MMOs: Is Innovation Too Hard?

I’ve tackled that topic for an article on the ABC’s Technology and Games portal. It focuses on The Secret World and SWTOR mostly.

Have a read for yourself here and then post your comments!

Comments

  1. I don’t think that innovation is too hard, I think that it’s too risky. There are only so many gamers interested in the ongoing expense of a subscription MMORPG and as it become possible for more genres to compete in the MMO market this player base decreases and it’s safer to just take a few little steps away from WOW, just enough to attract those who are tired of WOW but not so much that you can’t tempt a few WOW fans to your side or scare MMO gamers off by being too different to what they’re used to.
    TSW has taken a big risk moving so far from the norm, they might just capture that niche market or since wow has been steadily getting simpler and cuter for a younger market maybe this is what “older” gamers want, a challenge and hopefully a game free of the immaturity that plagues WOW.
    This slow start is a chance for TSW community to establish itself as something better.

  2. Also wanted to say. Overall I don’t think it’s hard. It’s just about DEVS being arrogantly prideful. Not admitting that the fans are right, rather then themselves. This goes deeper into the fact that the DEVS are a separate and deep market, a more intelligent, less fun based, and more focused kind of people. So they see things slightly diff then a lot of fans. For fans it’s about fun, for them it’s about rules, regulations, making things perfect.