I work in the MMO business, AMA...

I work in the MMO business, AMA. I'm going to avoid answering questions about my personal life and anything else that could identify me.

So MMOs were made by the jews right?

I'm always curious,
how does business works with dev team?
Does business team have a representative comes over to the dev's meeting and say, "Alright guys, i need a really nice bullshots to show the audience. gett it out by next week." ??

Tab target or action combat?

How do MMO manage to survive while only making tiny changes to the WOW formula?

Why are all MMOs following the same pattern? Are people in the industry afraid of taking risks by creating something fresh and new?

At least tell us what aspect of MMO businezs exactly. Designer, marketing, developer etc?

this doesnt apply to all MMOs, and since idk which ur on, i can only ask, why do most MMOs hate making different types of healer/tank playstyles and or aesthetics?
(I dont mean having 3 of the same role, but instead, things lik cast tanks, etc)

I know some games do attempt it though, so this question might not apply to u.

What's the best way to kill myself, and dispose of my corpse?

Is it okay to fuck dogs? Like from a legal standpoint, and like... do they mind? Will Jesus be mad if I fuck my dog?

1)bathe in hydrochloric acid
2)bathe in hydrochloric acid
You kill yourself AND dispose of your own body. Easy to make too.

MMOs were a thing since telnet has been a thing. MUSHs and MUDs that allow people to play together.

Sort of. The dev team will work first on a pre-alpha build, a tech demo of sorts to give the business an idea of what will happen. It gets notes, then out comes an alpha build.

Most of the guys deciding how your MMOs are made are the same dudes that fawn over stupid peasant shit like Dark Souls and PUBG.

Tab is great in certain cases, like being a healer, and awful when you're a ranged DPS.

People want WoW alternatives. The people who play WoW are never going to play anything else; they've become lifers. There's plenty of people who are done with WoW and never want to touch it again no matter what content comes out for it. Them, and a bunch of people who are just coming in to the industry and want to avoid the stigmatism surrounding WoW, keeps most other games afloat. It's still an enormous industry, and is picking up steam again.

Basically. There have been companies that tried to take risks with the MMO formula and have failed big time. Even if the game is a little stale, it's better than a flop.

I work with computers.

This is something that really bothers me about modern MMOs, there's such a rigidity to the class system. I used to play some shitty Korean MMOs, but back then you were given stat points to allocate every level, and gear didn't bind on equip, so you could come up with wacky builds that really worked in a lot of cases. I miss those kinds of days, but WoW has made a standard that's hard to beat. People expect this kind of stuff.

The most effective method for death is a shotgun to the face, which is both painless and has a 99% success rate. When you kill yourself, leave some carrion eating beetles to devour your flesh, leaving only a pure, clean skeleton so you can spook who finds you.

No, no, yes, yes

I'll bite. How do interns feel about microtransactions?

>I work with computers.

Microtransactions pay our checks. We're absolutely worried about potential incoming legislation regarding lockboxes.

I do computer-ish stuff?

I get that you're roleplaying but you could try to do a better job.

Are traps gay? What if they are cute?

>No, no, yes, yes
Damn, okay. Thanks MMO user.

So you work for GW2 or ESO? Official MMOs are so dead that theres less than a handful with a good population (WoW/FFXIV/GW2/ESO/BDO are the big 5) anything else is ghost town status or non region lock third world infested private servers.

I'm an engineer in network operations; my job mainly focuses on the linux side of our games and platform. I work directly with parts of some games in order to maintain uptime. I've worked directly with game dev studios and producers to get new games out.

Traps are gay, but that doesn't mean you can't fuck them.

Definitely not true. Although those are the current top 5, there's still a lot of room for profit in the MMO industry, just with smaller operations. I think a lot of people underestimate just how much money can be made with lockboxes alone, which explains why so many people think MMOs are dying.

The legislature changes a lot from place to place depending on where you are. When it comes to them caring, it also depends on what you do, I don't imagine they give a fuck if you aren't forceful about anything. But jesus will definitely be mad at you.

