The Daily Grind: 2009's defining moment
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Dec 30th 2009 at 8:00AM
Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Academic
The look back has already started here and there, and we've got only two days left -- assuming you count today. And we've seen a lot of things happen over the last year, which everyone on-staff has their own opinion about. To some, it was the year of free-to-play. To others, it was the year of dying games. But there's no way to encapsulate everything about 2009 into just one statement, with the industry still changing and evolving. Sometimes even seemingly small changes are what we remember (fondly or otherwise) when viewed in hindsight.
Out of all of the things that happened this year, what struck you as the most defining moment? Was it something major, such as the end of Tabula Rasa or The Matrix Online? Or was it something minor that other players might not even notice? Did it make the whole year better, worse, or was it simply a turning point? What seems like it's going to stick in your memory when you think back on the year as a whole? And as a connected topic, what seems like a big deal at the moment that you're pretty certain isn't as important as people say?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Psychotic Storm said on 8:27AM 12-30-2009
Tabula Rasa for me it was a majestic Swan song.
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Sleepy said on 8:46AM 12-30-2009
Tabula Rasa shutting down for me too. It was the first time a game I was active in and really fond of was closed, and it brought home the fact that no matter how much time and effort you put into your character, it's never actually yours.
It was also an excellent, excellent game. Far less deserving examples of the genre are still on the go.
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Aganazer said on 9:12AM 12-30-2009
Well said Sleepy. I agree 100%. Its loss was disturbing in a genre overcrowded with unimaginative clones.
Another low point was the bankruptcy of the company that created The Chronicles of Spellborn. A game with such an excellent innovative combat system and such wonderful quest writing doesn't deserve such a fate.
It was a year with so few high points. CO and Aion were a step backwards in the evolution of the genre. Fallen Earth brought some new things to the genre, but not in the most exciting or memorable ways. AoC and WAR are withering away. I think a lot of people hung onto WoW because of how depressing the rest of the genre is.
Ingrod said on 4:27PM 12-30-2009
CO a step backwards? are you serious?
CO is not class based, the player character combinations and customizacion possibilities are nearly to infinite, how you many people dont appreciate his virtues and relegates the game to the "death MMOs" category in his first or second moths, that is very unfair with that game and with many other. Inclusive the best MMOs dont have gained momentun until the second or third moth, is the unrealistic expectatives from actual players in the first moth what destroy them. They want four years of content and polish in the first moth and that is impossible.
For me the key point in 2009 is the constatation of that fact, actual MMO players dont have the pacience for leave a MMO madurate before judge.
Kifix said on 7:54AM 12-31-2009
I have to say Tabula too. I wasn't playing anymore, but i was thinking of going back to it :-/
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Temko said on 9:04AM 12-30-2009
the release of darkfall.
for me, it was finally finding a new home after EA ruined UO.
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torak said on 9:28AM 12-30-2009
Another year of copy cat games failing hard. Watching WAR and AoC scramble to repair themselves and dozens of other games rising and falling in the blink of an eye.
One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.
MMO devs are truly insane as that is their mode of operation and for 6 years now we have seen nothing but a parade of broken re-skins of the same game.
Will 2010 be any different? We will see...I'm not gonna hold my breath or anything.
IMHO TOR is going to have massive response but will it hold? Somehow I don't see a linear / scripted story driven MMO with virtually no free form that we know of, doing very well over the long haul.
STO - anyones guess.
One thing is for certain, 2010 will be the year of the IP's.
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Cameron said on 10:15AM 12-30-2009
Couldn't agree more and doubt 2010 will be anything more than 2009. I have hopes for 2011 and SWToR but that is a long way off.
I also got soured on Roper games with CO and formerly Hellgate. I know it isn't fair to blame one guy for crushing fun game play but he is 2 for 2 in my book and I am not going to give him a third chance with STO. It might be great but they lost me before the game was even in beta.
Ingrod said on 4:27PM 12-30-2009
Cameron: Bill Roper dont have nothing to do with STO, he is the Executive Producer for CO, but the executive producer for STO is Kraig Zinkievich. The Cryptic CEOs for all the games are other people.
