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Why I Play: Final Fantasy XIV
I hate two kinds of MMO: themeparks and sandboxes. Much like "nerf," these are two terms that have been beaten into the ground until they no longer have any intrinsic meaning. The original "themepark" game was freaking EverQuest, which is not what anyone thinks of when he uses the term in a more modern sense. There's more concern given to whether or not a game fits into a given category than whether or not it's actually fun to play. And that is a bad thing. Sure, your sandbox features a great housing system, but so does The Sims 3, and the latter doesn't abandon me in a featureless wasteland that eschews actual content in favor of letting me choose my final destination (here's a hint: All those destinations are grinding). Yes, Mr. Themepark, I see you chuckling in the background, but your single leveling path followed by the exact same huge-group gear-grabbing jamboree is not better, just annoying in a different way. That's why I play Final Fantasy XIV. But I should probably elaborate a bit on that.
Crowdfund Bookie July 2013: Role-playing pays off
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the week and produces pretty charts for you to look at. You could argue that July was a down month in terms of total money raised for video game projects through crowdfunding. While June saw $5,594,469 raised by 23 projects, July's 32 gaming projects earned $2,800,449. Of course, June also had two games in Hex and Massive Chalice that comprised over half of the month's earnings. Without those two games, June and July are much more comparable, as seen with some of the trends spotted in June that carried over to last month. Of the money raised by crowdfunders in July, 48.13 percent was over the combined goals for projects, a dip from June's 55.69 percent. This may be attributed to the extra crowdfunding week in the month of July (which included successfully funded projects tracked from June 30 through August 3). Without the final week, which accounted for a whopping 10 games, a four-week July would have seen an excess of 58.43 percent of its money raised. That fifth week of funding flattened the month out by ten percent. Whether the total amount raised would gradually decline to meet the combined goals of projects is unknown, but it's a trend we'll certainly keep an eye out for in August. Funders in July also averaged $44.52 per pledge, another significant dip from June's average of $57.11. With the drop-off in both money raised and mean average also came a decrease in the overall number of backers for July. Compared to June's 97,954 funders, July had 62,907. A large chunk were devoted to the 11 RPG projects that were funded last month, as 25,422 backers raised $1,056,158 for the genre. Lastly, the statistically-extreme group of players that backed three shooter games in June with an average of $94.72 per pledge returned in July to average $91.75 for the genre. It'll be interesting to see whether that trend holds up for August as well. You'll find the month's breakdown by genre after the break, as well as a list of July's top five projects.
Crowdfund Bookie June 2013: $3.1 million in gravy
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the week and produces pretty charts for you to look at. If June's numbers are to be believed, backers of game projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo are more than happy to keep donating long after initial goals are met. For the month of June in crowdfunding, 23 video game projects raised a total of $5,594,469, thanks to the contributions of 97,954 people; 55.69 percent ($3,115,579) of that money was beyond the combined goals of those 23 projects. This helped games like Armikrog reach stretch goals for things such as a Wii U port. A case can be made that reaching stretch goals for additional content and platforms is important to funders, and may also explain the month's higher average pledge amount of $57.11. The average backer in June spent nearly enough on crowdfunding as if they'd bought a brand-new retail console game. In some cases, it guaranteed players bonus content or DRM-free versions of the games they helped fund, which isn't as common with regular retail purchases. This sets the foundation for an argument that crowdfunding a game's development could be of better value to the end consumer.
Twitter #Music for iOS adds genres for more targeted filtering, thankfully omits rap-rock
Twitter's still tweaking its #Music app for iOS, currently the only mobile platform that's privy to the discovery service. Previously, users could only toggle through four categories (i.e., Popular, Emerging, Suggested and #NowPlaying) to stumble upon artists and tracks of interest. But as of today, Twitter's updating the app's filter, adding genres, like Metal, Country, Dance and all the predictably labeled rest to Charts so you can "get hip-hoppy" (it's in the changelog) or get your Bieb on or make jazz hands to the sounds of that Rihanna. The new version 1.1 update also lets users now authenticate Rdio from within the app -- no more linking out to Safari -- and irons out some known bugs, too. If you've already downloaded the app, then just sit back and wait for it to update. First timers can head to the source below for to test out the Twitter-made music assist.
