How to Kill an MMOG

How to Kill an MMOG By Allan Though a grizzled, old veteran donning war-torn robes and a gnarled staff in the MMOG scene, Allan is more like a level 5 squire in a simple tunic wielding a tin blade when it comes to the realm of writing articles. Nevertheless, he is here to train his typing fingers and bring you news and interesting perspectives on things you might not have known you even cared about.

I think this is something we all fall victim to: there is an MMOG out there that we just want to see die. Their ever-growing success leaves this bitter taste in our mouths, and suddenly everything tastes disgusting in our lives. But to compensate, a near-insatiable urge to kill rises within us, satisfied only by the demise of the source inflicting this desire unto us.

But how to down such a formidable foe? The typical torch and pitchfork approach isn't enough to topple this beast; first we must understand how it thrives, how it perpetuates its disdainful venture unharmed with age. I believe I have tapped into its source of power. I will offer suggestions to fell this beast and cast it into the depths of obscurity.

Strike From Within

"Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy." (Sun Tzu, The Art of War). MMOGs may seem daunting at first, especially the successful ones. Imagine creating a character in such a game, and then attempting to bring it down single-handedly. Not only would this prove unsuccessful, but you would be laughed and scoffed at - probably even lose a sense of your dignity.

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There is something about these types of games that enables it to keep growing and expanding - something that keeps the game afloat behind the scenes. Is it the developers? This seems like quite a logical reasoning, as they're the brains behind the whole operation. Without them, where would the game be? As it turns out, we'd be wrong by this assumption. And besides, striking at the devs could have dire repercussions - who knows if those rumors concerning how companies really deal with hackers are true or not...

So where is this glue; this bond that we must slice through like an angry mob on a storefront during Black Friday? The answer is: aim for the community. When you think about it, the community acts like pillars holding up that big, neon flashing sign that reads [insert popular MMOG title here]. We want to take that sign down, and an easy way to do that is to simply knock down those pillars.

But communities are rather resilient to individual attacks, as stated before. All that stamina built up from various trolls - it's really hard to go in there with guns blazing dropping insult bombs left and right. Trust me, give it a try. They can repel firepower of that magnitude.

I have devised a plan that will circumvent this little snag, but it's just that I've been too lazy to put it into practice. In any case, it should still work. Many of you should already be aware of the dynamics of guilds/legions/clans/leagues. Most of them end up being like family. You play with these people every day, and maybe even catch an instance for a good 3-4 hours with them. And the leader of these organizations - they're like the grand sage you see in stories, keeping everyone else together and in check. So you can imagine how much sway these people have.

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And that's where my plan lies, with every one of these leaders. Now that's not so bad, right? Rather than turning off eight billion players at once, we only hit the five percent or so that are the boss of these guilds. If somehow you assemble a team of guild leaders willing to help you destroy this particular MMOG, then you're set. Just tell them to leave their guild with this message: 'Hey everyone, I think I'm done with this game. I'm moving over to [insert other, less popular MMOG here]. I know this game is sort of lame and not many people play, but if you're willing to keep what we have here together, you're welcome to join.' Once this is set into place, the rest of the guild will flock with them. Just as they endured hours of yelling and skill-bashing and obviously gear-bashing yet still followed these people headfirst into raid bosses and to the ends of the earth, so will they follow them into a game like Pirates of the Caribbean Online.