Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Escaping The Dungeon: Can RPGs Get Out of the Fantasy Rut?
Gee, it seems like only a couple of years ago that a friend of mine was trying to get me to join him in Auto Assault's beta... Oh, wait, it was only a couple of years ago. And now they are sticking a fork in it. It's done.
I expect Woody of GUComics to post a "zapper" comic any moment now. Once again, we see that doing an MMO is not a license to print money. There's still only one World of Warcraft, yet there are several major (and expensive) MMO's that have turned up their toes to the daisies.
But that's not really what I wanted to talk about. There's something else that bugs me here. Why did it fail? Why is there room for dozens of Tolkienesque fantasy MMORPGs out there of various sizes and flavors, but not even one post-apocalyptic Car Wars-esque MMO? Was it the genre? Or the implementation?
Why didn't I try out the game when the buddy of mine was pushing me to join him in the beta? I don't know. Why haven't I ever tried out World of Warcraft? Just lack of time, and I was already playing another MMO at the time, and didn't have the time to devote to a second or third one. If I'd had the free time, I think I would have tried both Auto Assault and World of Warcraft.
One of the reasons developers are resistant to releasing a non-fantasy-based RPG (single-player or MMO) and "innovating" in that direction is the belief that non-fantasy RPGs do not sell. A belief that seems to be sustained by the market's reaction to any RPG that doesn't feature some sort of elves, orcs, and wizards (though they may call them by different names). Non-fantasy RPGs (what few of them have been released) do not sell well, as a general rule.
Sure, there have been some exceptions. Some licensed properties (like Star Wars and Vampire: The Masquerade) have done okay (though not okay enough to keep Troika in business following its release). And then there's Fallout. And Deus Ex, but I still think of that one as more of a "hybrid" RPG / FPS - and it had a much more traditional setting for an FPS. And the Final Fantasy games have done their darnedest to escape the "Tolkienesque" descriptor after the first couple of offerings, but they are still strongly rooted in the Sword & Sorcery thing. Their brand of fantasy just happens to include airships, rockets, rifles, and giant, mounted chickens.
So are RPGs stuck in the dungeon? Is the Dungeons & Dragons legacy so powerful that audiences have trouble disassociating the role-playing game from its fantasy origins? Or is it just a case of where most non-fantasy RPGs have just... well... sucked. And sucky games don't sell. Well, without several millions in marketing behind them.
(Vaguely) relating foolishness:
* The Most Important RPGs of All Time
* Why Do RPGs Suck Now?
* The Evolution of Computer RPGs
Read or Post Comments on the Forum. Or Not!
Labels: Game Design, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:35 AM (Permalink)
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Making an RPG game automatically limits your audience. Your average person never played D&D due to the stigma attached to D&D players. (Much like video gamers today).
So your limiting your market to people who like RPG games which still pretty sizeable. Now your going to release a Fantasy RPG which is a pretty good bet since most people read LOTR when they were young or watched Disney/Fantasy movies.
A straight RPG game which is not fantasy themed cannot survive in today's market place. Hybrid RPG games will work. Take Fallout 3 for instance. It gets rid of alot of those pesky RPG conventions in favor of more FPS/action conventions. Release it on a console and rake in the cash.
Most people do not have the patience/intelligence to play an RPG. They want "fun". Fun is coming home after a long day of work/school and killing things or rocking out with your Guitar Hero. Fun for these people is not managing inventory/stats/long ass conversations/remembering convuluted plots/which dungeon you need to go back to all the way across the map.
So yeah, hybrid rpg will be pretty popular alot more so than just a straight RPG but both will never be as popular as "simpler" games which do not require much thought.
It's basically the same as TV. American Idol is massively popular yet most geeks/Intelligent people like to watch more sophisticated material more so than American Idol.
So your limiting your market to people who like RPG games which still pretty sizeable. Now your going to release a Fantasy RPG which is a pretty good bet since most people read LOTR when they were young or watched Disney/Fantasy movies.
A straight RPG game which is not fantasy themed cannot survive in today's market place. Hybrid RPG games will work. Take Fallout 3 for instance. It gets rid of alot of those pesky RPG conventions in favor of more FPS/action conventions. Release it on a console and rake in the cash.
