Star Wars’ Stumble Points to Free, Open Future for Online Worlds

[thespyder]

Yet is there any actual scientific evidence that finishing the game in a month brings in those millions of users? Can we definitively say that the game being easier is what brings them in? And not the improvements in graphics since 1999, or sundry other changes that have happened? Marketing perhaps? Maybe the simple fact that more people have computers and internet since 1999?

Making the game easier is also called making the game "More approachable to casual gamers". This in a nut shell is what game developers are looking for. For the simple reason that there are multitudes more casual gamers than there are the hard core fans. And that is why WoW had so many more players than Everquest.

Don't get me wrong. I think it is a horrible trend. I HATE that games get formulated and homogenized down to ridiculous levels just to cater to gamers who only want Facebook with better graphics user interface. BUT, if the game developers have a choice between getting 500 core gamer subscribers or 10,000 casual gamer subscribers. Guess which direction they are going to go? Yep, it's short term thinking. But it is a short term market these days. Even for MMOs.