by Savanja on Jun 18, 2006
By: Savanja
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EverQuest II was the first game that I followed, from the first rumors that
spread like wildfire in EQ1 about a new and graphically improved EverQuest.
Through in house testing, beta, and launch, I jumped onto every piece of
filtered information that came through, like a rabid boy band fan, desperate for
even the tiniest of glimpses of my assured life long love. I just *knew*
that this game would be THE game, the one MMORPG that would hold my admittedly
finicky gaming interests for more than just a few months.
And hundreds (if not thousands) of others thought the exact same
thoughts. We congregated on the EQ2 forums, and debated every possible
issue, from hairstyles to starting stats, no topic was safe from the fanbase to
examine and pick apart. Those of us that were hopeful were quickly deemed
"fanbois", and those that were pessimistic were tagged
"haters".
For myself, getting caught up in the hype was part of the fun. The
development of a MMO is a fascinating process, and I was so excited to be able
to see a land that I had loved in EQ1 be reinvented in a whole new way. I
didn't have terribly unrealistic expectations, I did know that there would be
aspects of the game that I wasn't completely thrilled with. The first
things that come to mind were the appearance of the Barbarians and their
starting stats. Before the game even hit beta, I had my race and class
chosen, I was going to play a Barbarian Mystic. I had played a Barbarian
in EQ1, and I had a preconceived notion of what they should look like. It
was hard to get past my own vision to accept the vision of the artistic creators
of the character models. The they released the starting stats of the
races, and I was so disappointed to find that the Barbarians had very low
wisdom. I was peeved! Barbarians are tribal beings, generations of
age old wisdom being handed down, how could that not be reflected in their
starting stats?!
I was guilty of arguing and complaining about this point for quite a
while. I was told that starting stats were hardly a consideration, and in
my indignant outrage, I didn't listen. Of course, once I was able to
actually play, I did find that starting stats were rather unimportant, but I was
a fan! I had ideas of how things should be, and when the developers tossed
things at me that didn't fit my ideals, I didn't always deal rationally.
I learned my lesson, and since have been very conscience of holding my judgment
until I see the developers ideas in action. I tend to spread this amongst
my player comrades, and have been occasionally called fanboi (or fangirl in my
case). I've seen when hype digs it's claws in and takes hold of generally
very reasonable people and the chaos and treachery it can bring.
I was good pals with a particular gamer during the in house and open beta
development of EverQuest 2. We talked for hours about the game, debating
gaming points of view and sharing our hopes, and we promised to play together
when we (keeping our fingers crossed) got into beta. Beta invites rolled
in and we both created our characters, and played. I was still very
excited. I was pleased with how the game was shaping up, but my pal, he
was not. In fact, after months upon months of waiting, he played a little
bit during beta, then dropped the game completely shortly after release, stating
the EverQuest 2 just didn't turn out like he had hoped it would. What I
found so interesting, was that he was depressed and very saddened by it.
As if he had been betrayed by the game creators for not making the game that he
had envisioned all those months. He actually uttered the words "They
ruined the game".
Dude! It's JUST a game. Nothing to get too upset over. I've
always stood by the point that not all games are for everyone.
So I was greatly amused when he went on to get sucked into the current
Vanguard hype. All the same things that I had heard him say about EQ2, he
was now saying about Vanguard, "the next great MMO". The problem
is, is that he's already been disappointed by aspects of that game as well, and
I can see his waning interest. In his eyes, no game will live up to his
expectations.
This is an unfortunate side affect of all the hype associated with games
nowadays. Disappointment will always be the other side of the coin to such
intense hope. Particularly for MMORPGs, we build, along with our love of a
world, the love of our community. It's so very hard, when looking forward
to a virtual life, when we find that it just isn't what it's all cracked up to
be.
So what does hype do for the game? Well, for one thing, generating a
good amount of hype is basically free word of mouth advertising, which happens
to be the very best kind of advertising. The more people that get excited
about a game, the more apt they are to tell a friend and spread the word, and
for a business, this is gold!
And in the world of MMOs, fads are everything! Take World of Warcraft
for example. This game has had phenomenal success. It's not because
it's a great game, it's because it had great hype and great marketing, and once
it caught the attention of the very fad driven younger gamer set, it was
destined to attract players en masse. People who had never played an MMO
before, picked up this game because a friend said to. It reminds me of the
whole Neopet fad. A pretty simple idea, turned into a massive craze,
mostly through word of mouth. Hype can sell just about anything.
But have you ever heard the saying "There is no such thing as bad
publicity"? Not always so true. I've totally avoided games that
I have heard less than favorable reviews about from my trusted gamer
friends. People that I know have years of gaming experience, can
completely turn me off of a game with key words, such as "not solo
friendly". So while they may have managed to get the game to my ears,
not getting a favorable review pretty much sealed their fate with me, and that
game will most definitely get passed over during my future trips to EB Games in
search of my next MMO fix.
Feeding into hype can also give game creators a not always desired amount of
advice and comments from the gaming community as a whole. Ever spend much
time on beta forums? It can be a scary, scary place. Apparently
anyone that has ever played an MMO, is a complete and total expert on the
creation of these games. Armchair developers who are certain, that given
the oodles of money that our developers clearly get, that they too could create
an MMO, and they could do it far better than the current creators. Being
regularly bashed over every move you make whilst doing your job would be
stressful for anyone. Can you imagine? You would have thousands of
people watching everything that you do and commenting, as they wished, on how
much you suck. That would be enough to cause me to crawl into a hole and
sob my life away.
Again people, it's just a game! I love EverQuest II as much as anyone
could. I let myself get caught up in some of the hype that comes with the
adventure packs and the expansions, but I keep it all in perspective. I
follow other MMORPGs, and I get a little excited when I see a game come together
in a promising way. But they make these games and show them in a way that
is meant to attract people. This will always mean that it will be made to
look a little bit better than it actually may be. It's sort of like when
you see a commercial on TV for what looks to be the most amazing hamburger ever
created. A big juicy patty, lush lettuce, perfectly red tomato, and a
gorgeous fluffy bun (perhaps being held by a scantily clad blonde with lips as
red as the tomato). Then you go to buy this hamburger, and it never looks
as good in the paper wrapping sitting on your lap as it did in the
commercial. It's a marketing ploy, and people need to keep in mind that it
will always apply to anything that anyone tries to sell you. Truth in
advertising? Yeah, I don't think so.
Care to comment, or wish to share your point of view? You can always
find me via email!