Is the mmorpg genre dying?
I'm a big fan of the mmorpg genre and I feel that we've only scratched the surface of what this genre could become, I think the right game world could dwarf the number of subscribers World of Warcraft enjoys,
but on the other hand I can see the genre all but disappearing, banished to the niche.
It's difficult to get subscription numbers and it's even more difficult interpreting those numbers. you've got expansions, games changing to free to play and and actual active subscribers.
For example Second Life has over 18 million registered accounts does that make it bigger than wow?
Focus on Western MMORPG's
When I look at mmo's popular in the far east it seems to be apparent that they prefer "Fantasy" over realism preferably with massive amounts of particle effects. It's a different mentality and I really can't get my head around the appeal of games like Dofus so we are talking Western mmo's here.
The mmorpg subscription curve
Graph the subscription numbers and you notice a specific curve, On the whole numbers rise to a peak then fall a little and rise a little then seriously fall of to something around 10% of their peak.
There are very few games that don't fit this pattern and its easy to guess what happens: The company notices a fall in numbers and tries to do something about it such as additional advertising.
They release new expansions do free trials even make it free to play but it never works the game has had its day.
If the game has had a long life then the mmo enters what I call the veteran phase
where the vast majority of players are high level and continue to subscribe because of the massive amount of time they've invested and the strong community of friends they've built up.
Leaving WOW out for now
World of Warcraft is clearly the most successful mmorpg of all time by a massive margin but it is extremely difficult to understand subscription numbers. For instance Wrath of the Lich King was released on August 31, 2010 in China almost 2 years after the western release so subscriptions my be falling like a brick in the west but their "global" subscriptions may look healthy. The game in the west has had its day though with subscriptions reportedly down by half a million and if the subscription curve is anything to go by the game has peaked and there is nothing they can do about it. So for that reason I'm leaving wow out of the equation.
we can look where mmo's are in their subscription cycle and predict where the MMORPG genre is going.
The state of the mmorpg genre 2010
Most games are either dead dying or in veteran phase and given that mmorpg life spans are getting significantly shorter less and less will have had the time to develop the strong communities needed to support a veteran community.
Take recent games:
Age of Conan released May 2008 Peaked at 700,000 in a about 2 months and was down to 70,000 within 6 months.
Warhammer Online released September 2008 Peaked at 800,000 a month or 3 later and down to 300,000 within 6 months and below 100,000 within 18 months.
It took Everquest and Ultima Online 5 and a half years to peak and that is why they've each got around 100,000 "Veteran" Subscribers today.
A Ray of Light on the MMO Darkness
One game in particular doesn't fit the mmorpg subscription curve in anyway shape or form and that makes this game exceptional by definition. As one would expect subscription numbers generally start to fall off before the peak.
But this game is gradually increasing the number of players subscribing each month, so this month more people will subscribe to EVE Online than any month before.
And its been doing this since 2003 !
Now I've played EVE and its not my sort of game, so I'm not an EVE fanboy but the figures clearly indicate that EVE is doing something very right. With 350,000 subscribers and growing
I believe EVE Online is currently the most popular MMORPG in the West besides WOW.
EVE holds the key to success and probably the fate of the whole genre.
Top Western MMORPG list 2010
| Game | Released | Peak subs | 2010 subs | Peaked Date | Notes |
| WOW | Nov 2004 | 12,000,000 | 11,500,000 | Oct 2008 | |
| EVE Online | May 2003 | 360,000 | 360,000 | Not Peaked | Still Growing |
| Lotro | Arp 2004 | 280,000 | 210,000 | Jul 2009 | |
| City of Heroes Villains | Apr 2004 | 190,000 | 125,000 | Oct 2006 | |
| Age of Conan | May 2008 | 700,000 | 120,000 | Jul 2008 | |
| EQ2 | Nov 2004 | 325,000 | 120,000 | Jan 2005 | |
| DDO | Feb 2006 | 110,000 | 110,000 | Not Peaked | Free to play now |
| Everquest | Mar 1999 | 550,000 | 100,000 | May 2004 | |
| Ultima Online | Sep 1997 | 250,000 | 100,000 | Mar 2003 | |
| Warhammer Online | Sep 2008 | 800,000 | 80,000 | Aug 2008 | |
| Star Trek Online | Feb 2010 | 106,000 | 58,000 | Mar 2010 | |
| SWG | Jun 2003 | 300,000 | 50,000 | Aug 2003 | |
| DaOC | Oct 2001 | 250,000 | 30,000 | Oct 2004 |
More info on current MMORPG subscriptions can be found on mmodata.net check out the "Subscriptions : 150k - 1m" to see where I got the subscription curve theory from.
You Can See Our House From Here .com
Just created this with the help of John - it's a tool and a bit of fun rolled into one. Click the man to the left stick a post code or town address thing in and away you go on Google Street View.
click here because you can see our house from here .com
There are instructions telling you how to navigate with your map by simply double clicking where you want to go.. I find it fasinating myself and it has implecations for all sorts of businesses
like if you want to check out what that hotal or house looks like or what the local neighbourhood is like or even check out a route on a journey you're going to make.
Nomax5.
Interactive Everquest Map
Check out the map! for Everquest its something that I've been going to do for many years and as we're "on the subject" currently I thought I'd get on an finish it.
