The first MMORPG ever, was Ultima Online(1997). This game brought what had been previously nothing but pen and paper rpg and multi-user dungeons(MUDS) to a wider audience by introducing graphics. Giving players a setting or "sandbox" to play in. The term sandbox refers more to the mechanics of a game and how, as in a physical sandbox, the user is entertained by his ability to play creatively, boundless of artificial structural constraints, and with there being "no right way" of playing the game. This is what Ultima Online brought us. Taking the untold adventures of our previous years, and giving us a brand new way of doing them.
Then came Everquest, which took the same magic of those previous fantasy years, and gave us adventures in 3D. The magic of my first moment in EQ I will remember for the rest of my life. Running through this fantastical land in 3D. The difference that EQ brought, was instead of being a Sandbox it brought us the Theme-Park MMO. It brought us a game where instead of the player being their own Gamemaster, the game itself became the Gamemaster.
In UO, the player was given no direction. Only the world in which to live. EQ gave players direction, and became wildly popular for it. So popular in fact a company named Blizzard came along and decided to replicate that success. It took the same Theme-Park formula, simplified it, and gave us World of Warcraft.
WOW went on to become the most popular MMO in the history of the genre. It defined the genre, and defined what an entire generation of players thought an RPG should be. It defined for players what an MMORPG should be. Many players today have no other frame of reference outside of WOW and so don't know the difference between Theme-Park, and MMO.
Since WOW's unprecedented success, there have been many attempts to replicate it. After all if WOW could do this to EQ, there have been many development companies who have tried to take this established successful model and replicate it.
The fact is that no company since Blizzard has been able to replicate what Blizzard did with WOW. There have been many an attempt, and some companies are still doing profitable business with their attempts. LOTRO, Rift, AOC, WAR all MMO that tried to copy the theme-park success, but never hit the right combination.
Why? Because players actually do get tired of being told what to do all the time, and there is already a game that does that. Blizzard had success with WOW, because it took the epic grind that was EQ, and simplified it. Made the rewards come faster with less effort, and found a pretty great balance between time/reward.
The fact remains though, that at max level in all these new MMO there is nothing to do that is different from WOW. The player is still told how to play the game and this is why I believe the next big evolution in the genre will need to incorporate sandbox elements back into the genre. Giving players some control back, something to do other than grind various elements.
The next attempt to create Blizzards success is going to be coming from a game company called Bioware with it's upcoming title Star Wars: The Old Republic. A game that has admittedly copied Blizzard's MMO formula trying to be the first company since Blizzard to capture the MMO market.
Now while the game itself is helping to popularize certain mechanics, like voice overs, the game isn't actually changing a lot of genre because:
"It [World of Warcraft] is a touchstone. It has established standards, it's established how you play an MMO. Every MMO that comes out, I play and look at it. And if they break any of the WoW rules, in my book that's pretty dumb."
- Bioware Co-Founder Greg Zeschuk
I think this is a mistake. Now while the game should launch as is, there will be a time when players get bored of the same formula they've already gotten bored with. Players need freedom back in their game. This can be seen in the migratory nature of players tired of WOW, but that don't know why they are tired of WOW. This population of nomads who travel from game to game, not really understanding that what they seek is in fact the lost art of the sandbox.
Games will need to have this in them. Areas that players can go into and establish themselves and their guilds. SWTOR in my opinion has the perfect mechanisms in place for this wonderful new evolution in gaming. From the many moons/planets in the Star Wars IP one of them can be set up to allow players to roam free, explore the planet, and build a civilization, or culture, or empire.
WOW, as successful as it is already established how it could incorporate a new area into an expansion via the Burning Crusade mechanic. TBC brought us a new planet, that already had an established history on it. WOW could incorporate an expansion to where instead of their being a history there, the players are the ones that go in and establish the history. Building the towns, building up the areas and establishing footholds for the Horde and the Alliance.
There is a new game also in development from EA that is looking to launch with this Fusion of Sandbox/Theme-park from Funcom called The Secret World. With the introduction of Agartha gamers will have the option of either playing theme-park, or going sandbox on a whim.
I will be watching the way SWTOR and TSW both move on from here. Seeing if SWTOR can be the first game since WOW to captivate the market, or will The Secret World with it's vision of meshing both types into one game can be the one that saves us all. The one thing I know for sure, is that no game up until now has ever been able to replicate what WOW did to EQ, and I believe it's because of the need to merge and evolve the genre into the Themebox style of gameplay of the future.
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