What makes MMOGs so heavily Fantasy RPG based?

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Genx87
I always thought a game like the Original Day of defeat with a massive map like World War II Online could be interesting. Litter the map with flags that need to be capped and dynamically adjust the spawn points and reinforcement points based on flag ownership. One could even simulate encirclements by reducing the amount of available reinforcement points in the encircled area. Add in limited armor and the ability to call in artillery.

you mean like BF2 and it's vile spawn?


also, it's a lot easier to make a fantasy based game in respect to items. magic is a huge factor.

how many sci-fi stories use magic? would you have a Laser Pistol of Sexuality that grants +3 to your charisma? it just works better in a fantasy setting.

Not if you've played Fallout. I have no idea why but some armors add to and some take away from Charisma or even Luck.

Oh how much I would pay to play a Fallout MMORPG.

 

[Arglebargle]

Well, there's always EVE. And the superhero MMOs, City of Heros/Villains, the upcoming Champions, a few others on the horizen. The recently announced Bioware Kotor MMO, though Star Wars is Space Opera stuff.

WoW is sorta like Ebay; right time, right place. Now, people who don't know squat about online gaming know about it.....and are likely to go there first to take a look. The advantage of hooking the player on their first game is great. It also sets the expectations. Me, I never liked the Warcraft series, and I don't like their fantasy background, so it had little appeal. I am picky about my fantasy backgrounds, so most of the online games don't cut it for me.

Expectations of gaining the size of WoW for ANY MMO are a blueprint for percieved failure. Some innovative teams will come up with alternate ideas and models, but they won't be, and don't need to be, WoWish.

 

[Dumac]

The best MMO out in the market right now is sci-fi based (Eve). It's the only MMO that doesn't make me sigh when someone tells me they play it

Let's see. MMOs sprung from pen&paper RPGs, which were primarily fantasy based. Everquest kind of catalyzed the 3d MMORPG market (debatable), and it was a fantasy game. Everyone that followed thereafter (including WoW) just copy/pasted.

P.S. GW isn't an MMO (unless you count Diablo II as an MMO, in which case you are already misguided)

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Dumac
The best MMO out in the market right now is sci-fi based (Eve). It's the only MMO that doesn't make me sigh when someone tells me they play it

Let's see. MMOs sprung from pen&paper RPGs, which were primarily fantasy based. Everquest kind of catalyzed the 3d MMORPG market (debatable), and it was a fantasy game. Everyone that followed thereafter (including WoW) just copy/pasted.

P.S. GW isn't an MMO (unless you count Diablo II as an MMO, in which case you are already misguided)

the best mmo is one that most people seem to hate? explain that logic

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: SMOGZINN
You obviously never played any Sci-fi RPG's. There is all types of explanations why technology can give you bonuses to stats and almost anything else. It can be anything from cyberware, to temporary molecular bio-medications (potions), to holo-projection makeup effects. Want +STR call the armor powered, want it to give a +INT then it has a Neural Library Interface AI built in. You ring give +CHA due to a nano-holo projector that projects a pleasing image onto your ugly mug.
If you really must have magic then you just rename everything to a psychic power. He does not throw fireballs, he uses pyrokenises on his targets.

but that actually requires scientific understanding, logic and creativity! it's much easier to just create something like a knife that magically inflicts heat damage. frankly I think the majority of gamers would be bored of such technobabble anyway (I say technobabble because you are unlikely to get quality explanations in a game) . If you look at many of the so called "sci-fi" RPGs, they have magic blantantly mixed in.

 

[Zenoth]

No one mentioned it but Star Wars Galaxies was actually good when it started (when it was virtually impossible to make a Jedi). But it went down the drain fast. Maybe some company should attempt making an MMORPG based on the Fallout universe, basically imagine Fallout 3, but MMO, I would actually be interested by that, a lot.

 

[Via]

Originally posted by: SMOGZINN

Originally posted by: Via
Most MMORPGs are fantasy based because the "lore" is ready-made. No effort is required on the developer's part to create a world in which the game takes place.

Almost everybody (gamer or not) already has some sort of idea in their minds about Wizards and fighters, spells and armor, goblins and trolls etc.

This is also true for sci-fi. There is lots of non-fantasy settings that could be used with little trouble. Everyone has a basic idea about lasers, shields, aliens, and killer robots as well.
Grab any one of hundreds of well developed sci-fi settings to use for a ready-made 'lore'

I agree that sci-fi also has a certain amount of lore, but not nearly to the extent that D&D type fantasy does. And most sci-fi lore that your average person is familiar with is limited to two very specific genres: Star Wars and Star Trek.

Stormtroopers or Klingons just don't evoke the same sense of lore that trolls, skeletons and wraiths do. Not even close.