Is English your main language?

Your response seemed very similar to how non english MMO devs respond to English questions.
(You addressed something similar to what was asked, not the actual question.)

So what you're saying is that the only way to be profitable in MMOs now is to use lootboxes and gacha mechanics

>MMO business
>doesn't even say what mmo he works for

I might have misunderstood your question, ask it again.

If I remember correctly, there's states that allow bestiality, states that allow bestiality as long as it's for porn, and states where it's illegal. You really shouldn't be fucking things that are alive that can't really consent though.

Basically.

Do you still play games? If yes wich ones?

IS English the first language that you have ever spoken/were raised with (obviously not you fucking Korean)

If you think that way than I'm glad the MMO genre is the way it is and newcomers that embrace lootboxes/gacha die a horrible MMO death and get shut down.

What vidya are you here to promote?

He doesn't want to get identified! Ignore the fact that no one here give a fuck who he is, especially if he's just a code monkey. like he stated previously.

Is WoW exempt from the whole lootbox thing? One thing that surprises me is how every other Blizzard game in current memory is surrounded by microtransactions. Overwatch has lootcrates, hearthstone has packs of cards, Destiny 2 in a microtransaction grindy fest.

But by comparison, WoW has some overpriced mounts and a subscription. If you don't care to buy the mounts and just wanna play the game, it's not like Blizzard sells "better loot rolls" or "raidbucks" or something.

What I mean by this is, is Blizzard able to not do lootcrates and just stay on a basic subscription model in the first place because they profit so much from everything else?

What's the point of this thread if you're AMA'ing a fucking code monkey? He doesn't know jack shit other than what his superiors tell him.

it wasnt just my question. but you 'technically' answered my question indirectly, by answering the way you did anyways.

because Sup Forums is easily entertained.

If I wanted to be entertained by Sup Forums I would make another brap thread.

I have some pretty skewed views on the whole bestiality thing, probably because my views of consenting as a whole is a bit strange. I'm not saying I support it, I've never done anything like that or told anyone to, but I don't think I'm exactly against it either. Anyhow, this should be a thread about MMOs, not dogfucking.

more question.
Not sure if it applies to the MMO you worked on.
But why don't every MMO goes globally?
Servers are damn cheap nowadays anyway.
Especially Korea, why do they keep the MMO in korea forever and will not release it globally until everyone lost interests in it?

Why don't you make good MMOs?

You mean especially fucking Dragon's Dogma Online.

Who are these "people" you keep mentioning? None of them are MMO players for sure, so who?

Servers are cheaper these days but hiring localization staff and engineers to upkeep the datacenter for years is not cheap.

>Your response seemed very similar to how non english MMO devs respond to English questions.
>(You addressed something similar to what was asked, not the actual question.)
This is how all devs respond to all questions.

do you have access to detailed financial records

I play games, I like action platformers a lot since I have pretty bad carpal tunnel and can't use mouse and keyboard as well any more for gaming. I really liked Cuphead and Sonic Mania.

????????????????????????

That might happen, who knows? Subscription models are making a comeback, and with the looming legislation we might just abandon lockboxes/gacha all together.

tiddies

D-don't be mean

WoW should be considered an isolated environment, exempt from MMO rules. For some people, WoW has been their entire life, and continues to be. They will try other games but they will keep running back. WoW profits massively because their infrastructure hasn't changed in decades, and all they do is roll out content on the same engine, using the same servers, using the same dev team, and this keeps their costs really, really low.

I think it should be illegal everywhere.

MMOs don't work globally because each country wants something different out of a game. We have games that do well in Russia, games that do well in the US, and games that do well in certain European countries, all to varying degrees of success. Making a universal "good MMO" means accounting for the different tastes of a hundred different cultures.

2hard

Customers. Players. "Gamers."

Localization and data center technicians are incredibly cheap, relative to what a game like WoW pulls in. All part of operating costs.

Yes I do.

