You want to make an MMO. You start a company with other people's money since you did not win the lottery.

Now you have 2 choices with varying risks.
1) Make an old time MMO. (Not as popular, but may have longevity)
2) Make a new-age MMO. (More popular, but may be short lived)

Which path do you go down?

(Let's not go down the buzzword paths of "innovative", "new", "revolutionary" and the like. Remember, you have investors to answer to.)

I chose old. If it were my money it's one thing to risk it. If it's someone elses then I feel more accountable for getting them a profit. With that profit then I could leverage my own project and do whichever I liked the second time with the things I learned from the first one.

Let's be honest. If money is on the line, I would also follow the quick cash grab method as many companies did.

The problem is, in the modern MMO world, very few MMOs are going to have much longevity, just making an old-style MMO isn't going to guarantee people will stick around.  I'd much rather have an MMO that is popular, makes a lot of money up front to cover development costs, and if it goes on for a while, great.  If not, then you can move on to another project.

Just because a title gains popularity for short time but fizzles doesn't mean it was planned that way as a cash grab. There are probably some "B rate" MMOs that have done this but the handful of AAA MMOs to release the past few years have not, well intentionally.

Me? In this market if I was to spend the same money I would focus on a smaller group of players that I intended to keep. A steady stream of less money is easier to forecast than explosive front end money.

i take their money. remove the conundrum. combine both styles. win the universe.

First order of business: survival.  As long as that's in doubt, I swallow my pride and do whatever the money wants.   Once I have food, shelter, cat and computer, I can dig my heels in, say "this is what I want to do" and if someone wants to fund it, great, otherwise I happily putter away in obscurity.

(at least that's the theory)

It is pure speculation to say that an old school MMO would still have longevity in today's market. These games do not exist in a vacuum.

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Originally posted by Quirhid
It is pure speculation to say that an old school MMO would still have longevity in today's market. These games do not exist in a vacuum.

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Well, seeing as the new-age MMOs seem to appeal to players who game jump often, longevity is usually not what new-age MMOs appear to want. They don't build their games for longevity, unless a player enjoys endless, meaningless gear grinds, raids that don't change from one run to the next, PvP for what ever reason the game decides to dictate, and daily quests.

Old school MMOs, those bore-fests you hate so much, actually cultivated longevity. When TSW, GW2, Rift, Tera, AA, SW:TOR and the rest hit 10+ years of being around, I may change my tune. UO is still around - 15(?) years running. EQ is still kicking - 13(?) years running. I count 16 games listed on this site still up and running since before the new millennium. That is about 16 games running for over 12 years each.

Like I said, maybe time will tell a different story, but for now, I like my assumption :)

Voted old.  But not for the longevity.

 

New school games are in a market with intense competition.  There's already hundreds of them, with more lining up with intent to pull playerbase from other games.

 

A well made old school game has limited competition in the market.  True the pool of players who would like such a game is smaller, but competition is in my understanding dispoproportionately less*.  Even if the game would flash and fizzle, the brief market advantage at release could produce return on investment.

 

Longevity if it happens, is just a bonus.

 

* = for illustration of this point, name all school games released in the last five years.  It's a very short list.

 

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Originally posted by XAPGames
Voted old.  But not for the longevity.

New school games are in a market with intense competition.  There's already hundreds of them, with more lining up with intent to pull playerbase from other games.

A well made old school game has limited competition in the market.  True the pool of players who would like such a game is smaller, but competition is in my understanding dispoproportionately less*.  Even if the game would flash and fizzle, the brief market advantage at release could produce return on investment.

Longevity if it happens, is just a bonus.

* = for illustration of this point, name all school games released in the last five years.  It's a very short list.

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That's an interesting take on it :) Aiming for a neglected market share is a good way to see some return on an investment.

we just had so many mmo as of late that got over hyped then died off.  We need to get back to the roots of what mmo's good.  

Instead of the devs just going for a money grab. 

 

What if I want to make a new age mmo which has longevity?

 

I'd make a innovative, new MMO with revolutionary new elements!

....or at least that's what I'd tell all you suckers.

At this point in mmorpg history I'd probably hype it up as buy-to-play with no subscription fee.  Because let's be honest here, it's not going to last more than a few months anyway and box sales are what I'm really going for.  Of course I'd also have micro-transations to milk any poor dumb bastards who stick with the game but I wouldn't say much about that except to poo-poo any fears anyone brings up about it.

The actual gameplay doesn't really matter.  Slap some half-assed crap together and tell everyone it's going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread and by the time they figure out it's not....it's too late, I already have their money.

Sure a lot of people will bitch about it but why should I care?  I'll start quietly working on my next game while I wait for the dust to settle and by the time I'm ready to start hyping up my next one most of you morons will have forgetton what I did to you.

Originally posted by Neanderthal

I'd make a innovative, new MMO with revolutionary new elements!

....or at least that's what I'd tell all you suckers.

At this point in mmorpg history I'd probably hype it up as buy-to-play with no subscription fee.  Because let's be honest here, it's not going to last more than a few months anyway and box sales are what I'm really going for.  Of course I'd also have micro-transations to milk any poor dumb bastards who stick with the game but I wouldn't say much about that except to poo-poo any fears anyone brings up about it.

The actual gameplay doesn't really matter.  Slap some half-assed crap together and tell everyone it's going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread and by the time they figure out it's not....it's too late, I already have their money.

Sure a lot of people will bitch about it but why should I care?  I'll start quietly working on my next game while I wait for the dust to settle and by the time I'm ready to start hyping up my next one most of you morons will have forgetton what I did to you.

You could call it "Guild Wars: The Old Republic"! Millions will buy it!

I chose new but I disagree with your longevity assessments as the newer MMOs haven't had a chance to prove their longevity. 

Originally posted by AlBQuirky

You want to make an MMO. You start a company with other people's money since you did not win the lottery.

Now you have 2 choices with varying risks.
1) Make an old time MMO. (Not as popular, but may have longevity)
2) Make a new-age MMO. (More popular, but may be short lived)

Which path do you go down?

(Let's not go down the buzzword paths of "innovative", "new", "revolutionary" and the like. Remember, you have investors to answer to.)

Whats my motivation, make a great game or make money?

Originally posted by Loktofeit
I chose new but I disagree with your longevity assessments as the newer MMOs haven't had a chance to prove their longevity. 

They keep shutting down or going f2p before we can asses their longevity

Depends on how do we describe "old time MMO" and "new time MMO". Is Lotro, WoW - new time MMOs? Or is Istaria old-time MMO?

In this situation (if I am to answer to investors), I would go for almost any MMO that could make money. I think, there is high probability users would buy (subscirbe, cash-shop) something innovative, something new.

Voted "new time", though it would be nice if OP explains what imn his eyes new and old time MMOs means.

I would focus on a core group of gamers, which would most likely end up being a small niche group.  With longevity in mind, I would try and keep them happy, because I realize I can't do everything well and can't make everyone happy.

 

That's also in the same world as the rainbow shitting unicorns!