General Discussion

Now, it's true you can buy games like TF2 and other multiplayer games in any old store (even Wal*Mart), but those sales are starting to wane in regards to progressive growth year after year since it's becoming easier to download the installer straight from the website or from the company's own tracker.

I'm not trying to bash boxed sales, rather I just think the traditional release cycle and the attempt to drum up hype around an MMO makes little sense in light of what an MMO and other multiplayer/online-only games offer as their primary function: access to a service which entertains. Why not just offer a trial with the client to be downloaded? Or offer a 5 or 10 dollar "test drive" of a given MMO (15 days or whatever [or to a level cap]) instead of trying to trick players into buying the client and making them feel stupid when the game doesn't mesh with their own tastes/sensibilities? Maybe I just don't get it. So what do you all think?

I  agree, most people have a high speed internet line now.

The only benefit I see is small children or adults who go to a toy or records store and have never heard of MMO who see it in store etc.

Everything will be based on cloud computing soon I believe, which means people don't buy hardware anymore, only the interface like keyboard / mouse / screen and the rest is all streamed from a server through the internet.

No more hardware problems, no more hacking, no more installing or crashes, you pay for the service and that's it. Some browser based games are already based on cloud computing, it's only a matter of time before other MMO follow.

There's just something nostalgic about the game box and going to the store and getting your own physical copy.  I still prefer to get my games this way even though I do have high speed internet and what not.  I also think that box sales are going to play a role for quite some time because of advertising.  What I mean by this is that the game stores will advertise the product for you just so that they can sell the box and make their own cut.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some deal between major game stores and publishers that provides the games to the stores as long as they run some ad campaign.

I love collectors editions and nicely packaged games. I just think it's nice to have them sitting on my shelf like trophies I have conquered after beating them. Obviously you don't beat MMOs but they still look very nice and they bring back good memories even when I stopped playing them :)

Whenever I hear about MMOs going digital download only, I cringe.  Here's a post of mine from Jimmy_Scythe's blog that I thought I'd share:

• I think you bring up a lot of the good things about digital download, but there is also a darkside to digital download.

  While on the surface it may make sense to "cut out the middleman" from a price perspective, the retail chains play a quality control role that prevents scams, broken, and dangerous software from entering the market.

  While I admit that it's not foolproof, retailers have an interest in making sure the products lining their shelves are legit.  They also force developers to disclose the truth about their products.  That's why all the major scams that have happened in this industry over the years have occurred outside the distribution chain (Age of Mourning, Dark and Light, Horizons, Trials of Obi-Wan SWG expansion).

  The Trials of Obi-Wan expansion is an interesting case study into the problems with digital download: the scam simply could have never occurred if the expansion was made available in retail stores.  Angry customers would go back to the store, and angry retailers would be asking SOE tough questions as to the integrity of their merchandise.  But because the expansion was digital download only, SOE didn't have to answer to a distributor and was allowed free reign to do whatever it wanted to the detriment of the consumer.

  Because there is a lack of distributional oversight with digital download, there will be even less incentive for software publishers to insist on quality control.  One of the things that made console games superior to PC games is that they didn't have many (or any) bugs.  They were ready and optimized for the system the moment it hit the shelves.  But now that consoles are now assumed to have an internet connection, expect to see console software mimic what PC software does today: patch-to-play, operating system version incompatabilities, and all of that other stuff that makes PC gaming so much more of a hassle.  I shook my head in despair when my new PS3 said to me: "Update Required...downloading...installing."  Expect to see much more of that when games go digital download only.

  The last problem with digital downloading is what comes inside: the rulebook.  And the reason why I think paper rulebooks are important is because they just can't get erased and changed into something different whenever the publisher feels like changing something.  A rulebook is a sort of "constitution" whereby the laws of the game are made known to everyone.  It basically says, "this is what this game is about," and tells the player in the present and in 20 years how to play in a simple, easy to reference guide.

  The bad thing about development being wedded to a paper rulebook is that it limits the scope of how they can change the game.

  The good thing about development being wedded to a paper rulebook is that it limits the scope of how they can change the game.

  Frankly, after seeing how "change happy" developers are these days, there has to be limits to how much they can change a game already on the market and in a player's hands.  Otherwise, people are no longer going to know how to play the games they purchased, nor will they ever be sure that what they enjoy will be there tomorrow.

  So while digital download does have some advantages, digital download also magnifies and facilitates the failings of this genre, and computer entertainment as a whole.

Originally posted by waterlilly

I  agree, most people have a high speed internet line now.

The only benefit I see is small children or adults who go to a toy or records store and have never heard of MMO who see it in store etc.

Everything will be based on cloud computing soon I believe, which means people don't buy hardware anymore, only the interface like keyboard / mouse / screen and the rest is all streamed from a server through the internet.

No more hardware problems, no more hacking, no more installing or crashes, you pay for the service and that's it. Some browser based games are already based on cloud computing, it's only a matter of time before other MMO follow.

bingo! i work in the online marketing and internet for the last 10 years now, and this exactly the future.

there is a reason MS wants Yahoo you know and its exactly the reason you said (although it will be hard for non-insiders atm to grasp the impact of an online network like we know)

Originally posted by waterlilly

I  agree, most people have a high speed internet line now.

The only benefit I see is small children or adults who go to a toy or records store and have never heard of MMO who see it in store etc.

Everything will be based on cloud computing soon I believe, which means people don't buy hardware anymore, only the interface like keyboard / mouse / screen and the rest is all streamed from a server through the internet.

No more hardware problems, no more hacking, no more installing or crashes, you pay for the service and that's it. Some browser based games are already based on cloud computing, it's only a matter of time before other MMO follow.

and most importantly:
No protecting your files because they are stored on somone else's property
No personal life as all your data goes throug somone else's pipe, that they have full controll over, before it can be transmitted as it should.
No more encryption in the way we know it today, the managers of the cloud will be able to decrypt at will.
Looking forward to this bright, bright future!

Originally posted by Dreamstrider

Originally posted by waterlilly

I  agree, most people have a high speed internet line now.

The only benefit I see is small children or adults who go to a toy or records store and have never heard of MMO who see it in store etc.

Everything will be based on cloud computing soon I believe, which means people don't buy hardware anymore, only the interface like keyboard / mouse / screen and the rest is all streamed from a server through the internet.

No more hardware problems, no more hacking, no more installing or crashes, you pay for the service and that's it. Some browser based games are already based on cloud computing, it's only a matter of time before other MMO follow.

 

and most importantly:
No protecting your files because they are stored on somone else's property
No personal life as all your data goes throug somone else's pipe, that they have full controll over, before it can be transmitted as it should.
No more encryption in the way we know it today, the managers of the cloud will be able to decrypt at will.
Looking forward to this bright, bright future!

 don't think it's a bright future at all.

But I come from a generation that is suspect about allowing YOUR information to be solely in the hands of another.

They are stored on someone else's property so you have to worry about them being compromised (credit card info is an example of this)
 

Quite frankly it's quite dark to me. I like brick and mortar stores and I like my content to be in my hands as much as possible.