MMORPGs Will Change the Future 73
Franz Ferdinand writes "An article at PointlessWasteofTime discusses all the unexpected directions MMORPG technology will change the future. From the same gentleman who brought us the Gamer's Manifesto." From the article: "There are 10 million MMORPG users in the world and their population is doubling every two years. Hold your hand about three feet above your monitor. That's where the graph will be in 2010. It's an infection, it's a tsunami, it's a volcanic eruption. All at the same time, waiting, like a nest of plague-infested rats next to a ticking hydrogen bomb in an underwater volcano. Or something. What I'm trying to say is, it's The Next Big Thing. "
Change the World? (Score:1)
Re:It already is a big thing (Score:1, Funny)
Hi, I'd like to cancel my subscription to Behind The Times, thanks
Re:It already is a big thing (Score:1)
Put this story in the time machine and send it to 5 years ago when it would've been news.
I still think this "Internet"-thing might be the next big thing. Believe me, there is potential.
How to make a career out of bullshit (Score:1)
2. Once you have the forum setup, pick something that is really popular right now. Lets say, "eating".
3. Expand on this popular activity and project how popular it will be in the future. Use an exponential scale, and then scale that up by a few orders of magnitude. Example: "5 years from now EVERYONE will be eating! They'll be eating all the time, everywhere! Eating is changing the world!"
4. Sit back and enjoy the accolades from people who think you h
Re:How to make a career out of bullshit (Score:1)
Re:How to make a career out of bullshit (Score:1)
Re:How to make a career out of bullshit (Score:1)
Re:How to make a career out of bullshit (Score:2)
And there you have it. The two polar extremes of the industry pundit. And yes... you too can play!
Re:How to make a career out of bullshit (Score:2)
Old logic flaw. (Score:5, Insightful)
"My dog is two feet tall this year."
"Based on this trend, my dog will be taller than my house in a few years."
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:5, Insightful)
My favorite example of this is projections in baseball. Usually you can count on someone hitting a couple homers in one of the opening day games and then he's projected to hit 324 during the course of the year;-)
With MMORPG, there is a certain audience that likes the games and will continue to pour money into them. Once that market is saturated, however, the numbers will plateau (same as in every other industry). There are many people, myself included, who don't really care for the genre and will not waste resources (be they time or money) on playing them. I'll bet any of you a shiny nickel that in ten years, the number of people like me (i.e., those who don't play MMORPGs) will still outnumber those who do.
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:2, Insightful)
The place where these games fall down is that the "stuff to do" still isn't really fun enough. The WoW missions seem like fun at first, but they all quickly blur into "travel 10 minutes to that place, engage in the same basic MMORPG combat system that goes all the way back to text-based level-grinding MUD's, then travel all the
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:1)
online gaming can be much cheaper than real life.
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:1)
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:1)
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:1)
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:1)
Too bad it never really got off the ground.
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:3, Funny)
If I told you in 10 years, that MMOGs have direct neural interfaces and that you could have sex with Hollywood movie star(s) of your choice (mind you depending on your expansion pack), would you still bet that nickel?
Sexy logic flaw (Score:1)
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:4, Insightful)
The saying should be:
"There were 5 bacteria cells in this Petri-dish yesterday."
"There are 2500 bacteria cells in this Petri-dish right now."
"Tomorrow it is safe to say as long as I put enough food in the Petri-dish there will be 1,250,000 million bacteria cells."
Comparing things to a single organism which has DNA instructions to cease growing is a logic flaw in itself because if the number being compared is of things that are independent nature and have no set limit in growth beyond actually consumption of fuel and energy then that would be more correct.
Obviously, the number of MMOG subscribers are not restrained by DNA programming, but like all things is dependant of fuel and does have a limit, but that limit is more economic related.
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:1)
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:2)
Quest Reward: [Moist Spottet Bedsheet]
Re:Old logic flaw. (Score:1)
Interconnected (Score:2, Interesting)
Having been an EverCrack addict, I can attest to the staying power these games and environments have. With in-game advertising becoming a more popular option, will this genre become the new WWW, so to speak? It would be interesting to see.
Re:Interconnected (Score:2)
Re:Interconnected (Score:2)
It's all about the comeback....
'Cause all current growth trends... (Score:2)
Re:'Cause all current growth trends... (Score:1)
Re:'Cause all current growth trends... (Score:3, Funny)
"Yeah, it's like goldy or bronzy only iron."
Now granted, it wasn't irony, it was sarcasm, I just like quoting BlackAdder. But yes, two points, the bubble and recession was exactly my point. MMORPGs are currently growing, therefore they will be wildly, insanely successful.
Re:'Cause all current growth trends... (Score:1)
The population number in 2199.. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The population number in 2199.. (Score:2)
> machines. The remaining humans not in the MMORPG will consist purely of hundreds of thousands of
> hackers who will attack the servers and free the minds of the billions of players trapped in the game.
