General Discussion

Originally posted by WiccanCircle

Everyone loves their first MMO.

The first MMORPGs were such a monumental change from the computer games we had been playing that it game us a live experience, a breath of life in a game that had always been dead.  The sense that there was no 'Pause' button no 'Save Game' option simply changed everything.

The early games didn't have the same computing power that today's games do... that is exactly what made them great in many ways.  Early games catered to a specific market... mostly the middle to upper income computer owners that had internet and high end computers that could play games online.  Because of this you had a more mature population... not just in age but in mentality.

Today's games are sold to the masses and have now dropped down to try and include everyone.  This added hoards of kids and less mature players to the populations.  But business is business and when you are making a game today your market will be over 80% from the mid to lower brackets in age and income and ability.  You will sell to your market and hence, games have been dumbed down to meet the expectations, abilitiies and maturity level of a much less sophisticated group.

That being said... People that came from EQ are always looking to replace that experience.  It became the benchmark for their MMO world.  Expectations are now founded on what emotional responce they had to that game.  Much of the emotion was about the new genre and not the game itself.

I was an Asheron's Call baby.  And it changed the way I view all games to this very day.  When, after a year or so I tried EverQuest, I didn't like it.  It was too simple and confining.  It lacked the depth and character developement that AC had.  It was like little slot-cars racing around the exact same line in the track, over and over and over.  Asheron's Call spoiled me with its open character/power/skill design.  I can never go back to a game like World of Warcraft or any of the other EQ-clones. 

They simply are too restrictive now that I have tasted MMORPG freedom!

I also think a good amount of players came from MUDs.  I remember playing my favorite (Medievia) and had an absolute blast.  The freedom you had in that game was tremendous.  Granted, it was all ANSI text based, but you pretty much could travel where ever you wanted.  Whether or not that was wise was another question entirely.  If your corpse was in a "bad" spot... ugh! 

When EQ came out, I remember how fun that was.  Finally, some graphics to the game genre I enjoyed.  It did a decent enough job I thought. 

Then the next evolution with WoW.  Very cookie cutter based.  Doing a quest was a matter of going to a website, looking up the coords, and completed.  Also, the players were vastly different.  Name calling, animosity, just not fun any longer.  Nothing in the way of diverse classes/professions.  A shaman was a shaman was a shaman.  Meh.

One compelling point you bring up... because computers and ISP connectivity are more readily available today - the impact of that on MMORPGs.  I can see your point here.  Younger, perhaps less mature kids now have access to social situations in which they simply do not know how to act.  Depending on how correct this theory is... leads me to wonder if this less mature attitude will simply become MORE prevalent in the time to come.

I miss the days of old, that original "free" feeling.  For me, I miss my MUD days the most. 

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One compelling point you bring up... because computers and ISP connectivity are more readily available today - the impact of that on MMORPGs. I can see your point here. Younger, perhaps less mature kids now have access to social situations in which they simply do not know how to act. Depending on how correct this theory is... leads me to wonder if this less mature attitude will simply become MORE prevalent in the time to come.

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People always say this- but you can kinda create your community in mmos. You find a decent guild or you meet like-minded companions you want to group again with etc. Though, it does mean unfortunately the pug experiences suck.

Interesting talking about muds. I reckon there was an element of appeal of muds in Everquest being so heavily inspired by them. And like you say that may have been lost- which is a shame.

Funny I started out with UO, then went to EQ, then moved on to Asheron's call.  Frigging silly stupid class restrictions doomed EQ for me from the start.  At least UO and AC had a far more sophisticated skills system than the clunky one EQ had.

All what you like and want in a game, we are all different in our tastes. 

Still waiting for a good skill based game to come out, has not been a good  one since SWG took the Niagra plunge with NGE.

<blockquote><i>Originally posted by Antarious</i>
<br><b><p><blockquote><em>Originally posted by iwantmyswg</em> <br />
<strong>
<p>eq like swg pre-cu was screwed when $OE stepped in.</p>
<p>uo was screwed when they turned the game from a hardcore pvp game into candyland the mmo with trammel.</p>
<p>the one is eve online. unless pre-cu swg comes back.</p>
</strong></blockquote><br />
I really want to agree with you just because of the SWG part.</p>
<p>However, you do realize that EQ1 was a Sony project from start to finish right?</p>
<p>Relatively 989 Studio's, Verant Interactive and SOE were just name changes (all sony properties).</p>
<p>However, I fully agree with you on SWG... and I never liked EQ much anyway.</p></b></blockquote>
<br>

*tip-toes into thread with his Truth Bat*

In the intrest of making sure truth stays... truthful...

EQ1's story:

1. Smeadly had the idea of EQ in his head. He pitched it to the CEO of SONY. SONY gave him a beatdown, then droped kicked him in the rear end out of the office.

2. Lineage 1, and UO come out. Smeadly pitched his idea for EQ to the new CEO of SONY. They fund him. Before EQ was finnished, they pulled the plug. And give him a beatdown, then drop kick him in his other rear end cheek out of the office.

3. Smeadly and his friends (McQuaid, etc...) finnish EQ, and release EQ. EQ breaks records. EQ is NOT a part of SONY.

4. Good old Smeadly then... SELLS EQ TO SONY for roughly 30 million bucks. SONY creates SOE and gives him the head job. EQ does soo well (Generating roughly 1 billion dollars), it funds numerous expansions, and 3 seperate mmorpgs. (PS, SWG, EQ2.)

The source:

Article called "The Sorcerer of Sony".

Originally posted by vesavius

 

Originally posted by Anofalye

 

 

I used to play Pac Man.  But I don't see how any amount of changes/improvement would make me want to play any version now.

 

I downloaded Defender and Joust the other day and am loving them!

Classic gameplay ftw ;)

I still play Joust as well (when drunk mostly).  :P