It's fully interactive and has The level ranges and each zone links to what was EQAtlas.com created by Muse, Now mirrored by Zamiel in the absence of Muse.
Read about History of EQAtlas Here It's an interesting read.
Usinag the map - First off its flipping massive! about 3,000 pixels by 3,000 pixels I've optermised it so its around 1mb in size, once your browser has cached it then
subsequent visits will be much quicker.
It's a little known fact that you can press Ctrl and move your mouse wheel up and down on web sites to zoom in and out !
hope you like it and find it a useful resource. click the image or Click Here
Nomax5.
PoppyShopping.com
Yes I've been a busy boy and I am very excited about this one.. I've invented the First Virtual Shopping Mall (shopping centre) that works in a standard browser with no downloads -
not even flash. you can run this on a scabby old laptop so long as you can display 1024X768 and have an internet connection.
here's a link to the computer part Poppy Shopping Tech Centre
It's early days but the signs are encouraging we've currently got 132 stores in the mall and a further 600+ retailers who want to go in the mall.
Biggest Shopping Mall in Europe! Once phase 1 is complete (in a couple of weeks)
Poppy Shopping Mall will have around 370 retail outlets giving it more than any other shopping centre in Europe.
Read about phase 1 here: www.poppyshopping.com
Old News
I've been playing around with this today, although the graphics are pretty simple and there are few character options I still think you would enjoy checking it out.
In places you get a virtual apartment where you can change the pictures on your walls with any from the net there is working stereo and even a working TV.
I met up with one of the multiverse guys in my "virtual" apartment yesterday, he showed me around and answered a few of my questions.
It's interesting because it demonstrates what can be achieved using the multiverse system and what is possible in other MMOPG games.
From your apartment you can travel to the "Times Square" demo place and obviously meet other people there, or you can travel to a friends apartment either by clicking on your door or your "friends wall"
12 of your friends are displayed on a wall in your apartment and you can visit their place by clicking on their picture.
Multiverse "places" Facebook Platform The fourth-most trafficked Web site in the world, Facebook boasts a network of 90 million active users.
Developers use the Facebook Platform to build applications for the Facebook Web site.
Game List by subscribers April 2008
| Name | Type | Developer | Released | Subscribers |
| World of Warcraft (Asia) | Fantasy | Blizzard Entertainment | 2004 | 5,500,000 |
| World of Warcraft (North America) | Fantasy | Blizzard Entertainment | 2004 | 2,500,000 |
| World of Warcraft (Europe) | Fantasy | Blizzard Entertainment | 2004 | 2,000,000 |
| Final Fantasy XI | Fantasy | Square Enix | 2003 | 500,000 |
| EVE Online | Sci-Fi | CCP Games | 2003 | 237,000 |
| EverQuest II | Fantasy | Sony Online Entertainment | 2004 | 200,000 |
| EverQuest | Fantasy | Sony Online Entertainment | 1999 | 175,000 |
| Lord of the Rings Online | Fantasy | Turbine, Inc. | 2007 | 150,000 |
| City of Villains | Super-Hero | Cryptic Studios | 2005 | 136,000 |
| Star Wars Galaxies | Sci-Fi | LucasArts / SOE Austin | 2003 | 100,000 |
| Second Life | Real Life | Linden Research, Inc. | 2003 | 91,000 |
| Tabula Rasa | Sci-Fi | Destination Games | 2007 | 75,000 |
| Ultima Online | Fantasy | EA Mythic | 1997 | 75,000 |
| Pirates of the Burning Sea | Historical | Flying Lab Software | 2008 | 65,000 |
| Dark Age of Camelot | Fantasy | EA Mythic | 2001 | 45,000 |
| Dungeons ∓ Dragons Online | Fantasy | Turbine, Inc. | 2006 | 45,000 |
| Vanguard: Saga of Heroes | Fantasy | Sony Online Entertainment | 2007 | 40,000 |
| PlanetSide | Sci-Fi | Sony Online Entertainment | 2003 | 20,000 |
| Asheron's Call | Fantasy | Turbine, Inc. | 1999 | 15,000 |
| Anarchy Online | Sci-Fi | Funcom | 2001 | 12,000 |
| Neocron 2 | Sci-Fi | Reakktor | 2004 | 6,000 |
| A Tale in the Desert III | Historical | eGenesis | 2006 | 1,000 |
I want to give a little exposure to Battle Field Heroes because I really like the concept, which is simply FUN. I think in many ways it is opening the envolope of the mmorpg genre.
I'll be certainly giving it a try when its out later this year and I'll be signing up for beta too.
This video explains all you need to know and which is - Battlefield Heroes is a cartoon shooter thats right! a cartoon shooter.
Battlefield HeroesTM is a brand new Play 4 Free game from the people that brought you the multi-million selling Battlefield 1942
TM and Battlefield 2TM
Can you run it? well lets find out those boffins at System Requirements Lab have a great tool that tells you the answer, I think this deserves a place on our menu
Click Here for System Requirements Lab
Updated Age of Conan Keyboard mapping page it now has all the default key mappings and a printable version too.
Check out the mogstat age of conan keyboard mapping by clicking here.
Also while creating a new background for our conan page I made a cool desktop wallpaper using a 3D technique called "out of bounds" where
part of the image seems to be leaping out of the image at you. check it out on our conan site.
Data by mmogchart.com
