Ultima Forever = Lord British's game, never have I been so wrong.

I don't have any ill feelings about the current UO team or U4E teams as much as I have ill feelings towards the management style and system they are working under.

Having seen 3 atrtempts at an upgrade to the base UO client (all of which were practically abandoned mid-way through development and simply "tossed out the door and forgotten"), it really doesn't give me hope for the franchise.

By contrast, you have this team which has been VERY open towards providing information to the end consumer (the players) and has even done more to allow participation. Basically, I know more of what's going on with the SotA team than I do with the UO team and that's a HUGE difference in my book.

 

I think it goes without saying, but I'm saying it anyway... Games exist as businesses. The purpose of every game produced is to make money. Back in my UO days, I knew then that it was about business, hence the recurring monthly fee. However, back then that was the extent of the business impact. Today, it's all about cash shops and at every turn there's some added incentive for players to spend more real money. It's gotten so that it is straight-up-in-your-face. Just let me play the bloody game. If there's a cash shop, fine. Put a button to acess it on the GUI and let me access it IF AND WHEN I want to. Don't remind me every step of the way that there's a cash shop I can spend money in.

I know it's there. If I am not buying from it it means there is nothing in it that I want. Want to know what I want? why? You won't provide it even if I told you...

Please note that the above is my opinion of how other MMOs make me feel. In this game, I know that it's going to be a business. I am fine with that. As long as the busines aspect of it stays outside of the gameworld unless I click a button to access the online store. Give me the real choices...

 

I think there is a disconnect there. Yes game compnies, in general, are businesses and as business do need to make profit to pay employees, give a return to investors (if they have them), etc... However, being a business does not mean you neccesarily put profits ahead of all other aspects of the company or even that profit/making money is the primary objective. Many companies are able to balance social responsibility (be it the environment, their customers, or their employees) and still make a healthy profit.

So yes, companies need to pay their bills, but that doesn't mean they neccesarily do so at the expense of everything else. I think what you seem to be saying is that these companies make you feel as if they are putting profits as their exclusive objective.

Regards,
Unseen Dragon

 

I guess we will have to agree to disagree, personal experiances and all that, I had a few freinds on the WAR team and mine are somewhat different is all, no need to bring that here though. It's is encouraging to see however that they have learned the pitfalls of over selling a product though.

 

Ever since WoW's meteoric rise to the top of the MMO food chain, that is exactly what I've been feeling. Look how many WoW clones that have been pushed out, each one touted as being the one to kill WoW, and each one for all intents and purposes pronounced dead on arrival. If half of those developers would have simply let WoW be WoW and focused on making something unique, then I think at least one of those MMOs might have actually managed to give WoW a run for its money. But no. All that effort to try to beat WoW by doing everything exactly the way WoW did it... All those developers have had their sights set on WoW-scale subscription numbers and not a single one of them has managed to come even close.

It has become so much about the money that it seems like the creative process has become stifled. With the amount of money that BioWare-Austin had at their disposal for Star Wars: The Old Republic, they could have totally revolutionized the MMO industry. They could have learned from the corporate mistakes that killed Star Wars Galaxies and produced a game that would have had elements that appealed to everyone. The BSed their way into gaining the trust of the masses by promising that SWTOR was going to be a sandbox/themepark hybrid. They waited until almost the end of beta to backpedal on that, even going so far as to suggest that what was originally said meant something different, when you couldn't get any other meaning out of it than what was originally taken from it. All that money and MOST of it went into VOICE ACTING. The game was missing so many key elements taken for granted in every other MMO out there. If it had been me, I would have hired a few more programmers and put them on those missing systems.

Don't get me started about what Star Trek Online could have been but ultimately wasn't.

