The Closing of Tabula Rasa – A Warning to the MMO Industry
The closing down of an MMO is a sad event. Thousands of players have just lost the core of their gaming community, and they really have no recourse. I recently wrote two articles about the development history of Tabula Rasa and its final event:
History, Timeline and Post Mortem of Tabula Rasa
The End of Tabula Rasa – Server Shutdown Event
This has to change. The industry is going to suffer, hugely, in the long run if we keep shutting down MMOs and denying people access to their favorite, beloved game.
Unlike non-MMO games, television shows, or most other forms of entertainment, if the creator stops supporting an MMO you completely lose access. For the long term health of the industry, that has to change. Once MMO gamers have had 1 or 2 beloved MMOs shut down on them – and in the fullness of time, that is almost inevitable for most people – they are going to sour on the whole concept.
MMO companies have a few choices available to them, and they need to figure out a way to pick one when they decide to stop running their MMO. This whole idea of shutting MMOs down and hoarding them for whatever “brilliant” business reasons they have is not sustainable.
1) Open source the server code. Let people run their own private servers. Include as part of the license that a server operator can never charge money for access.
2) Release a version of the server source code that allows single player and LAN. At least then people can play it by themselves or with friends.
3) Sell the game… always. Find a buyer, every single time. No matter how cheap you have to go, FIND A BUYER.
Players are going to get fed up eventually and figure it just isn’t worth their time or emotional investment to play a game that can be ripped away at the whims of some corporate bean counters.
At first, players will just refuse to patronize that specific company. This is already happening to NCSoft, as they now have two cancelled MMOs to their name: Auto Assault and Tabula Rasa.
Eventually, this sentiment will translate to the entire industry. How many times can we expect players to just grin and bear it when a game they love and a community they are emotionally tied to just goes up in smoke?
Ultima Online was not released open source IIRC, but people managed to create server emulators that worked quite well. The best roleplaying and the best MMO gameplay I ever experienced was on some Ultima Online private shards.
BTW, how could a game run by such enthusiast and dedicated developers fail???
I am not sure if it can be blamed on Richard Garriott. Maybe on management in general, who knows.
But to be honest, Richard Garriott did nothing really amazing or actually nothing at all since he stepped away from Ultima Online. And I often wonder if it was not rather Starr Long and others who created the game.
Some of the best Ultimas, Underworld 1+2, were not directed by him, but rather Warren Spector, IIRC (!)
Ultima VIII and IX had several issues, U9 made me almost cry, such a sad ending to such a great series. The only good thing about it was the sleazy love story, and well, this tells volumes.
I have no clue what influence RG had on Lineage II and City of Heroes/Villains, but if he had ANY influence, it was either horrible or he had none…
While I am sure there were people who loved this game, I know that it did not get great reviews, and it had a small fan base, obvious from the closing of the game. MMOs cost millions to create and thousands to run, and if there isn’t enough financial support to keep them going they have to close down.
However, I recently saw a report that in light of the current state of the economy that the gaming industry is actually doing quite well. Although I think that a lot of games are suffering in the MMO genre due to the popularity of a few newly released games, although I didn’t find those to live up to expectations either.
I believe that the MMO industry needs something new and exciting. It needs to step away from the cookie cutter clones, and take a chance, otherwise this may be a repeated process with the new games that come out.
I wonder how long anyone would have remained interested in playing TR or any other game with no support and no new content though. It makes much more sense for PvP games to live on in this way (ala Counterstrike 1.6) than a game driven by new zones and items and events.
I’d also be curious to see how player behavior changes when they know the game will never receive another balance patch. Would the weakest class at the time of the cancellation be abandoned entirely? When you’re playing a live game there’s always the feeling that balance will be changing so much that you shouldn’t just chase whatever class is the most powerful at the moment, but if WoW was cancelled right now would anyone ever roll another warlock?
I would roll a Death Knight. You know, having more health and rune power at the end of the fight than at the beginning means you can kill nonstop. Try this with a Warlock or Mage.
I was playing Paladin and Warlock in WoW. The first time I played a Paladin, did not like being a healer in the end, not what I imagined a Paladin to be…
I was much more satisfied with the Warlock. Then they suddenly were tremendously overpowered at certain times, but with WOTLK they got left behind.
Oh my…^^
You are quite right; I would play a “weaker” class if there would be hope for future balances, if I like the style and mechanics of the class. Curiously, I like Paladin-style Hybrids and Necromancer-type Mages the most, while I shun the pure warrior and mage classes usually, regardless which game it is.
