The Sanatorium You might feel a slight sting

World of Warcraft and The Death Of MMOs

If you've taken the time to even travel to our lovely website here, chances are you're not one of the 6 billion people who are currently playing World of Warcraft.  With Cataclysm, WoW's latest expansion (like you didn't know) out in stores, people are sure to be logging in another 25 to life into the game.  For WoW fans, this may seem all well and dandy.  Hell, this is a big step for gaming in general.  But is it really good for the industry?

There is something I need to tell you before I write this.  I don't play MMOs.  I have played until about level 15 on WoW with a guest pass, and a bit of Maple Story, but that's as far as my MMO experience goes.  But this article isn't so much meant to be about an in depth look at their effect on the industry.  This is just a fellow gamer's two cents on what may (or may not be) going on.  I'm no analyst, but who gives a shit?

So what is this about?  Well the land of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games is quite a unique one in our world of gaming.  It connects anywhere from a few thousand people to a few million in order to have the ultimate experience of playing a role you've always wanted to play in a thriving world seen seldom outside of the genre.  Doing so in the real world would either be highly illegal or make you look pretty stupid.  But this kind of game comes with a price.  That price is about $15 a month, to be more precise.  MMO's ain't cheap to upkeep (rhyme).  A game revolving around constant online play gets a bit pricey for developers, so it takes a bit more "mmph" for this kind of game to be made and continue being run.  Now that I've said all that, I just have to ask the industry one question.

How the fuck are you guys still developing MMOs?

This is the part where some educated gamer comes in and tells me, probably in one sentence or less, the answer to that question.  You can't blame me for asking though.  Consider these educated assumptions.  Imagine how many gamers there might be actively playing video games in the world.  Now cut that number down pretty considerably and you have PC gamers.  Why does that matter?  Well, because MMO's generally don't appear on consoles, and its a dominantly PC gamer market.  Now, wind that number down a little bit more.  You're removing the people that prefer to pay for their games once and have that be that.  How many are left?  I don't really know, but a shit ton less than you started out with, but we've still got a considerable size here so let's keep going.  Now open a gaming magazine.  Anyone you want.  Chances are you'll find something about a current, ongoing MMO such as World of Warcraft or one that is currently in development.  They aren't uncommon at all, so how the hell do they stay afloat??

I'm going to try to go in this with an MMO gamer's perspective.  An MMO is quite a time consuming experience, taking maybe months or longer to get to some higher levels.  Add to that that you're paying approximately $15 per month to play that game.  Also add that you're probably going to be geared more toward the game that offers more to do, has a bigger population, and one that your friends also play.  Now, I ask, how many MMO gamers really dedicate time to more than one MMO game?  I'll be generous and say two.  But even at two, we're thinking a lot of time dedication, along with $30 a month.  I don't see many people being THAT kind of gamer, not even in the MMO crowd.

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia,  in April 2008, the game was said to hold about 62% of the MMO subscription market and as of October 2010, World of Warcraft is played by about 12 million subscribers.  Think that over for a second: 62%.  That leaves  just 38 percent split amongst the various other games.  That doesn't sound like much left over for any up and coming MMO games trying to find their audience.  It really makes you wonder if the recent colossal failure of APB was really because of quality, or it's inability to garner any players.  I'd say it's probably both.

So what about free to play MMOs?  Are they safe from being a victim of an MMO monopoly?  Well, not quite.  Most MMO games that see a widespread commercial release usually aren't free to play, but there are some out there.  A few notable games are (as far as I know) Guild Wars, Maple Story (which is actually a free download) and, more recently, The Lord of The Rings Online (which was originally subscription based but than switched to a FTP based system.)  Free To Play games usually offer different ways for members to give up their money, but in ways that seem to directly benefit the player.  This usually means that the game will offer special items and such for sale that cannot be obtained elsewhere in the game.  The system sounds good on paper, but in the end, it is a subscription based game that still holds the MMO crown.  With that said, despite a FTP game being more accessible to gamers, they still may take hits in terms of population.  While it may attract more people for being free, still consider how many people even want to play MMOs and how many more people are already playing one, regardless of whether or not it is free or subscription based.

So what one game may stand a chance in the midst of an MMO battlefield?  Star Wars is probably one of the biggest names in Sci-Fi land, and is something everyone knows about one way or another.  It's fair to say that the upcoming "Star Wars: The Old Republic" may put up quite a fight.  Or will it?  On the up side, it's being developed by one of the most renowned developers out there, Bioware.  On the downside?  It's going up against WoW, for one, but there are also rumors from within EA that work on this game just isn't going as smoothly as hoped.  Still, that all remains to be seen.  The MMO battlefield remains ever active, and only time will tell where many of them will end up and why they ended up there.  All we can do is wait and see.