Fortunately, The Matrix Online turned out to be realy sucky and failed miserably.
Chris Mattern
A better mou^h^h^h^h brain trap (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd say the biggest question is: from what?
Leave it to Non-RTFA'ing /.ers.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Leave it to Non-RTFA'ing /.ers.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Satire for Nerds. Stuff that's not meant to be taken seriously?
Re:Leave it to Non-RTFA'ing /.ers.. (Score:1)
miscalculation (Score:1)
old news, new spin (Score:1)
Correction: MMOGs will change the future. (Score:1, Insightful)
Gaming is just the new avenue for those of us who despise mall-walkers and the like.
That being said, anything Massively Multiplayer is the wave of the future. However, RPGs are simply the first step. MMOFPS games like PlanetSide and the upcoming Huxley ar
Re:Correction: MMOGs will change the future. (Score:1)
Before MMOG's really take off, they'll need to expand into other genres. Like you said, first-person shooters will likely be the next genre to go MMO. GTA-esque games may soon follow, and more casual games like Animal Crossing could be very popular with non-gamers. MMO racing games and certain sports games (like the Tony Hawk series) could evolve into their own niche, with
Matrix (Score:2, Insightful)
We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.
There are 10 million MMORPG users in the world... (Score:2, Insightful)
Users
Not to say that everyone who plays an MMORPG is addicted, but I have seen people get kicked out of college because they stopped going to classes in favor of EQ.
Those who arent addicted still get trapped -the need to level up and stay caught up with everyone else makes it more time-consuming than any other kind of game.
Re:There are 10 million MMORPG users in the world. (Score:3, Insightful)
Users
And don't forget - 5 million of them are in Korea!
That's no joke. Growth rates in the rest of the world have been pretty low. Of course, cup-half-fullers will say that just means there's more growth potential in other countries. Half-empties like me will say it shows that not everybody is really interested in online gaming, even in advanced, internet-saturated nations.
Re:There are 10 million MMORPG users in the world. (Score:2)
I saw people drop out of college because they didn't like it.
Obviously, MMORPGs, substance abuse, and not liking college are major plagues upon our society.
OH NOES! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:OH NOES! (Score:2)
In 2e8 the local supercluster will begin to collapse under the gravitational influence of the MMORPG player complex.
In 2e21 the MMORPG player transcendancy, living among dead galaxies burnt to red cinders, pitted by ravenous black holes, and awash in the slow rain of proton decay, will sense that history should not have played out the way it did. The energy of a mil
Eschatology and MMO (Score:1)
Re:Eschatology and MMO (Score:1)
Re:Eschatology and MMO (Score:2)
Re:Eschatology and MMO (Score:2)
Re beggars: in wow, those are just a special kind of PKers. Instead of killing you avatar, there are making an attempt on your mind.
Sure... (Score:3, Insightful)
There are 10 million MMORPG users in the world and their population is doubling every two years. Hold your hand about three feet above your monitor. That's where the graph will be in 2010.
Yeah. Just like how we have over 20 billion people in the world now , and the DJA is climbing above 20,000.
You can't just take a current trend, and extrapolate it into infinity. It is total bollocks. For one, many *many* of those "10 million users" are the same people with accounts on more than one game. For another, the number of MMORPG gamers will reach a critical mass, once it reaches the number of people who don't like to spend over 10 hours a week on their home computer - you know, people who GO OUTSIDE.
Re:Sure... (Score:2)
It's a bit disturbing (Score:3, Interesting)
Forget about growth prediction already! (Score:1)
Am I the only one who finished reading TFA? It looks like virtually everyone dropped the ball before going through section 1.
Wong is a comedian, and this is not a serious analysis. This is a very fun read. If you go past section 1, he will tell you why the growth chart matters and how MMORP will become the new reality. It actually gets better all the way until the end, when he starts comparing economies (he notes that our "real" money is largely fictional and electronic already!), he also talks about porn
Ho Gang Ah! Very Scary! (Score:2)
So, no-one actually READ it then, did they? (Score:2)
The same old dumb arguments (Score:2)
3. One big problem: It's not John's Bonebiter. Everything in your standard MMORPG is owned by the developer, and stealing anything within it would be impossible because all you're doing is transferring bits from one part of the server to another. Then there's the fact that anyone who would take an MMORPG weapon that seriously needs to rethink his priorities.
4. The difference between MMOR
Predection!= fact. (Score:1)
I look at my 10 year old "puppy" (shih Tzu) and I see while the growth continued though decreasing in speed, for the second year, it plateaued there, That's the same as every single real dog (they reach full height in 2 years which is why some rules for dog's age call them 25 after 2 years (15 after the first because they are
For all those who didnt get it... (Score:2)
Of course as my wife explained to me once jokes are based on subconscient thought so there is a lot of truth (or wishful thinking) hidden in there.
Power? (Score:1)