The Future of Online Gaming.

[Takara]

It's not something I have talked about a lot on these forums, but I am volunteering to staff in an online, text-based RPG. I've witnessed first hand how the player base has been fluctuating over the years, and it got me thinking about online games in general and what the future holds for them.

There are many types of games to be found on the internet; some with graphics, some text-based. Multiplayer ones where you form parties to explore dungeons, and others that are played alone. Some games you need to pay a monthly fee to pay, while other games are free. RPGs, MMORPs, MUDs, puzzle games, sports games, first-person shooters... We have as many genres as there are types of gamers.

With the new technologies constantly appearing on the market, it's no surprise that graphical games are getting more and more popular. The majority of the newest generation of gamers have been practically born with a controller in their hands and 3-D graphics, whereas older ones like myself were lucky to even have those flashy NES in our rooms and text-based MUDs when the internet started appearing when our parents' gaming consisted of pens, papers, dice, and their imagination.

With graphical games like WoW, are text-based games destined to disappear? Do games that are free like Guild Wars (okay, so you have to buy the game and the extention packs, but there's no monthly fee) more likely to be successful than a game like Final Fantasy XI where players have to pay to play?

What do you think the next few years hold for online gamers?

[Aerith's Knight]

If someone mentions WoW in this thread im going to smack them.

I think in a decade virtual reality games will be pretty popular on MP

[Araciel]

If someone mentions WoW in this thread im going to smack them.

With graphical games like WoW,

Start smackin'!

Also, I play a number of text-based forum play by post games of D&D, and will no doubt continue to do so for a long time. I think that as long as there are people like us who still use our imagination for different types of gaming, there will always be a demand. While I enjoy both video games and more basic, text-based games, I feel that the latter is a more close-knit and small group. Video games are more accessible in this age, and with good reason.

That being said, once again I'll also say that old nerds like me will keep text based gaming alive, but also look for new venues in which to stretch our clicking/button mashing skills!

[Heath]

In terms of online gaming, I'd certainly be much happier paying for a game and being able to play it online for free as is the case with something like Guildwars. I think I'd just find something like WoW to be too expensive for me to consider playing it in the long run, especially when there's no promises that I won't simply get bored of it.

I think these days with the evolution of console games into the online multiplayer market we'll start seeing more of the like. Games like Halo 3, SSB:B and the like are/will be very popular to gamers and I think that's the way the industry has gone these days. While multiplayer gaming used to be limited to having a couple of guys in the living room playing four at a time on an N64, it's quickly evolved into games of over 10 people in numerous countries all over the world with real-time speech capacities and the like. I'd say that these days when both console games and the Internet as a general medium are more accessible than they've ever been, we're likely to see even more expansion in that region; online console gaming.

[Miriel]

I think the future of online gaming is the same was general gaming, it's gonna become a lot more interactive than it already is.

With things like touch screens and wireless receptive remotes and stuff like that, I think online gaming is eventually gonna take it to the next level. I think as the whole world moves toward the social networking trend, online gaming is going to become even more popular. People like playing games together, it's not a solitary thing anymore. And I definitely don't see paid online games going away - ever. But I do expect to see even more free online games come around.

[Captain Maxx Power]

The days of the text-based RPG are pretty much numbered. There's very good reasons for this, primarily amongst them the improved user interfacing and general "fun factor" of 3D-based games. Really text-based RPGs are sort of a relic of yesteryear, and nearly all MMOG's today, even the less funded one's, are vastly superior from a gameplay perspective.

As for subscriptions I don't think pay-to-play is going away. Quite the opposite, I think it will become more prevalent in other games. Players will pay to use games for the most part, provided they are of a high-standard. No one would be pumping as much money into WoW if it wasn't a fundamentally fun game to play in the first place.

[Rostum]

God, I haven't seen a text-based game for some time now. I didn't know they existed.

I remember playing the Zork games but to be honest, I loved the graphical Zork games a hell of a lot better.

By the way, I don't mind pay-to-play.

[Aerith's Knight]

*smacks Takara*

WoW isnt a game of the future!

[Markus. D]

Devil May Cry Online.


^__________________________^~

[Takara]

*smacks Takara*

WoW isnt a game of the future!

*smacks AK back* Your mom never told you to not hit women?

I agree, games in the future will be multiplayer, console games or not, with awe inspiring /D graphics and an immersive environment. I cannot wait to actually get the funds for a new computer because mine is so old, I can't even play any of those games, even the really old ones.

I do disagree that all text-based games will disappear. I concur that most of them will, but just like pen and paper RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, text-based games will always attract people if they allow players to create a story, something a majority of those hack-n-slash graphical games lack. They will never be as popular as graphical games, or attract as many players as they used to, but the popular and innovative ones will survive.

[Rostum]

I don't know, newer generations probably don't even know text-based games existed. Once the last generation to appreciate them goes, then I am going to guess that text-based games will go too.

As for online games, I can't see them changing too much over the next few years. Although newer MMO's like Age of Conan and Aion are trying to introduce newer and more innovative features, they are still fairly similar to MMO's we were introduced with years ago. Customisation seems to be the biggest thing the gaming community wants, so that's a big thing that developers focus on.

[Iceglow]

I also volunteer for a text based online game (the link incase people are too lazy to look in my sig is: www.trollscantsing.eu) I'm a writer/quest/monster admin though I'm whats affectionately known as a floater with the ability to support on all other departments at need aside from the code department (I do not write in PHP and MYSQL which is what the game relies upon)

The game over the years started out with a small base and grew a lot but back then we all had 3 characters so it was increasingly difficult to tell how many actual players there were (once you add in the fact that some people will always claim 3 isn't enough and create more than 1 account) we dropped the characters to 2 a few years back and now we're in the process of dropping to one char per account (well more, per server since the main server which is free to play, Stax is the one which used to have 3 chars per account the other servers Lambe and Dro are donation based servers, where after a fixed amount you can play 1 char)

However over the years and for all the fluctuations in it I believe something that has kept myself and many other players as players (even when several admins became corrupt and often abused the players and the game, thankfully they're all gone now and the new team complete with me are determined not to let the same happen again) was the freedom of the game. We've got such an open world where it literally is "create a character, choose any skills from the x many we have and go for it who you are, what you do is entirely up to you" if you decide to betray your race and join the De's in the east fine so go do it but everyone who you meet in the world apart from a few pre-set NPC's are players and they have a long memory and some a lot of skill in the years they've played. Some claim catching up the big guys is impossible I say it takes around 12 months, I've seen it done where people, new people are almost as skilled as I am in it.

The problem I find when I go shopping for console games ect is we get a lot of re-hashes of the older games or similar titles same with PC games. Everything these days is either the sequel to this or the re-make of that. I'm seeing very little ingenuity sure it's nice to see an old favourite get some serious facelifts but I've learnt as a text based game dev, theres no necessity for it. I get bigger rushes out of an unexpected PvP fight on the game I work for than I do from playing Halo 3 on Legendary when I'm offline. So therefore I don't think the smaller text based games will disappear, they'll have a place providing something new and experimental until some huge company like EA comes and steals their ideas. As for pay to play/free to play servers I reckon whilst WoW does do well and it's got a huge player base games like GW are much more accessible no messing around trying to pay the bill for it, just buy that pack or download it and away you go.