Gecko said:
I do agree that we"re getting too much evolution, and too little innovation, especially in the MMO genre.
This, definitely. Too many mmo"s are a derivative of a derivative of a derivative. Recently, there has been way too much evolution and simply
norevolution- as clich? as that saying is, it"s the most concise way to put it. At this point it"s not about adding and refining what"s
in the game(more classes, more races, more lore, tweaked mechanics, etc.), it"s all about how you
play the game.
You"ll know the difference between evolution and revolution within the first 10minutes of playing the next breakthrough game because it will
feeltotally different than all the other mmo"s out there. The current paradigm of mmo"s is honestly about as refined as it"s going to get. What"s called for now, I agree, is a paradigm shift that fundamentally changes the way we think about mmo"s and most importantly how we play mmo"s. There are a few key components that the next groundbreaker will absolutely need to have, and yes, as someone mentioned, most of them will rely on new technology to make them feasible in an mmo (but not all of them).
On a side note, for those that were talking about this, I happen to be one of those guys that managed to get hired by a very "promising" game company based 2500 miles from where I live, with zero formal experience and no inside connections. I spent more than 2 years sending resumes and staying persistent (see annoying), and eventually one random day in October I got a phone call I never really expected to receive. My end of the conversation consisted of "Yes? Yes. Definitely." and "As soon as possible", and I was on a red eye to California for an interview within a week. All I brought with me was a portfolio of what I considered my best design material, and a lot of rehearsed answers to questions I hoped they would be asking me. Despite almost passing out in the middle of the third interview from lack of sleep and food, I guess they liked what I had enough to call me back the next day and offer me a job.
They needed me to move fast (I now know why), so I was in my ridiculously overpacked car and headed west within 20 days of getting the green light. I knew it was going to be a long trip when my old ass car barely made it over the mountains in Tennessee, and things got really bad when a deranged homeless guy threatened to stab me one night at a gas station outside of Oklahoma City because he thought I stole his watch (despite the fact that I wasn"t even wearing a watch).
My radiator finally blew in the middle of the desert near Barstow (there were no bats, thank God), so that set me back a little. I didn"t really have the money to stay in hotels, so aside from sleeping for about 4 hours at a rest stop in Memphis and another 2 hours at a gas station in New Mexico I made the drive from Virginia to California straight through. By the time I limped into Escondido I was literally sweating coffee and probably as deranged as the homeless guy that tried to stab me.
I didn"t know a soul west of Colorado, and I didn"t have time to find a place to live before I left, so I hit up craigs list at a public library as soon as I got there, looking for a place to rent a room. I lucked out and found a place fast, and ended up moving in with a surfer guy, a hippie chick and a strange, portly guy named Damon who bought random shit like ladders from his brother in China and sold them outside of Lowes.
I won"t go into details about the job or the company itself, but whoever said working for a mmo gaming company was a lot like working at a normal corporation wasn"t exactly correct- at least not the company I worked for. To be sure, I quickly found many of the things Gecko mentioned earlier to be true. The industry as a whole was a hotbed of nepotism- this was painfully obvious. The egos in play and the drama they induced on a daily basis were epic in proportion. There were grudges between some of the old hands that had been festering for years, and the dogmatism, backstabbing and insidiousness that was borne from these grudges constantly ground the game's progress to a halt. Scandal, both game-related and personal, was so common that the people who had been in the business even a relatively short time barely even noticed it. No idea was safe, and no job secure. It was kill or be killed, and no pretense about it.
On the other hand, I got to meet and work with some of the most creative and talented people in the business- famous (and infamous) people who were literally legends of the mmo industry. There were certainly some of the most petty, egotistical people I had ever met in that company, but there were also some of the coolest, most professional, down to earth and genuinely good people I have ever known there as well. And even though people sometimes lost sight of it, the work itself was a blast. It's the one job I've had I actually looked forward to going to. The freedom, creativity and sheer potential of "what might be" made it all worth it in my book.
And while I'm certainly far from some kind of expert now, I feel like I learned an incredible amount about how mmo's are made, how a game company is run, and just the industry as a whole, in the relatively short time I was there. I had a completely fresh perspective, coming in with zero previous knowledge and no personal grudges or preconceptions, and I think that's what enabled me to view the experience in such a broad scope. That, and the fact that I was ultimately a very small fish in a very big pond, and I made it my mission to involve myself in all aspects of the company, and to do a lot more listening and watching than talking.
I sacrificed a lot to pull up 28 years of roots at home and leave my friends and family behind and move 2500 miles away (not to mention leaving behind my girlfriend of 6 years at the time who had to stay behind to finish her last semester in school). Now that its over would I do it all over again? Hell yes. It was an adventure if nothing else. Not just the job, but the whole thing- moving to California, meeting new people, learning to surf~
And yeah, I guess I feel a little like Jack in the movie, when he got "lucky" and won tickets to the Titanic in a poker game. I rolled the dice and felt, honest to God, as stupid as it sounds, like the dream I had to work for a game company had finally come true. I came in full of enthusiasm with a ton of fresh ideas that I knew were good. Working there was as cool as I had imagined, maybe cooler. And despite the fact that it makes me sound like one of the egotistical douchebags I was just lambasting, after getting there I was positive that I had the talent to make it big in the industry. Unfortunately, I did so much watching and listening and waiting for the right time, that when the ship hit the iceberg and went down shortly after I got on, I hadn't put even a fraction of the ideas I had out on the table. To be honest, I don't think it would have much mattered anyway, the voyage was tragically doomed before I stepped aboard, but maybe if I had been more aggressive I would have made more of an impression on the guys that went to other companies, and in doing that opened doors in other places. Who knows?
Anyway, my point is that I'm damn glad I rolled the dice in the first place. While I wish it had turned out to be financially profitable, I gained a hell of a lot from the experience that can't be measured in dollar signs. So my advice to any fellow "industry outsiders" looking to break into the industry is this: If you think you have the balls and the talent- go for it. If it can happen to a random asshole like me, it can happen for you. Be prepared to be extremely persistent, and if you are lucky enough to get an offer, be prepared to make a lot of sacrifices for a very small amount of pay to make it happen. Go into it knowing that it is a kill or kill environment, and that people will fuck you over- repeatedly. Your chance of success is fairly minor, but it is there- especially if you have talent, timing and foresight- and the potential reward for success can be absolutely huge. And if you get in, don't be a wallflower, be assertive. Chances are, you won't have much time to make an impact, so work fast and use the time you've got.
