Do you think MMOs have reached their peak as a source of entertainment?

No, I think there's more to be seen

 

I believe that we have reached the point when Gamers have been disappointed too many times by hype, micro-transactions, lack of good support while playing a game, and insufficient account security. It did not surprise me to read the recent report that 12 million fewer people are gaming. I have gone from playing just about any Beta that I had could get a key for to ignoring emails "here is your Beta key". In the past year, I learned about gaming companies being hacked ... not by them ... but from alerts posted on gaming sites or from my own Google Alerts. I have seen, in 2 games, the blatant disregard for the word "rare". They bring back gaming items that I spent a lot of money on because they were "once in a lifetime" ... and now they are back, without even a color change. I have been a subscriber for years and years and did my part to contribute to the success of the games ... they succeeded ... millions of people now play yet the price of micro-transactions are still high. In one game, I can't even advance unless I pay for extra things through micro-transactions. I have paid for so many years that I feel bad to walk away. Yet, I will have to make that decision. I did that with Club Penguin, after 3 years of subscribing. Disney bought them and they brought back "rare" items and sold them. I walked away. I still "mourn" the loss of my puffles and how fantastic my igloo looked.

Yesterday, I stood with hundreds of players during the "Save City of Heroes" Rally, yet I never could play the game often because for some reason the NCSoft never fully repaired their log in problems. Nor, did they go back and try to figure out how they could make their tutorial better so that Gamers didn't quit before level 5. I stood in solidarity for the potential of the game and to help Gamers who were devoted players.

I have noticed that gaming companies seem to always want to go forward with something new and don't try to fix what doesn't work ... or they change things that make players wonder "why did they change that? I never read of anyone having a problem with that?" There seems to be a disconnect between the company and the players.

Hype is like karma ... it's a b---h. How many people were over-the-top excited about Rift, The Secret World, Aion, etc because of marketing hype ... and then the game comes out and we were disappointed. It doesn't take long to notice that the games that have the most marketing and merchandising dollars get the most notice. How quickly some of them fall from grace. Their failure receives almost as much hype as the game's Beta did. However, I wish to say that some of these games are trying to turn things around. They have reached out and asked "what's up?", listened, and are making changes.

On a positive note, I feel that it is the Gaming sites and forums that will save the gaming world from its downward spiral. With more hands-on reviews, combined with videos and more game forum discussions, Gamers will be able to judge early on whether to put their time and money into a game.

On a "I don't know but I think we are screwed" note, until more is done to fine and/or jail hackers, we are in jeopardy. If I was just starting out on the internet, I would not use my real name, my real birthday, etc. I would prepare a complete alias. I know enough about gaming, now, to be able to make up my own character and story to play the Internet "game" of protect your personal info and assets.

 

Well.. I think that there will be more to come. Although I think it might take a while before we will see something completely new. Many of the games that I try now have been a bit of a dissapointment since I usually compare them without noticing it with games that I've played before, and there are some games that I have really liked. But I don't really think that it can end sometime. There will always be more ideas to make games more entertaining.

 

I believe point and click mmos will slowly die out (except WOW probably) , and action based mmos will take over.

 

I vote for action MMOs to take over.

 

More we will see

 

Yes, what we see now is about the extent of it

 

I don't think so because there are lot MMORPG still to comes in future!

 

no, there's certainly more to be seen..

 

No, I think there's more to be seen

 

I don't think so. As technology evolves, so will games, including MMOs. I would imagine a lot of innovative creativity for MMOs such as realism, VR-support, and other ideas. It'll only be a matter of time until some company finds creative ways to transform the MMO game industry into something new and different.

 

We are still in the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure that there's still an untapped potential underlying somewhere for MMOs.

 

VRMMORPG anyone? Something like Accel World or Yggdrasil Online (from Overlord) would be my slice of cake.