So it’s the second day of writing now and I’m already thinking this was a bad idea. I’, running late on my post, again although technically my firefall guide was the first but.. WHATEVER.. It’s funny writing these daily posts as I do have a lot I want to get to but I never know what to focus on next as there is really a lot going on. And then, do I focus on personal things or mmo based opinions…hmm MMO today.
There has been a bit of rumination in the community lately about whether MMO’s are dying. You can track my own feelings on that here and it does seem like there is a growing amount of discontent towards the genre from those that enjoy the medium and even those coming from other games. It’s just not the same feeling anymore and that isn’t some sort of nostalgia talking. I wasn’t even involved in those earlier times and even I feel like something is missing now.
I guess what was said within Liore’s post is kind of true. These aren’t mmo’s anymore or at least, not the experience that counts. WoW clones has become a genre all to itself and replaced mmo’s entirely and that is being felt rather deeply now, deep enough for people to quit the genre entirely and I can’t blame them. These new mmo’s are built on the foundation of “fun” and fun just isn’t good enough anymore. Gamer Lady goes into this as what we are getting is the same thing over and over again and it’s an experience we’ve mostly become satiated with
Liore talks a little about the social elements, and element I’ve gone into previously regarding it’s importance for mmo’s and not the current wow trailer parks. Well, I guess it is a social experience in part but not exactly in the same ways. A recent discussion around Mob tagging in the WoW behemoth has highlighted more of this discussion around the Social elements. Both The Grumpy Elf, Alt chat and In an Age have post about their opinions, I previously talked about the asocial elements of Guild Wars 2 model and there are a plethora of others I’m forgetting but I can’t help but think such a discussion is just the tip of the iceberg.
Perhaps like the MMO gypsy wonders in her recent post that it is up to the player search out social experiences, to engage with the community and guilds. I do think that the general population are kind of anti social in their approach to mmo’s but then, is that some kind of natural element or something that has been trained. You kind of expect that these mmo’s can be completely soloed and been mostly accommodating for the group aspects as well. It’s a sliding scale for sure but where to start when encouraging change.
It’s not just one element that makes an mmo, and that is missing from the WoW generation but a whole collection of mechanics that are intrinsic to creating a social, engaging experience. It isn’t just about mob tagging, or events, or questing, or raiding but the general sense of anti-social and asocial behaviour that is mostly encouraged or at least, left to fester within these games. There is so much that is now focused on replicating the single player theme park that those elements have mostly been forgotten because they wouldn’t be fun, or they wouldn’t be enjoyable or just because developers think they might turn people away but they are already leaving. it’s time to change that.
Looking at some of my recent experiences it has to be more about the elements that support people playing together. Together with friends, with guildies and with random people but there are just so many restrictions on doing this in near every mmo lately. This antiquated quest structure is a major issue, phasing and heavy instancing because story is more important than playing with others is an issue and just how the multiplayer elements of the world are slowly shrinking so that everyone can play solo at all times to experience everything. Oh, and don’t get me started on levels.
Personally I think the main focus when trying to make an mmo engaging and enough to interest people for longer than a month is to try making these worlds more worthy of being a home. That is something where we feel comfortably settling down something wherein we want to continue to be a part of. And no, that isn’t just about housing but creating an experience that is engaging on many elements, that provides on going goals based on the individual rather than a new raid or developer created story. it’s time to look more towards games like Eve, the true MMO and virtual world rather than the pretenders. Maybe then when we create experiences worthy of being a part of for the long term we won’t have people swearing off the genre entirely
OOOO and something personal hmm.. how about my world famous chicken and corn soup recipe that I’ve been enjoying this winter.. that’s right, us crazy aussies are living in opposite land.
Eri’s Amazing Chicken Soup.
