Why the 'playah hatin' against SoR?

[ladattas]

I've noticed SoR seems to effect not really a meter of dissastisfaction or undecidedness as most MMOs do, but rather I've noticed it seems to bring out a love/hate dichotomy. I can imagine there are elements in the game that are like that; especially since I've noticed melee/ranged fighting isn't the 'I WIN' button[then again nor is magic in this game]. Yet, I find any complaints against such different stylings away from the pure soloesque tradition of MMOs not be a viable argument as purported by many SoR-detractors. Personally, I think there might be other reasons for the vitriol against SoR, but I guess I won't know since I came well after the game's fall from grace.

Personally, I think even with this bad rep that SoR has, it will probably outlast a few of its competitors[*coughs* MxO/SWG *coughs*] by far. But I guess I just wanted to ask about the history of behind the bad rep, that I personally see as undeserved, SoR keeps getting attached to...

-- Bridget

[philu]

I'm not sure I understand your reference to a bad rep?

Does Ryzom have a bad rep??

[ladattas]

I'm not sure I understand your reference to a bad rep?

Does Ryzom have a bad rep??

At MMORPG.com it seems to have one despite the high rating. The lowest rating is in gameplay, beyond that it has high marks on GFX, Community, and Etc.

-- Bridget

[kibsword]

I havn't really noticed a bad rep. Sure theres always players who didn't enjoy the game but thats the same with any game tbh.

What I have noticed is that noone has been voting on Ryzom on the mmorpg.com ratings recently, we're just short of 1,000 ratings, and also just short of the front page top 7. The entire voting thing seems to have stagnated since ryzom dropped from the front page last year and noone has been voting on it since (good or bad).

[ladattas]

Luckily, Ryzom has risen on the overall rating at MMORPG.com for the last six months, but I still think the rating system there is skewed since it doesn't seem to follow a decent curve for all games. I remember when it use to have a 7.0 rating. o_O; Personally, I think the problem is that the MMO market still attracts too many kids wanting an "I WIN" button... But that's just me.

-- Bridget

[acridiel]

I agree with you Bridget.
The Game whose Idiome shall not be mentioned, has e rather more "I win" Strukture, but even there people complain. Just a few Minutes ago I read such a complaint, that some of the new Instances were "too hard to do" and "not even with 10 people you can beat the new Bosses" etc.etc...
It´s just as I´ve always hated about MMOs and LARPs.
People don´t want to do anything for their succses, they want it the "easy way", they want it the proverbial "silver plate" and they want it NOW!!!

SoR attracts the more timid players, who´d rather have a "real" Gameplay, than a "I beat everything to a pulp in 2 minutes and pwn the Uberboss in 5 solo Grrztz L337!!" Gamecrowd.
It´s a niche product that has its own followers and that has its own "sexapeal" to these.
Humans are a difficult lot. You just can´t give everyone what he wants. And in our Multimedial Information Society most people want to have ALL just NOW!!! They want the Kick, they want the WIN, they want the PWN!
It´s just what E-Sports are all about. Gaming is an Industry with its own laws and Icons. And you can´t be Fatal1ty, he´s unique, even if you name your Char after him. But people want to be. And they´ll keep trying.
Here there´s a slower pace, a more level headed approach to Gaming in its original sense. Here Gaming still means "to play WITH others", not "against all others".
Trouble is Kids and most other people today, don´t know Gaming from Pwning.
So, no wonder we may have not the best ratings.
Kids see a Game they actually have to "learn" something to play it.
So it´s no good. Just because you can´t WIN in a moments spur.
*shrug*
Well, I´m pretty happy the way it is, appart from having not enough time to "play"

CU
Acridiel

[dazman76]

Also regarding those rankings, I think they have now outlived their usefulness for most games. I recently gave RF Online a try - while I found a bunch of stuff I really didn't like, I wouldn't have gone to MMORPG.com and hammered it with a low rating. However, people did just that - effectively giving it a 6 rating IIRC, I would have said 7 maybe myself

It's a shame they even have those polls/ratings IMO, because they rarely reflect an actual view of the game. You have your extremes - the 'fanboy' (I usually avoid it but it was required for the example ), and the 'hater'. Those guys are both going to post a review that is as useful as a chocolate fire guard, one of absolute gaming bliss, and the other of grinding and lag and grinding and lag and not much else - neither review helps the reader in any way.

When people write reviews and comments on "teh intahweb", they lose some control compared to face-to-face conversation and discussion (no I'm not guilty of this.... honest...). Some will type quickly and their ugly thoughts will spew straight out. Others will sit and type, read, edit, and bundle even more in there as they go. I'm "No.2", and if I'm making a positive post that's a good thing. If I'm making a negative one, it can turn out quite evil when I re-read it - not the intention, but just the effect of going back over your points and re-emphasising where you feel you need to.

