Solo players are majority in MMOs...

[Hyve]

The MMO Genre has never really been about making you engage in Multiplayer Content 24 / 7. Almost all MMO Games have always had large sections of "Single Player" content such as Questing, but it's hard to really check if the statements made by the WildStar team are true or not.

I may not be playing with everyone on my server, but their mere presence does have an impact, it does make a difference. I'm in a large guild, have several friends and I talk with them all the time, and while not everyone has that, the means of doing so are there, so this is more of a choice then an issue as such.

[Sharuko]

I may not be playing with everyone on my server, but their mere presence does have an impact, it does make a difference. I'm in a large guild, have several friends and I talk with them all the time, and while not everyone has that, the means of doing so are there, so this is more of a choice then an issue as such.

I agree with this 100%, even if you are not playing with people all the time, the mere fact they are there adds to the game a lot. Even solo players like having other people around. Honestly, a company creates an MMO that is the best MMO every and no one is playing it and the community is dead, most players don't want to play it. Why is one of the worst things in MMOs "dead servers", why do companies even Blizzard merge servers? Because they want the perception of a game having tons of players and people will quit if there aren't others around.

[Kelimbror]

Well said. Plus, even with new games (expansions), you can still go back to play the old content on a max level character. There's no option in Elder Scrolls to go run some Morrowind content on your Dragonborn character.

Exactly. I'm not sure where the myth has become perpetuated that MMOs are defined only by their multiplayer capabilities. The term MMO is so generic, it doesn't really provide any information to what actually makes one. And you are right about expansions only adding on to the game and never actually turning the game into something else. Your example highlights that perfectly. If they added content expansions to skyrim every quarter or 6 months then you could have a single player game that tried to replicate the experience.

[Terahertz]

Reason why is because usually solo gameplay is more rewarding as well as many MMOs having dogshit multiplayer gameplay.

[Sharuko]

There's no option in Elder Scrolls to go run some Morrowind content on your Dragonborn character.

People overestimate how many people play games like Skyrim after the launch window. A game like Skyrim has amazing mods, including some mods with dozens of hours of content and mods that completely change the game for the better, but per Steam a peak of about 40k players play it daily. It isn't a lot.

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/?snr=1_4_4__110

[Venziir]

People overestimate how many people play games like Skyrim after the launch window. A game like Skyrim has amazing mods, including some mods with dozens of hours of content and mods that completely change the game for the better, but per Steam a peak of about 40k players play it daily. It isn't a lot.

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/?snr=1_4_4__110

It did still sell a crap-ton of units, and won quite a few awards, meaning it's a succesful game. Besides, that wasn't his point he just used Skyrim and Morrowind as examples.

[Noomz]

..as said by Wildstar dev: "And solo players are tragically underserved in most MMOs – something like 65% of players tend to play largely solo (Massively Single-player, as it were)."
http://www.wildstar-online.com/uk/ne...f_the_game.php

How do you feel about more people tend to play solo in MMO? Tbh, I dont know where he get that info from, but surely not out of the blue sky.

What do you mean with how I feel? People do most content alone. If people want that, big deal. I'm one of them though, I do a lot on my own. Other people usually hold me back and often mean I have to deal with... less desirable people.
That's not to say I don't do things with friends and groups.

[Achaman]

thing is no matter what they do to force groups/teamwork people rather get all the loot/kills themselves..

id love an actual group only game but that doesnt exist

[Sharuko]

It did still sell a crap-ton of units, and won quite a few awards, meaning it's a succesful game. Besides, that wasn't his point he just used Skyrim and Morrowind as examples.

My point was not success, off course it is a huge success, one of my favorite games of all time. My point was more to the fact that I don't think people will playing a great MMO if no one is playing. A game like Skyrim is updated frequently and honestly has only gotten better, but even expansions don't bring a lot of people back.

[lopk]

If you want to strictly play solo, stick w/ single player games and stop making our MMOs shitty.

That's the problem; what single player game should I play?

I want one where I can always be progressing, has new content updates frequently, has a ton of customization, compelling story, tons of things to do, etc. etc.

As far as I'm aware, there are no single player games that meet my expectations, yet MMOs do. Soooooooooooo.......

[zoomgpally]

If you want to strictly play solo, stick w/ single player games and stop making our MMOs shitty.

And if you want to be a douchebag, stick w/ real life and stop making our forums shitty.

[Sharuko]

And here is an interesting chart for Skyrim's steam users. Within 4 months of launch the concurrency is about what we have now.

http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.c...3/03/chart.jpg

I think there is something to seeing other players and being a part of a community. I don't think it is the game itself but more the community that keeps an MMO going.

[zoomgpally]

People overestimate how many people play games like Skyrim after the launch window. A game like Skyrim has amazing mods, including some mods with dozens of hours of content and mods that completely change the game for the better, but per Steam a peak of about 40k players play it daily. It isn't a lot.

