Slot machines are not the only entertainment that has gambling elements. A lot of similar mechanics are used in MMO games, but not so blatantly that the developers can be accused of violating the rules. Anyone who has been in a World of Warcraft raid at least once remembers the probability of dropping a rare reward, as well as the function to roll extra loot. And there are many such games. Consider the most popular MMO games and gambling elements. Do many people wonder what keeps a player coming back to MMO games? A fascinating story, modern graphics, a balanced class system, or maybe the ability to play with other users? Taken together, all of this really keeps the player coming back to the game, but other than that absolutely everyone loves to win and collect rewards. MMO games have a lot of achievements, rare rewards, and difficult bosses, for…
mmorpg
The Future of MMO Games in Esports — Expected Forecast
Esports is a type of sports discipline in which competitions and tournaments are held in multiplayer video games. In other words, this is the official name for the discipline for professional gamers. Competitions can be held both between teams and individually. The winner is the one who demonstrates the best skills, reaction, and endurance. Like boxing or soccer, members and teams compete for fame, recognition, and big cash prizes, often reaching several million dollars. But instead of a ring or field, gamers compete in virtual space. Many would agree that esports is a very promising area, and any multiplayer game developer wants to get there. But there is one genre that at the moment has little to do with esports — we are talking about MMOs. At the same time, there are special platforms for betting on such events to which the site www.financials2017.com belongs. MMO and esports: is convergence possible…
Star Wars to Eve Online- Sandbox MMORPG Discussion
CaptainShack from TheXPGamers has a video from mid-2016 that you might have missed if you’re not a regular follower. As a forewarning, it does have strong language, like most of his videos, but you might find the topic of discussion interesting. What IS a proper sandbox MMO in the first place? How do you define it? CaptainShack is going to tell us how he defines it and then why he thinks many Star Wars games up to this point are not hitting the mark. So how does Star Wars measure up with Eve Online when it comes to the topic of sandbox MMO play? I have played MMOs since Ultima Online (mentioned in the video) and I played WoW from beta and did enjoy it. I understand the reasoning behind other MMORPGs basing their games on WoW. I mean, why fix what isn’t broken? That said, there has been a great need…
Weird Experiences in MMOs
So SWTOR is not alone in the world of “weird stuff that happened to me” when it comes to MMORPGs. I have more than a few stories I could tell as well. Two of my favorites are “I gotta go to New Jersey” and “Sorry guys, my grandma died.” Both of these are amusing to me in the way in which they were delivered. I’ll give you the short versions: Gotta Go to New Jersey – This was a WoW story, actually. We were all queued up for a dungeon. It wasn’t anything too difficult. I think it was mid-30s stuff when the level cap was still 60 (Vanilla WoW here). We have a good group and we’re moving right along at a steady pace when suddenly our healer says, “I gotta go to New Jersey.” His character stops moving and I think one of us said, “What?” and then…
BioWare Says the MMO Market Has Never Been Bigger
Are people still playing MMOs? The director of Star Wars: The Old Republic insists that the MMO market has never been bigger. While some of the biggest hitters in the industry, like Blizz’s World of Warcraft, are seeing declining numbers, James Ohlen says it’s a good time to be in the MMO business. “The MMO genre is much bigger than it ever has been before – it’s just that people misunderstand what the genre actually consists of now,” James Ohlen said in an interview with MCV. He goes on to talk about how people once thought MMOs were just for hardcore PC games but the genre has expanded. We see MMO games that don’t call themselves that in the traditional sense. We also see MMOs on different platforms, which wasn’t so common in the past. When you look at things from this perspective, it’s easy to see why one would say the MMO…
Does Episodic Content Belong in an MMORPG?
