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The success of "World of Warcraft" is prompting a debate about whether the online game is helping or hurting the industry.
The New York Times
The story "Conqueror in a war of virtual worlds" published September 11, 2005 at 6:00 AM is no longer available on CNET News.
Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.
People are not interested in crap games with big Hollywood name licenses. The game industry is falling into the same trap it fell in the early 1990s (remember the UK based Ocean's many platform er titles based on Hollywood name licenses?).
Directors: Your customers are not totally stupid. Give them more credit than that.
Then there was the distraction Sony had into games which had nothing to do with the MMORPG concept, while neglecting their cash cow for years and years, churning paid expansion packs while doing zilch to improve the main game engine while the industry moved on. Be glad you had it good for this long Sony, you were very lucky.
Only EQ2 saved their bacon. The major problem with EQ2 was the excessive system requirements.
Sony: here is some free advice for you. Never, ever stop developing your EQ franchise anymore unless you wish that division to go bankrupt. Also, not everyone is a team player. EQ is a team game. You need another MMORPG game which is more oriented for the loner types, with an emphasis in player vs player combat (think City of Heroes here people). Preferably with a dark setting.
Do not pay for licenses again. Create your own story. It is cheaper and works better.
When most of them buy Dells and use AOL, you can't blame him for saying that.
People are not interested in crap games with big Hollywood name licenses. The game industry is falling into the same trap it fell in the early 1990s (remember the UK based Ocean's many platform er titles based on Hollywood name licenses?).
Directors: Your customers are not totally stupid. Give them more credit than that.
Then there was the distraction Sony had into games which had nothing to do with the MMORPG concept, while neglecting their cash cow for years and years, churning paid expansion packs while doing zilch to improve the main game engine while the industry moved on. Be glad you had it good for this long Sony, you were very lucky.
Only EQ2 saved their bacon. The major problem with EQ2 was the excessive system requirements.
Sony: here is some free advice for you. Never, ever stop developing your EQ franchise anymore unless you wish that division to go bankrupt. Also, not everyone is a team player. EQ is a team game. You need another MMORPG game which is more oriented for the loner types, with an emphasis in player vs player combat (think City of Heroes here people). Preferably with a dark setting.
Do not pay for licenses again. Create your own story. It is cheaper and works better.
When most of them buy Dells and use AOL, you can't blame him for saying that.
"It may continue to grow in China," Pachter added, "but not in Europe or the U.S. We don't need the imaginary outlet to feel a sense of accomplishment here. It just doesn't work in the U.S. It just doesn't make any sense."
That's the most clueless evaluation of human nature (not to mention existing statistics) I've read in a long time.
-Allen
I love when guys like this say that it won't continue because they can't seem to grasp the concept. He came off sounding like an old man complaining about all the new fangled stuff that would just be a fad.
And to think that he's getting paid for saying stuff like that.
"It may continue to grow in China," Pachter added, "but not in Europe or the U.S. We don't need the imaginary outlet to feel a sense of accomplishment here. It just doesn't work in the U.S. It just doesn't make any sense."
That's the most clueless evaluation of human nature (not to mention existing statistics) I've read in a long time.
-Allen
I love when guys like this say that it won't continue because they can't seem to grasp the concept. He came off sounding like an old man complaining about all the new fangled stuff that would just be a fad.
And to think that he's getting paid for saying stuff like that.
They also did stupid things like not allow wondowed mode and ban people who used third party add-ons to facilitate windowed mode, because they didn't want people doing anything else while playing EQ. Yes, they were that arrogant. It was only after competition came that they eased off on their controlling rules. When DAoC(an EQ clone) hit the scene, EQ quickly turned into a DAoC clone. They copied many feature, but most were just half-assed and half-thought out copies.
To be fair, WoW is not perfect. It has many flaws, but it improved on EQ and actually made a MMOG fun, which EQ rarely was. Even the hardcore players would admit they rarely had fun and played for other reasons like habit, or because there freinds did. There have been several superior games before WoW, like Dark Age of Camelot, far better designed then EQ ever was, but just not different enough to get massive numbers. Also, unlike EQ, it felt like a real world, as does WoW.
Now, if Blizzard would tweak some of the classes, give a better reason for PvP(something like DAoC's PvP system would be perfect), and make tradeskills worth doing, the game would be as near perfect as it possibly could be.
That Blizzard broke many of the old rules and made MMOG fun and casual player friendly, and is crazy successful is a good thing. The bar is raised. Now, no one can put out crap like EQ and expect it to succeed. To take the crown from Blizzard, either a game has to up the ante in fun and interesting ways, or Blizzard starts to drop the ball on future content releases. That later is a possibility, since Blizzard has been known for making sub-par expansions, but not too likely.
- The bar needed to be raised
- by Bill Dautrive September 11, 2005 9:59 AM PDT
- Before WoW, the reigning king was Everquest. A tired game built on timesinks. A game where waiting hours, and sometimes days, doing nothing more then killing easy mobs, wating for a drop/spawn was considered a legitimate challenge. A game where there was massive downtime for most people. A game where a guild had to spend hundreds of hours to get all the drops/key they needed. EQ is and was a joke, and only succeeded due to lack of competition, not quality. Its network was weak, going linkdead was common, regardless of the type of connection you were on. It had Microsoft-like QA. After every patch, something broke and 2-5 emergency patches were required over the next 48 hours. The arrogance of the original developers, as well as Sony later on, also hurt the game. They would not do things, because of laziness or incompetance and publically say it was impossible, when anyone with a clue near better. Sometimes, the 'impossible' thing, would actually make it into the game and the developers would deny they ever said it was impossible.
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(16 Comments)They also did stupid things like not allow wondowed mode and ban people who used third party add-ons to facilitate windowed mode, because they didn't want people doing anything else while playing EQ. Yes, they were that arrogant. It was only after competition came that they eased off on their controlling rules. When DAoC(an EQ clone) hit the scene, EQ quickly turned into a DAoC clone. They copied many feature, but most were just half-assed and half-thought out copies.
To be fair, WoW is not perfect. It has many flaws, but it improved on EQ and actually made a MMOG fun, which EQ rarely was. Even the hardcore players would admit they rarely had fun and played for other reasons like habit, or because there freinds did. There have been several superior games before WoW, like Dark Age of Camelot, far better designed then EQ ever was, but just not different enough to get massive numbers. Also, unlike EQ, it felt like a real world, as does WoW.
Now, if Blizzard would tweak some of the classes, give a better reason for PvP(something like DAoC's PvP system would be perfect), and make tradeskills worth doing, the game would be as near perfect as it possibly could be.
That Blizzard broke many of the old rules and made MMOG fun and casual player friendly, and is crazy successful is a good thing. The bar is raised. Now, no one can put out crap like EQ and expect it to succeed. To take the crown from Blizzard, either a game has to up the ante in fun and interesting ways, or Blizzard starts to drop the ball on future content releases. That later is a possibility, since Blizzard has been known for making sub-par expansions, but not too likely.