add BioWare storytelling... bad and formulaic BioWare storytelling... to Warhammer Online then gussied it up with lightsabers and spaceships. 

Originally posted by senadin

Not sure why ArcheAge is in the list. The game doesnt even release in North America....

maybe it will maybe it wont, we simple dont know.

Do i think it stand to be something great? yeah fore sure but it does not deserve to win/be nominated  any award based on that premise.

Because this is a international site and the world actually (*gasp*) is larger than the USA?

There is nothing that stops games thet only releases in other parts of the world to get a award.

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by Calerxes

How about players that think SW:TOR is innovative? but nah that cannot be there's alway a comspiracy isn't there, where's me tin hat.

Whatever, the most innovative game released in 2011 is kinda like have a food vote on a gourmet site and have the choice between Big Mac, Whopper and similar products.

 

That's a great way of putting it.

Also how could you consider these as player choices when the games listed are nominated by YOU and not the players?

Seriously your site is losing more and more credibility lately. Considering i've been here for quite many years i've seen it go from good to real bad! From poorly constructed articles with articles that arent even proofread for errors and english isnt even my first langauge! To totally bias stories.

Originally posted by red_cruiser

ROFL at people voting for SWTOR as being innovative.  I mean... c'mon!  All they did was add BioWare storytelling... bad and formulaic BioWare storytelling... to Warhammer Online then gussied it up with lightsabers and spaceships. 

WAR is PvP centered, TOR is PvE centered so pick another game as example. 

The games play differently, WOW and Rift are closer to TOR than WAR playstyle wise.

Originally posted by red_cruiser

ROFL at people voting for SWTOR as being innovative.  I mean... c'mon!  All they did was add BioWare storytelling... bad and formulaic BioWare storytelling... to Warhammer Online then gussied it up with lightsabers and spaceships. 

Recipe for SWTOR

1 Can Bioware Storytelling

1 Generic MMO Skill/Combat system, seperated. Discard Auto-attack or save for later use.

1 Box of Lightsabers

Mix well, serve over WoW gameplay with a side of StarFox 

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by senadin

Not sure why ArcheAge is in the list. The game doesnt even release in North America....

maybe it will maybe it wont, we simple dont know.

Do i think it stand to be something great? yeah fore sure but it does not deserve to win/be nominated  any award based on that premise.

Because this is a international site and the world actually (*gasp*) is larger than the USA?

There is nothing that stops games thet only releases in other parts of the world to get a award.

 

Eh trust me i am not saying that to boost the US ego... i am not even from there. However the target audience of this site is westerner. If the site was trully international in scope, this list would be mostly Korean and Asian MMO. We like to think that western MMO are huge, they arent bad, but there's a lot of asians out there and they LOVE their MMO.

So it's why i am saying ArcheAge should not be in this list. I want that game to come to these shores bad but until it is announced, the votes, perhaps to the exception of most anticipated are pointless. Just like the really innovative game in that bunch was Glitch, yet it probably wont win....

wth is WoW doing here???

The secret world? does anyone still believe in funcom??

How can SWTOR be considered in some categores and not others? I get it: It's not in the "Game of the Year" category beause it's only been released 11 days in 2011.   So, how is it in any other category then?  

Imagine the most critically acclaimed movie in 2011 considered for "Best Sound" but not for "Best Picture".  "Oh, we'll consider it for best sound THIS year, but best picture NEXT year."  

Whoever posts "MMORPG Game of the Year" in their advertising in 2012 better thank their lucky stars that SWTOR wasn't even nominated.

I don't see anyone beating GW2 next year for this category, so basically SWTOR is out of luck.

Originally posted by Qazaam

How can SWTOR be considered in some categores and not others? I get it: It's not in the "Game of the Year" category beause it's only been released 11 days in 2011.   So, how is it in any other category then?  

Imagine the most critically acclaimed movie in 2011 considered for "Best Sound" but not for "Best Picture".  "Oh, we'll consider it for best sound THIS year, but best picture NEXT year."  

Whoever posts "MMORPG Game of the Year" in their advertising in 2012 better thank their lucky stars that SWTOR wasn't even nominated.

I don't see anyone beating GW2 next year for this category, so basically SWTOR is out of luck.

 

It's ok, MSNBC gave it GOTY award..... =P it deserves a good LULZ!

Originally posted by Qazaam

How can SWTOR be considered in some categores and not others? I get it: It's not in the "Game of the Year" category beause it's only been released 11 days in 2011.   So, how is it in any other category then?  

