Console Cinema Vicar

Seriously, I have a newfound respect for people who can make unique blog post intros... every day or week... and just never run out of ideas. This is crazy, I’m on post four and I’m already out of ideas. Anyways, today we’ll be talking about the MMORPG, my personal favorite genre in gaming. I’ll give you some information about the term itself, a bit of history on the genre, and end things off with some of my recommendations for MMORPGs to get you started!

MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (it’s a little bit of a mouthful.) While these games vary in terms of size and genre, there are a few common traits shared between many of them. Firstly, the theme for MMORPGs tend to lean into either the fantasy setting (medieval setting, knights and dragons, humanoid races besides humans,) or the science fiction setting (Spaceships, aliens, futuristic weapons.)  Why this is the case, I have no idea, but if I had to guess, it’s just fun to slay a dragon or discover a new planet, and it’s even better to do it with other people.

Secondly, MMORPGs have some form of leveling system. Most games allow the player to upgrade their character as well as their gear and assign new skills and abilities as their level increases. A variant of leveling, called skilling, is a system where instead of one overall level assigned to the player, each skill that can be trained in the game is assigned its own level. By doing the task more via grinding, the individual skill will be leveled, commonly leading to new ways to utilize the skill, or tricks that can be used to level the skill faster.  

Lastly, and frankly most importantly, there is the social aspect. The start of MMORPG is “Massively Multiplayer Online,” so of course these games need to have a large amount of people interacting. Most MMORPGs take this a step further with the use of guilds or clans, which are groups of organized (or unorganized, really depends on the crowd of people you meet) players, usually with the end goal of playing the games’ content together or interacting with each other regularly.  

MMORPGs came to light during the late 90s, with the release of Meridian 59 in 1996. Meridian 59, developed by 3DO, laid the groundwork for many of its decedents in the genre, including guild halls, custom emblems, player mailing systems, and expansions. Everquest, released in 1999 and developed by both Verant Interactives and 989 Studios, also helped to define the genre with its use of a class-based system and easy to navigate text chat. While other RPGs existed that implemented class systems, I believe that Everquest showed that not only was it viable for MMORPGs to accomplish this, but popularized the concept as a whole due to the rise of team play that came from said system.

I wanted to take the time to name a few of the best MMORPGs out right now (in my opinion) that can help you get started in the genre. Starting off, there’s RuneScape (RS). This MMORPG was originally released in 2001, and over the years it implemented new systems and fundamentally changed the game into something else entirely, RuneScape 3 (RS3). While the new version was enjoyed by a large portion of the RS audience, fans cried out for a return to the original gameplay loop and structure of RS. So, developer Jagex responded by mirroring an old version of RS and releasing it as a completely different MMORPG, titled Old School RuneScape (OSR). Both versions of the game are available today, each containing their own storyline updates unique to each other. This MMORPG features a skilling progression system, with multiple skill paths to train and develop. It’s possible to completely ignore a combat-based character in RS and spend all your time upgrading out of combat abilities, a rare feature in modern MMORPGs. RS is known to be “classless,” as you can swap armor and weapons from any source at any time (as long you have the skill trained to use it). To top things off, the subscription model for this game is generous; one payment monthly gives you premium services for both RS3 and OSR, and cancelling your subscription lets you keep the items and resources you acquired while you were a premium member.

Final Fantasy 14 (FF14) is the MMORPG for players that like to embrace the RPG portion of that acronym. Featuring a massive storyline that’s rich with arches and connections to the many NPCs in the FF14 world, hundreds of hours of dungeons, quests, and areas to explore, and one of the largest populations of players for an MMORPG (according to MMOPopulation), FF14 has a lot to offer. The class system in FF14 is also unique; whereas in many MMORPGs you have to create an entirely new character in order to use a new class, in FF14 swapping classes is as simple as completing the quest to unlock it, and then swapping to it. There are 20 classes in FF14, known as jobs, and all of them can be swapped to and leveled independently from each other. In addition, each class has its own unique questline, further adding to the lore and deepening your connection to the class and the characters surrounding it. One of FF14’s most popular features is its elaborate dungeons raids, which challenges the player and their teams to learn the encounters to win (there’s even a raid inspired by Nier: Automata!) The monetization model for FF14 is a bit less than generous, requiring both a purchase of each expansion that releases as well as a monthly fee, and it comes with the downside of not allowing a player to continue playing if they do not pay the monthly fee. However, the amount of content and its overall quality make it well worth the price.  

Last, and my absolute favorite currently, Guild Wars 2 (GW2). Guild Wars 2 was originally developed in 2012 by ArenaNet as a PvP focused MMORPG. However, as time passed the developers shifted their focus onto the PvE side of things, leading to a plethora of lore, humor, and replay value. While you do need to create a new character to try a new class, there’s several layers of depth to each class that make them worth the investment. Firstly, every class has a variety of weapons they can use, and each weapon provides the player with its own unique move set, alongside the class abilities. Secondly, the skills in GW2 are broken up into several categories that can be changed based on your playstyle. For example, as the Warrior you can choose to use Shout skills to give small boosts to yourself and allies that can be used multiple times, gain access to powerful passive abilities that can be turned into alternate buffs with the Signet skills, crank the support into overdrive with Banner skills, providing buffs and even resurrecting your teammates easier, and so much more. Each class has this wide variety of skills to choose from. Finally, there’s the elite specializations, giving classes access to new weapons and even more skills that can be used to tailor your playstyle. GW2 operates on a system where once you buy the game, you own it forever with no monthly payment plan. The expansions for the game can be purchased separately, or as a bundle for a discounted price.  

