MMO paralysis part #2 – A brief history review

This is the second part of the MMO paralysis series (that started here). On this occasion we’ll talk about the history of MMORPGs, of course, even if I am talking of a few decades the scope exceeds this blog post so I’ll concentrate on the few ones that somehow played an important part in the genre,  by innovation, a unique concept, by raising the bar or by number of players.

And while I’m disclaiming, this is based on my own personal knowledge and research which I’m sure differs heavily from somebody who lives in say, South Korea, for instance.


The beggining 

The grandfather of Role Playing Games


Going back to the roots, much of the influence comes from old mythologies (Norse, Germanic, Asian, Egyptian, etc). A great deal of the fantastic elements are derived works of derived works, resulting in a rich variety of content. From monsters to heroes and awe-inspiring landscapes. This entire body of knowledge funneled into the 19th and 20th century through the minds of fantasy writers.

Then there came science fiction writers that populated the world with predictions of the future, with robots and cyberpunk. Painting the world with new and renewed-old views, from evil corporations to DNA based discrimination.

Narrowing it down to the games industry, this all led to the so called tabletop role playing games, also known as Pen & Paper RPGs. These games had a set of rules, sometimes extremely comprehensive, that would lay the groundwork for sessions where a game master would coordinate one sit, usually stretching for hours.
These games described entire worlds, they had a clear character progression (both playable and non-playable), restrictions, goals and how all of these elements related to each other. They also had one of the most important defining factors for the genre, player interaction.

Sometimes putting them together and sometimes against. To be able to do all of this, the player would communicate verbally to express an action through tools like dice.


Let there be worldwide connectivity


Then, there was global communication. First through BBS and then Internet. This giant network was the next logical step for Role Playing Games. They came in the form of MUDs (originally Multi-User Dungeon, with later variants Multi-User Dimension and Multi-User Domain).
At that time, the graphical interfaces were primitive and definitely not mainstream. So most of these MUDs were text based, which allowed for certain flexibility. This new medium had its restrictions, suddenly memory, network reach, speed and others were factors to take into consideration when making a game of sorts. Even so, many had creative ways of giving users a sheer amount of options.

Stone age

Meridian 59

The year is 1996, Personal Computers were somewhat omnipresent. SVGA and digital sound were already on a great deal of computers, making this a really interesting platform choice. While consoles have been in the hands of players for years, none of them offered the connectivity required to put players into the same virtual world.

Then Meridian 59 came out, made by none other than 3DO. It offered a subscription, one had to pay monthly and displayed a rudimentary 3D view but had most of the options required to role play.

Ultima Online

Later on 1997, Ultima Online appeared which followed the logical step for their Ultima series. This
time, it was an online context with 2D sprites and a slew of possibilities, this game is known to this day as one of the most influential ones in the genre. It coined the term skill-based since its unique skill progression was at the core, you could be a mage one day and later, with some hard work, you could give it all up and be a warrior, all depended and the actions you took.

Also in 1997, Tibia is developed on Germany by CipSoft which also had 2D sprites and while is not as widely known as Ultima Online, it was also one of the first pioneers of the genre.



Into the West

Everquest

Other companies were not going to be simple bystanders to this new phenomenon. Sony, specifically Verant, opened their own Everquest to the public in 1999. Everquest had a different approach to progression, shoehorning players into Classes. The world was rich and complex but it had a more mainstream focus.
Turbine released Asheron Call shortly after, published by Microsoft. It boasted 3D graphics as well and a skill system more attune to Ultima Online.




Thanks to the media giants, these games reached a big population on several regions of the world. Gathering active users in the millions, it was official, MMORPGs were here to stay.



Into the East

Lineage I

Asia was not going to sit and watch all this develop under their noses. Since having already a gaming industry, mostly on the consoles side, and thanks to booms in broadband penetration (In South Korea in the form of cyber coffees), virtual worlds were also the next logical step for them.

Lineage is probably one of the most influential ones; it started as a 2D mmorpg and immediately gained a big amount of users.
On the other hand, we had Ragnarok Online, which eventually transcended into the western regions. It had a pseudo 3D engine with beautifully hand-crafted sprites.

Mapple Story

On the console side, Phantasy Star Online, starting on the now defunct Sega Dreamcast and then moving to Windows and other consoles in subsequent versions.

Worth mentioning, although it came out a little bit later, is Mapple Story which actually looked like a platformer but had typical MMO gameplay.






1 vs 1? What about 50 vs 50? 300 vs 300?

Dark Age of Camelot

While most of the games gave you the possibility of joining other players together in form of groups, guilds or clans, only one truly put you in direct allegiance with the faction of your choosing and spit you out to a full-scale conflict.
Along came Mythic’s Dark Age of Camelot, a game of never-ending wars between players of three factions. This is the game that coined the term RvR, which stands for Realm versus Realm. This simply was taking Player versus Player to a whole new level.





