Debate: Too Many MMORPGs?

I will take the side that there are too many MMOs.... Easy.

 

How can there be too many MMOs? More MMOs merely means more choice for the player, and it's obvious from review sites which MMOs are the best. Even better more MMOs means that there is always another MMO if a player doesn't like their current one.

 

Good luck guys (Internet Cafes ROCK!!)

 

Yeah, I'd like to take part.

 

I've already said my first part, so Buzzsaw's turn now

 

If I may, I'd like to take a position as well.

I don't believe there are too many MMOs out there. My reasoning is this: More MMOs expose a greater variety of ideas to the marketplace, and to developers too. From this, development teams can examine what is there, see how it can be changed/improved, and used to enhance the MMO market. By having a greater variety of sources to examine, next-gen MMOs will (in theory, and if they learn lessons well) be great step forward.

 

Man, Buzzsaw is taking a while...

 

I was stuffing my self with turkey for a week.

How many MMOs do you think there should be? There is no way to try every MMO unless you have no life. What is worse is that that they are starting to blend together. I stopped counting the number of free fantasy grind fests. 99% have item malls that require money. Hence, you can spend both time and money bouncing from game to game. Trust me, I know from experience. I do think that new MMOs should keep being made but keep the copycats/clones to a min.

 

there will always be clones. it's hard to make an original game, with so many games out there and with so few genres that get sufficient crowds there's only so many things you can come up that haven't been done before

it's the same with cartoons as it is with games. tell me, what has family guy not done that the simpsons didn't do?

in this sense there will always be too many games, but new ones have to appear from time to time to increase variety and replace old and obsolete ones

at least that's my two cents

 

There is no way to try every single MMO, but it's easy to tell which one you should try next from all reviews you can read of them, and if lots of people are playing them and LIKE it. You don't have to spend money at the item mall. I have played MANY free MMORPGs in my time, and never bought anything from the item malls, and STILL had a good time. It's quite simple to separate the bad games from the unique, great experiences, free or not. When I look for new MMORPGs, I simply look through our Weekly Online Games list.

Even a clone can be a good game. Runes of Magic is a clone of WoW, only it's free, and it's still a pretty good game.

Finally, it is always good that companies are taking cracks at making new MMORPGs, because once in a while, a company will create a piece of art. Such as PWE making their masterpiece, Perfect World.

 

The point is that instead of having 10 to 20 solid MMOs, there are 100s of games for everybody to try. That means that players are being more spread out over more games. Since MMOs are social in nature, game populations are a major factor for any game. Look at games that have had to close due to not having enough players ala Tabula Rasa and Dungeon Runners. If there werent so many games to play, those games would have probably lasted longer than they did.

 

If there were not as many games to play, then Tabula Rasa and Dungeon Runners would probably not be in those "10 to 20 solid MMOs", most likely, games like Perfect World, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars would be in them "10 to 20 solid MMOs", and Tabula Rasa and Dungeon Runners would still be left in the cold. Also, game populations aren't a problem for most MMOs, even ones with small populations (a game like Heroes of Gaia, or Galactic Magnate) are surviving well. Also, even if an MMO eventually falls if the game population is a problem, then it may because they weren't good enough to offer features that are better than the competition. Games like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Guild Wars, Perfect World to name but a few, have survived for so long now, because they are GREAT games, that have come out of the blue, with great new features, and survived, because they constantly churn out innovation and fun features, to keep above the competition that is offered by the HUGE multitude of the other MMOs.

 

Tabula Rasa would have been in the top 20. It was ahead of its time.

Populations are the lifeblood of MMOs. Not only do these game rely populations for money but they also help to keep current players. Nobody wants to play a MMO by themselves.

 

True, no-one wants to play an MMO by themselves, but even in MMOs with small communities, you can arrange meetings in forums to play together on a specific date and time. Also, with a smaller community, it's more likely that is is closely knit and everyone knows each other (sort of how in Gameogre forums we know everyone). And if Tabula Rasa was soooo ahead of its time, then how come people from WoW or Lord of the Rings or Guild Wars or any other subscriber MMO didn't drift across to Tabula Rasa? Because Tabula Rasa didn't appeal to them enough for them to go play it. Also, if Tabula Rasa didn't get enough subscribers, then obviously, newcomers to the MMO market looked at all the choices, and chose the one that they thought would be best, which may have been Guild Wars, or WoW, or Lord of the Rings Online, or Perfect World, or whatever! NCSoft poured TONS of money into Tabula Rasa, and it ended up failing, because of flaws it had at the start, which discouraged people from playing it, which eventually caused it to grind to a halt and die.

There are LOADS of MMORPGs out there, and they are all surviving, because they are doing ENOUGH to keep going. Offering new features, making sure the game is always great. Lots of and lots of MMORPGs simply means that there is more competition for current MMORPGs. And if you can't keep with the competition, you'll fall down. Sort of like survival of the fittest.

 

Awww.... I wanted my name in the poll! xD just joking

 

taking the side of not too many
its not that theres to manny mmorpgs, its more that theres too many clones of the same mmorpgs and theres no different content in them, so bring out more mmorpgs that arent clones of other games and get rid of some of the clones and we will be sorted!