I didn’t even write an intro for this one because of how terrible I am at them, someone please help AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

FOMO stands for the Fear of Missing Out, and has been a term with a history that extends far beyond gaming. In its simplest form, FOMO explains the phenomenon of a person feeling a sense of regret or anxiety around an event, product, or interaction. The possibility of missing out on a novel event such as a meeting or party, a one-of-a-kind product, or even something as simple as a new flavor of ice cream can all contribute to FOMO. It can spiral out of control quickly, to the point where FOMO can convince you that even the idea of turning down an opportunity is the wrong idea.

In the context of gaming, the term is usually used in conjunction with the tactics that gaming companies use in order to receive more money from consumers. Keep in mind, FOMO isn't a black and white issue. While there's not a clear definition of when FOMO comes into play, I'll be going over examples that are generally agreed upon by the gaming community to be tactics that prey on FOMO.

Daily login rewards have become the standard in modern gaming, primarily in online service games. The process is simple; every day that a player logs in the, the game will give them a special reward, such as in-game currency, or a farming booster. If a player misses a day, they will just get the reward that they would’ve gotten the prior day. Games that feature this system can punish players who don’t login everyday but not giving them all of the rewards available, cycling login rewards every month. This small addition has a major effect on player retention, making gamers feel as though they have no choice but to keep logging in to get more benefits.

Going a little deeper into the rabbit hole, we have limited-time events. Just like daily logins, this system is self-explanatory. Online games in the modern age will feature events, such as a Christmas event or a Halloween-themed dungeon, that players can engage in for a certain amount of time.  These events are mostly targeted at returning, or veteran players, causing them to log back in for the new rewards. Games can add further incentive to these events by making the rewards exclusive; the rewards for 2021 may be different from the rewards from 2022.

Finally, the worst culprit of FOMO exploitation, in my personal opinion, pre-orders. Consumers use their money to purchase not the game, not the tangible product, but the promise of the game. In exchange, the company will offer them bonuses such as merchandise, early game boosters, or exclusive in-game cosmetics. Pre-orders are almost always a bad idea, as the consumer has no idea what the state of the game will be on the date of release. In recent years, this has led to a culture in the AAA gaming industry of publishing unfinished games with hundreds of pre-orders, then issuing a statement that the games would be fixed over time, in order to make the purchase worth it.

Hello everyone, today we’re going to be covering a term that every gamer should know. Actually, I’m sure that most of you reading this know this term, but few of you know about its history, what it really means, and the impact of it. Today, we’re going to be going over the AAA game and the AAA gaming industry, in an attempt to make sure you’re in the know.

Calling a game AAA (known phonetically as Triple-A) is relatively still new, the term only appearing around the late 90’s. AAA actually is derived from the AAA title in bond rating, used to describe companies with extremely strong financial positions, ones that have the best chance of repaying investors over time. Though the term was originally stated by gaming companies as a marketing tactic to claim their products to be “the best in the market”, before long the term was used by the gaming community to describe games produced by AAA companies, or big companies. Think Electronic Arts (EA), Bethesda, Nintendo, and the like. This tactic seems to have worked, as over the years the gaming community associates “AAA” with the best games of each year, even if those titles don’t have the traits that would put them into the AAA category.  

Another key feature used to define a AAA game is the cost. These games are known for having ridiculously high development and marketing costs, somewhere in the tens of millions of dollars range. In comparison, an indie game, one made by an independent dev team or company, can get away with anywhere from $50,000 to $1,000,000.  

As little as a decade ago, the title of AAA spawned three other phrases to define games. The first was AA (Double-A), which is used to define a game made by a small team, one that would typically be defined as indie, but with the financial and marketing support of a AAA company. Games like Unravel, which was developed by the small team Coldwood but published by the larger company EA, or Elex, developed by Piranha Bytes and published by THQ Nordic, fall into this category. This sub-genre is actually a gateway that larger gaming companies utilize to turn smaller games into a AAA gaming series, as the smaller game doing well lets the publishing company know that pursuing sequels, and providing more funds, is more lucrative.

The second phrase is III (Triple- I), used to describe an indie game that has either the budget or developing talent comparable to a AAA company. A great example of this is my personal favorite game of 2020, Hades. By all accounts, Take-Two Interactive would be defined as an indie company, but Hades had a large development and marketing budget, as well as the funding to me released on multiple platforms, such as the PS4 and PS5, the Xbox One and Xbox X and S, PC and Mac, and the Nintendo Switch. Another big example of this is Stardew Valley, which was made by a ridiculously small team, but featured a level of detail akin to larger projects than itself, and can be played… well, almost everywhere. Stardew Valley even has mobile ports, a feat that few AAA games can claim, if any at all.

Finally, the last phrase is AAA+ (Triple A Plus). In my opinion, this was the worst development that resulted from the AAA industry. AAA+ is term used to describe “games-as-a-service”, or video games tailored to keep a gaming community playing them for as long as possible. Games such as Grand Theft Auto 5, Fallout 76, Apex Legends, and pretty much any MMORPG (Final Fantasy 14, Guild Wars 2, World of Warcraft) all fall into this category, although MMORPGs fit more into their own category due to having other factors unique to themselves. Some traits of AAA+ games are season passes, expansion packs, and a wide assortment of microtransactions to suit the needs of any player. I’m not a fan of this model, as it can be quite predatory and lead to game developers intentionally developing in-game problems to then sell the solution, but this model has been shown to generate more revenue than any of the above methods.