Not only Elves and Orcs

Star Wars Galaxies

The market was already starting to feel somehow crowded with fairies, orcs, elves and dragons. While some considered sci-fi to be a niche, there were many willing to participate in a futuristic virtual world.

Star Wars had its own well defined universe; it was only a matter of time before somebody made this into a MMORPG. Developed by Sony and LucasArts, Star Wars Galaxies came to be. It had a branching skill system and a complex world, filled with NPCs, quests and professions.



On the northern land of Iceland, another game was about to be born by the hand of CCP games. Eve Online boldly went where no MMORPG have been before with its one-shard only approach and space domination theme.

Eve Online

There were other attempts at unique and futuristic worlds. Planetside was one of them, again developed by Sony Entertainment, this time with a FPS perspective and a strategic faction-based element to it.
Project Entropia on the other hand, created by Swedish company Mindark, had a unique concept in terms of micropayments, where one could buy virtual goods and exchange them back for real money.


The non-violent crew

The Sims Online

Not everything was hack and slash, maiming and destroying. One thing MMORPGs have proven is that the market was actually bigger than game developers initially thought. Once something associated with nerds and geeks, suddenly many people that were not close to videogames, were actually participating in these communities. But not all of them were fond of the grinding mechanics of kill, get experience, level up, rinse and repeat.

Habbo Hotel by the Finish Sulake Corporation, was one of the bunch that catered the game to teenagers and had a big social component to. The other interesting thing to it was that it was running on a regular website, using Flash.

Second Life

Maxis’ The Sims Online also had a more social approach. Following the line of The Sims game, you were able to dwell in a home, decorate it and interact with neighbors all over the world.

Last but not least, Linden Lab’s Second Life came around despite some calling it a “non-game” to this day. In a way, it seems more than a social experiment but the truth is that it had most of the MMO elements to it, only not in a traditional RPG style. In Second Life you could upload content to the game for others to see, this was in the form of digital assets such as graphics and sounds, and mechanics in the forms of scripts.


Due to the open nature of the world, there was a great deal of social incidents which were the groundwork for plenty of social studies.

Bronze Age

Gaining stretch

 Everquest II

Here we are, MMORPGs are around the corner, around every corner. You had games for different age groups, for different cultural backgrounds. This didn’t stop others to try getting a cut of the pie.
From South Korea’s NCSoft came Lineage 2, showing off shiny 3d graphics and impressive animations. City of Heroes, developed by Cryptic Studios, catered the superheroes theme. Mu Online, Vendetta Online and Knight Online followed the trend and provided alternatives with different settings.

World of Warcraft

Sony invested a great deal of money and came up with Everquest 2, which had an insane amount of voice acting for an MMORPG.
The Matrix was already a modern staple of Sci-Fi, so it was a perfect fit for the genre. Unfortunately, it had to close its doors due to unfulfilling subscription numbers.

And then came World of Warcraft, which had a rocky start like most but actually was way better than we were used to in regard to big releases. Blizzard already had several compelling franchises, so getting one of them online was the smart thing to do. The rest is history.

Alongside came ArenaNet’s Guild Wars with its peculiar business model, you were to pay an upfront price and then play indefinitely (although you could pay extra for expansions). They have been called insane and genius, sometimes at the same time. This game also had a Player versus Player focus which most players thought it was refreshing in a industry that was showing signs of stagnation. Unfortunately, since the fights were contrived to a small number of players, some thought it was massive enough.



Behold, the web browser!


Suddenly, the hardware restrictions for some games stopped certain players on their track. Not everybody had the latest videocard and while MMORPG were a couple of steps beyond FPS in terms of requirements, they still were pretty intensive.

Runescape

This led to the creation of games that could be played directly on the web browser, using Java or Flash. Almost anyone who could browse the web became a potential player overnight.
Runescape, by Jagex Games Studio, is one example that uses Java. Even with the limitations it has managed to stay afloat and improve upon it. Another example is Dofus, by Ankama Games, which uses Flash. Both have really big communities of players and thanks to the advent of new web technologies, they might continue to grow.





Free? Free like, really free?


In the beginning, several MUDs were actually free. With the increasing costs in development, MMORPGs started to charge for monthly subscriptions. The norm was actually around 10-14 U.S. dollars per month and while that may not seem much to a few, for others it was the one thing that stopped them from playing. There were exceptions, such as Guild Wars, were you just needed to pay once and then play all what you wanted.

On the other hand, in South Korea there was a thriving community of cyber coffees. The first games ever to exhibit this new business model was catered to people that didn’t have internet connection and were not going to pay for a monthly fee, but instead preferred an hourly rate. Combine this with the inexpensive cyber coffees and you can see why certain features were the way they were (i.e. Player shops).

