I would have to agree part-way with the OP. A couple years ago MMOs weren't as popular as they are today. WoW really brought the 'average joe' to the MMO world. Before World of Warcraft had its' huge spout of success and began attracting all varieties of life and not just us anti-social video gamers (kidding, kidding!) the MMO world became a larger market.

I would have to say that 500K would be a good level to say an MMO has been widely "successful"

World of Warcraft came about at the right time. There weren't too many new MMOs on the market (Galaxies had been out for a few years, Evercrack was getting old, and the 3rd party MMOs were going nowhere due to funding issues) and so when World of Warcraft plopped down on the scene it was showcasing an easy-to-run engine so that most anyone's PC could handle it, a balanced and rock-hard system to each class that was being backed by a solid development team, acceptable customer support, and even better: it was easy to learn.
WoW really has had no learning curve to it. You jump into the game and within a day you can learn it top from bottom. It makes it appealing to a wide audience from the casual gamer to the hardcore grinder. It came about when everyone wanted something new and it offered it in a clean stitch and pretty packaging. WoW became a super giant because of that. Anyone can pick it up and anyone can run it.

The impact of this however, has spread out the MMO market. There are a lot more of us now who look into and play the genre of games. So thus, 300k just doesn't seem to make the mark as a "widely successful" MMO anymore.

I thought I was one of the only people who had thought a Wild West MMO would be a great idea. I went on a rampage about three months ago- Carving through the internet like a fiend trying to find a wild west MMO.

Someone already posted the thing, but this is worth looking into. (called "The West")

Maybe a development company will one day pick up the idea and run with it. Too many MMOs nowadays are just copies of the last one. (IE WoW format), and while they new stories and graphics are refreshing.. it's time for a new setting all together IMO. Let's try for something new. Science Fiction is nice, i'm always up for it and it hasn't been used to death. Fantasy needs a break though, before we break her legs from so much use. But history would be awesome. Playing in the old Wild West or during prehistory.

Maybe playing as the first tribal humans or something.

Either way, I hope discussions like this inspire some developer out there.

Planetside and WW2OL are the two that could use a UI/overlay redesign.

A buffy MMO? Really? You're kidding me..? I just don't see that happening.. well not successfully.. (i'm not insulting you or anything.. just personal opinion)

Though I would like to see a Firefly MMO in the near future. So long as they don't glue the game to the story in the series/movie and delve more into the Expanded Universe of the theme... it could be HUGE.

Originally posted by bodypass

Better than SW would be Star Trek !

A place no one has gone before!

A starship with each player having a role (party).

new worlds to explore ...

 

MMMM I would play it no doubt.

SW is too fantasy like. Give me the SF of ST:TNG

And please !!!! no EVE. That's not a game, that's spreadsheet for handicapped persons sitting in their eternal chairs. I want to WALK on a planet.

Err- You have realized there is STO in development right? Star Ttrek? Space ships and walking on planets? Granted.. the whole party ship thing was scrapped.. but still.

I dunno though- I really hope if it is a Star Wars MMO being developed that it isn't KotOR... I mean. Galaxies set itself in a new theme. Now it was just shortly after ANH- but the movies hadn't covered on that. They just skipped to ESB. Leaving gaps in between. I hope it goes after the KotOR yet before the movies started. Before luke. There's a HUGE gap there and it would give the developers a lot of room to stretch and work with.

WAR however will definitely NOT break WoW... not that WoW is unbeatable.. but WAR IMHO is crap. I got into the open beta and uninstalled it the same day. It's just not my type of game I guess... but it certainly won't beat the fame WoW brought unto itself.

Maybe a Starcraft MMO would do as well with Blizzard behind the reigns.. since Blizzard seem to be MMO chiefs.

Regardless of WHAT genre the next MMO falls under.. I really hope it's fantastic. I feel like we're living in a ghost town who's well dried up. We're thirsty and lonely. We need something new, something interesting. The only "new" things that come along are either poorly done and scrapped from previous games or just a renamed copy of another game already released. Bleh!

I'm so bored...

Edit:

and for clarity. STOP saying WoW is the greatest game ever. It isn't. Its simplistic and casual. Most people get involved, get bored and then leave only to drift back because the tide showcases nothing else of interest. WoW is the king of mediocracy and arrived at the right time when there was a beginning dry-spell of MMOs, much like the one we're in now. Notice how there isn't this gigantic excitement for WotLK compared to BC? Thats because WoW has reached its' prime and has begun a spiral down. Not to say it will suddenly be canceled.. no.. but all MMOs have a life span;

Hype -> Release - > Growth -> Sucess/Failure -> Prime -> Decline -> Drift -> Cancellation.

