Originally posted by Reklaw

What i mostly get out of the topic is the lack of support from casuals on battlegrounds which for me has nothing to do with them being casual or not, it has to do if they are social or not, regardless how casual or hardcore someone is when entering a battleground all it takes is communication with your team members, cause in the case of the battlegrounds in WOW you become a team wether you like it or not, so what  any social person would do is act like a team and communicate, yes that is a problem if you are not guilded or with a tight group you know, but this has nothing to do with a person being casual or hardcore, it's about being social.

Originally posted by Chessack
What the editorial does not adequately address, however, is that his own premise has proven to be false. After the SWG genius developers reached the same conclusion in 2005 as the OP, that players needed pre-packaged content to make the game more "casual friendly", they ripped out 90% of the skill system, and replaced it directly with a quest-driven tutorial, a quest-driven game, levels, WOW-style buttons, etc. And you know what happened? The lost all the old players, and gained hardly any new ones.

I don’t think the premise is false. Yeebo’s post above really spells out exactly why.

The only people that didn’t need content in the beginning were the players that were already fans of MMOs. Just making a game multiplayer doesn’t negate the need to have some handholding for those that don’t get it. And since Star Wars had a much broader appeal than EQ it was absolutely foolhardy not to take into consideration that many new players wouldn’t quite get the sandbox concept.

Like television shows MMOs really only get one shot to impress their audience, typically that's at launch. Once players have tested the waters and found them not to their liking they're probably never coming back. If 24 were to suddenly have sappy romantic interludes on every show it wouldn't suddenly change its demographic to include Lifetime channel watchers, it would only alienate the existing loyal fan base. And that exactly what SWG did by forcing content onto a player base that had stuck it out in the sandbox they liked for several years.

While hearty MMO fans will go on at length about what a great game Star Wars was at launch in regards to the open skills system, experimental crafting, and player housing, they almost never say that the theme of the game is what kept them there. KOTOR on the other hand captured that essence. Galaxies could have been a great game, if only it had a compelling story to it from the beginning, which incidentally WoW did six times over at each starting zone.

1.  What drives you to play MMORPGs
I like all video games, MMOs are unique in that they allow one to play either with or against lots of other people. Same with many shooters but MMOs have some semblance of persistence which to a degree offers a more stable environment to make relations in. So being able to meet and play with others on a scale that is more long term than a 30 minute Battlefield session is what draws me into playing MMOs more than other games.

2. How do you prject identity in these games, or how do you use your character to portray yourself? 
Honestly this is something I’m not terribly concerned with. I don’t feel any compelling urge to leave my mark on the world. I want it to be a place where I can pop in and have fun, hopefully with a few other pals rather than as a loner experience. The character really isn’t me, it’s a tool, a vehicle to doing things that are fun.

feeb

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Originally posted by Munki
"Its an outdated way to make up for lack of content."

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Amen.

One of the biggest problems in content design right now is that dinosaurs from the MUD days still think they are designing for the same old audience. What geeks that like text game enjoy is not the same as your normal guy who only has a few hours a week to enjoy. When MOGs move away from the obsessive compulsive player that likes grinding and collecting obscure trinkets and begin moving to content that tells stories and involves all the players and doesn't require making the game a full time job, thats when there will be an enormous explosion in new MOG players.

feeb

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Originally posted by Finwe

I have a genius idea. Why dont they make it where its actually fun to play the game.....

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I'll second that.

How about offering somehting to do other than mindless leveling?

feeb

Yes.

Asheron's Call had developers that played some of the key roles in the game. When Bal'zheron or Asheron showed up in a town they could do things the normal players couldn't. Players would swarm Bal'zheron asking for teleports to one of the most popular adventure areas. Being evil he would oblige by sending them, but a few hundred meters up so they would then fall to their deaths.

They only had a few of these characters, trying to provide enough DMs for thousands of online players at once would be way to cost prohibitive.

feeb

New poster here...

I still play, very casually.

As a casual player I find that hoping in to craft some stuff then sell it allows me to interact with a limited degree with the other players. It's far too difficult to find groups to go hunting with in under an hour which is my typical time allowance.

feeb