Why the MMORPG genre failed and how to fix it

[Zvezdichko]

Greetings,

Since I play LOTRO quite a lot, I came across a thread on the local forum about the MMORPG market in general. This thread explains a lot why MMORPG genre failed.

The link is below this post, but since it's TLR for some of you, here are the main points:

1. Theme park as a model is too overused and boring. You go and kill a boar, then return back, then you go to another place and so on...
2. Vertical expansion model is flawed. MMORPGs are like a vertical tower - everyone strives to get on top and nobody cares about what's in the middle. You put a lot of effort to reach the top so you can think it'll be fun just being there - but insted, when you're maxed, you get quickly bored.
3. Lack of emergent gameplay. This is why MOBAs like League of Legends are perceived as more exciting. MOBAs may have the same maps, but the outcome of the battle is unpredictable- you interact with enemies, you interact with your team. Theme parked MMORPGs are all the same - you interact with NPCs mostly (not players), you hit the same buttons to kill an enemy and the outcome is predictable.
4. Quests in these games are like mindless tasks. You accept the quest, click here and there, the map tells you where you should go... and you almost never read quest objectives.

I would expand on the subject and I would say that World of Warcraft has failed to fix this model. People were excited to see the Garrison. Initially it looked flexible and dynamic. But as soon as you maxed your buildings and followers, daily missions became mundane and boring. And as a result, people left.

The author concludes that MMORPGs were considered interesting in the past, but the very same theme park model was so overused, that now they're a symbol of boredom and depression. I would add that World of Warcraft still hasn't moved past the model.

Source:

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...la-My-Feedback

[Zeta333]

The problem is to many mmos are trying to latch the casual player in and not worry about the "hardcore player" since they are "not that big of a percent." But we see where that has goten blizzard, ie sub numbers to = 2005. And all the other mmos have either failed or gone free to play. But hey the next 5 mmos Might try somthing different.

[lawow74]

I don't think it's the MMO itself so much as the diversification of the game market, and beyond it the entertainment market as a whole. There are all manner of games both Online and Offline for people to play and it's just continuing to expand, same with content delivery for televison, movies, books and music. Gamers are spoiled for choice now, and so commitment to any one game over many or all other games is becoming increasingly rare, especially when you add the volumes of on-demand and broadcast entertainment. I don't think any sort of game can duplicate the retention WoW enjoyed in its past, barring some revolutionary new development in gameplay or underlying systems. There is just too much competition.

[Sj]

MMORPGs failed? That's news to me.

[Deleted]

I don't think it's the MMO itself so much as the diversification of the game market, and beyond it the entertainment market as a whole. There are all manner of games both Online and Offline for people to play and it's just continuing to expand, same with content delivery for televison, movies, books and music. Gamers are spoiled for choice now, and so commitment to any one game over many or all other games is becoming increasingly rare, especially when you add the volumes of on-demand and broadcast entertainment. I don't think any sort of game can duplicate the retention WoW enjoyed in its past, barring some revolutionary new development in gameplay or underlying systems. There is just too much competition.

It is not a "failure" and the above is the correct and only answer. Everything else is completely and utterly secondary.

[Rukh]

How has the MMO genre failed? It makes games buckets of money annually.

[Tuesdays]

Casual killed the MMO.

[RoninaThorstone]

Failed to do what?

They are profitable, there's a lot of them, and they keep making improvements.

It sounds like you are talking about WoW.

[slaise1]

The problem is to many mmos are trying to latch the casual player in and not worry about the "hardcore player" since they are "not that big of a percent." But we see where that has goten blizzard, ie sub numbers to = 2005. And all the other mmos have either failed or gone free to play. But hey the next 5 mmos Might try somthing different.

Agreed, people enjoy having something to work towards to. In a case where everything is too accesible the end game content gets old quickly and as a result people quit.

[Edge-]

MMORPGs failed? That's news to me.

Indeed. I always get a good chuckle out of these types of threads. They both use arbitrary measures for "failure" and generally ignore the broader MMO(RPG) market, complete with the huge diversity in games that exists when you step outside of small handful of major AAA MMO's.