One of the problems here, is that if these people have a genuinely bad experience - be it the fault of the game, or the fault of the player - they really want to make themselves heard, even if their opinion really isn't worth sharing. Public forums/polls make this possible, with the intention of helping others - more often than not, they help nobody, as everyone should make their own impressions of the game by playing it themselves A really bad review could stop someone going past the login screen, when in actual fact they needed that last click to allow the game to sell itself. A lot of people who never even try a game based on hearsay would love the game to bits, if only they tried it

I rarely give much thought to reviews and polls like this, but I do appreciate that some people base all of their buying decisions on reviews, and I think there's little anyone can do to change that, sad as it is. This is particularly avoidable where a trial or demo exists, which in essence is virtually every PC game (demo at least). Whether or not this is bad boils down to Nevrax' point of view - the high influx of new players recently is mainly down to SWG players leaving (hello guys ), and I think under normal circumstances Ryzom is a special case in terms of people picking it up. It's either word of mouth from existing players, or it's players who are looking for something slightly different to the norm, and have chosen Ryzom for reasons of storyline, setting, style etc.

I think, unless Nevrax need to multiply their player base by 2 or 3 times to satisfy their financial requirements, Ryzom will continue to live happily. The game can do without those who blindly follow reviews, for now at least Of course, we have yet to see the implications of the Spires development, so no quoting me

[dazman76]

has e rather more "I win" Strukture, but even there people complain.

NO WAI!!11!!OneHundredAndEleventyOne!
I had to click my I WIN button TWICE?!?!??!?! NERF!
PS all huntahs are nubs!

Disclaimer: This is not a real post from the W forums, but it may as well be I decided not to include the later parts where it goes downhill, and people start with the parent/family insults...

SoR attracts the more timid players, who´d rather have a "real" Gameplay, than a "I beat everything to a pulp in 2 minutes and pwn the Uberboss in 5 solo Grrztz L337!!" Gamecrowd.
It´s a niche product that has its own followers and that has its own "sexapeal" to these.

Acridiel, if only we could burn these words onto the title screen... I like it when you make a point, but the fact that you can do it in 6000 less words annoys me EDIT: In fact, if I was an 'old quote in forum sig' person, I'd be quoting that part right now

[shioku]

Well, thats what I was thinking. I came to the site to figure out if I would want to play the game. "Eh, I guess ill give it a try, I hate stupid mid-evil crap nowadays." so I started to download. I use to get all my game info from MMORPG (Changed that quick XD) so I decided to go there and read what they had. The review sucked. I can't complain how much they disgrace the game. "Oh the grafics are superb, but there is no sound." YOU MAKE A GAME LIKE THIS AND SEE IF MUSIC IS YOUR FIRST PRIORITY! You can't give everything everyone wants in one release, thus patches/episodes/chapters, thats what they are for. You have to wait if you want something good and thats what im going to do. Im gonna play, and im going to wait, cause I know this game will come out splended in the end and will be one of the most played MMO's ever.

[ladattas]

YOU MAKE A GAME LIKE THIS AND SEE IF MUSIC IS YOUR FIRST PRIORITY!

LOL! But, seriously, music is easy to find online and I don't mean the copies of Pop Music on Shareaza. In fact, I think dmusic and download .com has a few new age/space rock bands that would fit in the scenery of Atys. Not to mention you can use the freely available world music as well for that more nature feeling.

I sorta got a general theme for each race/ecology.

Matis: Some light classical music, almost mathematical but still natural sounding[no synth classical styles here..].

Zorai: Some moody world music, or possibly Jungle styled dance[just cause bass works out well for the jungle scenery].

Tryker: Possibly any genre, not sure yet....

Fyros: More world music with a middle eastern styling, maybe some Turkish instrumentals.

You can't give everything everyone wants in one release, thus patches/episodes/chapters, thats what they are for. You have to wait if you want something good and thats what im going to do. Im gonna play, and im going to wait, cause I know this game will come out splended in the end and will be one of the most played MMO's ever.

Even Blizzard with WoW is admitting 'defeat' to the idea of the initial release being the only content available. Atleast, Ryzom's content patches have been more toward agumenting the current world rather than completely adding a new world to the existing one. Which I find more pleasing and less gimped[AC1 had some gimped zoned back in the day...].

Also, one thing that really makes SoR stand out is how the NPCs react. For example, the gingos and ragus tend to group into packs, but unlike the packs/herds of herbivores, they tend to operate more loosely. I've had many a gingo/ragus circle me to have two others hit me on the sides. Maybe, I'm stupid, but I do watch on the radar how the behavior is very much concerted rather than a random walk pattern. That's one plus SoR has and I wish more players would promote that. It's way better than the current 2nd generate MMOs with the same pseudo-random walkpaths.

-- Bridget