Steam store reveals a handful of new categories, hints at non-gaming app possibilities
Steam's Android app has thrown up a selection of new categories that point to the possibility of productivity apps and other types of non-gaming software being sold in the near-future. Ranging from photo editing to accounting, there's ten categories that aren't available on the desktop version. It would open up yet another branch for Valve, which already offers books and movies through its online store, but until these categories get fleshed-out -- they're currently empty -- we're left guessing as to what it's likely to offer.
Ask Massively: Several reasons edition
Ladies and gentlemen, I do not subscribe to the notion that there is a singular explanation for everything. Consider the above image. Why was it selected as a header? There are several reasons! For starters, it was the first result in a search on Wikimedia Commons for "several." And... well, actually, I guess that's pretty much it. But I'm going to go ahead and add Dadaist discontent to the list of reasons because that usually sums this up fairly well. Anyway, I can promise this week's answers in Ask Massively involve a larger number of reasons than does our header image. This week, the questions at hand are the reasons why players might choose to play on the test server and the reasons we're still knee-deep in elves, dwarves, and dragons. As always, if you'd like a question answered in a future edition of the column, just mail it along to ask@massively.com or leave it in the comments.
Namaste Entertainment charts the history of MMOs [Updated]
It's one thing to have a vague sense of what MMOs came out when, but it's another thing entirely to see a huge chunk of history plotted out in one comprehensive chart. It's also dang cool to see. During her research into user-generated content in MMOs for Storybricks, Namaste Entertainment's Kelly Heckman built a giant graphic to get a handle on how games developed over the years. She not only plotted them by year released, but also lumped them in with their respective genres and showed which games inspired others. The end result gives the viewer a bird's eye view of the industry as it's grown in the past decade and a half. "It turned out so well we made the movie with it and plan to release the source so anyone can make a movie with it," Heckman said. You can walk through this giant infographic in the gallery below, and make sure to hit the jump to watch the accompanying video that makes use of the chart. [Update: Here's a direct link to a much bigger version of the infographic.] %Gallery-130322%
Ask Massively: Transformative edition
Welcome back to another edition of Ask Massively, the column that certainly hasn't been on any sort of hiatus for a little while. No sir. Well, all right, maybe a small one after all. You might notice some small changes with the column, such as the fact that the dashingly handsome Shawn Schuster has handed the reins of questions-and-answers off to the much-less-dashing and notably less-handsome Eliot Lefebvre. But it's still the same high-quality information as ever. This week has been just a little bit lean, due to the fact that our unannounced hiatus left many readers scratching their heads. But go ahead and jump on past the cut for some pearls of wisdom regarding Global Agenda and Final Fantasy XIV. Next week we're hoping to have a few more questions, so feel free to mail yours along to ask@massively.com or leave them in the comments field!
The Daily Grind: New worlds to explore
Fantasy? Check. Science fiction? Not quite as many, but check. Historical? There are a few out there, maybe of dubious historical authenticity, but at least lacking orcs, magic, and ray guns (all of which are good enough for another check). If you haven't noticed, I'm making a checklist of MMORPG settings, and here is where I need your help. You see, after the aforementioned big three, I'm all out of ideas. Personally I don't think any of those noted above have been done exactly right, so I'm always up for new takes on any or all of them. That said, are there any settings or genres you feel would make a fantastic MMORPG (or at least, one that would feel semi-original)? Steampunk? Western? Real-life? What say you Massively readers?
