unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6967|PNW

I think a lot of toxicity in game development and anticipation has probably come out of the x-killer, y-clone, z-replacement mentality, even if comparison is a natural tendency.1

I mostly consider myself a dabbler in MMOs (played a ton of the EQ2 trial, MUDs) in terms of experience with a wide array of those. You say you've done a ton, so it's definitely more than I've played. Among the top of my most played ever games though has got to be Guild Wars, if you want to count that among (instanced) MMOs. Some really knock-down, drag-out internet fights on that front. Path of Exile is probably a few hours behind, but instanced style again.

1e: Movies seem slightly more grown up here. I usually don't here about a new show in terms of ThE nEw BaTmAn KiLlEr, although copy/ripoff/clone is still passed around.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2021-12-17 05:56:38)

uziq
Member
+492|3647
games don't compare to movies because a movie lasts 90, or 120, or 200 minutes. it doesn't 'capture' its audience and hold it in a subscription or exclusive commitment. people who play WoW and pay their subscription tend to play it as their only game, or only MMO at least. that's why MMO's have been so fiercely competitive, protective of their userbases, and generally now a high-risk genre to break into.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6967|PNW

Of course it's not 1:1. Movies and TV though have created some fairly long lived nerd culture and fandoms, some which can be pretty argumentative about their that stuff. A person who's been a Trekkie since the 1960s might have invested as much if not more time in the subject matter as a MMO fan has for a game.

Making a game to "kill" another popular game has had a pretty mixed history. Game companies were doing that with Doom. Before that, there was the catchy Genesis does what Nintendon't. Yet there's a mountain of "Doom clones" that weren't very good, and people still enjoyed their Super Nintendo. "How is it better than Doom," free advertising for Doom. "Man Doom sounds like a pretty great benchmark. I should try it." Gaming press has had a lot to do with this. I bet I could dig up some 90s copies of PC Gamer with just that problem.

Development focus should be more on making games that people want to play and importantly will want to keep playing. A lot of games I've played have an alright hook but just lack a certain lasting power for me. And no, the answer shouldn't just be "oh, well we can put in an event where a player can spend all of Christmas week playing our game for an exclusive hat."

#unpacking
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6967|PNW

re: christmas/holiday event spam

The Riftbreaker has done something I don't always see in games. When you get into the menu, you're faced with a popup asking you if you want to enable the Christmas event stuff, a setting you can change later at your leisure. All games should do this. It could probably be a really obnoxious trait to every single year be dragged through a holiday you don't celebrate, in the privacy of your own home. Satisfactory has a toggle for that too, although it would mean missing out on manufacturing keys for schematic unlocks. Maybe the Christmas stuff when implemented should be purely cosmetic.
RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,741|6932|Oxferd Ohire
I like holiday events. Even ones I don't celebrate.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6967|PNW

Same, but the ability to turn them off is nice for people who'd rather not participate. It's 2021, games should have options.

I also like holiday events don't require a month of hardcore grinding to complete, or have some sort of continuity into the same event next year so you can pick up where you left off. Deep Rock Galactic lets you get old cosmetics retroactively, very nice. World of Tanks rewards you with "premium time," Holiday sale also usually being the best time to pick that up in year-long quantity.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6967|PNW

uziq wrote:

games don't compare to movies because a movie lasts 90, or 120, or 200 minutes.
I should probably add to this that outside of long-term stuff like MMOs or Skyrim, there are games out there slotted into movie-like brief chunks of expected playtime. 90, 120 minutes, completely doable. More games like that, please. Compact, yet complete experiences with an end reachable in a short afternoon without speed running.

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