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/?snr=1_4_4__110

That is 40k PEAK, which means highest amount playing at the same time, could be a million playing in one day for all we know

- - - Updated - - -

And here is an interesting chart for Skyrim's steam users. Within 4 months of launch the concurrency is about what we have now.

http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.c...3/03/chart.jpg

I think there is something to seeing other players and being a part of a community. I don't think it is the game itself but more the community that keeps an MMO going.

IIRC they were inviting people in waves for Dota 2 beta, which means people were waiting to be let in, unless i'm wrong it's a terrible comparison.

[Usagi Senshi]

The MMO Genre has never really been about making you engage in Multiplayer Content 24 / 7. Almost all MMO Games have always had large sections of "Single Player" content such as Questing, but it's hard to really check if the statements made by the WildStar team are true or not.

I may not be playing with everyone on my server, but their mere presence does have an impact, it does make a difference. I'm in a large guild, have several friends and I talk with them all the time, and while not everyone has that, the means of doing so are there, so this is more of a choice then an issue as such.

Pretty much this post right here. MMOs were never about being forced to socialize in order to succeed at least going by all of the descriptions/conceptualizations of them I've read in gaming magazines throughout the 90s. Raiding and hardcore PVP being forced in most MMOs as means to prolong gameplay by way of piecemeal rewards is what became the norm in MMOs unfortunately. I also like raiding but its a damn shame what these games could have been if not being held back by by old ideals and forced continual grouping for power upgrades.

I've always imagined going on my own Slayers/LotR/Star Wars/etc epic quest that is generated for me and I can intersect other people's quest here and there to take down a bigger bad guy and maybe we could tag team with two other adventurers for a day or two then separate again and continue on our merry way. Maybe I could just forage around the world/dungeons for armor pieces and sell them in a bazaar and make my own goods and just be a merchant that shows up 1-3 days out of the week at specific times with good deals for players.

Maybe I could use parts of my own quest to generate user content quests for passerby and then go on from there. Lots of games have tried various forms of these ideals in some way over the years but never really excelled at all of them at once. 15+ years later and I still hope for such an interesting MMORPG. Everquest Next+Landmark seems to be the closest I've seen yer. We shall see.....

[Austilias]

Doesn't really surprise me. Frankly i'm one of the people who spends a lot of time doing "solo content", simply because WoW has seen a drastic spike when it comes to the unbearable millennials and their proportion with respect to the game's playerbase over the past few years; not to mention what a pain in the ass they are when it comes to dungeons/raids/guilds/etc. Yes, assholes have always been around in WoW; but there would appear to be many more these days.

[Sharuko]

That is 40k PEAK, which means highest amount playing at the same time, could be a million playing in one day for all we know

Yeah I know, I don't think it would be a million with 40k peak concurrency. Could be 100k-200k. Still very good numbers but an MMO would look at those numbers as a failure in terms of keeping players. Even the expansion/DLC didn't bring a lot of interest back.

With that said though Skyrim is one of the top played games per Raptr higher than a lot of MMOs (SWTOR, GW2, Rift), so maybe there is some truth to it being the game as Parrin and Kelimdor stated.

http://raptr.com/dashboard/games

[Xisa]

Well, we now statistically know why MMOs are declining. That's a good place to start.

[Austilias]

I also like raiding but its a damn shame what these games could have been if not being held back by by old ideals and forced continual grouping for power upgrades.

So what would you propose then; all of WoW's content to be ran under the LFD/LFR ethos? Everything in the game to be possible with a simple queue and 9, 19 (Mythic) or 24 complete and utter strangers by your side; most of whom you'll never speak to or even meet again?

Sorry, but the group requirement for serious raiding and PvP is one of the few things that stops this game going to the dogs.

[Ighox]

Coming from former WoW vanilla devs, this is fantastically hilarious. Maybe the gained some brains since?.. nah can't be XDD


Most people don't have hours to spend to find a group, so they play solo. Heck, even in EvE online, which is about as complicated as an MMO can be, most people are running solo missions.

Because it's not really that profitable to run missions together, also why people PLEX solo, most of them aren't actually "solo players".

I think there's a large number of "solo players" simply because of the way MMO's nowadays are designed, I don't think it's because they are "solo players".
Like in WoW the solo guy runs dailies, runs a LFR does some random shit solo and logs off, because it's just really pointless to spend time or energy on grouping up to 1shot a bear or whatever.

And as long as MMO's keep thinking that they have to cater to the solo player, then nothing will change.

[Tomana]

I think there's a large number of "solo players" simply because of the way MMO's nowadays are designed, I don't think it's because they are "solo players".
Like in WoW the solo guy runs dailies, runs a LFR does some random shit solo and logs off, because it's just really pointless to spend time or energy on grouping up to 1shot a bear or whatever.

Imho, you're taking the problem backwards. Most people play solo content because they lack the time to commit to group content. Raiding eats up a continuous time slice of at least 2 hours, something a lot of people simply can't afford.

And as long as MMO's keep thinking that they have to cater to the solo player, then nothing will change.

And it should not because time commitment (see above). You can't design a multi-million game assuming its average user has 10 hours a day to play.