Do you consider Destiny an MMO?

[ro9ue]

Having this discussion with some of my friends (we all enjoy Destiny to varying degrees) and there appears to be huge disagreement about the classification of Destiny.

I don't think it's super important that games fit neatly into a genre, but when we pitch the game to other people and some say it's a sci-fi MMO, others disagree and think it's misleading.

My position is that it's like an MMO-lite. Let's look at typical end game in the gold standard for MMOs: World of Warcraft. The WoW experience starts with a leveling up 1-110 journey that lasts a few weeks in a large number of open world zones. However after that, 90% of the game experience is at max level where you chill in a capital city waiting on queues to pop. Because of this system, a vast majority of the WoW content is irrelevant indefinitely once you get to cap.

What Destiny decided to do is cut the fat on most of that content. They have a few zones that handle the leveling journey, and then just focus on the primary MMO experience.


However in principle, I feel MMOs should be open-world focused. WoW has sort of changed direction on this with World Quests, and there are still other MMOs that handle this much better - like GW2 having everything scale and dynamic events.

That's why I feel Destiny can still be considered an MMO, but I qualify it as an MMO-lite. It generally replicates most of the entire WoW experience.

Would like to hear most of your thoughts on this.

[Nevcairiel]

Destiny is definitely a MMO - a MMOFPS. Can't really compare a MMORPG like WoW with a game like Destiny.

The definition of being a MMO is rather lax and simple - a persistent world of some sort where a huge amount of players play simultaneously.
Most people seem to link the thought of "MMO" directly with "MMORPG", but thats just not the case.

[dope_danny]

No its Halo Reach and Diablo 3 smashed together. You can team up and fight with a created character and a levelled party build in pokemon, pokemon isnt an mmorpg either.

[rasako]

MMO just seems to be a buzz term ever since WoW got big. They even call League of Legends an "MMO". I don't care if a hundred million people are playing destiny. If you can't group up into large parties or be out in the world with hundreds of players then it isn't "Massively Multiplayer".

Just think of it as Halo and Diablo smashed together. or Halo with a diablo loot system. That's about as brass tacks as you can get.

[ParanoiD84]

Hell no atleast not the first one with that little hub.

[Karon]

Destiny is definitely a MMO - a MMOFPS. Can't really compare a MMORPG like WoW with a game like Destiny.

The definition of being a MMO is rather lax and simple - a persistent world of some sort where a huge amount of players play simultaneously.
Most people seem to link the thought of "MMO" directly with "MMORPG", but thats just not the case.

How many people play on the same Map at a time? 6? That's not "a huge amount"

Destiny is a FPS with online functions.

[jackofwind]

Having this discussion with some of my friends (we all enjoy Destiny to varying degrees) and there appears to be huge disagreement about the classification of Destiny.

I don't think it's super important that games fit neatly into a genre, but when we pitch the game to other people and some say it's a sci-fi MMO, others disagree and think it's misleading.

My position is that it's like an MMO-lite. Let's look at typical end game in the gold standard for MMOs: World of Warcraft. The WoW experience starts with a leveling up 1-110 journey that lasts a few weeks in a large number of open world zones. However after that, 90% of the game experience is at max level where you chill in a capital city waiting on queues to pop. Because of this system, a vast majority of the WoW content is irrelevant indefinitely once you get to cap.

What Destiny decided to do is cut the fat on most of that content. They have a few zones that handle the leveling journey, and then just focus on the primary MMO experience.


However in principle, I feel MMOs should be open-world focused. WoW has sort of changed direction on this with World Quests, and there are still other MMOs that handle this much better - like GW2 having everything scale and dynamic events.

That's why I feel Destiny can still be considered an MMO, but I qualify it as an MMO-lite. It generally replicates most of the entire WoW experience.

Would like to hear most of your thoughts on this.

Is it Massive? Is it Multiplayer? Is it Online?

That's literally the only thing that makes an MMO an MMO. If it fits those descriptions it's an MMO, if it doesn't it isn't.

[Skalm]

Is it Massive? Is it Multiplayer? Is it Online?

That's literally the only thing that makes an MMO an MMO. If it fits those descriptions it's an MMO, if it doesn't it isn't.

Actually what you wrote is an incorrect use of the term.

Those words cannot be used separately to describe an MMO. They have to be used as a single statement, not as separate statements.

Massive Multiplayer Online = Lots of People Online Playing together (in the same world, can see each other and interact with each other).

Used as three separate statements as you try to describe, you could call Dark Souls 3 an MMO.

Massive? yes, lots of places to go, and lots of people playing
Multiplayer? yes, but only a couple people playing together at a time
Online? Yes, it connects to a server to facilitate small group interaction

How it should be qualified:
Dark Souls 3 - Massive Multiplayer Online - No, it is not a lot of people playing together and interacting with each other online.

