"WoW is not a real success" - cites Gaia CEO Craig Sherman.

[dakki-dono]

Hmm, yes, Craig, I'm sure the 13 year olds in african tribes getting their clitorises cut out with rusty razors really have the access and devotion to play your MMO.


800 million teens in the world....there are only 300 million people in america, and face it, most of Gaia is american.


I have no idea what I'm trying to say here, but it's making sense in my head. gonk

[Garland_Morthei]

SuishoMei

Craig said something once along the lines of:

WoW is pay to play and WoW doesn't help hack victims

and gaia does, and its free cool

But, apparently, Gaia will help a pre-teen get back everything after she gives out her password, but if a programing error causes all accounts created in the year 2003 to loose every item in their inventory as well as the avatar itself, they don't lift a finger.

Yeah... because Gaia obviously cares SO much about all it's members.

Oh and also, just for the record, my guild's Lieutenant Guild-master got hacked on WoW. Blizzard recovered her account as it was before the hacking.

[Spazmatron]

Truth be told, WoW isn't a success. Sure, Blizzard made a lot of money. Who could be disappointed with that? But look at it this way, that was 10 million players of all ages. Not just teenagers. Considering there's 800 million teenagers in the world, what about the rest of the people who play? No one could be disappointed with 10 million subscribers, it's a great way to earn money, but think of the server costs, maintenance, paying the copious quantities of employees needed to cater to those subscribers. A lot of the money goes straight back into the game.

Sure, Blizzard make a large profit, but they're a successful company, the game itself is not successful. A lot of the players hate it, but they're in a way addicted. One study claims (sounds a bit ridiculous to me but if it's true, holy hell) that WoW creates a similar reaction as crack. I work in a LAN centre, and the amount of people who play the game but sit there staring at the screen like zombies, while moaning and whining about how bored they are, but they 'have to do this instance' or 'I need to get such-and-such a drop' is astounding. I've had people complain about how utterly crap the game is, but do they play anything else?

People don't seem to realise, that yes, WoW is doing well. For now. You can say, "Nuh-uh, WoW's the best, nothing will ever beat it!" But that's a very flawed idea. WoW stormed the market quickly, and it will just as quickly burn out when a new, bigger and better game comes out. I'm crossing my fingers for WAR.

But as for Gaia, I don't know if their MMO will do as well as WoW has done so far, but I think it'll stand to be a more sustainable game. They already have in excess of five million members, I'm sure they could do fairly well with an MMO as well.

@Garland_Morthei:
Yet one of my customers at the LAN centre I work at got hacked, and he was ignored for six months before he finally got through, and they told him, and I quote, "Tough, you should have been more careful." Despite the fact that he never shared his password or secret answer, and he was extremely careful.

[Mitsuki the ninja]

Wow. Craig Sherman sounds exactly like Alfred Kahn. That quote reminds me SO much of "Kids don't read" or "Japan is dying". rofl

[Neshaka]

Spazmatron

People don't seem to realise, that yes, WoW is doing well. For now. You can say, "Nuh-uh, WoW's the best, nothing will ever beat it!" But that's a very flawed idea. WoW stormed the market quickly, and it will just as quickly burn out when a new, bigger and better game comes out. I'm crossing my fingers for WAR.

Burning Crusade has been in the charts since release, and has never left. Sure, the PC market is slow right now, but a game staying in the charts for over a year is... pretty impressive.
As the first MMORPG to really have any public awareness, it attracts new gamers all the time, who aren't as burned-out on MMORPGs as others.

I wouldn't say it stormed the market quickly, as it was a good couple of years before it gained much attention outside of the core gamer market.

I want warhammer. No wood elves though. ;_:

[Viole]

Spazmatron

Sure, Blizzard make a large profit, but they're a successful company, the game itself is not successful. A lot of the players hate it, but they're in a way addicted. One study claims (sounds a bit ridiculous to me but if it's true, holy hell) that WoW creates a similar reaction as crack. I work in a LAN centre, and the amount of people who play the game but sit there staring at the screen like zombies, while moaning and whining about how bored they are, but they 'have to do this instance' or 'I need to get such-and-such a drop' is astounding. I've had people complain about how utterly crap the game is, but do they play anything else?

XD That sounds really awkward, but I think it's human nature. We too, see users complaining on Gaia every day because they're bored and "nothing ever happens" on the site. And yet, they log on and admit they are "wasting their time". Those kind of reactions and false expectations are naturally stronger if people have to pay (monthly) for the game that is supposed to entertain them. Gameplay has it's own dynamics, so yeah, it may seem like those people are on drugs and doing something they don't even like.

