Like all media, the MMORPG world is currently in a state of hype oversaturation. Seriously speaking, a game can be thrown in our faces only so many times before disinterest steps in. Now, don't get me wrong here, hype as a concept is fine and dandy, how else would we learn about upcoming products than through advertising and promotion? I myself am very keen on being one of the "first in the know" about unreleased titles and there is no better place to find new information than the internet. However, I like to label hype into three categories, "good hype","bad hype" and "heinous hype"(Yes, I am a certified genius.). I've summarized the three categories below:
Good hype is the sort of stuff you actually want to see, new screenshots, gameplay videos, indepth features, you know the stuff, its the sort of material that gives you more insight into the game, but leaves you hungry for more.
Bad hype is the kind of stuff you may even browse through, but in general don't find very stimulating, if one would want to commonize the term, I guess it could be changed into "lame hype". This is the sort of "information" studio and developer PR people come up with to justify their paychecks. One annoying example of bad hype are the continuously emerging forum "round-ups". Yes, it is good to have a centralized base for gathering information about a game, however when there are tens if not hundreds of different compilations on a given forum, most of which share the same content, it all becomes a bit pointless. To summarize this up, bad hype is irrelevant information that nobody really gives a toss about and recycling of already released material.
Heinous hype, this is where it gets interesting. To experienced MMO followers, Vanguard hype, Darkfall hype and God's and Heroes hype should say enough. Heinous hype is sort of like a neurotic toxin in Verdana font form, even a tiny sprinkle of this deadly substance can flip a promising title belly-up. Heinous hype consists of lies, exaggeration, false promises and fabricated scenarios. I don't think anybody would argue that deceiving and lying to your potential customer base is a good form of marketing. Yet heinous hype is being put out daily. If I were to lie to a customer at work that the software he is considering to buy has a feature which it actually does not include, I would most probably be fired. Yet studio executives and PR reps are cheered on when they blabber-mouth about non-existent features and outright lie to the gaming public about their product. I just hate heinous hype!
Why does bad PR exist then? I think heinous and bad hype is fueled by the heated competition in the MMO market. Before you could put out almost anything and people would still play it as there were not very many alternatives available. Today, there is a MMO for almost every niche market out there, and the MMO community has matured into a very critical and demanding audience. This means that developers are pressured to come up with new ideas and to exaggerate the merits of their product to keep up interest in their game. The media also plays a large part in the production of bad hype. There is so much competition for exclusive content in the games media these days(Countless sites, magazines and TV-shows are toughing it out to get a larger audience.), that the editors are encouraged to publish whatever they get their hands on. This leads to outrageous claims made by executives and PR people "in the heat of the moment" being published to the public as news, which is certainly a bad thing. Once what you've said has been labeled as a fact, the pressure to keep up appearances is enormous, even if what you put out of your mouth was an outright lie. I personally think there have been cases where precious development time was lost on a given title, because a bigmouthed PR guy promised a feature to the public and the dev team needed to work on that particular feature for the next public demo/video release. Developer executives should really watch their mouth when out in public, rather than pushing their development team to cover for their PR failures.
I don't know what you all think about my rant, but here in Finland the PR crowd is affected by the general nordic business mentality; "Be honest, down-to-earth and respectful to your customer base." I personally like this model, why be outrageous and deceitful when you can be humble and honest.
User Comments
I do think we hear 'too much-too soon'. We form judgements based upon rumor, leaked info, and media spin.
We (the overall MMO community) find a way to love/hate a game a year prior to beta.
I agree with the article. Nice write up.
Hrothmund, I love your description of Finland's PR crowd. That's for me. Is there room in Finland for one more?
I'd guess that hype exists because it works. MMOs are fundamentally about wish fulfillment, so the companies have become like barkers on Sunset Strip, trying to yell louder than the other companies to attract people who are all about their own enjoyment. It's not important that what they say is true, only that what they say is appealing to the dreamers that are their customers.
