Massively article: The Think Tank -- What's your solution to save closing mmo's

[Globetrotter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwce0rY5RIk

I would be very happy with an old museum in cyberspace, where we could still admire (play) OUR old Picasso.

[Victoria Victrix]

Heck, I'll be honest, I feel bad for not really knowing about the whole thing with Tabula Rasa when that happened.

I feel REALLY bad.  I did do my initial part though, I bought a box AND an open Beta.

[Perfidus]

I did know about the Garriott debacle. I had no idea exactly what happened though. None of the blogs I read at the time gave the facts, they just did Lord British jokes.

[dwturducken]

I have to admit, despite knowing who Lord British was thru friends who played Ultima games, to not knowing a damned thing about TR. Gues I'm always late to the party.

[Little David]

...All those people posting "Move on, let it go, you should not get that attached to a game" have never went through a shutdown themselves.

It's disturbing that there's so many people on Massively (and elsewhere on MMO gaming sites) who have this transient mentality towards MMOs that smacks of Brave New World's approach to an economy. It's like they expect people to completely forget about an MMO once it's a few years old, or the exact moment when a publisher announces they're closing the game.

"It's just a game, let it go, stop whining! Now go play the latest new shiny!"

Upset as I was with NCSoft killing off Tabula Rasa and Exteel, I thought a lot of the smug snarking from the peanut gallery during both their closures was due to each game's short life and relatively small market share compared to the venerable big boys of the scene (of which I considered City of Heroes one).

But when they behaved the same way toward City of Heroes and its playerbase when NCSoft brought out the axe, well. Not even World of Warcraft will be safe from their smugness if it closes down.

A lot of them have been whining about Massively covering City of Heroes disproportionately, even though the editor(s) responsible for covering CoH have put out the same amount of articles per month during CoH's final months as they did in the months prior.

I did know about the Garriott debacle. I had no idea exactly what happened though. None of the blogs I read at the time gave the facts, they just did Lord British jokes.

Honestly, after I found out about Garriott's lawsuit ... the way NCSoft made it look like he decided to skip on out of game development to pursue space tourism with that resignation letter they wrote "for" him feels a lot like character assassination. Encouraging the gaming press to portray him as a space-smitten loon.

[corvus1970]

But when they behaved the same way toward City of Heroes and its playerbase when NCSoft brought out the axe, well. Not even World of Warcraft will be safe from their smugness if it closes down.

Agreed. Is is indeed disturbing, and its evidence of several issues I have with our society: Increasing self-imposed isolation, Increasing selfishness, Easy distractability, and a pervasive disposable mentality. Granted, the internet does indeed enable certain personality types to be more snarky, harsh, and rude in general, but You would indeed think that fellow gamers would be a little more supportive.

Personally I've stayed away from most commentary that I wasn't directed to via posts here on Titan. Thoughtless, selfish crap like that will get me irritated in a hurry, and I'd rather avoid that nose as much as possible.

[therain93]

...All those people posting "Move on, let it go, you should not get that attached to a game" have never went through a shutdown themselves.

One day, their favorite MMO will be in the crosshairs. They'll find that stimulating, I bet.

Ya know, I was watching the latest episode of the "The Middle" and it struck a chord with the gamer in me, about what we lost and what some of us are trying to do going forward.  The background is that older brother spoils the ending of the book series the younger brother was reading for almost his entire life.  See the two hulu links in my signature for how it played out.

[Victoria Victrix]

Never forget there are professional trolls out there.  This is literally all they do--come in with comment designed to make trouble, stir things up, start flamewars and denigrate others. 

[Quinch]

Never forget there are professional unicorns out there.  This is literally all they do--come in with comment designed to make trouble, stir things up, start flamewars and denigrate others.

In other words, agent provocateurs for hire?

[Victoria Victrix]

In other words, agent provocateurs for hire?

Actually no.  Just maladjusted malcontents who aren't happy unless they think they have made someone else unhappy.  A strange sort of avocation if you ask me, but it is an adrenaline high, and these folks are addicted to drama and adrenaline (and Mountain Dew and CheezyPuffs).

[corvus1970]

Yup, and they are filled with keyboard courage!

[downix]

Never forget there are professional unicorns out there.  This is literally all they do--come in with comment designed to make trouble, stir things up, start flamewars and denigrate others.