Most people do not have the patience/intelligence to play an RPG. They want "fun". Fun is coming home after a long day of work/school and killing things or rocking out with your Guitar Hero. Fun for these people is not managing inventory/stats/long ass conversations/remembering convuluted plots/which dungeon you need to go back to all the way across the map.
So yeah, hybrid rpg will be pretty popular alot more so than just a straight RPG but both will never be as popular as "simpler" games which do not require much thought.
It's basically the same as TV. American Idol is massively popular yet most geeks/Intelligent people like to watch more sophisticated material more so than American Idol.
It's exactly this topic which makes me, an MMO addict, want to start my own blog.
Unfortunately, just like now, I can never quite seem to put my thoughts into words.
I looked into Auto Assault and watched a friend of mine play. For me, someone who is sorely tempted by almost any MMO, it seemed very 'flat'. It also seemed extremely niche.
Fantasy games seemed do have become mainstream. Yes, I still boggle over this since I come from the age of when D&D allegedly caused kids to worship Satan. If MMORPGs and, specifically, Auto Assault had existed in the 80's, at the tail end of the Cold War, I think the post-apocalyptic genre would have been very successful.
There's also the issue of being 'niche', which I think Auto Assault was. I know a lot of folks (*cough*boys*cough*) would argue that. However, despite popular belief women DO play MMOs and, in fact, make up a good-size portion of the player base. And, well, a fairly good number of women don't really care much about cars*.
My apologies for another rambling post from me. Like I said...I have a hard time getting my thoughts together. ^_^;
(* though was tempted by the customizable cars in Forza 2...) ;D
Unfortunately, just like now, I can never quite seem to put my thoughts into words.
I looked into Auto Assault and watched a friend of mine play. For me, someone who is sorely tempted by almost any MMO, it seemed very 'flat'. It also seemed extremely niche.
Fantasy games seemed do have become mainstream. Yes, I still boggle over this since I come from the age of when D&D allegedly caused kids to worship Satan. If MMORPGs and, specifically, Auto Assault had existed in the 80's, at the tail end of the Cold War, I think the post-apocalyptic genre would have been very successful.
There's also the issue of being 'niche', which I think Auto Assault was. I know a lot of folks (*cough*boys*cough*) would argue that. However, despite popular belief women DO play MMOs and, in fact, make up a good-size portion of the player base. And, well, a fairly good number of women don't really care much about cars*.
My apologies for another rambling post from me. Like I said...I have a hard time getting my thoughts together. ^_^;
(* though was tempted by the customizable cars in Forza 2...) ;D
Heh, yeah, I came from that same era. D&D was gonna turn those kids into devil-worshipers. Now something like 1/1000th of the population of the world is playing World of Warcraft. Go figger.
It seems very weird to think that elves & wizards are more "mainstream" than... well, Mel Gibson / Road Warrior. But times do change. Space Opera style sci-fi has definitely not enjoyed the prestige and popularity it once enjoyed back in the era of the Space Race.
Another point which might be the case... did NCSoft really strive to take advantage of the niche? Or did they instead water it down by trying to make it appeal to a wider audience, thus alienating what would have been their biggest fans?
It seems very weird to think that elves & wizards are more "mainstream" than... well, Mel Gibson / Road Warrior. But times do change. Space Opera style sci-fi has definitely not enjoyed the prestige and popularity it once enjoyed back in the era of the Space Race.
Another point which might be the case... did NCSoft really strive to take advantage of the niche? Or did they instead water it down by trying to make it appeal to a wider audience, thus alienating what would have been their biggest fans?
Having not actually played Auto Assault myself (only watched a little) I would give them the benefit of the doubt and agree that perhaps targeting a niche would have given the game more staying power.
Niche MMOs can work and work well. I view EVE (another of my faves)is a niche MMO and it has a solid and growing playerbase. Maple Story, the 2D sidescroller MMO, is popular enough that it's blossomed into a new genre. In fact, many Korean MMOs practically depend on niche markets and most of them have English-speaking fans before they are even available outside of Asia.
