What’s a better time to a launch a new site than the beginning of a new year? From their somewhat geeky and niche origins, MMORPGs have evolved from the virtual world of Ultima Online and the almost D&D stylized EverQuest into a broad field more simply categorized as MMOs. As The Bro, I hope to assemble a few good few writers to bring to life this changing environment. No longer are these games restricted to the typical 3,000 person online servers with gradual progressions to end game (not that MMO games don’t still offer that.)
Now we have all sorts of instanced content from action based such as the recent beta release, Armored Warfare, to tons of browser based strategy MMOs like Forge of Empires. And while I think those games have diluted the term MMO in some regard, it’s also spread the general concept of exploring a new world, slowly growing in power, and interacting with thousands of other players. So while people may not be thinking “I need an MMO”, many of the games people prefer incorporate concepts originally popularized by games such as World of Warcraft.
When it comes to the future in 2016, we will see two things happen. First, that divergence from the traditional MMORPG will continue with more instanced gameplay opportunities arising for players. These are especially key to appealing to those who want to accomplish something in spurts. The typical MMORPG grind treadmill, especially with modernized questing, can become rather addicting. But it’s also an incredible time suck that makes playing games difficult when it comes to segmenting time appropriately. These typical MMORPGs have also become so incredibly solo friendly that even a 12vs12 match in a game like Mech Warrior Online can feel more massive than other recently released MMORPG titles. To rekindle that spark, new titles released in 2016 with the core “RPG” will really need to be cognizant to provide quality multiplayer content.
Although it won’t technically release until probably 2017, we will start to get a glimpse of Crowfall this year. It’s a true MMORPG that offers players some interesting features to play around with. For one thing, servers will only exist for a few months until some group “wins” the game. Players act as immortal gods, moving between realms to wage their wars until accomplishing some sort of predetermined objective. And while the servers do not last for a very long time, the characters last forever. And each goal will involve heavy group play to accomplish. There’s going to be a massive PvP component that allow players to actually shift the world to their liking. Now that’s something that bring a real change of pace to this stagnant genre.
I believe we will also continue to see more products that offer relatively short play experiences. Although MOBAs like League of Legends are pretty far from the original concept of the genre that games like Meridian 59 created, (The Bro dates himself as he pleases) they still offer a lot of similar features and concepts to what started MMO games in the first place. First, League has summoner levels that determine the max level strength of the player. Leveling up serves as a lengthy tutorial for the players but also slowly gives more power to the player like a typical MMO. Within game there’s more of a typical RPG component with leveling and item purchases to enhance the character’s strength. The end game could be considered repetitive from a concept stand point. After all, players choose the same map with the same victory conditions over and over. The only thing that changes is the player (and skill levels) and the champions players choose to control. But it is still interesting to see these components in related sub-genres. One reason we see these commonalities is the rise of the freemium model.
MMORPGs and freemium go together like hand in glove. First, a lot of people play these free to play MMO games more for the destination and not the journey. This means that all of the leveling up, questing, and general progression is just a means to an end. One of the basic offerings for “free” games is a way to make this contest go by much faster, generally through increased EXP rates. We see this feature a lot, and it makes sense. Players don’t really get an edge on each other because the max strength is not determined by paying for anything and it provides the company money to keep the game free for the masses. Second, customization is a huge part of the MMO scene. Whether it’s a visual customization or skill customization, things that set people apart from one another are huge online. So companies develop skins, color changes, and customization options that don’t affect the potential max power of characters. This revenue model makes sense, and in 2016 we will see a new batch of free to play games that will put further pressure on World of Warcraft’s subscription system.
Of course, some freemium games eschew the “fairness” model that I allude to above. There are plenty of games that either straight up offer more strength for paying or more typically, involve a paywall where progression is all but locked behind a certain point. The paywall model is most commonly found in mobile games and rely a bit more on impulsive purchases from their players. It’s not a model based around fairness or a balanced play experience or certainly determining who has the most skill. But the mobile game market (even for MMOs) is very casual. It’s simply not as big of a factor that these games don’t prioritize balanced play. The nature of gameplay on a mobile device is not going to change though, which means the freemium model for mobile games won’t change either. I do think we will start to see more traditional MMO offerings like Brave Trials continue to grow. I don’t see those hitting their peak for a few more years though.
The game market is in a state of constant evolution. While some people may disagree on what makes for a massively multiplayer online game, it’s fair enough to umbrella these games under the general MMO/MMOG term. I think we will only continue to see more divergence in the industry with developers trying new things out. The free to play model MMO makes for easy adoption if the concept is sound and interesting enough to potential players. Not every concept will work and not every concept will be executed properly. But it will be interesting to see what will be the next big game to innovate using traditional MMORPG concepts to fuel its character progression.
