MMORPG Leveling -- A visual timeline. Predictions?

[KraggyKor]

1999: Leave town in a party of multiple players, and venture into an open world to grind mobs, free to set your own pace.

FFXI, 2002: Sit in Jeuno for days, weeks and months LFG on whatever is loljob of the month.

Your rose-tinted spectacles need cleaning.

[Raymeo]

FFXI, 2002: Sit in Jeuno for days, weeks and months LFG on whatever is loljob of the month.

Your rose-tinted spectacles need cleaning.

I only pointed out that the principles which founded the MMO genre were all present back in the beginning. I never claimed that they were realized in an ideal way. Honestly, I'm still waiting to see the first perfect MMORPG, so I'd say that my glasses suit me just fine.

"True Definition" huh? As someone who has played online games since before they were graphical I have to say...

Touche, I did pass over the fact that MMORPGs go back further than 1999. Instead I began the timeline with the genre's first introduction to the mainstream, coinciding with the release of Everquest.

If you really want to be technical, I could see an argument for beginning the timeline with 1997 in order to coincide with the release of Ultima Online. Even if it didn't bring the genre to the mainstream, it was responsible for the creation of the term MMORPG, and as such was the first game to have the word applied to it. Either way, from Ultima/Everquest onward, what qualifies as an MMORPG is pretty black and white.

Going back to the games that you're describing though, things enter more of a gray area. I won't deny that you'd find some very similar genres in the 80's and early 90's. I'd just argue that they're not necessarily part of the same modern MMORPG genre that exists in the mainstream today. Those older games may have built the foundations for the modern MMORPG genre, but whether or not they should retroactively be included in this genre would be a fun topic for debate rather than obvious fact or fiction.

In any case though -- whether the timeline begins at 1999, 1997, or earlier -- the three elements of the "true definition" (massive, multiplayer, role-playing) would still be present at the origin. I think we can agree on that much. The illustrated point would remain just the same.

(Before anyone picks a bone with my opinion that Ultima did not bring the genre to the mainstream, consider: Ultima had a two year head start on Everquest, and reached 100,000 players just before Everquest's release. Only a few months after Everquest's release, Everquest had reached 250,000 players. These numbers both grew over time, but even throughout their growth they maintained this same ratio relative to each other, both eventually peaking at double those 1999 numbers.)

[Warlyx]

FFXI, 2002: Sit in Jeuno for days, weeks and months LFG on whatever is loljob of the month.

Your rose-tinted spectacles need cleaning.

[Snitchie]

MMO's evolve just like everything else evolves. And it is no supprise that MMO's follow same principal. FASTER STRONGER HARDER ... Relax man . Take a puff smell some roses

[Magis]

The leveling experience in Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games

A Visual Timeline

1999: Leave town in a party of multiple players, and venture into an open world to grind mobs, free to set your own pace.
2004: Leave town alone, and venture into an open world to grind quests, free to set your own pace.
2009: Don't ever leave town, line up in a queue to enter a linear closed off instance with multiple players, pace is bottlenecked by controlled daily/weekly experience bonuses.
2014: ???

It's now 2014 -- time for us to settle into the next five year chunk. As we prepare for the new leveling standard that will usher us through the next half decade, what are your predictions about what we will end up with?

According to the trends above, we should expect to be left with "zero colors" for the new generation. On the other hand, last year showed some interesting hints of developers experimenting with open world, multiplayer grinding: a new "color combination", with FFXIV's FATEs being the most familiar example to those reading this.

So what do you think -- will the trend of the past 15 years continue, or will we finally start seeing the pendulum swing back toward the true definition of an MMORPG experience?

From what I heard, Everquest Next is trying to go to the old school style direction of "let the players do what they want".

[Magis]

FFXI, 2002: Sit in Jeuno for days, weeks and months LFG on whatever is loljob of the month.

Your rose-tinted spectacles need cleaning.

The only people who sat in Jeuno for months were those too lazy to form their own parties. 45min to 1h was the longest it took to form one if you were proactive. Some Duty Finder queues take that long or longer!

[Nahara]

EVE is the only true sandbox game so far.

Admittedly it's not out yet, but Pathfinder Online is set to be a sandbox game as well

[indira]

well everquest next is going the the more old school sandbox where you wander around but with new technology, best of all no endgame which means no linear grinding. you can build and destroy stuff in the world too.

also horizontal progress FTW.

[Zantetsuken]

well everquest next is going the the more old school sandbox where you wander around but with new technology, best of all no endgame which means no linear grinding. you can build and destroy stuff in the world too.

also horizontal progress FTW.

The popularity of/interest in RUST, LBP, MINECRAFT, Everquest Landmark, etc.. Should make it clear that the future of MMO's is more environmental interaction and player created content. It's no surprise that FC housing was one of the most anticipated features of FFXIV, and subsiquently one of it's biggest letdowns.


The future of MMOs is a balance of a rich, crafted world with a healthy portion of sandbox exploration and user-created/modified content. The path of high-speed grind sessions and linear gear progression is the trademark of yesterday's action platformers, not tomorrow's MMO games.

[BoomerOU]

Admittedly it's not out yet, but Pathfinder Online is set to be a sandbox game as well

I always see it discussed as a hybrid sandbox/ theme park.