my talking tom hack when it comes to deciding whether a gamer will decide to choose one MMO over another, and that means lost dollars to the game developers. Gamers tend to look at the game size, meaning how many people are currently playing the game already before they join it. The game, World of WarCraft brags about their amazingly popular game featuring over 6 million active players. Is Blizzard really making the right decision to advertise their large game size population? Yes, we know it’s a great mmorpg game, but the gamer is asking himself, “Am I too late.”
Games like World of Warcraft, and RuneScape have an overflow of players that makes newcomers feel that they jumped on the boat too late. Why start playing a game 5 or 6 years after the game has been developed and you have all these guys with super crazy armor and swords that can take down armies of thousands.
On the other hand, smaller MMORPG’s like Puzzle Pirates get the advantage of having small user groups. Yes they don’t make as much money, but from a new player point of view, its lands that have been unconquered, a chance to make oneself great before others get to that opportunity!
Puzzle Pirates, an mmorpg based driven on the base that a small beginner pirate can make his way to the top through skill and persistence is displays a perfect example of unexplored oceans. Since the game doesn’t have a large game size, one doesn’t have to fight amongst millions to be the best and thats what makes a game good. Puzzle Pirates give you that chance…and I can tell you, I’ve done it.
So why’s this important? If your a game developer, you need to keep all these factors in mind so that you can maintain a healthy gaming environment for your players. Surely World of WarCraft must be faced with the ongoing issue, “How can we keep these members in our game?” On the other hand, Puzzle Pirates fights needs to figure out how to “Get more members.”
In the end, you’ll always be fighting to figure out the answer to this problem, when games get too big, wheres the originality per player. When there too small, what’s the point of getting “famous” in a game when theirs such few players?
Disadvantages of Big Game Size:
* Large mmorpg game size populations have less room for the individual to shine
* Congestion’s, walking around, being able to speak in public places
* Takes longer to become pro, since the game developers make it harder to get to the top
Disadvantages of Small Game Size
- The game can feel desolate
- “Where is everyone?”
- Less money for the game, less expansions, slower growth due to funding
Advantages of Big Size Games
- More money for the developers
- Faster updates, better features due to money not being an issue
- Bigger community, more help and support
Advantages of Small Size games
- Your probably going to make it to the top first. Then push around all the newbies
- You’ll be king if the games a hit later on
- You’ll be rich at an easy time
- Less crowded
* You’ll be the first to know the ins and outs of the mmorpg game
A new MMO that just came out and has a fairly big game size is Heroes of Newerth. In this scenario, the game developers are faced with a large game size right when it started. This will be interesting to monitor how this mmorpg game plays out.