You may be right.
While I dont follow WoW heavily, the only times I ever read up from western devs, its usually wow devs.
The few times I have, they have answered questions asked, even if they were attempting to be vague.

Eastern Devs would be asked;

QUESTION: This DPS class is a hybrid support, but does less DPS than all the other classes, even with its DPS support buffs, will their DPS ever be raised?

ANSWER: You're right, we should remove their support buffs if they dont help raise their DPS enough!

PATCH DAY: dps buff is removed, no additional DPS is added to make up for its loss.

wtf? thats not what we asked nor wanted...
The only part of the answer given, that was related, was it being about the same class...

How comes FFXIV is the only MMO this year that was successful? It can't be the Final Fantasy brand alone because FFXIV 1.0 flopped so hard commercially in sales and criticially in reviews. But its now the opposite.

actually they have changed engines, and servers multipel times, they even said so in patch notes, and in making classic wow, none of the original code/engine is compatible with current servers, and they had to make classic wow from the ground up practically.

Does your game store userinformation in encrypted tables, or do they just have the hashes sitting there in plaintext?

Because ARR fixed it enough to be ok now. The brand still helps. The FF name is the only reason why I even bother giving it a try.

to answer that question, (not at the OP) it requires point at a large number of small features that add up.

It helps the game appears to be a wow clone. (when id argue its technically not, liek saying Scorpion is a sub zero clone. they only appear to be)

A small example, FF14 has level sync, which allows old players, to invite new friends into the game, and play together.

Every time my friends ask me to play some new MMO, im like, hell yeah! 15mins later, nvm, we cant play together. We'd have to do that bullshit of sticking to the same level range, and only playing at X hour of the X day of the week.
nvm, ill pass.

I'm not sure, I've never played the game. These two dudes seem to know what's up Here, let me provide you access to our FTP server. You'll be able to find the info there.
ftp://23.192.8.135

Hey OP. I worked at Turbine before getting work in the film industry, interestingly enough. I know you don't want to be identified, but did you work on LOTRO or DnD in any capacity? I was art department and a texture mapper on both.

>Making a universal "good MMO" means accounting for the different tastes of a hundred different cultures.
Wrong. It means catering to a niche. Niches are locality-agnostic. Making an MMO that cater to a niche makes the game extra-good for the niche, who becomes loyal. Loyalty is very profitable. Muh wider audience meme is precisely why the industry is dead.
>b-but the same wale has been giving us billions for all our games which get a peak playercount of 5!
That's not being alive retard. Hell, you probably count your non-M MOs as MMOs too for marketing purposes.

how long does that take? do I have to keep the water in my tub running so my liquified body drains more cleanly after I blow my brains out?

...uh, no, no way bro, I definitely don't work at Turbine. Ever.

I mean, if a game is making money, it's alive, no? Those whales keep us floating. And this is a lot of talk from someone who hasn't touched the industry. Wanna know how I know?
>loyalty is very profitable
That's funny. You're funny. Probably a cute little boy.

(not the OP) id argue its better to target the majority, with a secondary niche group in mind.

you can stay afloat with either, but have just enough of both, u might get the best of both worlds.

the only exception, is that some niche groups cant ever be compatible with the majority, and its probably those groups who are complaining the most.

im and in this example, the "niche" that FF14 has, that keeps me staying, is level sync. literally all other features come after in importance for me. (Such as a cutscene driven story, in stead of a "go read books, to learn the lore" style of story)

Turns out OP is role-playing.

>loyalty is very profitable
>That's funny. You're funny. Probably a cute little boy.
That worked for FFXI and WoW, though.

WoW doesn't reward loyalty, it penalizes leaving. And FFXIV succeeds because it's legitimately a good game with a solid story, just with MMO mechanics thrown in.

I'm ERPing OwO

>FFXIV
You meant FFXI? Because that was what I talked about.

I'd bet my bottom dollar that the tard in the pic that thinks he's clever has been brutally cucked repeatedly.