Long live Tabula Rasa! I played at the end, but honestly, I don’t think I would have played if it hadn’t been free those last few months. When I quit playing the game about two or three months after its release, I was still enjoying it, but I couldn’t play without my husband. I simply didn’t do enough damage to get anything killed, and his classes were constantly getting nerfed.
So while I was really sad that the game went down, I think it was simply because this was the first MMO that quit on me rather me quitting on it. It was a great shoot-em-up game, and I really liked the look and feel for a sci-fi shooter. The base invasions were phenomenal, and I’ll remember good things about Tabula Rasa! (Except the healing. HAHA.)
Interestingly, Shadowbane is still around, despite being free for over a year now. There’s no in game ads, item stores, or the like supporting it either. It even still recieves patches. As far as I can tell, there’s one or two people still working on it out of love for the game, and the game is so small it doesn’t cost Ubisoft much of anything to keep it going. Presumably they figure the good will they get for keeping it up is worth the small cost they pay.
I think it’s easier for older, smaller games like Shadowbane to survive like this. A newer game like TR would probably have maintained a playerbase much larger than Shadowbane(though still not large enough to be profitable) perpetually, thus costing much more to keep running.
As far as allowing players to set up their own servers after a game is closed down, such a thing will be VERY rare I think. It’s sad, but video game companies(I suspect it’s the publishers rather than the developers) for the most part would rather see their game fade into obscurity than allow somebody to freely distribute it long after it stopped being profitable.
I’ve bloviated about this at (long) length, just a week or so ago. I don’t mind it if MMOs shut down, because to me, it’s a cleansing process, not unlike a failing bank going under. The “too big to fail” or “life support” procedures don’t help the overall health of the genre (or the banking industry).
That said, I would prefer archival access to game so that we don’t keep making the same mistakes as an industry.
Also, as a player, I’d want access to the game because I’ve paid for it and invested play fees in it. As such, I prefer the open source, private server or “standalone final patch” options. I’m partial to the standalone *offline* version because I usually just play solo anyway, but the private server option is probably the best one, as it maintains the multiplayer aspect. (Though I’d still want to be able to play offline; perhaps just set up a “server” on my own machine?)
1) I definitely do not dispute the fact that TR failed in a lot of ways. I address that in one of the two articles. But I know from running online games that simply keeping them running is extremely cheap. Bandwidth and basic hardware maintenance are of neglible cost. Sony has demonstrated the ability to turn a profit off low population MMOs (Matrix Online and many others) by bundling subscriptions into one all access pass. NCSoft definitely had this option available to them. But regardless, TR definitely had thousands of people who cared deeply about the game. Ripping it away and giving them NO WAY to play the game at all is just cruel, and bad for the industry.
2) I imagine usage would indeed fade if people knew there would NEVER be a content patch. But at least then it would fade naturally. If the game ran on fan operated servers, I am sure fans would figure out ways to make patches. That’s how mod communities keep games like Diablo II exciting and new.
3) Shadowbane: Wow, really? See, that’s impressive. And eventually, when those people keeping that game alive make another game, a ton of appreciative users will flock to it. More importantly, there will not be tens of thousands of angry, bitter gamers who will do ANYTHING THEY CAN to make your next project fail.
I think they are 100% correct, and I bet that will pay divdends in the future if it hasn’t already.
By the way Longasc. Just for you, I included a special link if you click on the picture of Sarah Morrison.
Milawe: “I wonder how long anyone would have remained interested in playing TR or any other game with no support and no new content though. It makes much more sense for PvP games to live on in this way (ala Counterstrike 1.6) than a game driven by new zones and items and events.”
Outsider: “Interestingly, Shadowbane is still around, despite being free for over a year now.”
Milawe you have a good point. I don’t think any game that is reliant on new zones and new content COULD survive having a stop put to its constant updates/expansions. Shadowbane is still alive because it is a PvP driven game that requires no additional content. It’s not just that it’s PvP driven though, it’s also that the game’s intrinsic goal is to build the world, not loot it. You are given a blank slate and simply need to build up your city in what is already there- without the constant need to acquire newer and better gear you don’t run out of things to achieve, and there ends the reliance on new content.
