Innovation in MMOs - Editorial @ MMORPG.com

MMORPG.com's Robert Fitzgerald goes looking for innovation in MMORPGs in an article entitled "MM Oh My Gosh!".

Have you ever gone to a school dance, a dance club or even a wedding reception and heard a song that really moves you. A song that starts your feet tapping and your leg shaking ? Yet, you stand there on the sidelines staring at the empty dance floor because you don't want to be the first person to step out and shake your groove thing. After all, there's a fifty-fifty chance if you jump on the dance floor first, people will stare and giggle at your Fergie-esque tail wiggle, making you the center of attention you don't want. Unless, you're made up of the stuff few people are and you just don't care, you will find a way to dance yourself right into a crowd of spectators and disappear. Now, theres another scenario to this way out in left field analogy. Theres a chance you hop onto the floor, get your groove on, and a crowd joins in with you, leading to a great time had by all. The question is are you brave enough to throw yourself into the spotlight.

What the heck am I talking about ? It's alright, you can say it out loud. The MMO market has become much the same as the empty dance floor. Everyday we are flooded with new and "innovative" ideas with which we can get our grooves on and we don't take the chance. We find ourselves heading to the crowded dance floors of the tried and true titles such as World of Warcraft and Everquest II. While these games offer few new features (server queues are not a feature) and stay the course of time tested formulas. It's like dancing to re-mixes of the same old songs over and over again. Sitting on the fringe are titles that have truly taken a step in a different direction and attempt to offer features never before attempted in MMO's. The life of these titles is shorter than a Dixie Chicks concert in Texas, over before it starts.

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Source: MMORPG.com