Dec 022011
 

Turns out there’s an MMO Part 4: End Game Content video that I didn’t know existed. I haven’t watched it yet, but here it is!



  6 Responses to “4th part of video history of MMOs”

  1. …not really about end-game content at all. Rather, it’s about Free-To-Play versus Monthly Subscription, and a history and review of modern MMOs.

    Rather disappointing actually, I was hoping to find out more about different MMO elder games.

    And honestly, the whole series seems like a high-level overview suitable for a manager or a bored channel-surfer. Not bad, but not what I was expecting.

  2. I was a little disappointed… When I saw that it was the ‘History of MMOs’ I got excited but then all he did was talk about the last 3 or so years in the genre. And he barely even scratched the surface about them; 90% of it were things that anyone who checks MMORPG news once a month would know.

    Raph, you should make a REAL history of MMOs video 🙂

  3. I think you want the previous post, Lysle. 🙂 That has the first three parts to it which cover back to 1978.

  4. The videos seem to characterize Runescape as one of the free-to-play pioneers, generating most of their revenue from ads. To the best of my knowledge that is simply not accurate. Runescape uses a “velvet rope” approach, generating most of it’s revenue once free players convert into traditional monthly subscribers and are able to access the full game. Unless their business model has changed in recent years, virtual goods and advertising are really just secondary revenue sources for them and not the primary focus. I think Jagex is important, but not in the way they’ve been described.

    These videos also seem to portray the Turbine FTP games (D&D, LOTR, Conan) as pioneers or somehow special in the FTP space. That seems a little like revisionist history. They may be examples of good execution but they really just did what other FTP games had been doing for years, this time with the benefit of major licences behind them. That’s hardly ground breaking.

  5. Groundbreakers rarely get the glory. Reminds me of the Alaska gold rush; it was the prospectors who explored and died and broke their backs getting the pay dirt out of the ground… but it’s the gouging merchants and grifting politicians whose names are inscribed on the buildings at the University of Alaska.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.