Some of the most heated discussions on game forums anywhere happen between fans and 'anti-fans' of games, one side rooting for success, the other for failure. In today's Devil's Advocate, we take a look at why it is that anyone would want a game to fail. Check it out and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.

When it comes to MMORPGs, the word “failure” is a strong statement. It can connote the closing of a game, or financial misfortune, or any number of different scenarios that in very few contexts would be seen as a positive. The thing is, some people wish for certain MMORPGs to fail, and that doesn't seem like a good thing to me.

Read more of Victor Barreiro Jr.'s and Very Scary's The Devil's Advocate: Wanting MMO Failure.

For me, wanting a game to fail is attached to simlply disagreeing with design decisions or execution, and not wanting success to be a roadmap for future games (which it would stand to reason I would also not like!)

Originally posted by Lethality

For me, wanting a game to fail is attached to simlply disagreeing with design decisions or executiong, and not wanting success to be a roadmap for future games (which it would stand to reason I would also not like!)

 

Thats it exactly for me. I'd hate to see a game with minimal features and huge rails lead the way to future games doing exactly the same.

Personally, I enjoy these battles over who shall eat the paste. 

Selling t-shirts like crazy!

people should never want a company to fail.  mainly because as you said, there are people involved here and kids that might not eat if mommy or daddy dont bring home  a paycheck.  i know my kids sure wouldnt eat if I didnt. 

not liking a game and not buying a game is totally up to the individual person but the worst part about mmos to me is the players.  it seems like the players dont like any single game out there, all they do is bash every single new game, people see all the negative and think, wow this game must suck, dont buy it.  remember we are living in a society where most people are afraid to make a decision for themself, before they go see a movie they have to see a review of the movie, reviewer says its bad, oops dont go see that movie.  people see these negative comments about a game and think they shouldnt buy it, that simple.  most humans are unable to choose for themselves anymore. 

so next time a game comes out that you just dont like, instead of whining and complaining about it not being this and that, just stay away from it and play something else.

Originally posted by Zooce
Lol, thigh-master...wtf.

Where the kisses are hers and hers and his...  (And apparently, those young'uns who were teens in the 90s.)

I want games to fail so the players will quit, come back to my game, and tell me how my opinions were right all along.

No wait... Im not that insecure and only care why it failed so I can make sure I dont make the same mistake in any future project of mine.

Interesting read.  Though I do agree, I believe you miss one of the main reasons people want an MMO to fail...namely...the future.

If a game that someone thinks is crap, looks like its going to succeed, then there's a chance, based on past history, that this type of MMO will become the next "big thing" (or will continue an unwanted past trend).  MMO developers will then "clone" the concepts and for the next 8 years (you can guess what game I'm using as reference) the market will be saturated with these types of games.  So suddenly, based on fear of success, people who do not like the game, and understand, based on past history, that if it succeeds it may be the only type of big game for a long time, began to bash said game based on speculation and, many times, downright lies.

I never want to see a game fail, no matter if its good or downright crap, but its hard to maintain this viewpoint after you see the vast majority of developers doing little to innovate, and instead, slapping a new coat a paint on the last "big thing" and hoping they sell enough to stay in business.

uh god, i know i will get another break for answering this topic... anyway, here we go:

imo that's due to kid's attitude nowadays. they are like "nach mir die sinflut!", eg, they think they are the centre of the world, and what they like has to be the good thing. if they dont like it - they want no one else to have fun with it either!

don't ask me how that happened, when gaming started, it was all about fun, you didnt like a game? fine, play another game, but we surely did not start 20 page post's about "why not to play castles of dr creep", you had a friend which didnt like all of your favorite games? fine, there are enough tho he liked that you could play if you wanted to play with him.

also, wow might be to blame. since wow it was "all or nothing!" gaming wise. no more "uh i just tend to play for fun now and then", you had to addept a professional game style to reach end content, do raids 3 times a week (or usualy even more!), and in between, farm your gear, skills, professions, level the factions and so on.

WoW is not meant to have breaks (even tho the tipp of the day sais so, ITS A TRAP!) :P

(dont get me wrong, i still play wow... just to my terms. being guild lead kinda is of advantage here hehe)

I wanted SWTOR to be the greatest MMO in history. When it became obvious they ignored all player feedback and blew their budget on VO that would only be cool once then be skipped (as fedback indicated) they deserved to fail for ignoring the consumers, then shipping them an unfinished game.

Originally posted by scarybooster
Question: Do you think it's really the developers that don't want innovation or is it investors and parent companies pushing for the "safe" route? All the developers I've talked to are passionate about their games and want to play an innovative new game. Where does this fall through the cracks from development to release?

This is a cop out.

Those oh so great dev's that people talk about, have to agree to the terms to get the cash. And/or sell out to the huge companies when they wave enough cash under their noses.

Like everything else.. money talks in the end. Dev's get caught up in the end and have to decide how they will choose. Stay true to the dream or cash out.

So far..most cash out. Not good or bad..just a personal choice. They have families and people that they have to take care of too. But can not blame everything on the people waving the cash around. it does take the dev's saying yes in the end as well.

On topic: the majority of people that bash games do not do it out of blind hate. I would say that most really do not want trends to get set by what they see as bad games. Trends last for a while..and that can mean that they will have lots of companies pumping out copies of what they see as bad games for a while.

Originally posted by Lethality

For me, wanting a game to fail is attached to simlply disagreeing with design decisions or execution, and not wanting success to be a roadmap for future games (which it would stand to reason I would also not like!)

 

I too feel the same. Fail is a strong word though, maybe too strong.

I wont mince words, I feel the GW2 model is the gaming anti-christ, atleast one of the signs. I hate the business model far more than the gameplay itself. 

I shudder at a future when buying gold in my mmorpg is the norm instead of the outlier. When an mmorpg is collection of games in a box without a cohesive one world design. When hype sells 2.4 million boxes at launch and solid innovative play sells less than 500k at launch. When "give me now" trumps earning an reward. When all of this is a raging sucess. 

I never wish an MMO to downright fail.. There is an audience for every type of game, problem is when developers stick the finger up at the 2% and make the "same ol game" for the majority in turn which the majority rejects because they already have 1 million games just like it..

Good games like the chronicles of spellborne, Matrix Online and Tabula Rasa were wayy before their time and people called for their heads all the time.. Seeing those games shut down and all those jobs liquidated helps no one.. Not the industry, not the genre, not the consumers.. It only further helps the guy with the big wallet realize that MMO's are NOT the future and cannot be dependant on support from its fans (SWTOR was a big check in this category because not even star wars fans could keep that game afloat, which is partly what they were relying on)

One day, the genre will suffer a great collapse and then and only then will we really weed out the part time players who want everything to fail from the true genre supporters who will help rebuild and maintain the genre as it were back in 99-2003...