To be honest, I'd like to see the Korean free-to-play MMO model more widely adopted. Companies get too hung up with trying to make the next WoW. A f2p MMO with purchasable credits to buy premium items in-game has the potential to earn its maker a tidy sum. I will admit to buying 'cookies' to deck out my Albatross18 toon with better gear and blowing a few USD here and there to buy Linden so I can have a new outfit or piece of furniture in Second Life. What can I say...it's a great hook! ^_^;
Niche MMOs can work and work well. I view EVE (another of my faves)is a niche MMO and it has a solid and growing playerbase. Maple Story, the 2D sidescroller MMO, is popular enough that it's blossomed into a new genre. In fact, many Korean MMOs practically depend on niche markets and most of them have English-speaking fans before they are even available outside of Asia.
To be honest, I'd like to see the Korean free-to-play MMO model more widely adopted. Companies get too hung up with trying to make the next WoW. A f2p MMO with purchasable credits to buy premium items in-game has the potential to earn its maker a tidy sum. I will admit to buying 'cookies' to deck out my Albatross18 toon with better gear and blowing a few USD here and there to buy Linden so I can have a new outfit or piece of furniture in Second Life. What can I say...it's a great hook! ^_^;
I personally would side with the 'sucky games' theory. Star Wars galaxies was an anomaly of a game - an innovative but ultimately broken game fueled by a fanatic player-base. Other sci-fi and many fantasy MMO offerings have all fallen short of the modern standards in my opinion.
Having played WoW intensely and then quit, I've been bouncing around as many different MMOs as I can afford. Generally speaking my experiences have fallen into 2 distinct categories.
1) Sadistic Asian MMOs - there are 10,000 of these things. They all look pretty, many are free, and all of them abuse the player every step of the way. XP death penalty, no instancing, painful travel, brutal and infrequent quest lines, mob-grinding level treadmill of doom, etc...
2) Games that had a good idea, but forget everything else along the way. I swear it feels to me like most new MMOs have fallen into the trap. Most have gorgeous graphics some big world plot, some gimic system (like ship building or whatever), and lots of races/classes. Get into them and then one finds that that's all they have.
Under the pretty graphics there's unbalanced combat, leveling trend mills, low grade questing, junky maps, broken or no pvp, broken or no end-game, busted or missing crafting systems, player economies without a leg to stand on, wierd innovative systems that are cool but half done or with no in-game purpose, empty and flat worlds, etc....
World of Warcraft didn't really innovate at all in terms of MMO gameplay and systems. It just did all the basics really freaking well, so that they worked, were enjoyable, and were not a pain in the arse. Its the standard now for other games. Plenty of people want to play something other than WoW, but few are willing to suffer games that don't get the basics 'right'.
That's my theory anyway ^_^
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Having played WoW intensely and then quit, I've been bouncing around as many different MMOs as I can afford. Generally speaking my experiences have fallen into 2 distinct categories.
1) Sadistic Asian MMOs - there are 10,000 of these things. They all look pretty, many are free, and all of them abuse the player every step of the way. XP death penalty, no instancing, painful travel, brutal and infrequent quest lines, mob-grinding level treadmill of doom, etc...
2) Games that had a good idea, but forget everything else along the way. I swear it feels to me like most new MMOs have fallen into the trap. Most have gorgeous graphics some big world plot, some gimic system (like ship building or whatever), and lots of races/classes. Get into them and then one finds that that's all they have.
Under the pretty graphics there's unbalanced combat, leveling trend mills, low grade questing, junky maps, broken or no pvp, broken or no end-game, busted or missing crafting systems, player economies without a leg to stand on, wierd innovative systems that are cool but half done or with no in-game purpose, empty and flat worlds, etc....
World of Warcraft didn't really innovate at all in terms of MMO gameplay and systems. It just did all the basics really freaking well, so that they worked, were enjoyable, and were not a pain in the arse. Its the standard now for other games. Plenty of people want to play something other than WoW, but few are willing to suffer games that don't get the basics 'right'.
That's my theory anyway ^_^
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