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Dumac
The best MMO out in the market right now is sci-fi based (Eve). It's the only MMO that doesn't make me sigh when someone tells me they play it

Let's see. MMOs sprung from pen&paper RPGs, which were primarily fantasy based. Everquest kind of catalyzed the 3d MMORPG market (debatable), and it was a fantasy game. Everyone that followed thereafter (including WoW) just copy/pasted.

P.S. GW isn't an MMO (unless you count Diablo II as an MMO, in which case you are already misguided)

the best mmo is one that most people seem to hate? explain that logic

Best is subjective. For me, Eve is the best because Eve is the only MMO that interests me. I don't play it because I simply don't have the time for MMOs, but I love the complexity the game offers and how much influence players can have. I also like the feeling of risk that Eve comes with, something that every other mainstream MMO likes. I've played pretty much every large MMO out there today, and they all were walks in the park compared to Eve. They simply don't take much thought or effort.

Put short, every major MMO out there except Eve is just an extremely dumbed down (yes, this overused term) version of predecessors in an attempt to attract a larger audience (which works).

 

[SMOGZINN]

Originally posted by: dighn
Frankly I think the majority of gamers would be bored of such technobabble anyway (I say technobabble because you are unlikely to get quality explanations in a game) . If you look at many of the so called "sci-fi" RPGs, they have magic blantantly mixed in.

While I will not argue against you, because I think you are right, it frustrates me. There is no real difference between ?Godly Plate of the Whale? and ?Finely Articulated Power Armor? yet games with the plate armor out sell the space and high-tech games by a large factor, at least in the MMO and RPG markets. Maybe if Blizzard made a Starcraft MMO we would be able to finally break out of the stranglehold fantasy has on these markets.

 

[destrekor]

Not a single MMO out there has met my expectations. First, I don't want Fantasy. That shit annoys me to no end. Makes me feel like I might as well wear a wig and skirt and change my name to Sally.

It's not the idea of the MMO itself, it's merely the game content.
Tabula Rasa looked so damn promising, but I played in the beta, and was pretty much turned off from it. I followed the community and what changes came in the patches and nothing really changed that would have made the game any more fun. It had the right idea but was a very flawed execution. And mostly all little things. The actual game itself was kind of fun but all the negative issues really killed it.

Another one that had a cool idea was Planetside. But was so flawed it was worthless. It was almost like playing a beta of Counterstrike, with fancier stuff. The whole persistent world part was boring, nothing really came of it.

Now, the two on the horizon I am hoping one of them turns out good: Jumpgate Evolution and Star Wars The Old Republic.
Preferably, as cool as Star Wars stuff can be, I wasn't entirely a super fan of KOTOR, so I don't put much faith in the gameplay of SWTOR.
But I'm sold on Jumpgate Evolution, at the moment. Would love to get into the Beta. I really want to play it because a space MMO, with all the details in Jumpgate Evolution, really sell themselves as providing a damn fun play experience, but of course it takes seeing all of that in action to determine whether the end effect is worthwhile or not.

 

[zerogear]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
I was just thinking about this the other day, the vast, vast majority of MMOGs are Fantasy RPGs which makes for a crowded, monotonous genre.

Whatever happened to say a Sci-Fi RPG or maybe a MMORTS or something? I mean if someone could take WWII Online and tone it down so it's not as hardcore (seriously, modeling bullet penetration as a function of angle of entry along, location and material values might be overkill for someone that just wants to play,Planetside doesn't count because the gameplay is just abysmal) or make a decent SciFi rpg (SW Galaxies doesn't count because it's absolute crap) or maybe something modern based.

I mean there's only so many fanatasy lovers out there, it seems like the genre is already way past saturation (WoW, Guild Wars, EverquestII, Lord Of Rings Online, Warhammer Online, RuneScape, etc.)

Is it too much to ask for a new AAA MMOG title that actually tries to do something new and fun?

Entropa Online: Not a fan of basically what I see as buying gold to play a "free" MMORPG
Final Fantasy XI: I'm never touching a Final Fantasy product again after playing FF9 and FF 12. Those games game were just too boring/weird/ridiculous for me.
Eve Online: The definition of grind and farmfest.

RF Online -- no one played it.
Tabula Rosa -- no one played it.
Eve Online -- Quite a bit of people play it, but extremely time consuming.
Star Wars Galaxies -- Was really screwed up, I don't think anyone play it anymore
Anarchy Online -- No clue what happened to this one either.
The Matrix Online --

Incoming ones:
KoTOR MMO
StarGate MMO
Star Trek Online

 

[bingram]

Very few peeps want to be themselves, so Roleplay allows us to be a differant person. Whats interesting to me is the type of player a human choose's to be.I think the answer is very close to why folks are born/grow up to be so very differant.