And I like how WoW is called out by name, despite it still being a $1B a year revenue machine. I'm just about every other dev/publisher would love to have such a "failure" : 3

[RoninaThorstone]

Indeed. I always get a good chuckle out of these types of threads. They both use arbitrary measures for "failure" and generally ignore the broader MMO(RPG) market, complete with the huge diversity in games that exists when you step outside of small handful of major AAA MMO's.

But... but I thought world of warcraft was the only video game.
What do you mean "broader market"???

[unfilteredJW]

Wish I failed this well.

[Deleted]

I missed the part where you told us how to fix it. Since that's kind of a hard thing to do, and it doesn't seem you have the answer aswell while you seem to act like you do. Nonetheless, WoW has gone the route of streamlining things yes, some for the better some for the worse I agree. But if everything got turned around to 2004 again no one would be happy.

[Endus]

I wouldn't say the genre's "failed", but I do think there's a lot to the genre that's "bad design";

1> Get rid of the Class Trinity. No more DPS/Healer/Tank stuff. It only exists as a concept because of technical limitations in early MMOs, so they created "tanks" whose purpose was to make a boss feel "boss-y" by taking the big hits nobody else could, allowing the boss to be killed. In practice, though, it's a binary role; it's either done properly, and you have a shot at winning, or you don't, and you wipe. There's very little room for error, or self-improvement beyond better gear; there's no rotation to master or the like, generally. Instead, replace the entire concept of tanks (and threat) with a dynamic, active defense system that everyone has to make use of. Hide behind cover, deflect minor blows, etc. Bruiser melee types can still exist, to harass big enemies and try and slow/trip them up, to make things safer, but get rid of the concept of threat tanking entirely. If your prime DPS is shanking that dragon really hard, he should have every reason to ignore the angry dude in the plate mail who's making fun of his mum.

2> Horizontal progression is king. Vertical progression creates an endpoint; I must reach max level. Adding additional types of vertical progression, like gear, just extends the grind. Horizontal progression can allow for a massively broader experience without spiking character power in an absolute sense, giving players more options, not more power. It can, therefore, be more easily expanded on without trivializing prior content; adding a new expansion with new gear/abilities to unlock doesn't make the old content "easier", it just gives you (at best) new ways to approach it. Vertical progression should be minimized, in terms of actual power; cosmetic unlocks and the like are fine.

3> Make content meaningful. By this, I mean no filler. None. No quests to get 10 wolf hides or the like. Without a vertical experience progression system, you have much less need for this, anyway. This then lets you fill the world with puzzles, interesting fights, explorable zones, etc, rather than an equally-spaced scattering of mobs to farm.

4> Make combat "fun". I shouldn't want to skip fighting enemies. That's the bulk of the game. The reward for defeating them should be significant enough to make it worthwhile, the combat itself should be fun and engaging, and it shouldn't be treated as a necessary chore. Piles onto the above points, since all this feeds into the current models.

There's been some interesting moves in recent games on some of these points, but I've yet to play an MMO that really hits home on all of them.

Casual killed the MMO.

I'm gonna wildly disagree here. A big-population game, like an MMO, has to have broad appeal to be successful, meaning there has to be content for "casual gamers". That doesn't mean you can't also appeal to hardcore players. It's just a different appeal.

[Florida Man]

It is not a "failure" and the above is the correct and only answer. Everything else is completely and utterly secondary.

100% agree. And if I may take it one step further: it is not only the entertainment industry that has changed, but society as a whole. Each generation feels more and more entitlement, and is conditioned with instant gratification. "I want more, and I want it now."

Society has changed, and video games had to change to keep up with demands from their consumers.

MMORPGs haven't failed. They've adapted. And to old timers like us, it sucks but there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Either adapt with it and enjoy, or move on to another hobby.

[Kokolums]

WoW succeeded because it had very strong social tools. They added a ton of antisocial tools that ruined the experience.

