If you google "internet usage history", you'll get about 14,000,000 hits...in a matter of seconds.


Pick a few, they all say pretty much the same thing.


I listed Meridian as a benchmark in relation to users, so people who might not be our age can relate the two. It also shows a great deal about how much things changed in the 9 years between its release, and the release of WOW.

From 9800/14400/28800 baud modems,to Broadband...

From Hardly anyone having a computer, to hardly anyone NOT having a computer.

From $4,000 machines with 64 kb of ram and a 286/386 processor, to $500 dollar machines with 4 gig standard, and multi-core chips measuring in gigahertz.

And last but not least, MMO's with 10,000 to 100,000 subscribers, to MMO's with millions of subscribers.


All of these factors have much more to do with subscription numbers than the program Blizzard wrote, especially the cheaper technology.

 

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I figured as much. So then the next question is do you think internet usage has a direct correlation to potential MMO subscriber?

My Stepdad and mom (who I lived with) had internet access as far back as 1989. Neither were ever nor ever will be a potential MMO subscriber. My dad and stepmom got their personal computer around 1995 and signed up for AoL, but neither ever were nor ever will be a potential MMO subscriber. My grandparents got their dialup accounts a couple years later. They also never were and never will be a potential MMO subscribers. My brother got his PC in like 1996 and had a dialup account. He never was and never will be a potential MMO subscriber. That is just my immediate family. If I extend that to all the friends I have had over the past 15 years, I can't think of a single one that would ever subscribe to a MMO.

 

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Careful!!

Before you ask that, ask how many of the 16 million in 95 were gamers when Meridian launched....(tries to keep Boone off the slippery slope)


So, you, your immediate family, my brothers and myself all make up a part of the group that started in the 80's and early 90's.

Sweet. Now all you have to do is justify the other 1.997 billion(plus) that have gone online since '90.

Begin now.


Oh, and if you want to dispute those numbers on usage, I welcome it.


What was it you said?..oh..

"I figured as much"

 

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The Mcdonald's analogy is one of the dumbest things I've read on the internet, and that's saying something.


Wow isn't less healthy than other games. It's not popular because there are more franchises in your town.


WoW costs the same as other games, and is purchased and accessed in the same way. People don't choose WoW as opposed to staying home and baking their own game, or going out to play a fancy game.


They are on a level playing field with all other games. And they stomp them like a rented goalie.

 

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Hahaha, what the hell are you talking about? No wonder you hate the analogy so much, you haven't the slightest idea how to interpret it....

They are NOT on a level playing field with all other games. They have 12 million subscribers and a 6 year head start on content. They have a Warcraft "brand" to build on. It is by far the most well known MMO ever produced. WoW is a marketing MACHINE. When you say it is on a level playing field with all other games- what are you referring to exactly? The price? The fact that you can purchase it at an electronics store? The fact that you play it on a PC? That's pretty much where the level playing field ends....

Any other game that is coming out and trying to carve out a customer base for itself has one hell of an uphill battle. It is most definitely NOT a level playing field.

 

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Oh yes... because companies like SoE aren't marketing machines.

EQ2 has the brand of the most successful first generation MMO, EQ, to back it up. EQ2 had Sony for the marketing. EQ2 was released a few days BEFORE WoW, so it has arguably even a small head start. Yet EQ2 totally failed where WoW succeeded.

Strange, isn't it?

 

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keep it civil gals

 

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Not now. imo most of us who have played WoW for 6 years are waiting. Hoping something better comes along. Willing to jump ship the second something better comes along.

That's why Rift which was largely unheralded got such a huge start in it's first month. People are willing to try anything at this point. Even when it was obvious it was basically WoW in a new skin.

In the past i'd agree that it was an uphill fight. Not now. As i said in another post. Gamers are fickle.

 

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Agreed, unfortunately I think the "fickle" nature of gamers might make it HARDER for a new game to succeed. WoW has 6 years of polish. New games coming out will undoubtedly have bugs and other growing pains. Fickle gamers may get tired of it and go back to WoW instead of seeing potential and sticking through the necessary adjustments. When competing with WoW in it's current state, there is almost no margin of error. You need to come to the market as bug-free as possible, balanced, content-rich, and hyped. Problem is- all that costs money, LOTS of money. That means you are spending a ton of money just for the chance you will be competitive- a huge risk when you are trying to steal customers from a behemoth.

 

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Agreed. Myself, despite being an obvious WoW fan, would gladly leave for something new. But that something new has to have really new, and not another poor attempt at copying WoW which ultimately reveals to be a sub-par copy of it, like not only Rift, but also Warhammer, Conan and others. Why play a copy, when the original is better? A game with not even half the size of the original (vanilla) WoW world and poor content won't make me quit WoW to play it instead.

Maybe SW:TOR will do that - if it plays like the KOTOR games, and is done with the same quality, it will be different enough from WoW to be interesting. If, unlike Rift and its cramped world, the world is as big as pretended (one planet = 8 WoW areas, and there are 17 planets), then it's even more interesting. If, unlike Rift, it has rich class/race lore, and it's confirmed SW:TOR has different starter areas and planet depending on your class, and each class has a different story line, then it's even more interesting.

My point is, most WoW clones were not just a bit "sub par", they were "obviously sub par". Look at Warhammer. One starter area, one single major city? Conan... same deal, even though the racial lore was a bit better, but the world was cramped and very linear. Rift? Already mentioned, same problems than Warhammer, along with a character development system that gives "false" freedom but reveals only being a nightmare totally impossible to balance.
A game where you almost never ask yourself "so, where can I go next? This place, or that place?" will never get my attention for very long. WoW could do better too, but it's still better than any of its clones.
LOTRO, the most successful "WoW clone", is so for a reason... it has rich lore, a big world and some diversity, along with the nowadays required polish, from day one, along with a good franchise of course.

 

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