MMORPG Death penalty sorted once and for all time There are currently less than one million MMORPG players. Around 400,000 subscribe to EQ, over 200,000 subscribe to OU the two games with relatively severe death penalties. That’s well over 50% of MMORPG players. Even though since their launch there have been massive technological advancements in development software, client PC''s and communication advancements, much bigger development budgets, and blessed with the benefit of hindsight the myriad of new MMORPG’s haven’t been able to gain anywhere near the popularity of EQ and UO. Now All the new games have one thing in common, a less severe death penalty. As far as I am concerned the argument is over once and for all. “A severe death penalty is directly proportional to the popularity of an MMORPG” and my voters vote with their wallets and credit cards on a monthly basis. So there you have it

That''s a Coincidental Correlation (post hoc ergo propter hoc) fallacy if I''ve ever seen one. There are too many other differences between UO & EQ and the newer games to prove the correlation.

To venture a guess, I''d say that lack of content is the number one reason for lower populations on the newer games (atleast for DAoC and AO). I''d also guess that the newer games are so similar in interface and gameplay to UO and EQ that they fail to provide many novel experiences for the player.

The point that you do make, however, is that players won''t necessarily leave their game of choice just because a new game has an easier death penalty. A harsh penaty might not be as much of a deterant as many designers think. Still, I wouldn''t advertise "Toughest Death Penalty Ever!" on the front cover of your box.

Um, yeah, that''s a great selling point...

How about using a p2p setup for the mmorpg such that more bandwidth is taken from players who die more frequently? Eventually they won''t want to play anymore and will voluntarily cull themselves from the herd. As weaker players drop out entrance into the game will become more exclusive thus providing a reason to increase subscription rates. The extra money can be spent on advertising to promote the exclusivity of the game and also maintain high levels of demand. Provide a means for spectators to get into the action to - albeit at a reduced entrance price and then hit up the tobacco and alchohol companies for advertising and sponsorships. Long before you reach that level, however, you should slip a clause into the player''s eula that locks them into a union that you control. That way as the sponsors establish teams, they can put off the question of free agency for several years thus suppressing the huge salaries that the best players would demand.


"Beautiful maiden," answered Candide, "when a man is in love, is jealous, and has been flogged by the Inquisition, he becomes lost to all reflection."

quote: There are currently less than one million MMORPG players.

Last I heard Lineage had 2 million registered Korean accounts, so I don't think your statement is correct.

[edited by - HenryAPe on September 28, 2002 7:08:24 PM]

quote: Around 400,000 subscribe to EQ, over 200,000 subscribe to OU the two games with relatively severe death penalties.

Severe death penalties? Really? EQ must've changed a lot since I left it. I never experienced any severe death penalty.

NOTE: I have to admit though, that I am a proponent of a well-designed permanent death system, so 'severe death' to me is probably not the same as it is to others. Still, the EQ death penalty is what? A small amount of experience loss, being sent to a previously visited location (bind point) and having to find your corpse in order to retrieve your belongings. Seems pretty superficial to me. Not severe.

[edited by - Silvermyst on September 28, 2002 7:31:34 PM]

I would like the idea of dying in an MMORPG where if you were struck down, you would be sent to a desiscion(sp) area, where you can run errends to bargain your way out of death. Of course, if you died here, you''d just go back to the waiting area.

quote: Original post by Nomax5
MMORPG Death penalty sorted once and for all time
There are currently less than one million MMORPG players.
Around 400,000 subscribe to EQ, over 200,000 subscribe to OU the two games with relatively severe death penalties. That’s well over 50% of MMORPG players.

As already pointed out, your figures are very wrong. Even if they were right, they don't back up your point so I don't even know why you mentioned them. This is because those games are also older and have had longer to accumulate such players. And many other reasons too.

quote: Even though since their launch there have been massive technological advancements in development software, client PC's and communication advancements, much bigger development budgets, and blessed with the benefit of hindsight the myriad of new MMORPG’s haven’t been able to gain anywhere near the popularity of EQ and UO.

Everyone wants to write them, but most people only have time to play 1 or 2. Additionally, a player's prior investment in a game is important. So early entrants into the market have a significant advantage. That's one good reason why some text games have several thousand players in this day and age.

quote: As far as I am concerned the argument is over once and for all.
“A severe death penalty is directly proportional to the popularity of an MMORPG”

As much as I would love this to be proven true, your logic is flawed. (And not only because you got the independent variable and the dependent variable the wrong way around.) Correlation is not causation.

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[edited by - Kylotan on September 28, 2002 10:57:56 PM]

Games with a "E" or "U" as the first letter of their title is DIRECTLY proportional to the huge popularity of said game!

I so wanted to post something to refute his post but by the time I got done reading ya''ll covered every single point I was going to make. So, um, next time think through your post a little more before making such a broad and sweeping argument like that.

The only thing I have to add is related to his numbers. He states that the new games (DAoC, AO) are relatively unpopular in comparison to EQ and UO and actually that''s horribly flawed. AO is unpopular because it was so buggy most people couldn''t even play it and because the setting was without a common reference for most players. Standard fantasy (EQ, UO, DAoC) has a common reference for many people.

Just for the record though, DAoC hit 200k users faster than EQ or UO did, regardless of the lack of content. It took EQ over a year to hit 250k and I believe it took UO around the same amount of time, UO died down (they''re well below 200k now, BTW) and EQ just kept going.

Maybe it''s the whole fantasy thing. Make standard fantasy and you''ll do well. The more races and variety you have, the better you''ll do too.