Wow has JUST entered the Decline phase of its life cycle. Because of WoW's success it will likely stay in Decline for a very long time. Sub numbers will diminish and then grow some, dimish and stabalize. This will go on and on until it reaches Drift where the subs will primarily level out for good. Cult followers will remain with the game while the majority move onto the newer games. Eventually Blizzard will close the serversa nd shut the game down for good. However- How long until the cancellation date is unknown. Some games, created over ten years ago are still running. Others have lasted less than two.

Now- I'm not saying WoW is bad... or sucks... it's just an MMO.. it's not immortal in any sense.

1. Post-NGE SWG

2. Horizons

3. Most Eastern-MMOs

Reasons;

1. I loved Pre-CU SWG. I don't care that someone else didn't. I did. I had a good thing going and had tons of fun, and plenty of contacts. It changed, and look what happened. Besides,  Pre-CU SWG and Post-NGE SWG are two entirely different games.

2. So much potential in this one. SO MUCH. But it absolutely failed in it's first steps. I really do mourn for this game as again, it had so much potential. I was really hoping Horizons would have been great, I was even waiting for it pre-launch. Oh well- It's not even on the radar really anymore.

3. Most of them are quick-crap. They're micks of each other down to the combat system. There are a few that stand out and are actually impressive.. but for the most part they're all the same.. and force micro transactions on you. Blah!

Prey and (as i mentioned before) the Tauren in Wow are all well and great but Prey is about aliens. Not Native American life. It's more an inclusion, than featured. Much like the Tauren. The game isn't about the Native American society, it's just another theme. Such as the Trolls being Jamaican, Drenai being Russian-like, and so forth.

Is it just me, or have there really been NO games featuring (not just including) Indians, being the Native American Indians from North America.
I mean, we've got games (not just MMOs) about the Romans, American society, Germans, Japanese, and so forth.. But I really can't recall any games based around the Native American society. I mean, sure.. WoW kinda incorporates them with the Tauren race, and Vanguard had the wolf race that was reminiscent of the Native Americans..

Although, Age of Empires recently had an expansion with them as the main focus, didn't it?

Reason I bring this up is in my college courses one of the studies is about the Native American tribes accross the western US, so naturally being a gamer I started to wonder. Evens searching I found nothing really..
So am I the only one who hasn't noticed this?

A very nice and well written post that I have to agree with 110%.
My biggest gripe with new games hitting the markets (particularly MMOs) is that the developers just don't seem to care. The asshats in charge are only interested in two things. Their view and their pockets. They expect the players to blindly walk into the MMO market and buy up whatever they put out there. Yet what they fail to realize is that every MMO is like a sequel to the one who came before it. We as the gamers have seen nearly every system before, we've seen the cool, the bad, the ugly, and even the occasional amazing. We don't take shit and when the developer gives it to us we ensure they suffer. Gamers are cruel and heartless, and it just seems as though a lot of lead developers and project owners don't get this.
We as the gamer understand that it's expensive to make an MMO, It costs millions! We don't deny this... but you must also realize that your success depends solely on US. You can't release a half finished game or a game with only half the promises and expect the gamer community to be compassionate.. We're paying upwards of 70.00 USD a box now, and to top that off a 14.99/mo. subscription fee. That's a LOT of money. Especially for students in High School, College, and so forth. We don't have tons of cash to throw about.. so when we buy a game.. we expect it to blow our socks off.. and rightfully so, it should.
Developers need to slow down, slap the financial company and tell them to calm down so they can take their time.
The good thing about gamers is they can wait. We may complain and scream about how it's taking so long.. and some may dwindle and loose hope over time (like with Darkfall) but so long as you don't take 8 years to release the game.. we'll come back, and if the game is perfect.. we'll ensure your pockets are full of green cash.

I like to think of gamers like the gods of the ancient worlds and the developers the people of Rome and Greece. We watch the developers from afar as the gamers. We excitably wait on their new innovations and inventions. The developers want recognition and praise from their gamers, but no god will be benevolent enough to bless a citizen with wealth, prosperity, and happiness if they don't deserve it. Gamers are the same. If the developer half-asses what they do and gives it to us.. We're not going to praise them and pat them on the head. We're going to leave them. You didn't offer dirt and cow pies to the gods in Rome. Don't offer the same to us. You give us your best creation. Something that you worked on with all your heart and soul... only then will be bless the developers with heaps of money and happiness.

