Five big failings of the MMO genre (and a rebuttal to same)

by Michael Zenke on Jan 28th 2009 5:00PM

Tom Chick is a well known and (generally) respected games journalist probably best known for his contentious reviews and championing of the New Games Journalism movement. He also isn't a big fan of the MMO genre. At least he isn't today, in a writeup on his Sci-Fi Channel co-branded site Fidget. The article is entitled Five Reasons MMOs Are Broken, and follows up that contentious beginning with a breakdown of the MMO genre. His primary issues seem to revolve around the established contrivances of the genre itself, such as the concept of aggro or respawning enemies. He's also very frustrated by the innumerable barriers put up between players, the levels/classes/dungeons/servers/gear restrictions that stop us from playing with our friends.

As blogger Scott Jennings points out, more than the genre he's specifically breaking down World of Warcraft. He's effectively using WoW as a synonym for MMO, and as a result Jennings (and us) can point out that some of his failings have already been addressed. Read into Scott's dissection of Chick's writing for more analysis and insight on this issue and the supposed failings of the genre. Then, let us know what you think below. Is the MMO genre really that flawed ... or is it just the standard Diku-style successor that's old hat?

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Tags: game-design, genre, mmo-industry, mmos, scott-jennings, tom-chick

Reader Comments (23)

I agree with you Tom, and your comment, "The bottom line is whether or not an MMO is fun to play. Based on the tenor of Chick's article, I'm guessing he's not having fun. So, maybe the "solution" he seeks is to go take a walk perhaps? Play some tennis? See a movie? Or, here's an idea: try a different MMO? Sheesh." made me chuckle.

On a side note, does anyone know what interface mod they are running in the picture?

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Yeah, MMOs haven't changed much and sure, battles are repetitive. I've found myself falling asleep at the keyboard once or twice. But through updates and expansions, things do change.

I mainly play COH (City of Heroes) and a couple of times a year, we get updates. My friends and I were just reminiscing about the changes over the past 4+ years. It's not that static.

Any as for the subscription fees. 15 bucks a month isn't that bad. It costs that much to go to the movies and watch a two hour movie. I get tons more entertainment for my money on MMOs.