Week 22: GDC

THE FUTURE OF MMOs.

This turned out to be something I wouldn't mind giving a look to even over the development of Super Smash Bros Brawl. But it is the MMOs that take up alot of my time, even if I play the fake ones too.

At first we only really had MMORPGs and those worked well with their levels and social marketplaces and they are still being released today. Heck, even the old ones are still doing well. There are still loads of people on the Diablo II servers and dotted around on every MMO to exist. It's hard to say what really attracts people to mmogs. It could be the sense of achievement of reaching a certain level, it could be being strong enough to take on the hardest of bosses or it could be finding rare equipment and being the richest player in the game. The majority of MMOs that I played were like that and after quitting the grindfest that was maple story, quiting, rejoining, then going to play the extremely-fast-leveller but unpopular to get the party bonus, then going back to maple story, then quitting for the same thing but better called LaTale then leaving because it was in Korean then back to maple and finally off it because its more addictive than crack.

Now the two MMOs I play are Lunia which goes for level based gameplay over grinding. It still has grinding in a sense but favours skill and combo making to proceed. Getting into a new level and running through to the end and taking out the boss is worth it and the usual getting stronger every x levels. The other is TF2. One that isn't an RPG but an FPS. I believe that with halo and all other multiplayer FPSs is that shooting other people is more fun than CPUs. I have outrageous fun on TF2 tricking myself into thinking I have l33t scout skillz. Its as addictive as those RPGs yet there is no ranking system, or equipments to strive for. The only thing per round to aim for is being top of the leaderboard and even then people dont care about the points they get. The gameplay is just that fun.

From another angle there is Eve. I haven't played it but my college friends have and they just love it. Set in space, you mine for ore and treasures, learn skills over the course of the day even when not playing and upgrading your ship.

It's odd how all kinds of genres are being upgraded into MMOs nowadays. Thinking of it, even the 2D fighting games have been converted in the likes of Grand Chase. Sure its anime styled but for a fighting game it did look exciting much like Street Fighter online but with swords and spells.

In the future there is more than likely going to be MMOs for every genre of games. Racers will be online, choosing people to race against, upgrading your car and modding it. Maybe even forming racing clans or their own race teams.
With the success of Second Life, there may be other casual mmos springing up. Those with no real objective, just to do things you couldnt normally do in life. Meeting new people and having fun.

A point: I read recently that games coming out may well ignore subscription fees altogether in the future. With the introduction of cash shops to purchase new clothes/weapons to upgrade your avatar there may well be a revolution in how everything is done. This is the kind of thing that could break the industry.
Maple STory had a CS that just gave you equips with looks and no stats but also things like pets which looted for you and revive stones. It seems fair enough to me but on the other hand it could be more like trickster where if you don't pay real money, you can't catch up to those who do as they get better stats on their purchased items.

Personally I kind of hope for an online Jet Set Radio. May happen, may not happen. A sequel at least would make me happy T_T