Gender differences in armor
A few readers sent us this post over at Border House that has laid bare (heh) the oft-mentioned differences in armor between the genders in World of Warcraft. While there are some exceptions, in most cases, the exact same set of armor (like this chestplate above) shows up as much more skimpy on female characters than it does on male characters. To the point of absurdity in some places -- even plate leggings, designed to serve as solid protection to the legs, appear to be more like plate thong underwear on the ladies. As Border House points out, this isn't just WoW's problem. Fantasy and sci-fi in general have been the domain of boys in the past (even if that is changing quickly), and the sexual depictions in the genre have reflected that, for both traditional and financial reasons. As I pointed out the other day, all of Blizzard's luminaries thus far have been men -- is it any surprise that the game is designed from a mostly male perspective? And as BH also says, fortunately, WoW has lots of different gear. If you don't like what your character is wearing, then you can find something else.
Music game makers to retailers: Tough noogies
Dear retailers, we're so sorry that you're running low on space on your shelves for music games. Sadly (for you, at least) it simply doesn't matter. See, we just surpassed sports in the battle for most popular genre. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed say they play music games, compared to a paltry 50 percent for sports. The only one left to topple is the action genre and, like 27 pallets of Guitar Hero Aerosmith, it too will fall.So if you need more shelf space, tell Madden to move his tubby ass to the bargain bin, because we're not going anywhere.
The Daily Grind: Sick of high fantasy yet?
Alright, we get it. The high fantasy genre is popular. It became massively popular with J.R.R. Tolkien's massively popular The Lord of the Rings trilogy of books, which then became massively popular, massively expensive movies, and now all that has turned into a slightly less massively popular but still impressive massively multiplayer game called The Lord of the Rings Online. Of course, before LotRO there were already lots of high fantasy MMOs. Like, almost all of them, including Ultima Online, EverQuest, Final Fantasy XI, and World of Warcraft. Now there's Warhammer Online. If we're gonna be technical, Warhammer precedes all of these except for The Lord of the Rings and Ultima, but let's at least try to stay grounded here. Point is, developers and publishers keep doing high fantasy MMOs, and players keep buying them.There are a few samples from other genres on the way -- Star Trek Online and The Agency, for example. But non-fantasy MMOs have had a difficult history. The only very succesful ones have been City of Heroes and EVE Online. Maybe Star Wars Galaxies or Anarchy Online, but that's being awfully generous. So really, ya'll; are you sick of this fantasy thing yet? Are you ready to give Sci-Fi another chance, or even something based on (prepare to gasp) the real world?
The Daily Grind: Favorite Genre
In the MMO market, the fantasy genre seems to dominate. You've got your World of Warcraft, your EverQuests, your Lord of the Rings Online... but sometimes the same old, same old does get boring -- and we're starting to see more games on the market covering other genres. So, what's your favorite MMO genre? Is it the old standby of fantasy, or do you enjoy your gaming a little less traditional?
The Daily Grind: Pick a genre, any genre
For today's edition of The Daily Grind, we thought we'd ask you what you were looking for in your next big MMO? Are you one of the many for whom fantasy is the universe you want to escape into? Or are you looking for something new? I know many of us were sad to see Perpetual's title Gods and Heroes get shelved, as Historical MMOs are definitely a cool concept. Personally, I have to admit, I'm hoping someone will eventually option someone like Phillip K. Dick or William Gibson and we'll see a strong cyberpunk MMO in the Sci-Fi genre. How about you? If you had your pick of any genre that you'd like to see some new MMOs in, what would you pick? Would you like to be a dark elf, or a civil war soldier? Take the poll, leave your thoughts, and let's see what you all want. What genre do you want to see more MMOs in? Fantasy Horror War Sci-Fi Historical Puzzle Sports Super-hero Real-life Something else you didn't list (comment below please) Free polls from Pollhost.com
More genre-breaking MMOs
As commenters on yesterday's post on cliché-breaking massively multiplayer games pointed out, the games listed in the Wall Street Journal article are by no means the only genre-benders out there. We've taken a look at some other titles which dare to do something different in a game genre that's becoming increasingly pigeonholed. While this list is by no means exhaustive, we hope it helps to give you some further background on the concept of non-fantasy MMOs, whatever your tastes.