  (apologize for any typos. Still getting used to typing via laptop keyboard. Ugh! So flat! and my finger keeps tapping the fskin touch pad! ARGH!)

Originally posted by Ampallang

I'd like to ask, is it wrong to cosplay when you have such an awesome darth vader suit?  I think it may well be required. 

No. Plain fact. If you fit the description (6 foot 5 like the described guy was) have an AWESOME costume that doesn't skip on detail and amazingness.. then it's required you cosplay for the sake of the other antendees.

Fat guys with acne dressed up as sailor moon = No.
Tall guys with awesome dark vader suits that look authentic = Yes.

As for the Movie, I'm an avid star wars fan. Mostly EU (expanded Universe; meaning books, video games, and so on. Not exactly the 6 base movies), so i wasn't sure if I wanted to go see the animated movie or not. I was trying to get the girlfriend to go along (as she's somewhat of a geek.. though doesn't share my extreme love for Star Wars.. that'll change eventually..) but she says the movie looks stupid at how the animation was done (with the very cartoonish/artsy 3D style) and I have to keep reminding her, she hasn't even seen New Hope and Empire Strikes back so she has no room to talk lol.

But if you say it was pretty good, i'll have to shell out the bucks to go see it and keep an open mind.

I kinda like the system, though the fight was a little too long. You're not alone in that.. but it was also the guy more than the fight itself. He kept running away and hiding without really fighting per-say. So it wasn't the game so much but the player who was sucking in the video haha. (No offense the guy playing. You were demoing. Not playing.) I'm sure battles will be a little less.

The UI scares me more than anything. I don't like it. Plain and simple.
But I did like how the player was wearing human armor but using a staff weapon. I hope the game stays that way into release.
There is much that needs to be improved on, and it is Alpha So I don't mind too much now. I'm going to wait until later to make my final impression.
I like the combat system though, if it's going to be TR-based.. which seems to be the new MMO fad. FPS/MMO combo combat. They're just going to need an auto aim feature like TR did.. or rather a sticky aim setting for those not used to FPS.

I do hope however that animations and posing get better. In the final stretch where the character stood there and fired looked completely blocky.. He just stat there with a slight bounce from the weapon firing. In the series/movies they get down and fire to prevent the kick-back from knocking them over, they move more fluidly.. in the footage they don't. But again- Alpha stage.

I hope that STO will go both ways personally.

How is this possible?
Easy. Give players the choice.
You have the option of starting out and picking up a linear STO story where you follow the footsteps of some story given out by the game. You ascend to the top and finish the story with some new and awesome memories of it.
Or, you could simply choose to avoid the story entirely and make your own story. Sort of like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. You can follow the story and "complete" the game if you really wish. OR you can skip the story entirely and still play the game.

But, the game WILL need tons of skills and customization options. Linear or not. I seem to find that games with high levels of customizability do better than those without. Well- With the exception of Vanguard. =/

Give it a little time Dragon. Perpetual left and gave up whatever they had worked on and made. Cryptic has JUST come into the picture and is picking up the pieces Perpetual dropped. So give Cryptic a few months to figure out where they want to go, and then scorn them. There's still hope.

Personally, I would like to see the game brought up in an entirely new time period. We've seen and run through all the series time and time again.. The Borg are still around, as are the Klingons, Cardassians, Vulcans, etc, etc. With an entirely new period, it would give both Cryptic and the holders of the Star Trek license the ability to bring in new races, new technology, new planets, new ships, and so on without worrying about destroying the plots and continuity from the series we so know and love.

Originally posted by Realm-Reaper

Originally posted by zaxxon23

Everyone taking part in ship operations by being part of the crew sounds novel and cute until you really think about it.  Quite frankly, I don't want to be port side gunner that may sit there looking at empty space except for that one time out of five minutes I have to shoot at a ship.  I don't want to be a science officer studying scanner results, and I definately don't want to be an engineer watching the engines run with some kind of pathetic "problem" to get me involved in the experience.  When you really think about it, you realize that the "crew" concept would be boring to the vast majority of gamers, at least as part of the primary gameplay experience. 

That being said, I'm open minded about "raid" type adventures that put players together on a bigger starship, or even better, "raid" type experiences that create an armada of ships.

 

The thing is...

Many people want to feel as though they are in fact a Star Fleet Officer.  They want to be on the bridge when those spectacular space battles go down. When you watch almost any ST movie or TV episode, what do you see?....You see each a major battle being fought from the bridge of a Star Ship. You see tactics and team work. You see the Science Officer, Tactical Officer, Engineering Officer and the Captain all doing their part to fight off the enemy.