>This DPS class is a hybrid support, but does less DPS than all the other classes, even with its DPS support buffs, will their DPS ever be raised?
This is a pretty retarded question. A support class that buffs DPS is designed to buff its allies, not keep up with its allies. If it could keep up with its allies, there would be little point in playing any other DPS class.

You're the same type of person who says shadow priest was never viable in vanilla WoW because of its shit dps. In reality, a shadow priest could buff 5 warlocks to the point where they'd do 8 warlocks worth of damage. 3 times more than enough to make up for the lackluster dps it personally put out, and definitely more than enough to make up for the debuff slot it took up on the boss.

How's the weather up north?

(1) It was a made up hypothetical
(2) Im well aware of why a support DPS wouldnt be an 'actual' bad DPS.
(3) and technically i said, the support ability didnt make up for its lack fo DPS. so in a different hypothetical, lets imagine the standard DPS is 1000 dps.
then u have 2 support DPS, one raises everyones DPS by 10%, and does 30% less DPS.
Obviously this one is fine.
The other DPS does 700 dps, and raises the DPS of ONE person by 1 dps.

the example i gave, was the 2nd, where the buff wasnt enough.

Oh, I don't know why FFXI was successful. Probably for the same reason WoW is now, fear.

Yes, numales are funny losers. There's a lot of them at my company.

There have been examples where a support class can keep up with its allies in DPS, like the Billposter class in Flyff. The Billposter could buff itself for solo leveling, but didn't have the best buffs available. What they COULD do is refresh the best buffs if provided by the stronger support class, the ringmaster, so that they could support in raids and put out solid DPS while still functioning as a support.

Cold

>ask me anything
>except XYZ
Fuck off, faggot.

How comes all MMOs are incredibly fucking unoptimized on PC? Graphics look barely PS3 quality yet you're getting massive framerate drops on a decent computer. Just look at shit like Tera, Wildstar, and even ESO.

Do they really need to do server maintenance every week? Why do they do it? What do they do?

mmos fucking suck gb2/f13 the only person who ever made a good mmo was raph koster. why has WoW been so boring as shit since 2004? why has ffxiv always sucked ass? fuck mmos /thread

Its easier to state what u cant ask, than everything you can ask.
>lojik iz two hard

>Oh, I don't know why FFXI was successful. Probably for the same reason WoW is now, fear.
LOL. If you actually care MMO business you should actually study and learn about that case, you could learn a lot important things that this MMO generation forgot.

Is there an agreed-upon definition of "Skinner box mechanics" in your circles? I can't seem to find any kind of consistent use of the phrase.

Backup all data, restart the servers to ensure there aren't any lingering world server bugs, and verify the server hardware is working as it should and it won't fail tomorrow.

Not OP, but in most interviews, the answer is kind of complicated, but ill try to over simplify.

(1) PCs are harder to optimize, which applies to any game.
(2) most of the budget for optimization actually goes into stabilizing the online features of an MMO instead of graphics.
(3) MMOs are more CPU intensive than other games, leaving less for the GPU to handle
(4) Most games are designed to be "pretty" from a technical standpoint, rather than from an artistic standpoint. Lets say someone could make a realistic and pretty looking "ball" out of less polygons than someone who just copy/pasted pictures taken from a camera, whcih were slapped on a higher polygon model. The 1st is actually WAY harder, and time consuming. And that practice has died off, due to being way more expensive, which is why PS2 era saw higher costs to make games on top of other reasons. PS4 range we started to go with the later, which has helpped be one of the reasons costs to make games are closer to the PS1 era.

mmos that came out before WoW were good at things they didnt know they were good at. the genre is fucking dead. also games where the only thing to do as soon as you start is kill monsters in autocombat are more fucking gay than your average numale. Good god i realize a lot of ths garbagr we have in mmos was initally inspired from muds and d&d and people have certain expectations and certain things fit a type of mold. BUT WHAT KIND OF PIGFUCKER FELT "HURR KILLIMG MONSTERS IS ALL THERE IS TO DO IN AUTOCOMBAT" WAS SUPPOSED TO EQUATE QUALITY DESIGN?

imagine a world where you should theoretically be able to do all sorts of shit but instead some fuckhead decided putting you infront of a spider with a sword in hand was a good idea for "virtual world"

Your computer sucks. Decrease render distance.