[jackofwind]

Actually what you wrote is an incorrect use of the term.

Those words cannot be used separately to describe an MMO. They have to be used as a single statement, not as separate statements.

Massive Multiplayer Online = Lots of People Online Playing together (in the same world, can see each other and interact with each other).

Used as three separate statements as you try to describe, you could call Dark Souls 3 an MMO.

Massive? yes, lots of places to go, and lots of people playing
Multiplayer? yes, but only a couple people playing together at a time
Online? Yes, it connects to a server to facilitate small group interaction

How it should be qualified:
Dark Souls 3 - Massive Multiplayer Online - No, it is not a lot of people playing together and interacting with each other online.

It stands for Massively Multiplayer Online. The Massive has nothing to do with the game world, it has to do with the amount of players. When I said "Is it Massive" I was talking about the number of concurrent players, not the size of the game.

Number of places to go is irrelevant to it being an MMO. An MMO is literally just a game of any kind where a massive amount of players play concurrently with each other. It could take place in a single room and have zero content and if enough people played it it would be an MMO.

[Jtbrig7390]

Seeing how it meets all requirement's to be a MMO yes its a MMO.

1) Massive - It has a massive amount of people playing and you can see a massive amount of people at one time.
2) Multiplayer - Self explained its a MP game.
3) Online - Self explained once again its a online game.

It has all the features of a MMO as well.

- - - Updated - - -

How many people play on the same Map at a time? 6? That's not "a huge amount"

Destiny is a FPS with online functions.

between 15-30 depending the map.

[jcf190]

The game world needs to be persistent to meet the definition of a true MMO, in my opinion.

[ls-]

It's MO, not MMO, it's not a Massively Multiplayer Online experience, the only places where there's A LOT OF people simultaneously are hubs, realistically hubs are just lobbies...

By some people's logic BF1 is MMOFPS because it has 32v32

[Triggered Fridgekin]

I was going to reference Guild Wars 1 as being an MMORPG in spite of it being instanced off outside of cities but apparently Anet coined it as a CORPG in spite of winning awards for being an MMORPG.

The closest comparison I can think of would be Warframe and it has its fair share of discussions on the topic especially now that it's getting an open-world area with support of up to 50 players.

[ls-]

I was going to reference Guild Wars 1 as being an MMORPG in spite of it being instanced off outside of cities but apparently Anet coined it as a CORPG in spite of winning awards for being an MMORPG.

The closest comparison I can think of would be Warframe and it has its fair share of discussions on the topic especially now that it's getting an open-world area with support of up to 50 players.

Well, Warframe is COFPS, so...

Warframe is a cooperative free-to-play third person online action game set in an evolving sci-fi world.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Well, Warframe is COFPS, so...

Well there you have it.

[ComputerNerd]

An MMO does not have to be an RPG.
So yes, it can be.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

An MMO does not have to be an RPG.
So yes, it can be.

It's less about genre and more about how folks interpret the "MM" in "MMO". Planetside is an MMOFPS since it has a vast open world with tons of players which persists throughout regardless of your participation whereas Destiny and Warframe instance their missions beyond the central hub in to parties which is the hang up because then it essentially functions as any other co-op multiplayer game which is why Warframe and Destiny (since it's marketed as co-op) are COFPSs.

[Muadiib]

I'm not even sure WoW qualifies as an mmo anymore, let alone Destiny.

[ComputerNerd]

It's less about genre and more about how folks interpret the "MM" in "MMO". Planetside is an MMOFPS since it has a vast open world with tons of players which persists throughout regardless of your participation whereas Destiny and Warframe instance their missions beyond the central hub in to parties which is the hang up because then it essentially functions as any other co-op multiplayer game which is why Warframe and Destiny (since it's marketed as co-op) are COFPSs.

Massively Multi-player Online has a problem being defined as the "massive" part is difficult to pin down to anything specific.
Is it the size of the game area, is it the number of players able to exist within the same game "world", or something else.
I am just saying that a game not being an RPG does not exclude it from being an MMO.

[Vespian]

It's less about genre and more about how folks interpret the "MM" in "MMO". Planetside is an MMOFPS since it has a vast open world with tons of players which persists throughout regardless of your participation whereas Destiny and Warframe instance their missions beyond the central hub in to parties which is the hang up because then it essentially functions as any other co-op multiplayer game which is why Warframe and Destiny (since it's marketed as co-op) are COFPSs.

Exactly. Persistence is one of the primary points that decide (my way of looking at it) whether it's an MMO or just a Lobby game. If the main hub is not a persistent world, in which there's seamless interaction and that world is its own entity, like in WoW..it's not an MMO.