So Den of Geek asks an interesting question in a recent post on their site: Does Episodic Content Belong in an MMORPG? If you’ve played a lot of games, one thing you will know to be true is that episodic content is not a new concept. There are many games across many genres that use this. Basically it’s chapter-based content that is staggered throughout the game and while it’s been around a long time, it’s gaining in popularity today due to certain hit games like Telltale’s The Walking Dead (a favorite of mine) and Life is Strange. But Den of Geek looks at a genre of gaming that has not seen a a lot of episodic content – the MMORPG. So it definitely makes a lot of sense for certain types of games. The story-driven content will keep players coming back for more and waiting to see what happens next. But does it make sense…
SWTOR 14th Most Played Game in November
While it saw a bit of a dip in the month of November, SWTOR is still in the top 20 most played games, according to Raptr. It was ranked at number 14 for this past month, just below Guild Wars 2 and above Diablo III. It’s above StarCraft II on the list for that month and only beat by behemoths like World of Warcraft, DOTA 2 and Minecraft. League of Legends still dominates the top of the list and CS:GO is also hanging on to a top spot. So what does this mean and why should you care? Well, honestly it gives us a great look at how SWTOR is still holding its own in the gaming scene, especially as an MMORPG. There are many who will try to say that SWTOR is dead or has died but the stats don’t really line up with this. Seeing the game still…
SWTOR Earns $165 Million Last Year
According to research and data from SuperData, Star Wars: The Old Republic remains one of the top five subscription MMOs in the world, earning $165 million last year. The ambitious MMORPG started as a sub-based model but then later adjusted to a free-to-play game with paid options and this made all the difference in the world for EA in terms of earning potential. This figure includes subscriptions, expansion packs and microtransactions and it puts SWTOR in 4th place in the world for MMO earnings. As you can see from the chart, WoW took first place with over $1 Billion in revenue, Lineage 1 took 2nd place with $253 million, TERA: Online took 3rd with $236 million. Some games to come in after SWTOR include LOTRO, EVE Online, Aion, Blade and Soul, Lineage 2, and RIFT. Since 2010, the MMO market has been changing and growing. The pay-to-play model is dying and the…
What Ideas Can Other MMOs take from SWTOR?
SWTOR is a game that has sprung some controversial ideas over the years. It is a game that many called a failure but that actually has succeeded in many ways. For many reasons, there are things that other MMOs can learn from SWTOR and the game history so far. Other MMOs can learn from both the successes and the failures of SWTOR. In some ways, this game has paved the path for those that will come after, just like games before opened doors for SWTOR to be what it is today. So let’s take a look at some of the ideas that other MMOs can take from SWTOR. One very big point is the voice acting. The type of voice acting SWTOR had was unique. Never before has it been done in this way in a video game. All the live voice acting adds a different element and level of…
Pachter: “Subscription MMOs have peaked. If Star Wars couldn’t do it, no-one can do it.”
Industry analyst Michael Pachter says that MMOs have peaked. He says that if Star Wars couldn’t make it happen, no one can. It’s an interesting theory from one of the biggest experts in the field but is it true? PC Games explains more: “”I thought Star Wars: The Old Republic would make it big, but it didn’t. It looks like subscription MMOs are as big as they’re going to get – there are only 6-7 million people willing to spend $15 a month. If Star Wars couldn’t do it, made by Bioware, then no one can do it.”” He continues to explain the reasons he believes EA’s stock is dropping. Supposedly, he candidly tells John Riccitiello why no one is buying their stock. I told him: ‘the reason your stock is in the toilet is because you’re in the fifth year of a three year turn around’ says Pachter. He…
SWTOR Not Hurting WoW as Much as Some May Think
We just heard from EA’s quarterly earnings call that sales of SWTOR are doing great and that they have 1.7 million active users as of February 1st. This news puts something of a muzzle on the nay-sayers who were accusing SWTOR of being a flop. However, we still return to the comparison of SWTOR vs. WoW and this begs the question: Just how much is Blizzard’s cash cow WoW hurting from the success of SWTOR? A report on Venture Beat says it might not be as much as we think. They tell us that traffic reports from leading independent community websites for both of these online games show that SWTOR has actually affected WoW very little at this time. When EA reported a strong number of 1.7 million active SWTOR users on February 1st, it left many industry observers wondering how much this gain had hurt World of Warcraft. The…
