I think one of the reasons MMO's today are so terrible is because of women in their late 40's/early 50's. 

These are the women who thought it was cool to be a soccer mom in the late 80's and throughout the 90's.  They enrolled their kids in soccer leagues where everyone is a winner and everyone got a trophy and a grand prize just for showing up.

Those kids are the majority audience that MMO developers are targetting now.  And they have to suit their demands of making sure everyone wins trophies just for showing up.

:(

That's a little.....

...could be a point in there somewhere though.

lol

Amazing!! And people thought I was crazy when I said the exact thing a few weeks ago.

Ummm.....no.  It's 40 year old trust fund babies who saw that wow made alot of money and figured they could do the same so they go and buy up dev studios and run them in to the ground.  Gazillion is a perfect example.  Work in the industry for just a week and you will see where the real problems lay.

Obviously hippies are to blame here.

The neverending deluge of samey-shooters is to overcompensate for that era of 'free love' that took so long to grow out of.

Tape it to your stomach and get back to us.

Believe me, I'm all for stacking the burdens and blame upon women for destroying whatever it is we're talking about, but I think you're pullin' a little:

We need devs that are younger and are motivated to bring us better games.  The old regime of devs are still milking the old ways of doing things.

[mod edit]

While I won't argue w/ your reasoning, I would posit the trend you see these days is based more on not playing to a certain audience, but trying to play to as much of the audience as possible; ergo more watered down experience for the more seasoned gamer.  I can see the resentment in your post is perhaps not towards soccer moms, but rather the "everybody wins" nature of MMOs these days.   

If they create an MMO where a majority of the player-base doesn't get the rewards they feel they have earned, you won't have much of a player-base for long.  The results of appealing or creating your MMO to a wider player base frequently results in resentment not only from elite players, but also from niche players who like things that most MMOs have decided not to do.  

OP, what do you think are some other reasons for the decline of MMOs?  

Originally posted by Lawlmonster

 but I think you're pullin' a little:

 

+1 for using stretch armstrong in *anything*.

and a hearty +2 for using anything from Black Books.

as for 50 year old women being to blame ... the OP should stop talking about their mother that way. she might get pissed and pull the broadband out from under them.

Originally posted by Pagoday

While I won't argue w/ your reasoning, I would posit the trend you see these days is based more on not playing to a certain audience, but trying to play to as much of the audience as possible; ergo more watered down experience for the more seasoned gamer.  I can see the resentment in your post is perhaps not towards soccer moms, but rather the "everybody wins" nature of MMOs these days.   

If they create an MMO where a majority of the player-base doesn't get the rewards they feel they have earned, you won't have much of a player-base for long.  The results of appealing or creating your MMO to a wider player base frequently results in resentment not only from elite players, but also from niche players who like things that most MMOs have decided not to do.  

OP, what do you think are some other reasons for the decline of MMOs?  

a polite way of saying, IMO:

life sucks. we all lose a bit of our souls every day. if i wanted to feel more like a loser i would simply go to work or take a walk down the street. i would most certainly *not* pay someone 15 bucks a month to do it for me.

Never thought I would see this as a reason. Good that you tried to use logic to make the conclusion though lol.

Originally posted by SkullyWoods

That's a little.....

...could be a point in there somewhere though.

hahaha this made me laugh...

I miss my pokémon now :(

Hahaha! OP has a point ;)

so basically we need to send the soccer mom's to political re-edjucation camp to get MMO's back on track ?

Originally posted by Dampyre

so basically we need to send the soccer mom's to political re-edjucation camp to get MMO's back on track ?

Nope, we need a Fight Club style fall of civilization.

~but any soccer moms you find, you can send to me, personally. Heh.

Originally posted by Dampyre

so basically we need to send the soccer mom's to political re-edjucation camp to get MMO's back on track ?

 

 

idk, but I watched this youtube video this girl made, titled "what female gamers really think" or something along those lines.  I said something like, "Women have changed this world enough, that they should not be changing a man's last esapce for fantasy"...meaning video games.  I got flamed for being sexist but that isn't what I meant.  I meant it as the OP here did.  So I agree, everyone's got to be a winner now a days or god forgbid because Jimmy Two Socks stole Billy Boobs lunch he's going to go cry in the bathroom and hang himself when he's 23.

W.e, that wasn't my point, I have enough "participation ribbons" from elementary school kickin around that I don't need them from my escape in from reality.