Imagine the most critically acclaimed movie in 2011 considered for "Best Sound" but not for "Best Picture".  "Oh, we'll consider it for best sound THIS year, but best picture NEXT year."  

Whoever posts "MMORPG Game of the Year" in their advertising in 2012 better thank their lucky stars that SWTOR wasn't even nominated.

I don't see anyone beating GW2 next year for this category, so basically SWTOR is out of luck.

Especially in the "most innovative" category, life irony is gigantic.

Only 5 options in G o t Year?

I could not vote for any of them :;

Somehow, I get the feeling that a lot of people have never played DC Universe Online. It was the only innovative game this year. I guess it's just a popularity contest anyways. 

That awkward moment when all nominatees for the most inovative are WoW and its clones.

Everyone vote wow, and lets watch the outrage

2011 wasn't a year for new, quality releases for me. It was more of a year for old games to become golden (Lineage II, Final Fantasy XI, RuneScape Everquest II?) and recent releases to get better, RIFT being a prime example.

So I'm taking a look at the list of the most "innovative MMORPG," and all I'm seeing are WoW and its clones (Don't start the WoW clone argument -  these newer games use WoW as an example in their development and their very being, therefore being WoW-clones. WoW was an Everquest clone in its time, however). But it's understandable why these are on the list - there was close to no mainstream innovation in 2011, ending with the giant multi-million dollar WoW-clone (read above) that is Star Wars: the Old Republic.

I voted for RIFT because the developers did so well to update the game on a regular basis. Yeah, RIFT is a WoW-clone... but a regularly-updated one and, despite not actually playing the game due to not beign in my fasaad, I have friends who play it and from what I've seen and heard, Trion did a great job compared to the other developers, closely followed by JaGeX (for finally fixing 99 perecent of the botting issue that plagued RuneScape for years).

So yeah... go RIFT. Unorignal game, original developers.

Originally posted by dreamscaper

Rift is currently leading by a heavy margin, despite the fact that the game does very little  that most of us consider innovative. Is it a good game? Sure. Does it deserve an award for innovation? No way in hell.

This should have been a fairly easy win for Glitch, but unfortunately player's choice awards tend to be more like popularity contests than valid award competitions.

I thought quite a while about the Innovative category.  I looked up the word innovative and thought about the definition while trying to imagine the intent behind the category.  As gamers, and specifically MMO gamers, we throw the word innovative around a lot.

Innovative has two main aspects to its definition.  On one hand it means new, original, and novel.  That is something that hasn't really been done before.  That aspect of the definition made me want to vote for Glitch.  It is doing something new and different.  The second aspect to the definition of innovative is that of it being pioneering, ground-breaking, and state-of-the-art.  That implies not only new but leading.   I think RIFT definitely has done that.

Another problem we have as gamers is that we throw around buzz phrases and memes like they truths.  One of the most simple and ignorant of these is "WoW Clone".  Every time I see this tossed out I think, "oh, here's a poster that doesn't really think for themselves.  They just hop on the meme-wagon like highschool kids at a pep rally."

RIFT is innovative for a few reasons:

1. Pace of Development - This isn't easily seen, but compared to the glacial pace that most studios publish, Trion's development cycle is definitley innovative.
2. Approach to Development - This is also highly innovative.  They experiment and remove features that don't work or aren't popular and evolve features that are popular.
3. Solo vs Group vs Raider vs PvPr - RIFT has blurred the lines between these categories of players better than any other game I've played so far and definitely more than any other game being voted for in this competition.  Solo players can actually earn gear that is as good as dungeon gear.  Crafted gear has a place in an end-game gear build.  While raid gear is clearly better, there are accessible but challenging raids.  With the next patch mid-tier gear will get buffed so that is more competitive with a less glaring gap between raid and dungeon/planar gear.  PvP gear also is competitive with other gear so a PvP player can use that gear and still be an asset to a group.
4. Account Management Features - Trion has implemented account safety features and account convenience features at no additional cost to their customers (server transfers, authenticators, coin lock).
5. RIFT Mobile - RIFT Mobile is in the beta testing phase.  This wil be mobile apps that let players guild and friend chat with their mobile device and play mini-games to earn in game loot.

Why is World of Warcraft an option in TWO categories????  What the hell... 

How the hell is TOR not nominated for Game of the Year?

And DCUO and LotRO is?

Originally posted by Shayde

How the hell is TOR not nominated for Game of the Year?

 And DCUO and LotRO is?

TOR was only out for 15 days. Get over it.