MMOG Chart

[DakAttack]

Re: MMOG Chart

please Impaction, let's not go there nor start that conversation again.

Sorry, wasn't really planning to, but no doubt I probably would have.

[Murphie]

Re: MMOG Chart

I totally agree that art isn't about money. You don't need to convince me of that. But video games, while containing many wonderfully artistic elements (and I do love the style and look of FFXI, or I wouldn't be playing it), are still products made by a corporation, and as such are merely a means to an end (making money).

The artists who design this stuff aren't necessarily doing this for the cash, but the company that bankrolls those artists is.

[ikkleste]

Re: MMOG Chart

interestingly enough to put that into scale in the recent census i belive SE said FFXI has 500,000 subscribers meaning WoW has around 6.5million.

just checked the main page and the charts with numbers and yeah thats pretty much what they have down.

[Tsikuro]

Re: MMOG Chart

As expected Matrix Online doesnt even show on the radar.

...


Is it still going or got cancelled already?




PS I'm glad WoW is so popular, if you ask me they are like those magnet filters that draw the metal-heavy trash out of the transporter band, so we don't get most of it

Matrix Online is having a free trial campaign thing right now...

[Raydeus]

Re: MMOG Chart

Matrix Online is having a free trial campaign thing right now...

"Everything that has a begining has an end..."

[Moaku Hyena]

Re: MMOG Chart

It's not really intended to be harsh. It's just the basic rule of business. SE wants to make money. FFXI makes them money, so they keep it going. If it stopped making them money, they would discontinue the game.

I'm with you though on wondering where the heck the money goes for Blizzard.

Ever heard of Asheron's Call 2 by Turbine? AWESOME -looking MMO. What happened after everyone bought their expansion? They discontinued their game in favor of Dungeons and Dragons Online. They had a large player base too...

As for WoW's subscription numbers....I guess the word of the Elvaan Strip Clubs finally got out (I saw one myself in Auberdine!).

[Murphie]

Re: MMOG Chart

I'm not sure what you're getting at. If you're saying that they might discontinue the game sooner, that's certainly possible, but that doesn't make my statement untrue, either.

[Taskmage]

Re: MMOG Chart

I think it's about the difficulty as earlier stated. FFXI is more challenging in many ways, but often challenging translatings into demanding, time intensive, or just royal pain in the butt. Every now and then I take a break and usually go back to Diablo 2, which is so simplistic that playing it is probably indistinguishable from a state of coma on a brain scan, but sometimes that's just why my escapism ordered.

[Draco Dagon]

Re: MMOG Chart

Well... yes you guys are right. I am still shocked about the Starcraft champion!!! Wow!!!! I have been a huge blizzard fan ever since Warcraft 1 and i still play WarCraft III Frozen thone from time to time on battlenet! But when it comes to WoW and FFXI, i still prefer FFXI. and i honestly dont know why. WoW is easier and such, but that is another topic.

The question is.... does SE want to be as huge as that? How long will out community last? How do you forsee the future?

Of course SE would like to have large a userbase as that, they are a business...

I guess we can consider ourselves a "nich" market or a very loyal userbase for FFXI?

We can consider ourselves loyal all we want, but until it's proven-we really aren't.

Dang, last time I looked at that chart it was Lineage II, then Lineage, then WoW, then FFXI. Obviously something has changed....

Either that, or as someone stated already-Blizzard lies about WoW's subscriptions [perhaps].

I'm still one to believe real art isn't inspired by money, which is why there's a vast difference between FFXI and WoW.

Indeed, real art in itself is no business. The greatest artists ever, may of never even recieved a dime in thanks to their pieces of artwork. But this isn't really about artwork or business.

As for the stats.... well, it is definitely interesting to wonder why WoW has a large userbase. (And you cannot tell me accessability is the "big-bad" factor, if you're really wanting to play a game-you're going to find a way to get it.)

[Murphie]

Re: MMOG Chart

It's because WoW is easy to pick up and play. You never have to look for a group of people to exp with, and you can solo every single one of the jobs to 60. Plus, it has a very popular PVP system, and a lot of people like that.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: MMOG Chart

I seem to recall just over half the 6 million WoW subscribers were Asian players which still leaves a sizeable chunk for the rest of the world. As for FFXI, Sony really hurt the European launch by never supplying the PS2 hard drive here. So, other than a very small pc contingent it never really gained a foothold. With the Xbox 360 launch I'm sure a number of new players will pick it up but as was the case when the NA version went live, a large number of people will not be overjoyed at joining a game already five years old with established and severely messed up economies.

One good thing Blizzard stuck to was region-specific servers. Logging in on a Euro server and knowing there will be a concentration of players to share the game with sure as hell beats logging in to FFXI and not being able to accomplish anything till 10pm at night onwards.

For clarification, this isn't an FFXI vs WoW post.

[Telal]

Re: MMOG Chart

I'm not sure I understand where you are coming from..

Personally I prefer a diverse group of people, as american (as one myself) are generally the most rude, most impatient and most childish people in the MMO world.

i'd rather play with the EU/Asian players even with a slight language barrier because they are normally nicer people to be around.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: MMOG Chart

Yes, the problem being there are far less Euro players due to a number of issues, one major fact being the lack of a PS2 hard drive. NA or JP can play on any server and guarantee a buoyant playerbase throughout the day, the same doesn't apply to Euro players with the exception of a few servers. Whereas, with a region specific server selection you know you'll be playing with similarly timezone based people if you choose a specific regional server.

[Telal]

Re: MMOG Chart

I think I understand what you mean. I play odd hours (like 11pm to 7am CST) which would be early morning/afternoon GMT. And it's kinda barren at time. Or alot of <I don't speak English> :/

I don't think regional servers would fix the problem though because if the EU population is as low as you say it is, the one EU server would be horribly underpopulated.

[ikkleste]

Re: MMOG Chart

I kinda disagree Telal, by condensing EU players on to fewer servers the few players across 30 or so servers who play at that time would appear a lot more when squished into four or five. I don't think the EU time population is that low, just very spread out accross so many servers, of coarse as the downside the other servers would appear dead at those times. It'd also mean they could schedule maintainence at different times for the EU servers.

I don't even think it would take dedicated EU only servers, just nominate say 4 servers as EU flagged and give EU players the choice to fall on those servers, so that they get a different time zone distribution through the day.

IMHO the main reason for Wow's success is marketing, plain and simple. It's the coca cola of MMOs. Most people don't even question if there is better out there.