Paying 50$ + Subscription for a game that disappears and leaves you with nothing is a disturbing thought, and I believe that game design that is too expensive to maintain is responsible. The value of what developers are producing is decreasing rapidly as that content is within two years almost completely obsolete. If Tabula Rasa had been a prospect that would have survived on a low number of player subscriptions then it would still be around and we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
The all access pass system seems great from my perspective. Problem is I don’t find Sony’s games very appealing at all. I think you’re right when you say NCSoft could do it and keep less successful games alive that way. I’d consider getting an NCSoft pass, for the right price.
Well aside from the cost of bandwith, ect.. You have to include the pay going out to employees on a monthly basis. Atlhough I’m not sure how many employees they actually had.
I agree that most of the time it’s better to keep an MMO alive through whatever means then close it, the exception would be games like dark and light that were completely crippled by bugs at launch.
Even one or two devs can actually have a good deal of power when it comes to maintaining the game given how powerful mere numeric variable changes can be, and often one guy can have way more “balance” insight then a huge team. Key thing is picking those people and that’s where SOE in particular seems to suffer with their “back catalog” games.
I played Tabula Rasa for a few months and liked it quite a bit. What killed that game is what has killed/crippled alot of MMOs namely the “let’s be like WOW” syndrome. At launch the game was really a cross between starship troopers and diablo in terms of pacing and loot. It was fun to play, alot of that fun went out the window when damage was lowered and you could only get livable gear by running instances over and over….that really marked a huge crash in the playerbase.
And I think that really is the criteria that determines whether a game can succeed as a “back catalog” MMO, whether it is unique enough to maintain a small community, something I don’t see happening with various WOW clones. And if you look at games that still have a small but active following (Shadowbane, A tale in the desert, world war II online, Planetside, Starquest, ect). The main trait they have in common is that they aren’t conventional MMO WOW clones.
@Adele: When I used to work on The Sims there was a legend about how Sims Online was kept running by just one guy, who sat in a server room somewhere and played GM, Community Rep, engineer, and designer. =)
Serith, I think you are pretty right on about Tabula Rasa. They took an action oriented, Diablo like game and tried to make it WoW. They went nerf happy, added tons of annoying status effects, and make it so you had to get full groups to run instances. That’s when we unsubscribed.
The sad thing is, in the final days it was back to the old fun. They made good gear actually drop decently, so you could have fun solo or in a small group. The run and gun action was back, as you slaughtered aliens by the horde. It was awesome. If they had kept that, instead of trying to figure out a way to get people on a painful gear treadmill, the game might never have failed.
When your core gameplay is fun, you don’t need artificial treadmills. My wife and I could have taken and defended bases for years. And the Earth missions they were adding were great as well.
Mike: You wouldn’t happy to know (or be) that one person would you?
Oh, you just added the special link? Because yesterday, I did not get THIS image.
I like naughty girls, they are always good for some funny dialogue. The dialogue in the following pic shows that not even a naughty Succubus can withstand my immeasurable charm: http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/8751/succubusinhell.jpg
The slightly blurry text is due to me playing the game in a not officially supported windowed mode. I ventured literally through hell yesterday to save princess Amelie from the vile dragon Haas. King’s Bounty is just a wonderful and awesome game, so bear with me if I cannot resist promoting it.
The topic here I believe is an important one.
Muckbeast: “When your core gameplay is fun, you don’t need artificial treadmills. My wife and I could have taken and defended bases for years. And the Earth missions they were adding were great as well.”
This gives me hope for MMO’s! I wish I had had the foresight to jump on the Tabula Rasa ship before it was too late! I just wrote an article on how the treadmill style of design (although I didn’t directly refer to it as such) is what’s choking the life out of the industry. Sustainable, enjoyable, and content-preserving game design is what is keeping shadowbane alive, and what it sounds like could have kept Tabula Rasa alive. It really will be a shame if Tabula Rasa is locked away forever, its survival in any form would be beneficial to everyone as an example of a game that had elements that I would consider to be genre-saving.
[...] that has been running through my mind for quite some time so I decided to lay it out. (Click here for the original [...]
I totally agree Longasc. If you keep people locked in via the treadmill, you are really just being cruel imho. Keep people locked in because the content is FUN. That’s what Guild Wars does. That’s what Diablo 2 did. That is what tons of successful games do. Nearly every other genre of gaming keeps people coming back for more purely through the FUN of the game. Why can’t MMOs understand this?
I think it boils down to the subscription model again. MMOs have to maintain servers, so they figured on recurring costs monetized by player subscriptions. On the surface of it, it’s a fairly simple and pragmatic decision, but the unintended consequences of the model have wound up begetting grind, warping the industry, and ultimately, draining much of the fun.