Is WoW Killing the MMO Industry?

[Anonymous]

I was just bored and thinking about this and decided to type out my thoughts for you guys to see. It seems to me ever since the massive success of WoW many other MMO's are struggling to keep populations up. Not only this but new up and coming MMO's are having a difficult time creating hype for their games due to the overwhelming power and loyalty of the WoW community. With numbers in the 6 to 7 million range it seems as if there is just no plausible way to compete.

Since the release of WoW in 04 it's not surprising that there has been a huge decline in many other MMO populations. Even in the more popular ones such as Lineage and Lineage II are showing a steady decline. Most other MMO's have not broken the 500,000 mark with purhaps maybe 1 or 2 exceptions and not by much in either case. In terms of the market WoW accounts for aprox. 53% of total MMO players with only 2 others barely reaching over 10%. It's obvious at this point that Blizzard holds a monopoly over the market. They now have resources that far exceed any other MMO due to the vast ammount if subcribers pouring in cash.

The popularity itself creates a problem as well. With so many "fanbois" or "fangirls" for that matter the ammount of hype and peer pressure to play this game above all others is absolutely staggering. I've been approached countless times by RL friends telling me to play WoW... as soon as I try to explain why I don't want to... they usually get upset. In fact many people who play WoW defend it to the point of obsurdity. This may stem from a combonation of different things. Obessesion being one of them. The main contributer in my opinion is the fact that for the vast majority of WoW players WoW is their first MMO.

Leaving your first MMO is an increadibly difficult thing to do. I remember when I first started playing EQ. Everything was new and wonderful. I put so much faith in the developers because of these new experiences... obviously if they could create a game that was so exciting and new... all the new expansions and content will be the same... nope. But for a long time I was in denile... I even blamed myself for a time... I reasoned that each expansion that followed wasn't bad... I just wasn't playing them right. This seems to be the mentallity of WoW players but to a much larger extent.

The obsessiveness you experience during your first MMO is also much worse than any other you play afterwords. When I played EQ it consumed my life.... day and night. If you look at WoW players... the same unhealthy obsessiveness is present amongst the majority. Now the same frustration is not present in WoW that was in EQ ie. losing all your gear on a raid cause you couldn't get to you body and along with it years of heard work. So I doubt you'll be seeing any WoW related suicides as you did with EQ. This makes it even worse... With less frustration... you have an easier game. Less people are likely to give up on the game out of frustration.

So what happens next you ask? Well that all depends... I see a few possible outcomes. Worst case scenario, WoW continues on it's current path gradually building more and more popularity, releasing mediocre expansions and sequels, while the rest of the industry struggles to make superior games using resorces that are far inferior to blizzards and will continue to dwindle as WoW players continue to overhype their game limiting the popularity of others. The second scenario... which I am hoping for... Blizzard releases more and more mediocre and increasingly bad expansions and sequels(much like with the original EQ) until the community becomes fed up and disperses to other games. The increased populations in other MMOs will give these other companies the resorces they need to create better and more innovative games for their community to play and then everyone lives happily ever after lol. Keep in mind that the second scenario relies heavily on the WoW community itself and my faith in that communities intelligence is very lacking.

Well... now that I've had my 2 cents I'd love to hear everyone elses opinions on this. Please forgive my grammar and spelling it's not my strong suit... =p

[Avzeke (Khr0n1k)]

I havent read it but they just announced 8mil subscribers.

[Avzeke (Khr0n1k)]

Okay now I have read it. My opinion is MMO developers need to stop making crap and exact copies of every MMO on the market. No one wants to buy the same game just with a different name and different names for abilites/areas and new textures. There needs to be more innovation, there needs to be more bug free games, and games that arent just crap, I mean look at MxO imagine where we would be if it actually had content in it from the beggining, there basically isnt any end game and that is where every MMO needs to have the majority of its content. Some people play that game through and experience all the content they can as they lvl up, but a vast majority doesnt really care and finds the lvling part as a necessary evil and just wants to get to the end game. Thats why people buy top end characters in MMO's. I personally think that "whats the experience without the experience?" I think there is a way to at least decently compete with WoW. Here is a list of why I think WoW is so succesful.
1)can be played on a huge range of computer, can play on a crappy comp and when you have a awesome computer the game looks really amazing
2)It is really easy to start playing, it looks like a really basic game when it comes to combat but as you figure out the game more you figure out that these basic stats, like agility stamina, intelect etc really do all these big things and then you can fine tune your character.
3)End game, there is lots of it, especially for people who live in the game, there are huge 40-man raids that take alot of organization but it is all worth it in the end. Then you have things for casuals also.
4)PvP, honor system
5)Highly customizable, the game itself that is, you can mod that game like crazy it is awesome at some of the thing people can do.
6)Females find it "cute"
7)It is a younger kid safe game, with all the parental control feature and all that crap
8)The game has a MASSIVE staff that can keep popping content out like nothing at all, after a patch comes out if there is some massive exploit or bug they sometimes take the game down and repatch it before that night is up, unlike say MxO where it could take 2 weeks or 2 months or 2 years.
9)Blizz was rich before hand and they had the ability to advertise in every little niche in the world
10)warcraft had a cult following before hand

[Sared]

If I see another company release a superior product, then I will gladly be the first to play. WoW is simply a superior game. It's that simple. And Korean mass-produced MMO's can't compete.

