Future of Mmorpg Gaming
World of Warcraft
The mmorpg video game genre is becoming over saturated with highly generalized games, that share the same features as every other game out there but with a twist in style or delivery. However, with the trends of the current releases on the market, it is clear what the future of the mmorpg genre will be.
Now, most likely people will begin and instantly assume that World of Warcraft is the future of mmorpg gaming. however, I will be quick to debunk such a biased statement. For one, take a look at World of Warcraft. One of its major selling points is the fact that it hones such a large fan base. The features that it holds are I guess the first of a kind, but it is now the standard for many mmorpg’s that are on the market now, and some even push the envelope more than Blizzard is. However, because World of Warcraft already is a house hold name, it is hard to compete with such a titan. Not to say that WoW is not impressive, because it does have an amazing storyline as well as a very detailed implementation of features. But it is not as ground breaking as it can be.
Where mmorpg’s seem to be venturing is into an economy and complete virtual ran by the players. First of all, let me just state my observations at the moment. It seems that more and more mmorpg’s are beginning to create the game in a way where it revolves around nations. With the implementation of nations, it allows for the players of different nations to rival and ally with eachother. This instills more of a politic into the game.
Next, it seems as if guild wars and player killing will become a part of the norm in terms of genre wide features. I say this because, guild wars will allow for a system that gives dominance to one sole guild. When this happen, I can imagine, or at least hope, that games will then give that guild the lead of the nation. Then as you lead the nation, in the nation wars you may have special perks or command over the nation that would otherwise be desired. With this sort of system, it gives both an incentive and goal to the player.
Last, but not least, crafting will become a vital feature to be included in mmorpg’s. Not that it already is not included in some games, but there are cases where they have a specific class for a character that gives them the sole crafting ability, which I believe to be the smartest choice. With this choice, you can then allow for an economy that is ran by the player, adjusting to competition, inflation etc. This also gives the player more importance. I know in Rose Online, that game had an economy that was widely ran by the artisan class. This class would create special equipment that would then be sold at competitive prices, which lead to the first billionaire in the game.
The main problem I can see occurring with a mmorpg that has a system like is that players may become inactive. What if the guild that leads the nation becomes inactive or quits? The nation will be leaderless, there would have to be some fail-safe section. Or what if the prices in a server are inflated, or the prices are better for one nation than another? There are many factors to be thought about, but in the end, it would certainly be worth it.
If this is what the future of Mmorpg’s hold, then I can definitely say that this genre will quickly become the largest and most popular genre of video games there are. Mmorpg’s, by far, have the longest re-playability factor as well as a subscription service that will certainly keep the employees and companies happy. That would by my desired prediction for the future of mmorpg gaming.
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