SWTOR Beats WoW at its Own Game- Epic Battle of the MMORPGs
We have heard talk for years now of how BioWare just might have the first MMO to rival the infamous World of Warcraft. However, it would not be the first game to make attempts to take down the Blizzard giant in the MMORPG scene. There were skeptics and there were supporters but no one could say for sure if SWTOR would measure up to the level of WoW until it happened. Here were are just a few days past the official launch and SWTOR is breaking records right and left. It would appear now that they have also beaten WoW at their own game. Daily Mail reports on the stats: Hits 1 million subscribers faster than any rival, including World of Warcraft Gamers play for 5.5 million hours over Christmas Three billion enemies are killed Dark Side is narrowly ahead: 810,000 Jedi created, 850,000 Sith While WoW boasts the title…
SWTOR Shows MMO Market is Healthy, According to Analyst
If there was any doubt that the MMO market is at an all-time high, SWTOR just took measures to highlight this for all of the industry to see. Kris Graft from Gamasutra gives us the lowdown on how SWTOR points to a healthy MMO market right now. Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian said: “”We view the early success of Star Wars as an indication of a healthy MMO market. While there is likely some shifting of usage from Activision’s World of Warcraft, we see a viable market for multiple million-user MMOs in the U.S. and Europe.” The Gamasutra article goes on to explain why the analyst says this about SWTOR and what it might mean for the MMO industry/genre as a whole. While the MMO market does have a wild history of bug launches that failed miserably, it’s safe to say that gamers in general are willing to try…
World of Warcraft Loses 2 Million Subscribers in a Year
If you are interested in getting into the game, Here is a world of warcraft digital download price comparison tool. Another great resource is WoW-Strategy.com that helps you find WoW guides that can show you how to level 3x faster and make more gold. Gamasutra Reports WoW subscriptions are down and despite plans to turn things around and a new upcoming expansion, is it too late for Blizzard? Sure, there will always be WoW fans but part of the appeal is starting to wear out for a lot of people. Add to this the buzz and excitement for SWTOR and you can see where the SWTOR vs. WoW wars came from. Gamasutra says: “As of September 30, the game stood at 10.3 million players, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed Tuesday in a Gamasutra-attended conference call. This is down nearly a million from the 11.1 million reported three months prior, and significantly less than a…
Can AoC survive The Old Republic?
Many people are talking about SWTOR and the impact it will have on other similar games in the industry. It’s been called a WoW-clone and a WoW-killer and there have been comparisons made to Rift and other MMOs. Just in time for another MMO comparison, Massively brought us an article that asks Can AoC survive The Old Republic? Massively says: Even if you’re heavily invested in other games, chances are good that you’ll at least try SWTOR, amirite? I myself will be moonlighting in a galaxy far, far away at some point, and while I don’t plan on making a permanent home there, it will likely take a chunk of my gaming time for a month or two. Truer words could not be spoken. Just about every MMO player I know wants to at least try SWTOR. Some if for no other reason than to stubbornly prove it’s not going…
How the Launch of SWTOR Could affect WoW
Should WoW be concerned that the launch of SWTOR is rapidly approaching? According to Tenton Hammer, World of Warcraft has lost 300,000 players during their last quarter and the number of subscribers fell the quarter before that as well. Some may speculate that WoW is on the way out and SWTOR is on the way in but that’s unlikely. However, World of Warcraft may be in for some major changes to help keep players interested. Some of the players that have recently left WoW will more than likely begin playing The Old Republic when it’s released. However, for the gaming industry, having a variety of titles is what makes it thrive and no “one title” can rule MMOs. This has a lot to do with the fact that each MMO has its own “cult” or fan base that keeps it alive. WoW has its loyal fans that will never stray…
IS SWTOR a WoW-killer?
