11/30/07

Musings on RoK

Wow... I can actually find people to group with again. I actually see people in the same zone as me from time to time. What's going on here!? Have I survived a server consolidation I was not aware of?

Oh! Of course! Rise of Kunark released. And with that, the throngs of game hopping MMO players return back to EQ2 to see what is new and brush off the dust from their neglected alter egos. For me personally, it is always refreshing to see a healthy crowd back in the game. It means grouping, a rejuvenated economy and hooking up with friends long absent from guild and server. Overall, my RoK experience has been great! I rolled a Sarnak Necro, currently level 12 and have enjoyed the opening content in Timorous Deep. The quests have been fun and varied enough to hold my interest. Sure there are still the token kill and collect quests, but the devs seem to have come up with clever ways of injecting just enough uiqeness to make these interesting enough to wade through.

My main, Jose has been exploring Kylong Plains, Karnor's and the Fens as much as possible. With luck, I'll ding 71 this weekend. Hurray! Finally I should be able to make up some seriously lost ground on the other Monks playing on the Guk server... I was in the top 25 back when the game launched and have slipped pitifully down into the *ugh* 200s!? Anyhow, the high level content has also been fun. The content does appear to be tipped slightly towards soloers. This is a huge plus in my book as I had a tough time wading through the high 60's in KoS by myself. I have also had an easy enough time getting into groups from time to time with the increase in players on the server.

Overall, the expansion has been great. I am seeing renewed levels of interest and enthusiasm in the game not seen since a few months after it initially launched... This has been the most rewarding aspect of the expansion over all.

Looking forward to many more months of EQ2 in the future!

5/25/07

Future of MMO Subscription Models

I'd like to throw an idea out into the ether to see if I get any bites on this. First, I have been playing EQ2 nearly since launch and have dabbled in WoW, EVE and more recently LOTRO and Vanguard. Now for the sake of keeping things simple, let's just ring up a hypothetical monthly bill for this activity.

Station Access (EQ2 and Vanguard): $30/month

WoW: $15/month

EVE: $15/month

LOTRO: $15/month

Annual: $900


I consider myself a 'casual' player. I log maybe 4-8 hours per week of game time.... and yes that is exactly the reason my one and only Everquest 2 character has yet to reach level 70. However, when you consider the price tag of almost $1000 per year for gaming (without taking into account the non-mmo's that I Will buy), I feel it looks less casual and more hardcore. I'm in my games often enough that opening and closing an account is more trouble then it is worth. I'd rather just leave my accounts open in these games for quick and convenient access to them when I want to play.

So now comes the idea... Isn't there an opportunity for an entertainment provider to step in, strike an agreement with game publishers and offer players a bundled or a la carte game subscription?

I'm thinking something like a Boston Market meal where I can buy the turkey with one, two or three sides. I'll have the EQ2 with a side of LOTRO and EVE please. I'd feel comfortable paying $30 for this. Someone might be willing to get the all you can eat buffet for some higher price that allows them access to all games. Sony is close with Station Access, but needs to open it up to more non-SOE published games. This is not much different from what a cable company does, is it? I mean, I buy my cable on a monthly basis. I get 90000 channels. I watch maybe 10 of them. The value here is that I'm not paying $15.95 a month for HBO and $15.95 a month for Discovery and $15.95.... Well you get the idea. Someone in the cable sales and marketing departments has figured out that no one person can watch every show on TV all the time. So they offer bundles with choices.

I really think this is the future direction of the MMO subscription model. The current subscription model requires near exclusivity in terms of what game you play from both a time and financial standpoint. This new model would help ease the financial burden in players and I feel it would help an MMO's population staying power. Players would be less inclined to 'cycle' through games as each new thing popped up. At the very least they would not cancel accounts the minute that the 'World of Fuzzlecraft 3000' was released. Game publishers win out by not having to worry about supporting infrastructure, bandwidth etc. This all comes with their agreement with the 'entertainment service provider'.

We continue see an unending supply of new and shiny MMO's which compete with our existing MMO subscriptions. Rather then constantly battling for overlapping player pools, why don't game publishers simply recognize that people would like to play more then one game and work towards a solution that allows players to do so.

This definitely represents a possible threat to the money a direct monthly subscription would bring to a publisher. This model represents more of an invested approach to a player base rather then a quick and easy sale. Sure, going direct nets a nice wad of cash each moth from each player. Is it worth more to the game developer to have lots of $15 cash wads for a year or two or three? Or is it worth more for them to see smaller continuous revenue from millions of subscribers over the course of a much longer time span? Sure, there would have to be a governing authority to decide when a game has reached the end and needs to be bumped out of the prime cable space. But that's what public television is for =).

5/24/07

MMO Virtualization

One of the things I wish I saw more of in MMOs was the concept of environmental reality. I see a few games taking very subtle stabs at this through some weak dynamic weather patterns and day/night cycles...But I'm interested in a bit more realism. I'd love to see a world with changing seasons. I'm not talking about the proverbial zone in a winter setting, or a dessert setting etc. I'm talking about one zone that moves through a seasonal cycle. One of my very first criticisms of EQ2 was that the world weather was static. Every day in WillowWood was bright and sunny. (Note - The rain in EQ2 and LOTRO is a start, but where are the clouds it is falling from?) We do get some seasonal scenery during Frostfell, but what about leaves on trees changing colors during fall. Snow accumulations? Might be neat to have certain quests only available during special weather events etc. I recognize that this would require some good design to prevent virtual environmental disasters from preventing people questing for days or weeks at a time. If you are stuck inside due to the weather, the last thing you want is your MMO of choice to prevent you from finishing your quest due to 6 foot snowdrifts. I guess I'm looking for something to make the world a bit more immersive while avoiding the pitfall of trying to do too much (i.e. virtual reality or a life simulator). How about wear patterns in terrain when players continually traverse through an area (user created paths). These areas would self heal as the players moved on to other locations in search of new quests. Just some thoughts...

Welcome

Ok. My first blog post. What's this blog all about you ask? Well, first and foremost I need a place to empty my mind at the end of the day. So everything is fair game. However, I do have a passion for computer games, namely MMORPGs.

Some Background info about me.

Some of the very first omputer games I played:
Zork, Escape from Rungistan, Wizardy I, Bard's Tale

I'll let you make an educated guess about my age based on the games above. *Hint, I'm older then most console addicted adolescents.

I tend to play Everquest 2 as time permits. It was the first MMORPG I played. I have such fond memories of rollicking around Antonica and the Thundering Steppes. It was this game that first intorduced me to the concept of the 'all nighter' with work the next day. Ouch. I still play the first character I rolled. A monk named Jose... At the time, the name popped into my hed as somewhat counterculture to the endless cliches out there... Like 'Goldenhawk Dragonslayer' or 'Durgsten the Strong'. I just liked the sound of plain old 'Jose'.

I also dabble in Eve and have played Vanugard, WoW, LotRO among others.

We'll see how this works out. Will be nice to hear some comments back from people other then the voices in my head =)