I was reading this article:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/06/neverwinter-days-the-allure-of-bite-sized-gaming/#continued

"the game model seems to have a lot more in common with lobby-based MMOs. That's not a coincidence, as Neverwinter originally began as such and was fleshed out into a more full-featured MMO at Perfect World's insistence."

And i think .. there is a lot of truth in this idea. Look at successful games (use xfire as a guide)

MMO: WOW & GW2

- both have options to let players jump in, play a bit, and accomplish something.

ARPG: D3, PoE

- again, can jump in and kill some stuff for even 15 min and get a chance of good drops.

PvP: LOL, PS2, WOT, DOTA2

- all can jump in and starting playing in seconds.

And the interesting thing is that these are not all instanced lobby. While instanced lobby is clear one design to enable bite-size gaming (hence, this feature is so popular, almost in all MMOs), there are other ways to do it.

For example, PS2 is a world pvp game. But once in the game, you can directly port to a hot spot, snipe a few enemies, and log out if you don't have much time.

MMO devs certainly should feel pressured by some of these non-MMOs where the playstyle can be quite similar to MMOs. It is a time to adapt and change.

Im a big fan of mmo's that have special consideration for players that only have 5 or 10 minutes to play at a time.

I think this trend has lots of value since more and more games, including mmo's, are moving to Mobile devices.

How small of a time frame are we talking about here?  15 minutes, 10 minutes, 2 minutes?

At what point does it begin to get absurd?  Maybe there's a point where you have to say to yourself, "I don't have time to play video games right now".

Originally posted by dave6660

How small of a time frame are we talking about here?  15 minutes, 10 minutes, 2 minutes?

At what point does it begin to get absurd?  Maybe there's a point where you have to say to yourself, "I don't have time to play video games right now".

Or more specifically "I don't have time to play MMORPGs" 

playing long term or short term ahs nothing to do with having a big open world or a small lobby based game.

If i like the game and devs keep updating it and adding content ill play long term no matter how small or big the game is.

With that said, i personally think lobby based mmos are just lazy desings to avoid working on big worlds. Even 2D indie rpgs can have huge open worlds like any big 3D title. Theres no excuse at this point in time. Dont have enough resources? dont bother making incomplete mmos because thats just waiting your time and money as a developer and wasting our time as gamers.

Just my personal opinion. Open world (if done right) beats every lobby based mmorpg combined.

EDIT: keep bite-size gaming where it belongs. Celphones and tablets on the go.

Well I'm one of those 'time constrained' gamers.  Bite-size to me is something I can do in anything from 20 minutes to 1hour (where I usually try to play 2-3 hours a night).  While bite size gaming gives me the sense of achievement they have to balance it with a sense of growth.  this is where character progression and customization comes in.  

If I play the game for 20 minutes a day, I want to see a difference in my character growth a month from now.  If I look and play the same a month later it won't matter how fun the bite size content is because I'll lose interest in doing it due to value.

Neverwinter looks interesting and cant wait to try it out in the beta tommorrow.

Originally posted by nariusseldon It is a time to adapt and change.

 

Or they could be more conservative with their budgets and goals, target the audience who wants something that fits over a grander scale of time and corner the market.

They would get my money for sure.

Originally posted by Anthur
McDonalds, jump in and eat something in seconds. Great food ? Not really.

Bad example since ordering something quickly isnt the same as eating it.  

I don't see why we can't have short gaming sessions.

There is no reason why a game can't last years, but have whatever content broken up into smaller sections.

Dungeon runs that take hours to complete but can be broken up into many sections.  Quests are the same.  I can't see any downsides to having a short session be part of a longer experience.

MMOs are always changing and involving which makes this market very competitive.

Originally posted by dave6660

How small of a time frame are we talking about here?  15 minutes, 10 minutes, 2 minutes?

At what point does it begin to get absurd?  Maybe there's a point where you have to say to yourself, "I don't have time to play video games right now".

I would say 15-30 min.

22 min is an episode of sitcom (without commercial).

Originally posted by birdycephon
Now what we need is some android-based MMOs. Cuz you know that's where it's headed.

There are already iOS MMOs. I think some are available on andriod too.

Originally posted by rojo6934

Just my personal opinion. Open world (if done right) beats every lobby based mmorpg combined.

 

And it is my person opinion that many lobby based games are more fun than every open world MMORPG combined.

Originally posted by Ardu

MMOs are always changing and involving which makes this market very competitive.

The more interesting point is when MMO design are merging with other genre, or change to something else. Games like WOT, or GW1 . that has some MMO elements, but change the design enough into something else.

Now that is innovation and taking risks.

IMO if you come for 10 min it's not calls "playing game", I do it to check my account when I LEFT game but keep an eye on it.

if you have time only to do daily or so, you have plenty of games offering such *service*. also not sure how fun such gaming is, but can be helpful if you have real time on weekend but need some daily rewards.

sorry to tell, but if you don't have time better to play anything but not MMO, rather than try to make 15 min MMO, as such game will be boring like 15 min later, and will never invite you to grouping etc = not MMO genre.

all over I don't think we may need specific "lobby" MMO and can find what to do in 15 min with most of MMO (daily, craft, gather, bank / AH check).

game is something which need to keep you busy and giving fun same time, not something you doing by obligation in a rush... at least I see it like that.