Part One
4 cloves
tablespoon Crushed garlic
Lemon grass stalk SMASHED
1 Onion chopped
1 Tomato
2 litres chicken stock
Lightly Fry in pan for a few minutes then pour in stock. Boil for 15 minutes and then strain out gunky bits and squeeze juice from them while being aware of boiling hot bits squirting out at your extremities. Return to boil
Part 2
Put some chicken thighs in the stock and boil for about 30.. maybe, and then chop enthusiastically… like seriously, smack that knife down lots. then return to nommy broth
Part 3
2 cans creamed corn
1 Bok choy/pak choy/some kind of greenery chopped
eschalots
parsley
tablespoon Soy Sauce
2 teaspoons Rice Vinegar
Add pretty much how much you want of these and boil for 5.. add bok choy leaves, parsley and eschalots at the end for a minute.
Part 4
If you want it thicker and are edventurous add an egg white or two to the soup for a minute of cooking with stove off… or cornflour if you’re boring to thicken
Boil some rice noodles and Enjoy… oh, and don’t forget to make lots of NOM noises
#MMO #social #chickensoup
9 thoughts on “MMO’s aren’t dead… they never got a chance”
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Healing the masses 
What a great post! I just followed you to stay updated on your future posts and I look forward to them. I recently started my own personal blog, so feel free to check out my profile where you’ll find my blog and social media sites.
Have a great day 😀
Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup is nommy!
the funny thing, with garlic and ginger plus the other stuff it is a good flu/condition fighter
Nice soup 🙂 If the MMO dies you can always do a food blog!
I’m tempted haha although I think cooking blogs actually take more work than gaming lol… all that prep work haha.
Sometimes I think the current MMO offering is a lot like learning a new language. Sure, you can study it solo, and even have fun sharing bits and pieces of it with your friends and/or strangers, but in the end if you aren’t having real conversations with others then you’re missing out on the true purpose of it. Likewise, you can study the grammar points as much as you like, you will never be truly immersed in the language until you get in and experience all that it has to offer, from the everyday idioms, slang, and cultural references, to the high literature.
For me, MMOs are just about as far from dying as its possible to imagine. No, MMOs are finally becoming what I always wanted them to be, right from the day I first began playing. I always wanted an open, shared environment that felt like a place filled with life and interest. I never wanted a social network, a friends-generator or an alternative social life. I took an immediate and instinctive dislike to the concepts of both groups and, especially, guilds, which I saw (and still see) as divisive and insular.
When I began playing Everquest my playstyle was about 85% solo, which I felt then, and still feel, is counter-intuitively much more about being “in the world” and engaged than group play usually is. That was largely how it remained until I went to DAOC at launch. There I became seduced by the dark side, largely out of nervousness in my first real PvP environment. Kind of huddling together for protection. I joined my first ever guild and from then until Vanguard in 2007 I was usually either in a Guild or a quasi-guildlike entity (chat channels akin to Final Fantasies Linkshells were a big deal in SOE games for many years) and most of my (combat-related) gameplay took place in groups.
We had a very bad, prolonged sequence of guild drama in EQ1 which soured me on the entire concept even more than I had been at the start but even that didn’t stop us joining new guilds. I think the break eventually came when we went to Vanguard. We never joined a guild there and most of our gameplay was solo or more frequently duo. That broke the habit. Since then the only guilds I join are ones I create and the most members any of them have is a dozen or so. Most just have Mrs Bhagpuss and me.
I don’t yearn for a return to “the good old days” of forced social play. I much prefer the way it is now. The post-Warhammer approach of Public Quests/Dynamic Events/Shared Open World Content is almost exactly what I always imagined a Massively Multiple Online World would feel like. If I had my choice, the next step should be the removal of both group and guild functionality entirely. In the same way we used to yearn for a seamless, zoneless open world we should seek a seamless, open virtual society, not an endless series of closed cliques.
About the only aspect I do miss is the practical, tactical gameplay of a small group, especially one that uses the original Holy Trinity – Tank/Healer/Crowd Control. I’d like to get that back in the mix but if I had to choose between that and seamless, open public gameplay I’d take the latter.
see, to me that sounds like you more enjoy a shared world experience, something with added multiplayer or at least something smaller yet more focused. these seem to becoming more and more common coming from destiny and such.. even bordelands from old I guess but I don’t consider these types of things mmo’s.
It’s just too closed off, too directed.
i do agree with your guild comment though, these are mostly insular groups that don’t encourage much socialisation in the world.