I'm still glad I don't play WoW, and I find Gaia anything but boring.

[Anardana]

The thing about World of Warcrack is that it is actually more niche than people imagine. At least among the people I know it's like Marmite. Either they would inject it into their veins if they could or they would dearly love to see the servers burn.

It's supposed to be quite an addictive game, but personally when I played it I didn't see what all the fuss was about, it's not very original, the game-play isn't different or particularly exciting, the characters are very normal, the outfits, the spells the weapons blah blah blah blah.

To be honest the game bored me completely, the plot line doesn't feel evident until you get up to a highish level and if anything this could eventually lead to its downfall as it needs to keep hooking people to keep that revenue going. It can't really afford to have the new users these adverts are trying to attract start playing and then it be yet another game on their computer that they hardly ever touch because it just isn't engaging enough.

[Anardana]

Garland_Morthei

SuishoMei

Craig said something once along the lines of:

WoW is pay to play and WoW doesn't help hack victims

and gaia does, and its free cool

But, apparently, Gaia will help a pre-teen get back everything after she gives out her password, but if a programing error causes all accounts created in the year 2003 to loose every item in their inventory as well as the avatar itself, they don't lift a finger.

Yeah... because Gaia obviously cares SO much about all it's members.

Oh and also, just for the record, my guild's Lieutenant Guild-master got hacked on WoW. Blizzard recovered her account as it was before the hacking.

Considering that you pay to be on Warcrack at all so they sodding well should. Gaia on the otherhand has no legal responsibility to retrieve anyones hacked items (TOS states all claim to bought items is lost under certain circumstances) so if they do they are being lovely.

[Anardana]

Tao Kai Tze

*cough*
The guys at WoW Insider are not happy bunnies...
Eeep...

Somebody made a very good point there- if Warcraft was free the quality would degrade into something absolutely awful. The fees that people pay monthly help keep the game up and running, help provide new content for players and keeps n00bs out.

1) Give WoW away for free
2) Overload servers with millions of players and no money for upgrades
3) ???
4) Profit!

I've played free MMO's where the quality wasn't all that bad. Not as 3-d as WOW but not as irritatingly pixelated either.

[Predatory Gremlin]

Yes, maybe WoW would get a lot more users if it were free to play and had special Cash items like a lot of others - Maple Story for instance. That seems to be the way things are going, but every new MMO has the same idea and they all have to share the market. There is no one definitive game that everybody wants to play. Maybe Spore or Perfect World are the sort of set up in with a chance.

Hardcore gamers don't want generic. I can't see Gaia Battle being a threat to WoW.

[Gossy]

Predatory Gremlin

Yes, maybe WoW would get a lot more users if it were free to play and had special Cash items like a lot of others - Maple Story for instance. That seems to be the way things are going, but every new MMO has the same idea and they all have to share the market. There is no one definitive game that everybody wants to play. Maybe Spore or Perfect World are the sort of set up in with a chance.

Hardcore gamers don't want generic. I can't see Gaia Battle being a threat to WoW.

I don't know what Perfect World is, but Spore is not an MMO

[Quaterdollarbillcoin]

Shaun Holder

That comment seems wrong on an epic scale, especially out of context.

All 800 million teens (Assuming that value is even close to being correct), don't even have computers. And many adults play that game too. I used to.

And most of the 800 Million teens have not gone outside for years. But you cant compare the two really.

[Makoto_Gin]

That's either a really clever and bold statement to make,or the guy's head is more swoll and full of arrogance than it should be.Warcraft was already cult status back then even though it was a small scale.and with WoW it's getting more attention and it probably will be reasserted as cult status as well.To say that the fact that it has managed to get over 10 million users or more to play across all age groups is a grand feet,to say otherwise would be an understatement when you can't deny how well it has been doing,even compared to other popular MMOs like Everquest and Unreal Tournament.

Then again you have to wonder the reason why he would even make such a comment,I think there's an ulterior motive behind and reason why I said it was clever earlier.

[Wikkid Wildflower]

What I find comical about all of this, is that no one realizes that World of Warcraft has been named the biggest game since PAC-MAN, and the biggest subscription based game in HISTORY.

How is this not successful?

[Sheshira]

Mitsuki the ninja

Wow. Craig Sherman sounds exactly like Alfred Kahn. That quote reminds me SO much of "Kids don't read" or "Japan is dying". rofl

Well Japan is dying. We all are.. life is a terminal illness. wink