The Great MMO Merge: A Small Rant

The time has come once again. It's only a few days away from the biggest new MMORPG to hit the net. Cash in hand and at the ready, you swing down to the store, grab your copy, load it up and boom, It's happened again. You like many others throughout the globe have become part of what I like to call: The MMO Merge. But just like that girl you always liked but never really got to know, you give her a chance. You slump in the chair as the hours roll by. Countless dead wolves and low level bandits lay at your feet as the common gear turns into rare. Time slips away furiously through the gaps in your keyboard and before you know it, it's 3am.

Now you may be wondering what MMO I am talking about. WoW, LoL, ESO... Well take your pick. It could be any of them. Not that we can hold World of Warcraft in the same light as the rest. They were there first after all. And that is exactly the problem. The giants have concreted our vision of what an MMO or MMORPG should be. They have moulded their customers to expect exactly what they have achieved. And if the final product doesn't feel like something you are used to, then it's wrong, poor and flawed to within an inch of its life. This is the MMO Merge.

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The year 2001 was a golden year for the MMO genre. Runescape hit the scene as the first real browser MMO, giving millions the opportunity to finally taste an MMORPG. It was there for those would couldn't afford the behemoth of Blizzard, World of Warcraft, that arrived in 2004. I remember the buzz of the school yard. The benches filled with players bragging about hitting their next level or completing their last quest.

When was the last time you remember having that buzz? The sensation of being one of the best in your group of friends or planning what you were all going to do on the game together that night. In short, I don't think that magic is there anymore, at least not for the old timers like yours truly. And it is all one things fault: The MMO Merge.

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Since those greats of the early millennium, standards haven't so much dropped in MMOs, but very little has changed. And that is the major issue I am having with MMORPGs and other MMOs today. So lets fly back to April 4th, 2014. The world shook as the master craftsmen of Bethesda smashed open the locks of one of their most ambitious projects to date: Elder Scrolls Online.

It promised so much in ways of exploration and game size. Players gawked at the idea that every region of the Elder Scrolls franchise was playable in just one, massive, throbbing, sweating mass of pure brilliance.But let's be fair; it wasn't was it. Upon its release, players had accesses to all of four to five dungeons. The areas (despite not looking the same in the slightest) certainly didn't feel as if Bethesda had really put their all into it. For example, when I did my playthrough of Skyrim, I felt like a Nord. I felt the cold and the struggle of living in a hostile environment. However in ESO, I couldn't have given a damn where I was as long as I could grind and use the same four spells and/or abilities over and over again.

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This is The MMO Merge, a bandwagon that's rolling down a hill at speeds nobody can truly stop. Quests are the same, enemies are the same and other than ESO's "Emporia" feature, the factions are too. This is my issue with the major companies. They look at WoW and Runescape or all the old greats and think, "That sells, lets make that but make it look different." All credit to them though, that's good business.

But for the player, it’s bad business, very bad business. If we take a step back and look at the MMOs we play, we will slowly notice that there is practically no difference to them other than their appearance and storyline. When was the last time you read a two page long quest introduction? Yes, WoW players I'm looking at you.

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Now I'm not a developer. I don't know code from carrots. I haven't got a solution to this problem. Or do I? Indie developers. Indie developers are by far some of the most talented people I have ever seen. I can't even comprehend how they create such unique, heartwarming games sometimes better than the big shots. And I need but mention one single name to prove my point:"Mojang."

Minecraft blew apart the MMO scene when it went on sale in 2009. It was the breath of fresh air that the MMO industry desperately needed. Now I don't mean to sound negative about the whole industry! It's home to me as it is many others. It's where we found our favourite hobby and forged some wonderful friendships. But it seems everyone wants the same thing from their MMOs or at least tolerates it. If your neighbor gets a patio, then you want a patio. Why doesn't someone just break the mould once in awhile and have a twenty foot high statue of Stevan Fry in their backyard instead.

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I truly believe that the future of great MMOs and MMORPG lays in the beautiful brains of Indie developers that have always had those brilliant "Eureka" moments. But for better or for worse. We will probably end up paying out for the new MMO anyway, and somehow, despite my foamy rant, I'm comfortable with that-ish.