Post by Morreion on Mar 12, 2010 8:00:22 GMT -5
Devolution (The Last Bastion)
Fozzik makes a point; Keen has had similar thoughts. I'm sympathetic, but of course I'm from that old school D&D background so that was to be expected. It does seem like MMOs are changing into a different gaming genre.
We get watered down, simplified, faster, easier games. We get things that are farther and farther from the role-playing, pen and paper games that we played, and that were so exciting to see evolve into online games. They translated really well, and the first steps were huge steps forward. It really was a fantastic new way to enjoy those “old-fashioned” role-playing games, with thousands of others like us from across the globe together in the same world, and 3D graphics to really bring what was in our heads to life. Since then however, most of the change seems to be centered around getting as far away from the roots as possible. Somehow the idea of fantasy role-playing games became not only old-fashioned, but flat-out frowned upon. Somehow it’s supposed to be a positive thing…gamers are supposed to get excited…that your upcoming MMORPG is going to be in no way, shape, or form anything like an MMORPG.
Can you imagine if someone came out with an RTS game and said something like…
“Our new real-time strategy game gets away from the mire of controlling lots of resources and armies. We’re breaking out of the mold and doing all that automatically so you can focus on something completely new…”
Or imagine a new FPS game that was advertised like this…
“This groundbreaking new first-person shooter completely takes twitch gaming out of the equation. You no longer have to worry about your ping times or how fast your reflexes are…the game aims for you and shoots for you so you can focus on the really fun stuff…”
Ridiculous? Well then why do we accept the same in our genre? Why are we allowing developers to devolve the games we love into ever more simple, ever less recognizable games that cater to a completely different audience? All in the name of being new and different. Calling it evolution is almost a painful joke…because it’s really the exact opposite. So many of us our paying for these new games…it’s no wonder. It’s so much easier on the development house to make something like this and just call it new and better. It’s our own fault for swallowing the crap.
Can you imagine if someone came out with an RTS game and said something like…
“Our new real-time strategy game gets away from the mire of controlling lots of resources and armies. We’re breaking out of the mold and doing all that automatically so you can focus on something completely new…”
Or imagine a new FPS game that was advertised like this…
“This groundbreaking new first-person shooter completely takes twitch gaming out of the equation. You no longer have to worry about your ping times or how fast your reflexes are…the game aims for you and shoots for you so you can focus on the really fun stuff…”
Ridiculous? Well then why do we accept the same in our genre? Why are we allowing developers to devolve the games we love into ever more simple, ever less recognizable games that cater to a completely different audience? All in the name of being new and different. Calling it evolution is almost a painful joke…because it’s really the exact opposite. So many of us our paying for these new games…it’s no wonder. It’s so much easier on the development house to make something like this and just call it new and better. It’s our own fault for swallowing the crap.
Fozzik makes a point; Keen has had similar thoughts. I'm sympathetic, but of course I'm from that old school D&D background so that was to be expected. It does seem like MMOs are changing into a different gaming genre.