There have been numerous reports and accusations that SWTOR is a WoW-killer. For many, it will be a good thing if it is. Some are tired of WoW and tired of WoW-clones. They’re looking for something new, something to make a big splash in the MMO scene and SWTOR claims to be it. This article on Product-Reviews.net takes a look at this notion and whether or not SWTOR will really be a WoW-killer. “Most gamers will agree that the notion of any such game being able to topple the might of Blizzard’s WoW will be like saying; the Mega Drive can compete with the PS3’s graphics. However, SWTOR has so much more to give gamers, more in fact than Wow, but there is still much more to consider. Gamerzitch has now weighed in on the argument saying that BioWare has developed a game that makes you feel important, but is…
End of an era: Star Wars: Galaxies shutting down later this year
Later this year – December 15th, to be precise – will see the end of Star Wars Galaxies, the MMORPG first released by LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment back in 2003, and the more recent Trading Card Game (2008). So that’s the main “on-brand” competition for SWTOR gone then…. The official announcement – from the game’s official site – read as follows: We write to you today to inform you that on December 15, 2011, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and LucasArts will end all services (MMO and Trading Card Game) for Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). The shutdown of SWG is a very difficult decision, but SOE and LucasArts have mutually agreed that the end of 2011 is the appropriate time to end the game. We are extremely grateful to all of the SWG fans. We have had the rare opportunity to host one of the most dedicated and passionate online…
Chinese Prisoners Forced to Farm Gold in Online Games
“There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.” Says a prisoner at the Jixi labor camp, Liu Dali who shares his story of being imprisoned and forced to work hard labor by day and farm for in-game currency by night. Chinese gold farmers have become something of a joke in online gaming. Anyone who spends time collecting in-game currency is commonly referred to as a “gold farmer”. While many gamers have mixed feelings about the subject, most will admit they don’t actually know where the gold comes from. Most gamers don’t understand how many of these companies get their gold and make a profit. Some gold-selling companies have been known to steal or hack accounts and use these characters…
What’s Your Protection against SWTOR Spoilers?
There’s nothing worse than someone ruining the ending to the movie you’re all hopped up to go see. Well, maybe one thing… someone spoiling the plot to a video game you’re super excited to play. Have you ever had a buddy beat a game before you and he just can’t keep his mouth shut about it even though you’re only an hour into the storyline? So with a game as popular as SWTOR, what’s going to happen when people start playing and gamers start talking? What’s going to happen when someone shares the next storyboard when you haven’t gotten that far along? Some players don’t care; especially in an MMORPG where some play for the experience and the multi-player aspects more than the storyline. But some players do care about the storyline and some want to be able to reveal the game on their own terms and at their own…
MMORPG stock market
Do you play the MMORPG stock market? Whether you play the market in the real world, or find real-world pleasures from virtual scenarios that allow you to escape from the day-to-day grind that is life, there is something to be said about the value of the MMORPG industry. More people are playing MMOs today than ever before. There is also a larger demographic- young and old, men and women, families, friends and couples are all playing together. There are also more types of MMORPGs than one could ever imagine. Your average fan could spend a lifetime trying them all out and still not get them all. From subscription based to free-to-play, action-adventure to science fiction, there are more MMORPGs to keep you happy than one could ever find the time to play. For some people, investing in a new MMO is a bit like playing the stock market. Will…
EA Working On ‘Revolutionary’ Unannounced MMO
While EA’s Bioware is hard at work preparing Star Wars: The Old Republic, Electronic Arts might announce new MMORPG plans in near future. According to a job listing on industry website Gamasutra, Electronic Arts’ Redwood Shores suite of studios is working on an unannounced massively multiplayer online game, making me guess that a upcoming game will be Command & Conquer-based. Information regarding the position is a bit unclear at the moment. The Gamasutra Posting refers to an MMO Web Architect position, but the EA Jobs link at the bottom of the page redirects to you a Java Engineer position related something to their The Sims Universe. No further details about the project itself were given.
Editorial: MMORPG standards?
World of Warcraft did not define any type of standard. Blizzard made an MMO that people love to play, and everyone feels they can capitalize off of that success by making inferior, or direct copy, clones. The main problem here is that people are afraid to try anything new, and how can you really blame them? It takes time and money, possibly more so than a regular game, and the chance of failure is higher than normal since the market is just so saturated with free to play MMO’s, the juggernaut, and a handful of fairly successful paid MMO’s. As I see it, there are three kinds of games with three unique objectives: Mindless fun- You play this because it’s a diversion. I played Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory because it was absurdly fun. Didn’t learn anything, didn’t accomplish anything, but I stalked enemies for hours fucking with their heads and…