The Platypus said on 9:32AM 12-30-2009
That screenshot of Tabula Rasa made me sad. Darn you, Massively. Darn you straight to Heck. :(
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Kole said on 1:03PM 12-30-2009
Same here.
CindyL said on 9:42AM 12-30-2009
2009 was a great year for MMOs whether you fell into a new game or not. I think for a lot of people it gave them new homes. I'm not sure how I feel about people declaring new games already dead in their first or second year however I know at least one person in the online sphere in each of those games that are perfectly happy there and having a great time.
Tabula Rasa was a tragedy, first it shouldn't have launched when it did and second NCsoft just trashed the thing just when it was getting interesting. However as sad as it is you'll note a lot of people declared TR dead rather early too.... So while it's cool to paint companies as evil we have responsibility we don't recognize very often in the demise of games. Kind of why I get upset when people go to town and trash on new games and don't look at how long these things that are missing or 'broken' usually take to settle themselves.
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johnfordcoley said on 9:51AM 12-30-2009
I think the defining moment of this year was the proliferation of the micro-transaction, and its impact on the genre. Though already a staple of the F2P MMO market, this year was when we saw the idea spill over to subscription-based games. Where before we only had to pay extra for a server transfer, we're now seeing cosmetic items, XP bonuses, costume pieces, and vanity pets being sold in games that we're already paying $15 a month. Only time will tell if the idea is a success, but if it is, you can begin seeing more and more of "hybrid" F2P/Subscription MMOs coming in, like DDO Unlimited, which saw their numbers go up dramatically, and Free Realms, which I'm ready to call the success story of 2009.
I feel like 2010 is going to be a much better year for MMOs, with all the big name games coming out. In the end, 2009 was a bit of a bust.
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Alisto said on 1:03PM 12-30-2009
I was going to say something along those lines too. We are definitely starting to see the purchase of virtual goods with real money going mainstream. Consumerism moving into the virtual space.
It started a few years ago with Second Life, but now it's moved into games in a big way and brought in a generation of gamers who don't believe that paying for in-game items for in-game advantage is somehow cheating in the way that, I imagine, some of us long-term players might think.
curiousorange said on 1:12PM 12-30-2009
While not an MMORPG, Battlefield Heroes seems to be struggling with its F2P microtransaction model. I wouldn't be surprised to see the game get shutdown early on in 2010. I'm curious to see what happens to DDO. Despite Turbine's denials, I'm guessing they made it F2P in a last-ditch effort to wring some cash out of it in lieu of simply pulling the plug.
I'd love to see the F2P model work, but I imagine most MMORPGs are struggling to get by on $15/month -- which is exactly what they were charging 8 years ago. Inflation and rising operating costs have got to be having an impact. We'll see I guess.
Thilandril said on 9:53AM 12-30-2009
I think I'm going to have to go with the closing of Tabula Rasa too. After having the ability to pop back in and visit my EverQuest characters and the lands of Norrath whenever I please for the past 10 years, being barred from a gameworld I really enjoyed was a rude awakening. It subtly changed my feeling about the entire genre. I think I'm a little more hesitant to fully invest in a game now that one I was really engaged in got closed down.
A dis-honorable mention would have to go to the encroachment of RMT cash shops into subscription games. When they start pushing extra stuff to buy into your face at login, it changes the feel of the game. I've moved to games that don't do it and hope for the best, but...with the profit potential, I wonder how long any publisher that wants to make money will hold out =\
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Knob said on 10:04AM 12-30-2009
This was the year when the customer decided he/she would not stand by and let developers shove unfinished products out the door and hope to get away with it.
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Satanis said on 10:20AM 12-30-2009
Highlight of the year, canceling my WOW sub for the 3rd time after the release of ToC, a circle with boss spawns in it well worth 10 squid a month.... not
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Amana said on 10:40AM 12-30-2009
=( =(
http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/35040/preview
http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/21250/_original
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nt said on 10:47AM 12-30-2009
who ever believed a game based on matrix could survive has no clue what gamer like. i didn't even try to bet on how long it will would last.
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