However, since Blizzard has basically set the standards of the industry, and molded 10 million MMO players into what they think an MMO player should enjoy, what on earth are the newcomers to do? Most likely nothing, they're completely ******...

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Is the MMO Genre Doomed?
April 20th, 2009 by Jasi

Since it's initial conception, World of Warcraft has completely dominated the MMO genre. Not once in the past 4 years has any game even scratched the surface in comparison to what WoW generates in terms of total number of active subscriptions to actual revenue. Many have tried, and every single one of those have failed - miserably at that. Some of those games, such as Age of Conan and Warhammer Online, are still running with a limited number of suscribers, but they are consistently getting worse and worse due to the fact that they are trying much too hard to mimic World of Warcraft in every way and form but are failing to do even that. Needless to say, we're at a point where the MMO genre is no longer on the rise, and many game companies have abandoned the genre for good due to the simple fact that they cannot compete with what Blizzard has molded the genre into. Head CEO's and lead designers are abandoning post and giving up. So what is next? What is in store for the future of the MMO genre when WoW becomes the next dated MMO? First, we have to look at what has changed since 4 years ago. The following is even more relevant now than ever before now that WotLK has hit.

Did Blizzard Destroy the Entire Genre?

They're partly responsible, that's for sure. The difference between MMO's of before (EQ, AC, DaoC etc.) and those of now is that the developers of previous games aimed to create groundbreaking, fresh, and challenging experiences for the gamer. When the MMO genre was new, subscribers had to be pulled in with legendary battles and content that was as equally difficult as it was engaging. Developers were never afraid of the risk associated with trying new designs and experimenting with new concepts. Most of all, they created fantasy worlds that were much more engaging and realistic - vast worlds where battles felt more like rare exciting encounters as opposed to a monotonous grind etc. While by todays standards they might lack in quality, for the relative time periods in which they were released, they were amazing. They stayed to the tabletop roots as much as possible, and people loved the actual hard challenge associated with doing so. Most of these companies were taking large risks in creating their games, as they had no reputation that would guarantee millions of subscribers by itself.

Most of all, these games actually had communities. No, I'm not talking about economies and buyer/seller communities based off of being able to specialize in crafting, rather the most basic fundamental form of communication in your towns or world. Yes, the games that live off of player driven economies always feel full and more whole, but we're approaching a point where interaction is almost non existent. Sign on, play some matches or raid incredibly easy content in an instanced zone for the 23500th time, and log off to play DotA. Nothing more. In my opinion, it's due to the monotonous content that now requires limited dedication and strategizing to even complete, or with how unbalanced and faceroll PVP has become. Unless you're preparing for a tournament, practicing is almost unnecessary, thus you do the least amount of work possible and it works.