The time has come and gone to talk about if an MMO on the console would work.  Not only have their been several released already, but we’re slated to get not one or two, but at least three in the coming year or so.  Whether you think it’s a good idea or not, they’re coming.

So instead, lets talk a little about the major challenges these mmo developers face, in bringing this genre to the living room.  And I’m going to start right away by departing from what the traditional theory on this seems to be, and say I don’t believe it’s the control scheme.

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When I began using twitter, I cast my net pretty wide.  I didn’t want to just follow gamers and game developers, but I wanted to include virtual worlds in general, both developers and participants.  And because I’ve only recently begun to embrace social media (at least in its current context), I’ve also followed a number of people that are making their living in that expanding industry.  And I have to say, I’m glad I did.  Because it’s resulted in a substantial broadening of my perspectives.   One of  the people I’m following is Rachel Reuben, whom makes her living as the director of web communications at a university in New York.  She had an excellent write up last week with respect to how timely do you need to be in monitoring your social media presence.  The short answer being, of course, very. 

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As a follower of things MMO related, one of the things I hear over and over again is that there is no innovation in MMO’s.  That it’s all the same ‘ol grind.  For those people I just have to say — you’re not paying attention.  Or, you’re not playing.  Almost every game that comes out expands the genre in some interesting way, or takes it in a slightly different direction.  The innovation may be more evolutionary than revolutionary, but I think in the end that’s what you want.  There were quite a few new titles and expansions in 2008, and all of them brought some great new things to the world of MMO’s.  I’m going to talk about what I think where some of the biggest advancements, and things I think you’ll see in future titles.

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So last week I wrote up a little piece about microtransactions, and the increasing role we’re seeing them play in MMO’s.  At the heart of much of that discussion was my reluctance, for a variety of reasons, to consider virtual items as real merchandise.  But then something happened this past week that has broadened my perspective on that very notion.

You see, a friend of mine was robbed.

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We’re entering into our final weeks here at Ensemble Studios.  I’ve been here for over 8 years.  In the game industry, that kind of tenure is almost unheard of.  But at Ensemble, there were a number of people that had been here even longer.  That’s how good of a company it was.  I came here back in 2000 with the intention of putting two years into a title, finishing Age of Mythology, and moving on.  And here I am in 2009, leaving only by virtue of the fact that Microsoft has decided our headcount would be better served in Redmond Washington.  But with the closing of every door, new doors open, and I’m actually looking quite forward to 2009.  However though, in the spirit of fond remembrances, here’s my list of… (drumroll please!)

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So I thought I’d start today as I often do — with a caveat.  I’m recovering from a cold right now and taking a variety of medications, so feeling a tad light-headed.  If I seem even more obtuse than normal, I blame the meds.

I’ve noticed that you can’t swing a dead cat these days on any MMO news site without hitting another story about the growth of microtransactions as a growing viable revenue model for MMO’s.  Indeed, Michael Zenke in a recent column for Gamasutra even went so far as to proclaim that 2008 was the death of the subscription model, and that western gamers were perfectly comfortable paying for microtransactions.  While I don’t necessarily agree with the extent to which Mr. Zenke proclaims microtransactions are shaping the world of MMO billing, you certainly have to agree that there have been a number of recent developments all pointing to the growing consideration of microtransactions.  Some of the more notable of these include Sony’s launch of Station Cash, which is quite literally an item mall for EQ and EQ2; Turbine’s hiring of a “microtransactional manager”, a position which it sounds like even they are hard pressed to define, but has the right catch-phrase right in the title, and most notably EA’s “sort of” announcement (and prompt retraction) that microtransactions would play a signficant role in SW:TOR’s method of billing.  So it would appear if you believe all the press, the writing is on the wall for a new era of MMO billing. 

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