Overly Positive

Syp from Bio Break dropped in a post yesterday that was a sort of eulogy for the most recent of MMOs to go down the path of imminent death, The Matrix Online. After seven years of problems, issues, and trials, the MMO based upon the sci-fi IP is finally going the way of the dodo. 

This really led me to think about how people constantly claim that MMOs are “dying”, “will die”, or “will be dead”, within a matter of months. Whether it’s from a major patch, or from a couple days of downtime, there are always the doomsday people who will claim this is a sign of the MMO apocalypse.

Here at Overly Positive, however, we like to look at the lighter side of this, so if you’re currently playing a favorite MMO and you’re real concerned about its impending demise due to some crazy forum Nostradamus, consider the following:

-Of the many MMOs that have launched in the past two years, only two MMOs have closed – Hellgate London (arguably more Diablo-esque than MMO) and Tabula Rasa. Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Darkfall, and more – they’re all around, and look to be so for the future. So statistically speaking, MMO death is a premature prediction.

-MMOs rarely die off or stop, and there are two most common reasons – an extreme lack of players, or abandonment from a return-on-investment perspective. Other than that, even some of the worst MMOs can keep going, given the fact that subscriber numbers are enough to keep the lights on. To be honest, even an MMO that doesn’t live up to its own hype when it comes to the numbers (such as, arguably, Warhammer Online) can be profitable as long as it maintains an interested user base. In short, MMOs don’t suddenly die as much as fade away.

-The long term life of some MMOs is immense. Take Ultima Online, which is actually coming out with an expansion soonish, or favorites like EVE or FFXI, who have been around for years, long past other aborted projects. There’s a niche to be filled for every MMO that can create the market for them, and players willing to go to it, despite perception that World of Warcraft is the only MMO anyone ever plays.

So the next time you see someone saying your MMO is dying, show them the silver lining (and possibly this post) and tell them they might want to check their crystal ball for new batteries. Despite the current state of the MMO market, and the need for developers to not over-hype the games they bring out, it’s never as bad as the inevitable shuttering of doors people make it out to be. Realistically, it takes a lot for an MMO to die off, and I wouldn’t count out any of the ones currently out there any time soon. Pick up that MMO playing chin, and get back to logging in!