How could a new MMO thrive?

[shovelquest]

Originally Posted by Sadre Spinegnawer [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It can't be a business tho. There is no money in developing a AAA cutting edge mmorpg in the age of the 5 second attention span.

We need an eccentric billionaire not named asshole, to just hire a team to build a balanced D&D style game mechanics with AI-directed mobs that will not just spawn in the same place and path the same way, because they learn to avoid you. Then, buy the IP from Dark Paw Holding Company and Warehousing and charge people a 20 dollar a month donation, and hire actual gm's to ban any meta gamers, and botting, and any monetization.

Like the Grateful Dead, it will have a ferocious fan base, and will attract multiple generations of curious people, who will often get hooked too.

But it can't be a business.

No i mean like a fully functioning world where every NPC has the freedom to become whatever it wants and you compete with them by trying to earn money doing labor or jobs (often for AI NPCs that are better and faster and smarter than you) and collecting currency for the economic system that you can spend to activate mini games or other crafted in game products and your character ages like real life and dies and when you log in you have no memory of the real world.

[Dirkdaring]

The only game that's in development, and has been for several years that looks promising is Ashes of Creation, but that`s still years away. I`ll most likely die of old age before it is ever released.

[shovelquest]

Read Dead Redemntion but an MMO would be cool.

[Duik]

Expanding on Sadres idea have the A.I spawn 4 times and path the same way, then when player gets tired/bio breaks then it spawns on top with the emote of "Suprise Cockbag!"

Roots the magician pet out of range and proceeds to whale on the player.
Hilarious.

[Ennewi]

Not every film needs to be a blockbuster to turn a profit and be critically acclaimed or at least become a cult classic. Success in the MMO genre needs to be redefined and expectations managed.

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

By "It can't be a business tho" I mean, in rl. Shovel. RL. Got it?

Whatever this satisfying persistent world that manages to function (with a very healthy "time investment willing" audience to make the game dynamic; no to little pay to play; no meta gaming), it just isn't going to happen if money in rl is in the equation, up to and including having to be a business.

That's only narrow casting if you don't consider, we likely do not need that many "refuge worlds" so to speak. How much would it cost to purchase the EQ IP including EQ2 and run a parallel set of servers with full time gm's enforcing rules?

My dad works for the UN doing historical evaluations and research for the department of antiquities and world heritage (DAWH). Why not EQ?

[Snaggles]

Originally Posted by kjs86z2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

genre is all but dead only thing with decent numbers is wow classic / sod

Thread resolved ^

In an age of TikTok and Fortnite, finding people who want to slog hours of fairly slow combat is a tough one. I find running through zones rather relaxing but maybe EQ just broke my soul over 25 years…

[Snaggles]

Also, MMO’s or any AAA sandbox requires massive finances. The games industry is a mix of feckless and incompetent.

I’m surprised GW2 has lasted as long as it has. I’m surprised Wildstar didn’t make a bigger splash. Being part of an aging demo is sad but that’s much of getting old I guess, lol. I wish there were a few million more MMO nerds out there.

[Ciderpress]

It is kind of a strange thing; when ultima online came out it completely blew my mind and I was instantly hooked, then in 99 when EQ came out it blew my mind all over again, it was the most amazing time to be 15 years old on summer vacation. And then..... literally every other mmo i've ever tried since hasn't come close to recapturing either of those games' launches\early years. I played wow for like two weeks and quit, I played EQ2 at launch and stuck it out until lvl 50 and then quit, having never really enjoyed the experience of leveling or grouping. Tried eve online, it was weird and I quit almost immediately. Tried LOTRO, was fun for like 15 levels then got tedious and felt like a single player game most of the time, quit that too.

[Ciderpress]

And I love p99 and still actively play, but it's not quite for the same reasons. I mainly play here to do the stuff I never got to do during this era on live- I never even hit 60 on a character until after luclin came out, so p99 for me is like an extended do-over of the early game and there's *still* a ton I haven't done. I do not envy the people who are so burned out on the content that playing feels like going to work, so I consider myself lucky to have been able to stretch out the experience of classic EQ for so many years.