How we measure success in the MMO genre varies from person to person. Or at least, what we call a success varies. Personal success, industry success, believing in success based on PR or ‘solid’ data; all of this gets mixed into a giant blender and tossed out on blogs and forums. My goal today is to define success both to the player and to the company, hopefully setting the groundwork for a post tomorrow.
There are two critical aspects of success when talking about an MMO: Did you like it, and did the company profit off the title.
The first point, did you like it, is of course extremely subjective. I like Darkfall, most do not. Is Darkfall a success by this standard? For me it is, for you it might not be.
The second aspect of success is company profitability, but let’s look at this from a different angle then just the pure amount of profit (few MMO companies are public or offer this number straight up): is your MMO being updated, and is it being updated in a way you enjoy.
The first factor is pretty simple. When was the last time your MMO got a good update? If the game is doing well, it still has talented devs working on it, and those devs are improving the game. This is a core principle of the genre, and should be a major strength if done right.
The second is subjective, but just as important. Ultima Online got updated, but the update was Trammel, which ruined the game for many. SWG got the NGE. WoW got WotLK. I’m sure most have their own examples. Whether the update was done from need (sub game failing and going F2P), from greed (Trammel to chase EQ1 players), or from misguided metrics (WotLK being focused-grouped out to cater to casuals at the expense of the core), the end result is an update that instead of making the game better for you, made it worse.
So let’s recap: A successful MMO is one you enjoy playing, one that has an active dev team, and that active dev team is producing content that is enjoyed by the current player base (you). This in turn creates a game you not only enjoy playing, but can continue to enjoy playing long-term.