Gareth Harmer: Would you rather be cruising down the freeway, or stuck in traffic? After all, who wants to play 2 Fast 2 Commuting? It's why I think you've got to have something more than just a lobby, like Destiny's Tower or Reef. A central city to do crafting, trades, see amazing armor, etc.
Bill Murphy: That's a lot of games, really. Guild Wars 1 comes to mind, but then even ArenaNet didn't call that game an MMO, so there's an argument there.
To me, if I must put a definition - it's any persistent online game that hosts thousands of players and lets them play together. Even MOBAs could be considered MMOs of a kind. But they're certainly not MMORPGs.
An MMORPG is something else, and I'm not sure I'd categorize the current trend of online survival games as MMORPGs, but I can see the argument to call them MMOs.
But really, none of it matters - what matters most is that the games we're all talking about stop being shitty, and start being fun. For every 9 MMOs we get, 1 of them if we are lucky is worth a damn.
That's the real problem.
Robin Baird: And that's why it's difficult for me to get excited about any new MMO anymore. My first thought is always "eh, it's just going to be disappointing anyway".
Bill: I'm trying to remember my last truly hyped launch... ESO maybe? That wasn’t that long ago. BDO caught me by surprise. I want to be excited for the Indie crop coming up, but it's hard. A lot of them look great, but my hype meter is broken.
Robin Baird: Finding the balance between enough hype and too much is difficult. I honestly think it's probably better to go with no hype and slowly build the MMO over years. Of course you need the money to sustain doing that and it seems like most publishers just want to be able to extract the maximum amount of money from a MMO asap. Which isn't different than other businesses, but having an eye to the long term is really neglected.
Bill: It was that way, when it was M59, UO, EQ, AC, even EVE.
Robin Baird: Slowly building over the years?
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Bill: Exactly
Gareth Harmer: To be honest, if we're not going to get interested in an upcoming MMO, who will? Yes, we've become jaded cynics who've had the fortune to play a huge variety of titles. But there's a degree of objectivism too.
"That game you spent the last five years working on? I'd rather play Microsoft Powerpoint than grind another level in your forsaken time vampire."
Yes, times are bad. But are they bad because it's all the same, or are they bad because it's three men in a boat, one who did evening classes in art, another who downloaded Unity, and a third who thinks awesome sound effects come from growling into a microphone and sampling the shit out of it.
Bill: Stop mocking Rob, Suzie and I's MMO in Dev, Growling into Mics Online.
Robert Lashley: You spoiled my surprise!
Bill: I'd say that's enough for this one. Any final thoughts?
Chris Coke: Remember when MMOs were still magical? I'd like to believe that experience is waiting for us again somewhere, sometime.
Gareth Harmer: I think there's hope. We've seen small rebellions - Crowfall, Star Citizen, etc... who want to try and break the mould. Maybe that's what it needs - free thinkers left to experiment, instead of siezing on the latest hot thing.
Chris: We're definitely in a place where diversification is likely to birth the seed of something unexpected and great. Here's hoping we're not all soaking our teeth by our bedsides when that time comes...
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Gareth Harmer: I have a feeling the future might arrive sooner than you think...
Robert Lashley: Seriously guys. It's like drugs, sex, hitting a home run or any major first. You are always chasing that feeling again. Sometime other great games come along but they don't measure up to nostalgia. No MMO is ever going to do that. But that doesn't mean there can't be really good ones along the way. And they don't have to last forever. If a MMO could capture me for 3 solid months. I'd be happy with that. Now get off my lawn!
Chris Coke: Sure, I get that. But I don't discount that from the MMO genre, something magical could strike me again. That said, I believe those early moments we all have are also shaped by those moments in our lives too. I'll never be a college freshman available with unlimited time. It won't be the same, but I believe it's in the unexpected where the most memorable moments are born. That's not happening in AAA. But a newcomer with fresh ideas, not trying to check every box? Maybe.
Markus Rohringer: For sure the first experience will not be matched anymore, I agree with that. However, to end on a positive outlook, think it's a good thing that devs of modern games are hesitant to call them MMOs. It might be only for marketing reasons but language defines concepts and ways of thinking. As nowadays even games like Destiny are considered MMOs by many, the term is definitely watered down. Personally, I think that's a good thing. It breaks the strict boundaries of genres and therefore also the formulaic approaches connected to them. If the game is good and offers something new as a natural result of throwing these boundaries overboard and not just by being different for the sake of being different then this offers the biggest chance that we experience this excitement again, because we don't have to compare it anymore to the Ultima Onlines and WoWs of this world that left such a big mark on us.
