septusmortis Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I am seeing lots of debate as to the status of SW:TOR as a game. Is it a true MMO? is it more subtle with the sharding and instancing in it or is it a single player game with MMO functionality? Also what effect is the in game cinematics and voice content having on your game is it positively enriching the experience or getting in the way? Is this the new direction that MMO's must take or is it a big risk...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imtrick Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I am seeing lots of debate as to the status of SW:TOR as a game. Is it a true MMO? Of course it is. It fits all the criteria for being an MMO. Anyone who says it isn't just doesn't understand what the term means. It's really not something disputable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gokkus Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Its massive, it is multiplayer and its online Just because you can solo this game does not mean it isnt multiplayer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
septusmortis Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Of course it is. It fits all the criteria for being an MMO. Anyone who says it isn't just doesn't understand what the term means. It's really not something disputable. I just wondered if the story driven nature and the amount of sharding\instancing in the game took it to a new place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadSquabbles Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Its massive, it is multiplayer and its online Just because you can solo this game does not mean it isnt multiplayer. then so is bf3, cod, quake, unreal... mmorpg is not just a definition of the words singly but describes a game genre. this game seems to be more of a solo game with co-op and mmorpg elements coming secondary. it seems more like mmorpg-lite. Edited January 10, 2012 by MadSquabbles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Androvis Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 then so is bf3, cod, quake, unreal... mmorpg is not just a definition of the words singly but describes a game genre. this game seems to be more of a solo game with co-op and mmorpg elements coming secondary. it seems more like mmorpg-lite. These aren't RPGs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloco Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 These aren't RPGs. Debatable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GamerInDallas Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 then so is bf3, cod, quake, unreal... mmorpg is not just a definition of the words singly but describes a game genre. this game seems to be more of a solo game with co-op and mmorpg elements coming secondary. it seems more like mmorpg-lite. Well, at first I thought "even a chat client is MMO if you use it to play tic-tac-toe". But then I realized the point of this thread is whether there is any point in doing anything other than soloing. I have to agree that this game is MMORPG-Lite. I haven't seen hardly anyone group except when absolutely necessary. The only Multiplayer is temporary grouping, PvP, and Guilds. But the bulk of the game is single player, I think. Or at least it's single player or group with close friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GamerInDallas Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 It also seems to be low emmersion for an MMORPG if you remove the story line. The story line is pretty much everything in this game, from what I've seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyriane Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I vote /a lot less Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahnlum Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 then so is bf3, cod, quake, unreal... mmorpg is not just a definition of the words singly but describes a game genre. this game seems to be more of a solo game with co-op and mmorpg elements coming secondary. it seems more like mmorpg-lite. Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games have traditionally been defined by the marriage of game design (role-playing game) and the number of players connected to the server. The games you have listed fall under the FPS (First Person Shooter) label. It's my understanding that the larger servers on Battelfield hold 200 or 250 players? (is this a generous estimate?) This is nowhere near the traditional MMO standard of being capable of hosting 1000+ concurrent connections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philefluxx Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games have traditionally been defined by the marriage of game design (role-playing game) and the number of players connected to the server. The games you have listed fall under the FPS (First Person Shooter) label. It's my understanding that the larger servers on Battelfield hold 200 or 250 players? (is this a generous estimate?) This is nowhere near the traditional MMO standard of being capable of hosting 1000+ concurrent connections. Those game are MMO's, they are not MMORPG's. MMO is simply Massive Multiplayer Online, so when you play BF3 its a MMOFPS or any other large scale FPS multiplayer game. I think the dividing line is whether or not you play with huge amounts of people at the same time. So if you played Tic Tack Toe online you would really only be playing with one other person. I dont understand why people feel that SWTOR isn't a MMORPG. I find Ive been grouping 3 times more often leveling in SWTOR than I did in BC, WotLK, or Cata during the leveling process. I think its just laziness of players who only know of games that automate everything for them. When is the last time you took down a world boss during the leveling process in those games you consider to be true MMORPG's? Edited January 10, 2012 by philefluxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worrt Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 The sharding definitely makes this game not feel like a real MMO. On republic, where we maybe have 50 people in a zone, it it really neccesary to split us up into "balmorra 1" and "balmorra 2"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahnlum Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Those game are MMO's, they are not MMORPG's. MMO is simply Massive Multiplayer Online, so when you play BF3 its a MMOFPS or any other large scale multiplayer game. How is COD considered an MMO in any sence? Many people play it, but the game is set up for 24 connections or less per round. This is exactley why it is not an MMO. BF3 does retain the highest number of players within an FPS but is far shy of what has been considered "massive" within the MMO genra. Edit: A great example of a MMOFPS would be planetside. Edited January 10, 2012 by Kahnlum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdela Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Well, at first I thought "even a chat client is MMO if you use it to play tic-tac-toe". But then I realized the point of this thread is whether there is any point in doing anything other than soloing. I have to agree that this game is MMORPG-Lite. I haven't seen hardly anyone group except when absolutely necessary. The only Multiplayer is temporary grouping, PvP, and Guilds. But the bulk of the game is single player, I think. Or at least it's single player or group with close friends. I don't see a difference between SWTOR, WoW, Rift, WAR, EQ2, etc in this aspect at all. Maybe I am coming from the other extreme from the original EQ where you grouped or did nothing. But no one groups in WoW, EQ2, Rift, WAR, etc unless they are absolutely forced to. This is why people desire a LFD tool so much because no one wants to group anymore except to do a very specific task. I mean who grouped to quest in WoW? Who grouped in Rift to level? You grouped on public quests and dungeons. In SWTOR you group for heroics, flashpoints, PvP, and operations. Same thing, so by definition yes it is a full MMO in the modern sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadeAssant Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I love this game, I do. I have 6+ characters and RP on all of them. But this game feels like a singleplayer game with really good co-op options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaBubble Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I just wondered if the story driven nature and the amount of sharding\instancing in the game took it to a new place? You've never played City of Heroes, have you? Its beyond dispute whether or not that game is considered to be an MMO, and yet every mission is instanced, with the exception of a handful of "defeat 10 skulls" missions. All of it. Every last mission - and if anyone says otherwise and points out something I've forgotten, there's no denying that instanced missions make up at least 90% of the game. MMOs come in different forms. Some are heavily instanced, some are wide open. Some send you on a heavily guided journey while others just drop you into a virtual world and just let you have at it. The only reason whether or not TOR is an MMO or not is even a discussion is because its coming on the heels of WoW, a game that the vast majority of gamers know and that many of them compare every other MMO against. If an MMO doesn't have X feature that WoW had, then it isn't an MMO. The game houses hundreds of thousand players, several thousand of which populate a game server simultaneously. It includes a lot of group content, and even the non-group content can be done as a group, with friends. The game's an MMO, as an earlier poster said that's really indisputable, and anyone that says otherwise is incredibly biased and/or doesn't understand the meaning of the term. It just a Massively Multiplayer Game that also happens to offer a good deal of soloable content and single player game-esque story-telling. When one of the popular yearly sports games (NBA Live I think it was, I don't really recall) implemented an RPG-esque element that had you tricking out your "crib" with trophies and signing advertisement deals for your character along with the standard basketball game that players were used to, wasn't it still a basketball game? TOR's got raids, PvP, group missions - all the standard MMO tropes. There's really no real reason for anyone to suggest it isn't an MMO just because it offers more than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrkLore Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Of course it is. It fits all the criteria for being an MMO. Anyone who says it isn't just doesn't understand what the term means. It's really not something disputable. What he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kishe Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Wanna know how SWTOR was born? KOTOR series and Guild Wars got really drunk and had illegit lovechild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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