The Game Dame

Notes for a next generation MMO

A little part of me has died today. Our guild master told us that he was taking several months off from the game, with an eye toward quitting altogether. Last week, another key guildie, also from For The Horde, announced his intention to take a financial vacation from the game. As I mentioned in my last post, the game is also getting old for me. My main point was that Blizzard has failed to bank on and expand what makes the game most addictive and fun: its social aspects. 

I’ve looked at other MMOs, and have been pretty bored by what they offer. All of them seem to be copying WoW. None of them is really thinking outside of the software box. The only differences among them are graphics style/quality, content (storyline), and play style (PvE, PvP, strategy, sims). Even the genres are limited to Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Nothing new. All you have to do is paste those labels onto some dice, roll them, and *POOF!* you’ve got a new MMO! Of course, by “new” I really mean “same old, same old.” How can these MMOs compete with Blizzard if they are only imitations?

Way back in the dark ages, I interviewed with Blizzard for Subscription Marketing Manager. It was essentially a customer loyalty job: how do we keep current subscribers and bring back former ones? I was (and still am) uniquely qualified for that job, but they passed on hiring me. I gave them a list of things both in my interview and follow-up emails which I thought they should use for customer retention. If they’d only have listened to me…

Here are just a few of the things that Blizzard could’ve spent time and money on to improve the game, rather than just crank out new dungeons  which are merely mish-mashes of old dungeons:

Read the rest of this entry »