Depends. Maintenances are sometimes done to patch non-critical issues if a build is not being deployed. Sometimes, though, maintenances aren't anything but a restart of the game processes on a server, done for the same reason you occasionally restart your computer - to freshen up programs, clear up caches, and make things less likely to crash in the coming week.

gay

The "business" of MMOs today doesn't reflect what was going on when FFXI was successful. You're an idealized fool burying your rose-colored glasses into any MMO you can in the hopes of returning to a simplified time. The truth is: lockboxes are immensely successful, we don't care about returning customers or loyalty if they're not fucking buying anything, and MMOs are more successful than ever due to lockboxes.

We don't use those terms in the meetings I go to, we try to not make fun of our customers even to each other.

Backups at our level are constantly running, server hardware has constant monitoring on it. If we didn't have at least those things running, I wouldn't be doing my job. Bugs are dev team's job though.

High single thread performance is highly recommended for all MMOs. But he should just get a better computer.

wtf are you talking about

We still bake normal maps out of high poly meshes and apply them to lowpoly ones.

You need to have 2 versions, a high poly and a lowpoly one.

obviously for distant objects, and or low settings. but the lowpoly counts for close up objects is far less commonly used. (plus i mean for making things look nice still.)

Why cant we have monthly fees instead of cancerous f2p model with microtransactions?

Because of whales

A better example was Vanilla WoW vs FF11.

FF11 looked immeasurably better, despite having a MUCH lower polycount, and worse lighting etc. Yet it looked like the more taxing game.

WoW models looked like they were made with less polygons, despite being like 4 times more.

FF11 wasnt graphically better from a "technical" standpoint, but from an artistic standpoint.

Rockstar started its GTA5 online features, and the crap u could buy, made more money, than GTA5, and all GTA games combined ever made.

Rockstar was then told to put Red Dead Redemption2 on hold, because why make a full game, when these lootbox methods make more money than the best selling AAA games?

The Devs have been begging to make more games, but instead the puiblishers are demanding they put the money into [shitty phone games/lootbox games.

This is why MMOs are going lootbox as well.

Some gives me a translation of this lingo.

someone*

Minnows spend the smallest amount possible in a month, typically $1
Dolphins spend a “middling” amount. Typically I forecast they spend an average of $5 per month
Whales spend a lot. Typically I forecast they spend an average of $20 per month.
Freeloaders (see Whales, power-laws and the future of media) are, of course, the fourth group. They are covered by the conversion rate and not considered here)

left side, 50% of the peopel who play, are filthy casuals who only pay base sub, ro are free to play users.
Orange are ppl who occasionally buy extra stuff, and red are the number of ppl who buy ridiculous amounts of shit.

now, on the right side, u actually see how much money those peopel contribute to the pool of cash the game gets.

Whats your favorite mmo?

Thank you.

You know how blacks (a minority) commit most of the violent crimes.
Whales are pretty much the same

The top 10% highest spending users of a f2p game with microtransactions made up 87% of the game's revenue.

The chart only shows paying users, freeloaders aren't represented. Note that freeloaders make up 98% of the playerbase, so what you're really looking at is 87% of the game's revenue coming from 0.2% of its players.

what mangoo?

>Minnows spend the smallest amount possible in a month, typically $1

They're actually just seperated by percentiles, not by amount spent. Minnows are the bottom 50% and whales are the top 10%.

Why has a game like FFXIV succeeded? Is it really just a result of fan service and Easter eggs from the other entries in the series?

Nevermind, found it
Investor Z

Most of the FFXIV players don't give a fuck about that.

Meant about the things from the other entries in the series.

forgot pic