Members of the Local 1337

[healix]

when it comes to the unicorns

[corvus1970]

I agree. Furthermore, I feel that the pejorative "poo poo head" and its near-cousin, "poopyhead", is an insult that is used far too little in this jaded age we live in

[Quinch]

Actually no.  Just maladjusted malcontents who aren't happy unless they think they have made someone else unhappy.  A strange sort of avocation if you ask me, but it is an adrenaline high, and these folks are addicted to drama and adrenaline (and Mountain Dew and CheezyPuffs).

Oh, so professional grade, not as in actually doing that for a living. Gotcha.

[FatherXmas]

Well it seems to me that in this current generation of video gamers who simply don't own games for the long term.  They go the warz route or they rent them or they buy used and trade in when done.  Few have a library of their favorites piled up next to their PC or console.  Also due to the online nature of a lot of games, ones with limited or poor single player support, they play what's popular and when their RL or online friends move on they do as well.

MMOs are strange beasts since you don't "beat" them.  Plus early on a number have subscription fees over the cost of the game itself.  It would be like hitting the bowling alley every day after school to play with your friends rather than tossing around a football or Frisbee.

So to them all games are temporary, fleeting things.  Things you beat and move on.  It's not surprising that to many, attachment to one game and it's player base seems odd.  "Why don't you all just go onto the next game?"  "Aren't they all the same?"  "Why would you want to be Captain Underpants when you could be Batman's lackey or play Iron Man?"  Sadly these sentiments have more to do with lack of imagination and the willingness to stand out in a crowd than simply being a unicorn.

[JaguarX]

Well it seems to me that in this current generation of video gamers who simply don't own games for the long term.  They go the warz route or they rent them or they buy used and trade in when done.  Few have a library of their favorites piled up next to their PC or console.  Also due to the online nature of a lot of games, ones with limited or poor single player support, they play what's popular and when their RL or online friends move on they do as well.

MMOs are strange beasts since you don't "beat" them.  Plus early on a number have subscription fees over the cost of the game itself.  It would be like hitting the bowling alley every day after school to play with your friends rather than tossing around a football or Frisbee.

So to them all games are temporary, fleeting things.  Things you beat and move on.  It's not surprising that to many, attachment to one game and it's player base seems odd.  "Why don't you all just go onto the next game?"  "Aren't they all the same?"  "Why would you want to be Captain Underpants when you could be Batman's lackey or play Iron Man?"  Sadly these sentiments have more to do with lack of imagination and the willingness to stand out in a crowd than simply being a unicorn.

never really thought of it in that manner but very good point.

Now that you mention it, I noticed this mentality in many things outside of games. Everything from computers, to phones, to social sites, cars, hang out spots, marriage, jobs, even books.

But people get attached to different things and some things that people are not attached to is viewed as an alien thing ot be attached to. Like some people are attached to stamps and cant understand why people dont care about if a particular stamp is discontinued or not, but that stamp collector dont understand how people can get attached to games just as some gamers dont understand why someone would be attached emotionally to a stamp when they can just buy another one. Same priniciple just different media. Some Porsche owners were upset when Porche switched to watercooled in mid-90s while many other Porsche owners and non-Porsche owners didnt see what the big fuss was about. Although the reaction was stil lthe same for people that didnt understand. "Why don't you all just go onto the next Prosche."  "Aren't they all the same?"  "Why would you want an air-cooled Porsche when you could have an updated new Porsche?" 

To the outsider or people that are not attached and or just dont understand those quoted reactions are righteous because to them it's trivial matter. To the person that is attached to them it's no trivial matter.

I try to keep this in mind before asking why anyone is attached to anything because what I am attached to is probably alien to someone and they are probably thinking the same thing about what I find important. Treat others as you would like to be treated. I dont want people trivilizing what I'm attached to and saying it's stupid, thus I dont do it to others regardless of how trivial it seems even if they have a thing for a particular type of soil which I may view as dirt is still dirt. Also one of the reasons I cant bring myself to down or try to sabatoge other games out of spite even if  it is ran by a company that I dont care for in particular. Those players, even if enjoying a game for a company that I would give two craps about if they sink, probably have about as much if not more in some cases as people have an attachement to COX.