For a time, I had a bone to pick even with Richard Garriott. Tabula Rasa could have been Ultima Online reincarnated in a high-tech age. It should have been. The problem was that Mr Garriott was off playing Astronaut right smack dab in the middle of what I felt was TR's most critical phase of development. Now I want it clear that I admire Mr. Garriott greatly, and when I learned he was going to be going into space, I was thrilled for him. However, I feel that TR suffered from his absence. It really did not feel like one of his brainchildren. I feel that had he kept his feet on earth, that game might have soared to the stars. We'll never know. On the other hand, I totally enjoyed watching all those videos on YouTube of Richard on the space station and the more practical side of me knows that between Tabula Rasa and a trip into space, he made the right choice.

Now this game we are all here for seems to mark the full return of his creative genius to the MMO world. I look forward to seeing how it all plays out.

 

TR indeed has a storied history, but I do not think though that Richard going to space had much to do with its success (or lack thereof). TR was released in Nov 2007 and its fate was determined then, really. Richard didn't go into space until Oct 2008, a year later. Only a month after he returned, NCSoft announced TR was going to be shut down.

 

Ah... my timeline was a bit off... You are right. It was after the game launched. He was still absent at a very crucial time. Getting an MMO to launch is one thing. Where to take it after launch is entirely different. Had he been there directing the creative process going forward, it may not have shut down. But like I said, the practical side of me cannot fault him for choosing to go into space. How many people get an opportunity like that?

As I said in my introductory post, I am glad that someone had the balls to return to the roots. I'm even more glad that it was Richard Garriott himself.

 

The timing I'm sure was not ideal but you can't fault him for doing something he'd dream of all his life when the opportunity arose. But yeah, I'm also glad to see him back with his vision for SotA. And most importantly, doing so independently. And I hope it's as successful as possible so it can remain that way.

 

Your post I responded to started with "Games exist as businesses. The purpose of every game produced is to make money." I simply was saying that this does not tell the whole story. I would wager that for many game designers, the games exist for many more reasons than simply to make money. Are there companies which focus on maximizing profits? Probably. But don't assume that all designers/developers are some caricature and certainly don’t use language which implies they are somehow evil or unprincipled. I have no doubt that when most people (and this applies to most any of us in our jobs) set out to start a project, they want it to be the very best it can be for them and their audience.

Unseen Dragon

 

Your post I responded to started with "Games exist as businesses. The purpose of every game produced is to make money." I simply was saying that this does not tell the whole story. I would wager that for many game designers, the games exist for many more reasons than simply to make money. Are there companies which focus on maximizing profits? Probably. But don't assume that all designers/developers are some caricature and certainly don’t use language which implies they are somehow evil or unprincipled. I have no doubt that when most people (and this applies to most any of us in our jobs) set out to start a project, they want it to be the very best it can be for them and their audience.

Unseen Dragon

 

There were many things done right, but free-to-play always becomes an annoyance eventually. They annoy you to get your money. I suppose if you pony up the cash it might be more fun, but then again, if there's less challenge then it might just be boring. It did get very repetitive. The idea of returning to Britannia was quite nice, for a short while.

 

Creating a mobile game that will make money is a difficult task. You have to ease players into the gameplay and make it so that purchases are not necessary, but are a means to a shortcut. A lot of people really like the shortcuts.

Some mobile games which charge a flat fee actually end up losing money. Market research has shown that microtransaction games out-earn flat rate games by a huge factor.

The only f2p mobile game I think was done well as far as balancing playability vs. payability is Puzzles & Dragons. You can really play that game without paying and have it still be fun. U4E's equipment damage mechanic made it difficult to progress in the game without farming low level dungeons naked or paying hard cash. I also didn't care for the click to move/attack mechanic; sometimes I'd miss a monster and instead blunder right into it and get hit (I was playing a caster).

Back on topic, TrielaHeavenly6, glad you could make it over here. I think this is the game you're looking for.

 

One-word: Shareware. Old school works. Let the player do the equivalent of an episode, then make them pony up the cash. Some mobile games actually do this today.

 

They got burned by - and burned a lot of players with - WAR. LOTS of "lessons learned" came out of that.

On the plus side, you gotta give props to Mythic's community people; they are masterful in dealing with even the most irrationally irate grognards in a cool and collected way. Respect where it's due.