The top ten features of MMOs
by Michael Zenke 
on Mar 14th 2008 11:00AM
World of Warcraft, Opinion, MMO Industry, Game Mechanics, Culture, Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest II, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Screenshots, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Star Wars Galaxies
8
Reader Comments (8)
Posted: Mar 14th 2008 11:13AM (Unverified) said
WHAT????? WHAT???
WHAT ABOUT INSTRUMENTS!!! How can you NOT put music at the top 10? ;_;
WHAT ABOUT INSTRUMENTS!!! How can you NOT put music at the top 10? ;_;
Posted: Mar 14th 2008 11:16AM (Unverified) said
I think the user-generated music in LOTRO is keen, but top ten? Is music really better than pets or raiding? :)
Posted: Mar 14th 2008 2:19PM Rollins said
Minigames win out over things like, say, player housing? I'm slightly shocked that housing's not on the list. I know that some implementations have been better than others, but it just adds so much to the game.
Posted: Mar 24th 2008 12:32PM (Unverified) said
Thats open for debate. Until they make a housing mechanic where it actually adds more to the game than allowing you to simply play with a doll-house of non-functioning furniture and instead having it serve some real purpose I don't consider it a MMO standard.
I'm hard pressed to come up with some sort of hypothetical functionality to future-MMO home ownership but at this point I can't think of any game where there is an actual advantage to buying a house over a player who skips it. In fact I don't know anybody who actually bought a home again after their first character wastes the money...
Reply
I'm hard pressed to come up with some sort of hypothetical functionality to future-MMO home ownership but at this point I can't think of any game where there is an actual advantage to buying a house over a player who skips it. In fact I don't know anybody who actually bought a home again after their first character wastes the money...
Posted: Mar 14th 2008 4:25PM Waluigi said
Great list, I think it summed up the essential parts of MMOs as a whole very well.
Sure, there's some aspects that are specific to certain MMOs that truly differentiate those games (LOTRO's music system as noted above, I was thinking about the lore aspect and the progression of a storyline beyond just quests - primarily scripted events used heavily in FFXI and to a lesser extent during instances in DDO, LOTRO, and WoW), but this list of ten surely hammered lots of important nails in the head.
Sure, there's some aspects that are specific to certain MMOs that truly differentiate those games (LOTRO's music system as noted above, I was thinking about the lore aspect and the progression of a storyline beyond just quests - primarily scripted events used heavily in FFXI and to a lesser extent during instances in DDO, LOTRO, and WoW), but this list of ten surely hammered lots of important nails in the head.
Posted: Mar 24th 2008 12:30PM (Unverified) said
Excellent read. Tho I don't think I would have included cosmetic pets in there because I think they're a total wank. They don't do anything to add to your character and since there is no customization involved there are a million other people with the same pet as you.
All in all its good to see something written about the current Gen of MMOs that isn't 99% wow-centric. Some other stuff I would have included in my own list: Deeds from LOTRO, the (tho somewhat flawed) vast improvements in trade and commerce (auction houses) and maybe legendary items like Sulfuras and Thunderfury, meaning 'crafted' items that take a guild effort to produce ONE legendary item for one lucky member. I always thought they were a breath of fresh air in a genre where 99% of people are only in it for personal advancement.
All in all its good to see something written about the current Gen of MMOs that isn't 99% wow-centric. Some other stuff I would have included in my own list: Deeds from LOTRO, the (tho somewhat flawed) vast improvements in trade and commerce (auction houses) and maybe legendary items like Sulfuras and Thunderfury, meaning 'crafted' items that take a guild effort to produce ONE legendary item for one lucky member. I always thought they were a breath of fresh air in a genre where 99% of people are only in it for personal advancement.
Posted: Apr 9th 2008 12:17PM (Unverified) said
sorry for any miss spellings.
Hello Im looking for game creation or modeing for World of Warcraft but I havent had much luck i wos wondering if anyone could posibly help me im just a kid but i have become vary interested in becomeing a Game Designer.
thank you for your time.
Hello Im looking for game creation or modeing for World of Warcraft but I havent had much luck i wos wondering if anyone could posibly help me im just a kid but i have become vary interested in becomeing a Game Designer.
thank you for your time.
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