Monthly MMO Subscription- a fading business model?

[Morreion]

Kill Ten Rats article: Tao of the MMO Gamer

So, I see two lines converging. I don’t have much of a vantage point to see them, but here is what I see. I see “MMO Gamers” having expanded games libraries as content becomes easier to buy, and I see plenty of MMOs coming that are trying unique business models. The games that are on my horizon are Darkfall Online (proud to be hardcore niche), The Agency (quick fun, ad-based business model, lots of good ideas), LEGO Universe (player-driven, could be an interesting business model especially if it ties in real Legos), Star Wars: The Old Republic (what does mid-session mean?), and of course Guild Wars 2. The convergence is going to be a lot of great games that require little dedication to experience the whole game. This is going to leave a lot less time for dedication-required MMOs, especially the vanilla ones like World of Warcraft. The dedication-required MMOs that do well, I believe will be geared towards a niche audience.

So what do I think? I don’t think 2008 was a fail-year for MMOs. I think it was a wake up call. AAA MMOs do not have to cling to the $15 flatline, and if they do… it really has to be worth it.

[Inese Dezire]

This makes me sad. Even though my own time for gaming has dropped way back, I'm still not a fan of the new generation of instant gratification MMOs. I miss the days when accomplishments in a game meant something and the need for dedication helped foster game communities. No wonder I've reverted to playing single player games.

[Oatik]

If an MMO has to rely on its pricing model to differentiate itself and attract players, then its probably not that great. A good game will attract players - doesn’t matter what the pricing model is.

I have to agree with this poster. I'm sure there are some people who have free time to play 8 hours a day and have no money, we call them students. I know some games coming out are going to try some new things, but I'm not sure their success is going to be based on pricing.

[Morreion]

Good to see you here, Inese!

It seems that the MMO business has gone a bit off-track since 2004 (the release of WoW- that changed everything). There's been games that were canceled either in development or after launch, a good amount of duds, and a couple of pretty good ones. Hardly any seem to rise to the level of the games from the good old days (DAoC and earlier) but that just may be a function of the changing player base and lack of community. But it seems the industry is struggling. I'm looking forward to some of the new settings and skill-based sandboxes in development.

The buy-the-box pricing model has worked well for Guild Wars. If Tabula Rasa would have followed that model it wouldn't be shutting down.

I have to agree with Inese that challenges seem to be lacking in games from the last few years. My first game was UO, and if you messed up bad enough you lost all your gear on your corpse. Dying led to loss of fame. There were consequences for actions. That is very much absent in games from WoW on up. This is short-sighted in my mind because if it doesn't really matter if I die or whatever, the game doesn't really matter that much either. In UO I remember many heart-pounding sessions where I risked real consequences for some good loot or fame. I remember those times far more vividly than the almost penalty-free death results in games from WoW on up.

[EchoVamper]

I tried a little bit of Diablo II in hardcore mode long ago .

I wasn't very good at it, but I surely did admire the ones who could stay alive to level 99 in that mode.

Now that game had its own specific set of faults and shortcomings, but it was by no means a failure. I came to respect the death penalty in it. You lost gold (unless you had it in the stash), you lost time, and sometimes you really had to work to get your corpse back. If you couldn't, well there was a method for rebooting to your possesions, but it was not something you wanted to do over and over. It was simply a way to preserve yourself if you overstepped in an adventure and/or got into a loop that prevented retrieval.

Many friends were made in that game by guarding a corpse and/or clearing the grave site for a returning character.

There was a strange and somewhat limited, but very vital community in Diablo II...and perhaps the forerunners of the robust sharing and delving of information for online games: The Amazon Basin and the Lurker Lounge.

[Morreion]

Diablo II and consequences- that's a good analogy

I'm hoping there's going to be a return to consequences in games...but the mainstream model for the big titles will probably still be under lots of pressure to remain easier. Mainstream is the key there, big expensive titles are still shooting for WoW-like (at least a million+ population) success.


Remember SWG when they added the Jedi character unlock, which was supposed to be rare. Well, it didn't stay rare for long. Players clamored for the chance to be one. If everyone can accomplish something, then it is no longer special. That's a big conundrum in games with thousands of players on a server.

I keep hoping for more niche games to aim for very different game systems. The genre needs variety. Darkfall, with its hardcore faction PvP model, is an upcoming example of this (I wish it luck!).