Silkroad Online

After a while, a few attempted this on the other side of the planet. Of course there was an outcry by the plain subscription advocates, stating that it was not possible to sustain such a thing, that the quality was not guaranteed. One of this to arrive early was Silkroad Online, which many considered a grind fest only to be alleviated by paying for an experience booster among other types of premium items. Ironically, there were many people that would spend more money on a Free-to-play game than their subscription counterparts.




Nonetheless, it was usual to find a game where 90% of the user base didn’t actually spent a dime, so it was generally said that the other 10% should be the ones maintaining the business running.

While the rest of the world stood by in expectation, history has proven that this new business model was here to stay. Along came Fly for Fun and Perfect World.


Golden Age
…but the kitchen sink.

Star Trek Online

Out of the blue, there were many games that appealed to different audiences with varied purchasing power. You had games like Fiesta, Runes of Magic , Last Chaos and Priston Tale 2. You have games for space fans like Star Trek Online.
Even games that were previously subscription based changed their business model to Free-to-play or Freemium as many started to call them. Examples of these are The Lord of the Rings Online or Dungeons and Dragons Online.
You had games for younger players with a more family friendly approach, like Free Realms. Actually made by Sony, which sent a huge statement by being Free-to-play.

Dungeons and Dragons Online

Many players already wanted the ye olde days back and claimed for more hardcore games. Darkfall came out, offering huge battles and a combat system not for the faint of heart.
More games are coming from Asia like never before, this time properly catering to the U.S. and Europe market with high quality translations and localization. Aion is one example of this, Shaiya is another.
In a few years span, many developers were starting to prefix their games with the “MMO” signature.

Aion

Suddenly there were MMOs of tennis, football, cars, golf, you name it. Most of them actually exhibited small sessions but within a larger, more massive context which included a Meta game of sorts through rankings and social components.
Finally, a couple of developers had to adapt to keep their games running. Warhammer Online for instance, offered the 10 first levels for free and then a fixed rate subscription model.



We will not forget them


Evidently there were going to be a few casualties. Unlike single player games that have a fixed cost, MMOs require a monthly, usually hefty, sum of money to pay for servers, server operations employers, marketing, maintenance and the live development team. The premise was simple enough, if you cannot maintain those, you are out. If you are not making enough money to keep your shareholders happy, you are out. If your user base doesn’t seem too glad with your latest changes and you see an exodus en masse, you are out!

Even games that one would think are not bound to fail did so. And so they came and went, Saga of Ryzom, Asheron’s Call 2 which actually struggled against itself, trying to compete with the previous Asheron’s Call. Auto Assault by NCSoft had an interesting gameplay, even Ultima Online’s creator Richard Garriott had its ground shake with Tabula Rasa.
Wait; there is more, The Sims Online, Shadowbane, Fury, A.P.B. and countless others. There were some valuable lessons to learn from these giants tumbling down, for one it had a double edged sword effect to it since now not many are willing to risk it with new concepts but instead approach this genre with extreme caution.


Fast forward to the present

Terra Online

So here we are, in the present. 15 years have passed since Meridian 59 came out; it doesn’t seem much but for game development is actually quite a lot.
Right now we have MMORPGs that continue the trend others created, we have a new superheroes game DC Universe Online, and we have more action MMORPGs like Terra or Vindictus. More free to play games like Aika, another one for the Playstation 3 which came for windows and Final Fantasy XIV by Square Enix.

Rift

Interestingly enough, most of the games mentioned in this article, are still running. Some of them have a reduced but still kicking player base. World of Warcraft not only managed to stay alive where others have failed, but grew its numbers into record amounts, which to this day became one of the measurements sticks others take into account when building a similar game.
Rift is one brave new game that some players are calling “an alternative to Wow”.





From here and beyond

Star Wars: The Old Republic

What the future holds? That’s a big question; there are a couple of big examples around the corner. Guild Wars 2 boldly claims that it’s about to inject new blood into a genre that’s decaying.
A new Star Wars inspired game, Star Wars: The Old Republic comes from the respected single-player RPG developer BioWare (currently owned by EA).
Blizzard is supposedly working on a new MMO, with a new original IP. Codenamed “Titan”.

Guild Wars 2

Many more are currently under development but all of them have to deal with a few important changes. Social media is now an integral part of the online experience, netbooks, tablets and cellphones now have the power to run several of these MMORPGs or at least a version that complements the world. The online arena is going in the everything-is-connected direction where the platform doesn’t matter as much as the service you are running. Consoles have more and more connectivity; even the portables have Wi-fi and an online service of some kind.



So, where is all of this going? Will the MMORPG panorama change or stagnate even more? These are questions I will try to humbly answer myself in the next articles, but one thing is for certain, the immediate future is exciting and full of possibilities.

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