[Lits]

I agree, but it seems that it all boils down to the money. Blizzard had enough money to start up something worth producing. They had huge amounts of money put into advertising, which was their smartest decision yet. To tell you the truth, until Tbone, I didn't even know MxO existed. And I was a full time gamer in SWG. Word of mouth seems to be the only way MxO picks up its small amount of new recruits. Now WoW on the other hand, great advertising led to even more money. Even more money led to a better and larger creative team. Which led to more contect, which attracted more serious gamers, which led to more money. See the pattern here?

In my opinion, WoW isn't the best concept on the market, but it is the most well-run. If MxO had that kind of financial power or corporate know-how we'd be right up there. A 'Superior Product' catered to the more adult crowd. Granted, in this hypothetical "we're rich" senario, we would still not have the numbers WoW does because of that catering to a more mature audience (like you said, WoW appeals to young and old alike, and is safe for the youngest of kids) but we would still be more highly regarded and have more content and better management.

It all comes down to money and corporate experience. Let's face it: We're the red-headed step child of SOE who is rapidly loosing footing against a more business-like Blizzard.

Having said all that, I still believe that despite all of MxO's handicaps, we're doing pretty good for what we've got. The content updates aren't great or many, but considering the limited resources its not TERRIBLE. MxO fits the mentality I have perfectly. To whit, I will never play WoW because it looks like a cartoon and I just can't get into it.

[Lits]

And yes, Wow has the monopoly of MMO's, and I fear what the future should bring for us, and any other not as popular game. Money talks.

[Strod]

Funny. I started when it was before 1 mill subs lol. Now were at 8 million! muwhahaha! The games rocks but you have to be into the style. that goes with anything though.

[Anonymous]

To be quite honest... I don't see how WoW is superior to any other modern MMO. To me it's a clone of every other High Fantasy MMORPG out there. Just with lots and lots of content... and not the good kind either ie run back and forth doing pointless repeatative quests. I played the 14 day trial and was bored with the game before the trial was even finished. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's bad... but I've played far better MMO's in my opinion. For example, EverQuest, City of Heros/Villians, SWG(before they fucked it up), and Dark Age of Camelot. If you look at upcoming MMOs there are a ton that look like they have a ton... a ton of potential. Some may be some of the best MMOs yet. For example, Age of Conan(my personal pick), Vanguard, Gods and Heroes, Myst Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer Online(might have a chance to come close or overthrow WoW but seems to just be a WoW Clone), Huxley, Darkfall, Stargate Worlds and Star Trek Online. But many of these despite how good they might be will most likely fall far under the shadow of WoW. Which is very very sad in my opinion. It truly is harmful to the industry I think.

[Pirus]

well lits I could almost say the same about WOW I knew of mxo coming out for about 2 years before release but I had never heard of WOW before I got to mxo.  That being said, WOW is a bit too "cartoony" for me.

[Lits]

To be quite honest... I don't see how WoW is superior to any other modern MMO. To me it's a clone of every other High Fantasy MMORPG out there. Just with lots and lots of content...

The only way it is superior is financially.

[Subb]

WoW isn't that good, I got to level 14 I think as a Night elf hunter and I got bored; as Pirus said it IS far too cartoony! I like medievil MMORPG's though; can't wait for LOTRO

[Subb]

Oh, I say that we take out the head guy of WoW *shifty eyes*

and give the money to MxO.... *shifty eyes*

Like Robin Hood! *shifty eyes* Steals from the rich and gives to the poor

[Pirus]

Transformers MMO ftw!!! lol hey it might be pretty cool

[Anonymous]

Hmm... so do you guys think any of these upcoming MMOs have a chance of being a WoW Killer? Personally I think the three that have the best chances are Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and maybe Vanguard. AoC in my opinion stands the best chance for a few reasons. Lots of lore going back to the 1930s when the firsts conan stories were written, solid PvP system, innovative ideas for combat, pve encounters, raiding, grouping and pvp. I'd go on forever if I tried to list everything that could make AoC a WoW killer so I'll stop now lol. Now Warhammer Online has a good chance as well. However in my opinion it's a WoW clone(absurdly thats why it stands a good chance to overthrow WoW) it's main focus is PvP almost everything in the game is revolving around it Leveling, RvR, etc. Then there is Vanguard... It looks pretty and it does have a couple of cool new features but it's not much different from MMOs of the past. We'll have to wait and see... anyone else have any thoughts?

[likwidtek]

My theory as to why it's king:

Take this snippet;

September 05, 2001 5:05 pm ET
Macworld
Blizzard unveils World of Warcraft
By Macworld Staff

At the European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) this past weekend, game developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment unveiled World of Warcraft. The new title is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the Warcraft universe.

If you read closely you will see what I mean.  This snippet points out a lot of what blizzard did right.

World of Warcraft was announced in Sept 2001.  The game wasn't released until Nov 23 2004.    That's 3.2 years of development, and beta testing.  The game works.  It's balanced and everything works.  They took their time, crafted it carefully and didn't rush out a product.  Couple that with having a strong fan base already, releasing it for Mac AND PC, and making it appealing to people of any age and you have the same success recipe as the Nintendo Wii.

If people don't like the game because it's fantasy based then so be it.  But 8 million people say it's a good game and I agree.  I have played lots of MMO's.  SWG, EVE, MXO, EQ, E&B, DDO and by far it's the best MMO ever made.  MXO had such great potential.  But they fucked it up.  If blizzard had made MxO I would still be playing today.  I guarantee you there would be no grind, well thought out game mechanics, awesome content, and spectacular end game.

Blizzard didn't luck out, they knew what they were doing and made a great game.