In Vanilla and BC, WoW forced you to make friends to progress. You had a sense of community. Maintaining these friendships became critically important. There were content gaps, but because players made friends, they felt pain if they unsubbed because they would be abandoning friends. Friendships and community is really what makes players stick around.

When Blizzard introduced LFD, LFR, and removed global chat, it became extremely anti-social. Thanks to these new tools, you could complete every 5 man and every raid and not talk to a soul. That meant when a content gap hit, and you got bored, it became EASY to click unsub and quit WoW, because you weren't abandoning any friends. And once you are unsubbed, you forget the game and it can be hard to get you back to WoW.

This is why you see subs rise dramatically into BC, level off in Wrath, and then begin a huge drop that is still going. People can unsub with no consequences.

This means the game must force players to be social. It cannot afford to cater to introverts. People who don't like to socialize will have to be ignored on this issue. WoW must force people to make friends to increase subs. That means remove LFR, LFD, which encourages people to talk to each other and form friendships. And THAT is the secret sauce to boosting subs.

This effect is happening to me in reverse. I've gotten into a different game now that is social, where you make friends and there is community. I invest my gaming time in that. I have to weigh options. I can leave that game and play Legion, and I'll probably wind up soloing everything in LFR. That's not attractive to me. I don't want that kind of experience. I want to play in a social game. Legion offers me nothing to switch back to WoW.

Other MMOs are following this antisocial design. Wildstar is an example. I heard it cater to players who liked classic. I went to check it out. First thing I looked for is if it has automated matchmaking. I saw a LFG interface and walked away. I refuse to play an MMO with one.

[Fencers]

I wouldn't say the genre's "failed", but I do think there's a lot to the genre that's "bad design";

This is more or less, my feeling.

Elaborating-

Technically, the genre is pretty healthy. There are more MMOs profitable with the widest variance in gameplay types and volume in the genre right now than has ever been previous.

The 'bad design' of MMOs is mostly due to two factors: 1. costs. 2. people.

These games are expensive as heck to make. Design that accommodates a great number of human players simultaneously is tough to pull off.

[Halicia]

You can talk about rules all day long, but when it comes down to it, the main issue MMOs have now is that they failed to adapt to the mobile/social gaming platform.

I'm not talking about "Candy Crush, the MMO" ... I'm talking about being able to access the same game regardless of what device/console/computer you're on without having to spend 8 hours downloading a client first.

There's a huge audience that only plays on devices, but there's !@#$all for MMOs on them, and not because of a lack of tech capability, either.

[Tuesdays]

I'm gonna wildly disagree here. A big-population game, like an MMO, has to have broad appeal to be successful, meaning there has to be content for "casual gamers". That doesn't mean you can't also appeal to hardcore players. It's just a different appeal.

You can brush it off and talk numbers from a business stand point, but it has hurt the MMORPG more than helped it.

Blizzard has made a ton of money off this game, we don't she squat put back in, we actually get less and pay more, more often.

[lawow74]

100% agree. And if I may take it one step further: it is not only the entertainment industry that has changed, but society as a whole. Each generation feels more and more entitlement, and is conditioned with instant gratification. "I want more, and I want it now."

Society has changed, and video games had to change to keep up with demands from their consumers.

I don't think it's as much this as it is the fact the gaming demographic has greatly diversified since the early days. It used to be primarily for childten, teenagers and young adults. Now those people have grown up and are in middle age or older, and new generations are joining the market. The accessibility of gaming has grown as well.

Many of the people who were hardcore gamers in their childhood, teens and early adulthood now have other time commitments, like families, that demand their attention ahead of video games. There's probably some truth to the instant gratification desire, but I don't think it's the primary factor there. I do agree some games are designed to take advantage of that(freemium games trying to sucker you out of money are a good example), but as you say, the market adapts to the consumer.

Trying to cling to the myopic view that 'casuals killed MMOs' is the resort of the blind faithful who still think one day someone will make that Golden Age Hardcore MMO that's gonna show everyone they're right and all the other people were wrong.

Yeah. Lemme know when Space Jesus shows up on his Laser Raptor to help launch it. Cos actual game companies, who are in business to make money, sure don't seem interested in producing it.