When they first arrived on the scene, MMOs looked like they would redefine the concept of gaming. The idea of virtual worlds where people could be someone else, experiment with different personality types, and experience unique interactions with excited both gamers and academics.
10 years later, MMOs have become pale cousins of their MUD ancestors. Modern MMOs feel and play only a little bit different from their single player counterparts - there are just more people around and a $15 a month fee.
What happened?
This article gets at the history of MMOs and looks into how the "virtual world" part was forgotten.
Blizzard Entertainment has announced the opening of beta registrations for “World of Warcraft: The War Within,” inviting players to explore new subterranean worlds beneath Azeroth.
Danish from eXputer: "Despite Blizzard's attempt to give a fresh new spin to World of Warcraft, some fans still seem to be stuck in the past."
HG writes: "Blizzard is usually pretty bad at keeping secrets, but the company somehow managed to keep this one under wraps until now. Plunderstorm is a special limited-time event that’s basically World of Warcraft’s take on the Battle Royale genre."
This issue needs to get more attention. MMOs looked like they would be an amazing genre back in the days of Meridian 59, Ultima Online, and even popular muds like Threshold ( http://www.thresholdrpg.com...
But now they are just a bunch of level treadmill grinders. It really is disappointing.
Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, who even plays WoW?
*rolls eyes*
I'll never be a MMO type of game player. I really don't care about open ended exploration, and virtual interaction with other people.
what appeals to me with video games is the same thing that always has...playing against the challenge that a clever programmer created, and beating the game. That is why I'll always look for the best single player games that come out, and buy those.
I just don't want to quest grind anymore :(