tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post4057137826854544547..comments2024-01-02T23:18:18.412-08:00Comments on Yeebo Fernbottom's MMO Blog: WoW did not kill innovation in MMOsYeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-13284592082226116052010-08-18T00:10:08.948-07:002010-08-18T00:10:08.948-07:00Interesting that Blizzard, and even Warcraft (RTS)...Interesting that Blizzard, and even Warcraft (RTS) are mentioned in the Lost Garden article. Of course, he was right, Blizzard is about taking an established genre, looking at complaints about gameplay, and making better or more responsive games. I don't no why people complain so much about the game mechanics of WoW. They aren't perfect, but they are polished and encourage a huge number of people to play.<br /><br />As far as who is the Nintendo of MMOs? Hard to say, because despite variations in story content, MMOs are a a single genre themselves, as opposed to a platform/brand like Nintendo. I certainly would not say Farmville, it is an innovation in casual play, but has its roots in the RTS genre, not RPGs.<br /><br />The funny thing is that "hardcore" in the article seems to be different than how self-described hardcore gamers would identify themselves, since they are the ones complaining loudest about how dumbed down WOW has become, and in comparison to EQ, for example.rowanblazehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820814610269599162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-16839838973787042332010-08-15T19:43:45.247-07:002010-08-15T19:43:45.247-07:00@Yeebo: It is difficult to pick a direct equivalen...@Yeebo: It is difficult to pick a direct equivalent of Nintendo, with the longer life cycles in MMO space.<br /><br />ArenaNet would be a candidate.Sentehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07570997712400769232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-31091023591107959792010-08-15T17:19:09.053-07:002010-08-15T17:19:09.053-07:00It took years before people stopped referring to F...It took years before people stopped referring to FPS games as Doom-clones. That didn't happen until enough changes to the genre emerged to make Doom look like it was out of step with what people where playing.<br /><br />The same thing will happen with WoW. Innovation happens in small steps. One day, the state of the art will have advanced to the point where WoW looks old. Until then, we have to put up with idiots and their WoW-cloning games that are trying to push that frontier in their own ways.Marty Runyonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08456700794989273981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-54321093860829519192010-08-15T09:01:42.756-07:002010-08-15T09:01:42.756-07:00@Jaydub: even when you look at something like Run...@Jaydub: even when you look at something like Runes of Magic, which is to all appearances a complete rip off of WoW, you still see some innovations. The dual class system, where every single two class combo unlocks subclass abilities unique to the combo, is like nothing I've seen anywhere else. Even the WoWish MMOs continue to move forward and try new things.<br /><br />@Stabs: that kind of irks me too. How many commentators have even tried some of the really experimental MMOs? If you want to see more innovation in the genre, you need to vote with your time (at the least) and encourage some of the really creative projects that are out there.<br /><br />@Sente: that was a fantastic read, thanks for the link. It's obvious who is catering to the "hardcore" in the terms that article lays out. However, who is the Nintendo of MMO space? Sadly, Farmville is the first thing that comes to mind.Yeebohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-20765827247975858382010-08-14T12:48:45.256-07:002010-08-14T12:48:45.256-07:00Blizzard is doing what they normally do - build re...Blizzard is doing what they normally do - build refined products in a well-defined genre.<br /><br />They are part of a small group of developers that can do big budget titles and serve the mainstream audience within that genre.<br /><br />Other companies do the innovation, define the genres etc - often with smaller budgets. If you are not competing over the mainstream you do not need that huge budget to be successful.<br /><br />There is a good blog post from a few years back which describes this phenomenon quite well with regard to Nintendo. Replace a few bits and pieces with MMO related names and it fits right in.<br /><br />http://www.lostgarden.com/2005/09/nintendos-genre-innovation-strategy.htmlSentehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07570997712400769232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-89084059362020138522010-08-14T12:24:31.615-07:002010-08-14T12:24:31.615-07:00People think they want innovation but they don'...People think they want innovation but they don't really. Over and over innovative games have been punished financially.<br /><br />Next time someone posts about how WoW kills innovation they should list the last ten games they bought and explain why they didn't buy Love, Portal, etc.<br /><br />You can't blame publishers for sticking to the tried and tested formulae when what players buy conflicts with what players say they want.Stabshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08716211705647213383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-43396252674238629072010-08-14T10:55:30.549-07:002010-08-14T10:55:30.549-07:00I 100% agree with you. As much as I don't care...I 100% agree with you. As much as I don't care for WoW's end game content, it does do a lot of things really well and is a great game.<br /><br />I think the problem is that gamers get innovation confused with evolution. There have been quite a few MMO's since WoW that have brought some sort of innovation the the genre, and yet they are all branded as WoW clones.Jayedubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07437007861375094683noreply@blogger.com