The current attitude of the mass majority of MMO gamers these days have been lukewarm at best when it comes to new entities entering the fray. If you follow any of the major online magazines, about 80% of all comments posted to any news pertaining to an MMO will contain gripes about the current state of the genre. These include, but are not limited to:
- A lack of innovation. This is when an MMO company takes a popular IP and dresses it up in a skirt, calls itself a "WOW killer", then proceeds to implement absolutely everything World of Warcraft contains; usually including one or two "twists" that are really just gimmicks.
- Repetitiveness. Also called "Grindiness", it exists when developers mistake "fun" with "time sink", building artificial methods of advancement to end game content, then shoving the players in the face with more "new content"-flavored grind.
- Incompleteness. Some games, in the interest of hitting certain markets at a certain time, will push a game out of their asses just to meet a deadline and avoid laying developers off. A prime example of this would be FFXIV - famous for its beauty and its horrifically horrible gameplay. I'm glad to report that they've done a lot to the game to improve it overall (according to a real-life source) and have recently decided to "up the ante" and start charging the standard $14.99 a month. Too bad they've completely obliterated the trust of many who shelled out the $60 to purchase the game. And one wonders at the interesting choice to increase monthly subscription fees at a time where two HUGE free-to-play MMOs are about to hit the market. Those two titles being Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2.
- Central Focus. No single game is everything to everyone. As the market for online games expanded, so did the expectations of gamers - we look for more and more dimensions in a game. Sure, we all have foci that we hone in on; myself, I look for interesting, engaging and well thought out Player vs Player content. I want to play against other players and vie for control over something that will benefit or change the world I play in. Others like strong grouping and end-game content, and a dwindling population of gamers seek the true, honest-to-goodness roleplay experience (sorry dad - but it's just not a big selling point in MMOs these days). These days, MMOs are struggling to cater to all types of gamer, and constantly coming up short because of it.
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| LARPing: The last bastion of Massive Multiplayer... Roleplaying... Games? |
The list of complaints go on, but you've got the general idea. For a company that is known for setting the standard for single-player roleplaying games to announce the coming of an MMO, especially with expectations laid upon any Bethesda title set so high, I can't help but think that this may be a terrible, terrible choice. Just, maybe.
It could be good...
I'm not willing to condemn the project before it leaves the ground. In fact, from the concept art leaked out from the game (I'm not linking it, but you can easily google it yourself), it looks like what you'd expect from a AAA game title - fancy art, cool armor skins, and an expressive, magical world. Well, only if you believe the screenshots and artwork are legitimate. I admit to a little skepticism here.
If the developers over at Bethesda do their homework, look at trends in the market and come up with truly innovative systems. Anything is possible. In fact, if any gaming company could pull of a highly successful first-of-its-kind MMO, then you could do far worse than Bethesda Softworks. They've just got to look at what's out there... then to something entirely different than what those guys are doing.
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| Pictured: MMO developer guy doing it the way Bethesda should NOT do it. |
It's got history, it's got recognition for quality and it's got one helluva following.
It could be garbage...
It's also got hype and a skeptical consumer base. We've been teased and prodded and pulled along the MMO stratosphere by Bioware, Blizzard, Sony, EA, Trion and a thousand other companies in the past and present. We're looking for more than a "carrot-on-a-stick" and the dream it represents, and we gamers are tired of the endless amount of platitudes and blatant money-grabs that have become the norm since good ol' Age of Conan.
Quality MMO gaming is on the rise as veterans of the MMO development scene are starting to truly listen to the players of their games. My fear, and yours too, should ride on whether or not The Elder Scrolls Online can hop the hurdle set by established MMO companies.
Because it's a huge leap, even for a company like Bethesda.
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