Originally posted by Scot

The number of players who want to play for free outnumbers those prepared to pay for a MMO. Amazing, any more insights from the world of the bleeding obvious?

Unfortunately apart from filling up space in a virtual world, how do those free players contribute to MMO’s or gaming?

 Because alot of those free players end up paying or buying something in the game....Even if its just 5 dollars, those 5 dollar donations add up when you get enough people......The genre would have probably been bankrupt by now had it stuck with the p2p philosophy....The tiems are changing and you either embrace it or are bitter and get left behind.

very casual and heavily solo orientated

lots of micro transactions

lots of telling the story at you, rather than letting you play the game (a trend in all games not just mmos)

lost of hand holding and tutorials, no letting you figure shit out for yourself and dropping you in the deep end

designed around cash shops and getting players to use the shop (again a trend in all games not just mmos)

prioritising things that look good when selling the game like graphics and voice work, over things that make the game FUN to play

less of an emphasis on being in a breathing  world, more of an emphasis on Telling you a story.

Originally posted by Theocritus
I don't know about the future, but one troubling trend of recent MMOs is hwo much importance they are putting on the story...It feels liek the genre is really getting away from the massive and concentrating on the individual.....The problem with these types of games is that the story takes away from the community and often feels like we are just going through the motions as the story has already been determined.

this is a trend in gaming in general.  Look at first person shooters, 90% of modern shooters are corridors and cutscenes, compare to older FPS where you could explore around, figure stuff out for yourself, unlock secrets etc..

Originally posted by ShakyMo

very casual and heavily solo orientated

Good. Don't want to play a game like a job with weekly meetings and commitment.

lots of micro transactions

If that helps fund development ... good .. since i am probably the guy who free ride on whales buying $500 swords.

lots of telling the story at you, rather than letting you play the game (a trend in all games not just mmos)

Depends on the story. Scripted events are ok .. and better than cut-scenes.

lost of hand holding and tutorials, no letting you figure shit out for yourself and dropping you in the deep end

Tutorials about mechanics is ok. Beats reading about it on a website.

designed around cash shops and getting players to use the shop (again a trend in all games not just mmos)

Only bad for people with no will power.

prioritising things that look good when selling the game like graphics and voice work, over things that make the game FUN to play

Not seeing that at all. Lots of MMOs are touting their game play ssystems and mechanics. In fact, graphics is much less a selling point for MMO than other games.

less of an emphasis on being in a breathing  world, more of an emphasis on Telling you a story.

As long as the game is fun, i really don't care if it is a breathing world. In fact, a lot of fun games are not worlds. It is not a necessity for fun.

Originally posted by ShakyMo

very casual and heavily solo orientated

lots of micro transactions

lots of telling the story at you, rather than letting you play the game (a trend in all games not just mmos)

lost of hand holding and tutorials, no letting you figure shit out for yourself and dropping you in the deep end

designed around cash shops and getting players to use the shop (again a trend in all games not just mmos)

prioritising things that look good when selling the game like graphics and voice work, over things that make the game FUN to play

less of an emphasis on being in a breathing  world, more of an emphasis on Telling you a story.

I understand what you are saying, but the gaming industry is only reacting to the change in the gaming populations demographics.  Sad to say, more and more people are taking the passive approach to these matters.  They WANT to be told a story, they WANT to have their hands held.  In other words, we are seeing more and more adults with the basic mentality and perspectives of children. 

This isn't just the US. Its pretty much true through out much of the so called "developed" world.   Its a very troubling circumstance, that is going to result in many bad things over the coming years.  The gaming companies are simply reacting to it, in their pursuit of profits.

"In other words, we are seeing more and more adults with the basic mentality and perspectives of children. "

This is what happens when fun becomes more important than thinking. Entertainment is not just about fun, it should engage you, inform you, stretch you. When it does all those things it is far more satisfying.

Easymode MMO’s are like TV cartoons, the MMO genre could offer so much more.

Originally posted by Theocritus

Originally posted by Scot

The number of players who want to play for free outnumbers those prepared to pay for a MMO. Amazing, any more insights from the world of the bleeding obvious?

Unfortunately apart from filling up space in a virtual world, how do those free players contribute to MMO’s or gaming?

 Because alot of those free players end up paying or buying something in the game....Even if its just 5 dollars, those 5 dollar donations add up when you get enough people......The genre would have probably been bankrupt by now had it stuck with the p2p philosophy....The tiems are changing and you either embrace it or are bitter and get left behind.

If you end up paying you are contributing, if you mod you are contributing, if you run a fan site you are contributing, if you do a lot of crafting and keep the economy going, you are contributing. Some MMOs are more built for players who do not pay to contribute to the game. PS2 springs to mind, you are my opponent or my ally, you are contributing to the game from the moment you log in. But in a more traditional MMO you don’t make the game better by just logging in.

And why is contribution important, do we have to have that asked again? Games don’t grow on trees, they have staff who need paying, new content that needs investment. Also this is multiplayer, an opportunity for us all to make a game better. Don’t stick to those tramlines, a MMO or any other multiplayer game can be a richer experience if you give it a try.

Ah prognostication - always a minefield.

What they SHOULD do in my opinion is form a temporary conglommerate of companies, have each produce (in close liaison) the elements of a cooperatively produced MASSIVE MMO they are best at, and release it onto the world.

An MMO with a target 10,000,000 players and sub payment system would actually have a shot if this kind of cooperation happened.

Fat chance however...

future you come home house reconize you ask you what you wanne do you say playing<inserted name mmo or game> game starts on your screen everything that involves money automatically transfer from your bank to company of game and its all in cloud.

Your brain tap into system and you can fantasize any fantasy you want and engine generate that on the virtual reality screen.

No hardware or any typing needed only a holgraphic screen that when finished just vanish in thin air.

at final,  all ll be back to old school mmorpg gameply,not soon but it ll happen at end

Originally posted by Scot

"In other words, we are seeing more and more adults with the basic mentality and perspectives of children. "

This is what happens when fun becomes more important than thinking. Entertainment is not just about fun, it should engage you, inform you, stretch you. When it does all those things it is far more satisfying.

Easymode MMO’s are like TV cartoons, the MMO genre could offer so much more.

I disagree. Entertainment is about fun .. that is how it is marketed, and what people want from entertainment.

When i want to be informed, i read a Time magazine article, or a scientific paper. When i want to be engage, i have discussions with my colleauges. When i want to stretch, i learn a new scientific technique and apply it to my work.

Entertainment is when i pass time and relax my mind. If it informs ... sure .. i will take it as a side effect. But that is NOT what i look for when i use entertainment.

That is the same for movies, anime, and novels. Don't get me wrong, i don't avoid those things in my entertainment. For example, I love Lincoln the movie. However, it is NOT a pre-requsite for my entertainment. I love The Avengers as much.

The MMO genre, or any entertainment, should not forget fun in the name of playing the role not central to an entertainment product.

"When i want to be informed, i read a Time magazine article, or a scientific paper. When i want to be engage, i have discussions with my colleauges. When i want to stretch, i learn a new scientific technique and apply it to my work."

So Time or a scientific paper never amuses you, they are only ever a dry chore. Your colleagues never amuse you or stretch you?

Don’t pigeonhole bits of your life, get the most out of everything.