Other MMO’s just don’t meet the standards WoW has. None are mainstream and outstanding at the same time, an MMO needs to be a very well made game to succeed, very well made and needs to appeal to everyone.

WoW had its kinks coming out the gate, but gave players free playing time and rest xp to keep them happy. That got the core of the gamers to keep playing, and they in turn, spread the word.

Other companies don’t have the leniency that I think Blizzard was afforded, thus the game is quickly abandoned.

When I explain World of Warcraft’s success, I make a simple statement: “Sit down and play it for five minutes.”

WoW plays like no other MMORPG before it. It is stupid simple to understand, runs reliably on almost any PC out there, and feels 100% fluid. Not to mention WoW, since the beginning, has targeted non-gamers just as much as it has gamers.

To say that again, as Jim already has, there is no barriers to entry. WoW plays, looks, and feels like a game to anyone that sits down and touches it. No other MMO on the market can claim that.

Note: Lord of the Rings online failed because a) it didn’t stick to the lore (magic anyone) and b) played like a fat chick trying to suck a golf ball through a straw.

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/1780

Turbine says DDO is “generating a significant amount of revenue”. That’s not shabby for a game with quite a limited subscriber set. I think WoW is helping the industry, not killing it.

You can’t even say any longer that WoW is a technological innovator. Their UI has been copied (and improved upon), their graphics are decidedly aged, the content itself is nothing to write home about. They allow a lot of customization through add-ons, but honestly that’s not what is pulling the new subscriber in. The game isn’t even that simple to play if you want to be a decently-skilled player with good equipment taking on challenging foes and getting good rewards from it. It is not a game most people would feel justified only playing casually . . . and WoW itself charges an industry-standard amount for its subscribers.

In other words, until someone can adequately explain why WoW is so dominating the industry, I don’t think anyone is going to be able to replicate it or even compete with it. I have a variety of theories, but one would figure that if it was as easy as someone sitting around theorizing then at least one of said someones would have figured out a way to compete with WoW.

I will say this . . . a lot of these licenses are targeting very small markets, and their subscriptions I believe will be limited because of it. I love Lord of the Rings Online. It is just a much better game than WoW, with the possible exception of lacking adequate customization and add-ions (which I understand why Turbine went that way but don’t agree with it). But most people have already made their mind up about Lord of the Rings, and what kind of a game it would be. I think the same thing is going to be true of Warhammer and Age of Conan–you’re going to have a large percentage of people who just aren’t going to be interested because of the license. There is too much (or there is perceived to be too much) that a player would have to know prior to running the game in order for them to get a lot of enjoyment out of it. That is certainly something WoW has going for it–it isn’t as if the earlier Warcraft games contributed a deep and literary storyline that one felt they had to absorb before jumping into the game.

Timing, I imagine, it also of the essence. What if LoTR had come out when the movies came out? What if they could have bootstrapped that marketing engine and public visibility? A lost opportunity.

But like I said, these are all just thoughts and theories. One thing seems certain–WoW is just beating the hell out of the competition, and they don’t appear to be engaging in any unethical business practices in the process. I think WoW’s aged graphics help them because people don’t feel like they need a cutting edge system to run it well.

So maybe that’s just it. Blizzard has removed enough barriers that people outside of the genre feel comfortable making WoW their first MMORPG experience. New players to get a good gaming experience:

1. Don’t have to upgrade their computer. or
2. Learn a lot of backstory, or
3. Learn a complex interface . . .
etc.

I dunno. I still think that overall WoW will prove beneficial to the industry by bringing in players that wouldn’t have otherwise played a MMORPG. I also agree about the exclusivity thing–subscription fees breed exclusivity. I’m playing both LoTRO and WoW, but don’t know how long that will be true.

Interesting topic!

June 2007 I began playing. I had only played it for a few days in 2006 on a 10 day trial but at that time I was new to the entire MMO genre and knew nothing about MMORPGs or how to play them.

I purchased Guild Wars after my World of Warcraft trial was over because I felt it was easier to pick up and play, and like a warm bath I was eased in to the MMORPG gameplay. I played Guild Wars for a good 14 months on and off and then I quit and picked up World of Warcraft.

There were many MMO’s I could have chosen to play instead but I picked WoW as the one I would play and pay a subscription for. The reason was quite simply, WoW is the standard definition of the Genre. It has become such a popular MMO that whenever you say MMO, people think of World of Warcraft.

For me it offered plentiful support from Blizzard, it was well structured, well presented, I felt comfortable in making payments to a company that I trusted, Blizzard has history and millions of customers and I felt safer handing over my Credit Card details for reoccurring payments.

And the gameplay, I’ll say it right now that I am a Graphics Whore. I have the fastest graphics setup on the market and a huge 30″ LCD to enjoy the games on. When I choose an MMO I had to look past the eye-candy and really look at Game Play. Guild Wars which I started out on has higher quality graphics then World of Warcraft, but its gameplay was lacking. LoTRO is also more impressive visually but World of Warcraft just has a better feel to it. It feels refined and established, and although I will never visit a part of the land that hasn’t already been investigated by another player I am never alone in that land. There is always some piece of 3rd party knowledge out there on some guide site to help me complete a Quest, and that is comforting when I want to get past the boring parts (Grinding mob after mob) to the more interesting content (Instances, Raiding, PVP).

World of Warcraft does harm other MMO’s by being such a juggernaut, however Planes harm the usage of Trains because they are faster and often go where Trains cannot go.

I’m new to the MMO Genre, and as such I’m not prepared to pay for more then one MMO at any one time. World of Warcraft for me is perfect. I’ve been playing it nearly a year and I still love logging in and improving my characters and playing with friends, until it becomes boring I see no other reason to play another MMO. I’m obviously not willing to pay for another MMO until I quit WoW and I don’t see that happening soon. Most MMORPG’s need a lot of personal time to play and I can barely play WoW, let alone 2 or 3 at once. And paying £8.99×2 or x3 would annoy me.

The only way I can see other MMO’s getting a look in to WoW’s market share, is if they create a type of universal MMO account system, where you pay £12.99 a month to gain access to a bunch of MMO’s at once. Whichever games you play in that month is where your subscription money goes to. It would enable people to try more and more MMO’s without having to take out multiple subscriptions at once or pick and choose between them.

I know the above would never happen but hey I can dream.

Also, here’s a tip for being profitable: Don’t spend as much as WoW did, and make something different.

wow did attract a lot of players from other mmo’s.

but also, a lot of the 10 mil players are people who didn’t play games and started with wow. When they quit WoW they mostly stop gaming again.

I personally hope that Funcom realised this when they pushed Age of Conan back and that Mythic knows this before the rush out Warhammer way too early.

I don’t think that WoW is hurting the industry. But conceptions have to change and I think that 2007 proved this in many different ways.