Gamasutra’s Top 5 Most Significant Moments In MMOs

Game talk
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Michael Zenke declares himself the law-giver, and the top five trends are:

  • the rise of “little” games, meaning indie, browser-based, and social worlds. And, for some reason, Maple Story even though I don’t see how you can ever call it little.
  • Big MMORPG failures, which lists Vanguard, Gods and Heroes, and Auto Assault. Now, all three of these had radically different problems, so I am not sure there’s a commonality there other than the fact that perhaps it was brought home to players in a more comprehensive way that Making MMOs Is Hard(tm).
  • World of Warcraft extending its dominance, with celeb endorsements, Toyota commercials, etc.
  • Mega-big clashes of the titans, with the Activision Blizzard announcement, plus Warhammer waiting in the wings.
  • Microtransactions versus subscriptions, for which he uses the now-infamous panel at AGDC as the proverbial tinder that lit the fire.

That’s a pretty good list, I have to admit. I might have combined the “failures” and the “clash of titans” ones in order to insert the investment and hype surrounding virtual worlds and ancillary services, though — in some ways, it is going to have a longer-term impact.

He goes on to suggest that a game designer throwdown TV show would be entertaining. I’m game. 🙂

3 Comments

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  3. He goes on to suggest that a game designer throwdown TV show would be entertaining. I’m game.

    Peter Molyneux VS. Will Wright plx.

    Big MMORPG failures, which lists Vanguard, Gods and Heroes, and Auto Assault. Now, all three of these had radically different problems, so I am not sure there’s a commonality there other than the fact that perhaps it was brought home to players in a more comprehensive way that Making MMOs Is Hard(tm).

    That should be your slogan for Metaplace. =)

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