Recently, Mythic Vice President and lead designer Mark Jacobs talked toMTVMultiplayerabout why some MMOs bomb out. Specifically, Jacobs mentions the cataclysmic failure that wasHellgate: Londonand the turnaround of players fromAge of ConantoWorld of Warcraft. Jacobs prefaces the conversation by stating that he’s well aware that MMOs have the “highest failure rate of any entertainment product.”
Jacobs concluded thatHellgate: Londonand subsequentlyFlagship Studio’s greatest issuewas ego, patience, and community. “You need leadership and you need patience…you also need to deflate the ego a little bit,” Jacobs continued by mentioning that a developer needs to listen to community advice, “The test of greatness is to know how to look at it…We might listen to the wrong advice, but we always listen.”
Listening to the players of an MMO is obviously an important lesson. According to Jacobs, it is a lesson that Funcom may be learning the hard way withAge of Conanin regards to its deflating player base. Jacobs states that whileConanhad “great sales initially” it was a result of Funcom failing to fix bugs and “follow up with continued great sales” that has lead to the loss of players.
Jacobs brings up a few excellent points in his discussion. What do you guys think contributes to failure in MMOs? Does community and patience figure into your choice of MMO? Is it the pricing model or some other design of the MMO industry that causes you to move on or ignore?
