Dec 24

2008’s Big MMO Trends

Category: GameSetWatch, Site

Just as with last year, I jotted off a few quick thoughts on the year in MMO trends. The result is up on Gamasutra, again as with year. Simon’s insistence on the ‘MMO expert’ title makes me feel a bit like a talking head, but still …

For one more special bonus, guest MMO expert Michael Zenke takes a look at the year’s five most compelling trends in online gaming. The world of MMOs is an enormous business and huge opportunity for the game development community at large. As a fast-growing and influential part of the industry, ripples in MMO development will have serious consequences in the rest of the pond down the line.

Here are the biggest stories of 2008 in online gaming, so you can know what to look out for next year.

4 comments

4 Comments so far

  1. Grimjakk December 25th, 2008 12:20 am

    As long as they’re kept tangential to core gameplay, I tolerate micro-transactions. But I’m not interested in playing a game built around them.

    I LIKE my subscription model… of course that may be because I’m still traumatized by that $200 AirWarrior bill I racked up back in November of ‘96. Subscriptions are safe and predictable… and that’s not an inconsequential consideration in this economy.

    As far as your comments on WAR… I think basing any pronouncement of success or failure on a flip pre-launch comment by a dev – ignoring the fact that the inital crush of players forced them to open more than twice the servers they had initially planned, and that the crush was largely due to a horde of players who were waiting for WotLK – is… not exactly stellar journalism.

    No game is perfect, and while I’m a fan, I’m not a “fanboy”. But the game I’m playing (after the server moves and patch 1.1) is MOSTLY brilliant fun. Pointing out a game’s flaws and it’s developer’s misteps is both useful and fair, but it would be better to base criticism on more than an old “gotcha”.

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