Now why can't a STAR TREK game be like the Movies and the TV shows? Why is that so wrong to live the life of a STAR FLEET OFFICER or KLINGON WARRIOR?  It can be done in way that is fun and interesting for all. With some thought, every profession can be fun and compelling to play. You don't have to just sit in dead space looking at a monitor waiting for something to happen.

When you play this game you should feel like you are inside a Movie or an Episode of STAR TREK!

As well, it's not as if when a clan ship engages in combat that only the bridge crew will get a piece of the action. In STO the original idea also incorporated smaller personal ships that would change and get bigger as you progressed in the game. So not only, as a Science officer would you be helping the ship stay afloat during a hard combat but you could also say.. launch out the shuttle bays and participate in the battle. Assisting your.. "mother ship" if you will. As well, when you're not there.. NPC would take your stations. So you don't have to worry about entirely abandoning your crew station as you depart to get in on the action. The difference would be, while you're there repairing the engines and playing minigames, your skills are giving the ship you're in bonuses to speed, weapon power, shield capacity, and so on. When it's just NPC you won't have those bonuses.
And as well, it's not as if you'd just be staring at the engines while waiting for the battle to end. You'd be playing mini-games, or running from area to area to fend off boarding parties, healing the wounded, and repairing pressure hull damage.

It can be done in the game, and it can be made very fun. Perpetual decided to halt the idea of player ships for an unknown reason. (if i remember correctly they said little as to why.)
But with this new company, Cryptic that is taking over... will hopefully change their mind and decide to at least try.

Hm, well what action are you trying to map to the LMB?

Man.. Rogue_5..... I remember running around with him and about 20 other players during the Rage of the Wookiees Beta, testing out the Kashyyyk system  boss instance on the asteroid. Infact I remember talking with him one on one. Kinda feels weird to hear he's not working with SOE anymore. Although, SOE doesn't deserve either of them.

I believe so.

You'd need to go under controls and find the entire map of the Everquest II controls. Find out what key is attatched to what action and which action you want toggled to the LMB. Then change it.
Simple.

The answer that came to mind with just reading the title is; "No, you're never too old."

But you have been playing MMO's for a while. You've experienced the golden, and you've experienced the rusted. With this you've gained experience and while that wouldn't normally mean anything.. We're stuck in a dryspell of MMOs. Either they copy the function of another successful MMO (such as WoW) or they fail entirely. It's not you, trust me. The last great game I played was Pre-CU SWG, it was unique in it's system and I liked that. Now everything seems... WoWified to me. SWG went WoW even... and a lot of games that came out after WoW seemed to just follow in it's steps.. only with different colors.

The MMO world is like the gaming market of the past-2007. Drier than sand in the desert. There's nothing new, nothing innovative and the game companies are afraid to take that huge leap. They take small ones, hoping it'll be the thing that can draw the crowds in.. but we still see the old systems and familiarity. They're too afraid to risk their wallets and so MMO gaming grows boring and repetative. We're stuck in a rut with no rescue.

No, you're not too old for MMOs... but the MMOs are too old for you.

Personally? I think the government a'la the Law should primarily butt out of the whole video game spectrum. If you're not going to let your child watch a violent action movie. DON'T let them play Grand Theft auto.

I personally think that the government should hold parents responsible. If the kid breaks the law.. not only does the kid pay.. but the parent too. After all, who raised the kid? The parent.
It's not the stores fault or the game developer's fault when a kid gets his hand on Leisure suit Larry or Grand Theft Auto. It's the parent's fault. Who bought the game and gave it to the child? Certainly not the store shop keep. I've heard "Well my child gave the money to an older friend and he bought it for him."

Okay, two things. 1) Maybe you should check and see who your child is hanging out with. If Timmy is 13 and the kid who bought it is 18... that doesn't seem right. 2) It's not Electronic Art's fault that your OWN child went behind your back, defying you completely and still obtained the game. It's YOURS.

Parents need to take more effort into their child's raising. I don't mean total dictarian control.. but I mean actually caring and watching what your child see's and interacts with. You wouldn't let your child play with a glock, so why give him a video game that exhibits shooting? If they're not old enough to grasp the concept, it's not for them.
If you don't respect the fact that your child has to go out into the world and interact with it based on what YOU taught him, then you should be punished. Not just your child.

and with that, I think the current ESRB rating is just dandy. I get IDed whenever I go into a game store and purchase an M/16+ game.. I'm old enough, and it can be a hassle.. but you know what? So be it. I can still play the game, and all I have to do is flash my ID for it. No extra cash, and no more than 5 extra secons.