Me, I just want to know what buttons I'll be pressing and what happens when I do. If it's sufficiently involved, I'll give it a try. I don't care about screenshots, concept art, developer interviews or hype about classes, races and how customizable my character is. Other people do, so the hype calls to them.
If somebody hyped the gameplay to me, I'd bite. At least nibble. Because my wish fulfillment has to do with applying myself in a fantasy environment, not watching animations and flashing lights.
Perhaps people focused on humility and honesty can't hear the hype.
Good article.
I agree with you on some points and dissagree on others.
People who work in PR really know how to get the word out and to who the word is going to. That being said, it's somewhat scary how fast announcements can travel, especially across the internet. However, to hype something, you have to be interested in it. PR goes to people who would be interested in their product, thus, that creates some hype. Agree.
I agree with you on most hype issues relating to previous and post-hype games. I mean if Blizzard told the public they were releasing a Diablo III two years from now you could be expect some hype, howerver, that hype accelerates over time.
However, I disagree with the fact that some companies get the hopes up of players. You have to get hope to give it up, otherwise, there is no action that lets you down. If i'm interested in WoW itself but not interested in another WoW expansion that contains 5 new jobs, then that is nobody's fault. Some games will appeal to an audiecnce, and that audience will find the details of the aspects of the game. The only time I can ever think of MMOs that got my hopes up were games that I was looking forward to, or playing in a beta stage and then they got canceled. (SEE: Tales of Eternia Online)
Developers love hype, they can't get enough. This is partly why they release Open Betas or Invite Betas. Beta tests create the most hype out of all hype types(tounge twister lol~). When was the last time you got so excited about an open beta game, and you couldn't wait until an offical release however, when they released it officially, it sucked ass? Yes, that''s happened to me on more than *counts*.... i'll get back to you on that.
To sum it up: Hype is really just a tool that gets abused way too often(plus, I hear the phrase way too much nowadays)
For big game publisher, they care about their money more than their games. As long as a game or type game will generate profit, they would rather invest money into those types of games that will make profit rather than new ideas game. That's why they mostly like to fund projects ideas that are out there, and people will like to try (at least).
New ideas are risky business because they either stand out as unique innovative or go down in flame. If they break through, many will soon follow. If they go down, people will always blame this and that rather than encouraging new but failed ideas.
I played WoW for about 9 months; the game is entry level game in-terms of gameplay and visual effect. Its success is partly because of Blizzard's large fan base from previous titles and partly is the game easy to start and enjoy some fun.
Many people look at WoW as a sample of MMO game because of its subscription rate; however, does this mean it's a good game? Not to me, at least. I am older generation MMO gamers, I like the game to be more sand-box or open-ended style.
Just like Ultima Online, its complex crafting system, skill base gameplay, single persistent virtual world really shows what the 1st M character in MMO means. It means massive, but massive not only in a way of how many subscribers. It should be massive in terms of game play area, massive numbers of players that can play in 1 single non-instanced area, massive of variety for in game items and game play style. WoW does NOT delivery this to players as good as UO or Asheron's Call.
I really feel the linear, cookie-cutter, easy mode style is for kids or entry level gamers who need some non-complicated games to get started how the games are these days.
If you want extreme open-ended, sandbox style game, try Second life or Entropia Universe. These 2 games have no particular objective, and players can do whatever they want.
If you want a game that's open-ended style with some purpose (e.g. to fight bad guys), try Irth Worlds or wait for Darkfall comes out (if it ever will). Both are very much like UO / AC with 3D game world. Irth Worlds has some issue like sometimes disconnect or crash to desktop, and Darkfall has been in development for 5+ years, and no one knows if ever comes out.
However, these 2 games offer open-ended sand-box style of game play in single presistence world with a complicated crafting system and they are both skill-based (yeah, no character level). You can find info about these 2 games in MMORPG.com game list.
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