I was randomly reading an article about shitposting when I came across a phrase that haunts me. The author referred to 2015 as “what many people would agree was the Last Good Year on the Internet.” Oof. Hurts, right? I’m not sure I’d pick 2015 personally, but I still know exactly what the author means. And I don’t like it, especially when I do the math and realize that while 2015 feels like a few years ago, it was nine!
Every era has a soft ending long before the hard one. Maybe MMOs feel that way to you too. We’ve certainly talked plenty about lost Golden Ages, and it’s not as it we’re bereft of MMOs now, but I bet not a lot of people would say our genre’s best years are still ahead of us. Or would they? Let’s talk about it for this week’s Massively Overthinking as we do here. When was (or will be, if you’re an optimistic sort) the last great year of the MMO genre, and why? And if it hasn’t happened yet, what past year must it surpass?
Andy McAdams: I looked and I really wanted to say “The year when The Secret World came out” because that was the last time I liked an MMO enough to purchase a lifetime sub, and we saw how that went. Despite being a pretty solid MMO with a unique setting, it never did as well as I think it should have, and now we have SWL, which is… all right I guess. But I think 2012 (when TSW launched) is too early for the last great year. But maybe not because I can’t think of a really compelling reason for any reason since then.
As Justin says (below), Legion was great, but I don’t think enough to herald a great year. I loved the crap out of Landmark, and we know how that all went. The rest of it was a blur.
I remember Trove being so fun at lunch, and that was 2015. But again, not really enough to make a “great” year.
Maybe my answer is that we haven’t really had a great year more than a decade? We’ve had good years, passable years, absolute garbage years, but I don’t know about “great.” Pretty damning as a genre from someone who’s primarily game type is MMOs and the last decade at least has been one year of, “meh, it was fine I guess” after another.
Still love the games, and 9/10 times I would rather play an MMO than anything else. But the genre desperately needs an unambiguously Great year. Maybe 2024 will be that year, but… let’s not hold our breath, yeah?
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): Bearing in mind that several of my personal favorite MMOs were released in the 2003-2005 period, I’d probably say that 2014 was the last truly great year, and I cringe to say it because it was the year when we had three major MMORPGs launch and also the year we gave our MMO of the year award to nothing. We had high hopes for all of them, and they were good but not spectacular, and our standards were extremely high, which honestly was a good thing – we deserve high standards. I’m not sure our standards are quite so high now. That said, there have been some really good years since. 2022, honestly, was a killer year because of Guild Wars 2 and Lost Ark. I certainly don’t think we’ll never have good and great years again. We always do.
Incidentally, I realize there’s ambiguity in the question, and that was partly the point. How you choose to read it – whether it’s the last good year we had or the last good year we’ll ever have – is its own kind of answer.
Carlo Lacsina (@UltraMudkipEX, YouTube, Twitch): Cop out, but today is the best time to play games. All the people that made the internet absolutely insufferable during the pandemic are back at work and spending their free time out climbing a mountain or something (probably being insufferable there now too). PSO2 has not one but two playable versions, Black Desert is in top shape, Blizzard just got a chance to reset, Guild Wars 1 is still playable, and City of Heroes just showed that it IS possible to resurrect a sunsetted game. Icing on the cake would be the return of WildStar.
There are two big problems here: There’s the loud majority that need to take a break from MMOs, and there’s the big MMO influencers who need to take more responsibility for their message. Some folks need a break from MMOs. I’m talkin’ cold turkey. They’ve been playing for 20+ years and whining about the genre for 15. I keep getting cringe YouTube videos about people making 30-minute video essays about how “games are boring now” when its pretty clear that it’s ‘cuz they haven’t ever taken a break from games and made a career around playing games. I wonder why they’re bored!
This feeds into the second group: Folks in the MMO space who have some form of power cannot irresponsibly forward a “things are going to hell” message without concrete evidence, not just what the loud majority says. They can’t let themselves get too swayed with emotions; that’s what the loud majority is for. Those who have the power should temper the raw emotion players have into a much more coherent message that’s based on evidence and actual hard truths.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): Look, I get that nostalgia is a hell of a drug and that there are touchstone moments in a person’s life that can be linked to games, but I’m not really convinced we’re past some halcyon age or that things on the horizon are miserable. That’s my optimist story and I’m sticking to it.
However, so as not to completely ignore Bree’s assignment (and thus earn The Look™️), I will admit that the early 2000s felt like a golden age for me on a personal level, particularly as that was the timeframe when Lord of the Rings Online and City of Heroes went live – two MMORPGs that pretty much shaped a lot of my love for the genre. Even moreso than the “greater” sandboxes of EverQuest Online Adventures or Final Fantasy XI, both of which felt incomplete and slapdash in comparison.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): Looking over the timeline, I’d say that the last really great year our industry had in terms of releases was 2016. This was the year that Blade and Soul, The Division, and Black Desert landed in our laps (as well as the cult fave Landmark). Star Trek Online moved into the console space, EVE Online finally rolled out a free-to-play model, and tons of really solid expansions came out such as World of Warcraft: Legion, SWTOR: Knights of the Eternal Throne, and my poor, poor RIFT’s Starfall Prophecy.
Sam Kash (@thesamkash): I’m going to jump on the 2012 train. Guild Wars 2 kind of nails it for me. Although right in that same time frame was WildStar, SWTOR, TSW, and probably more. I think ESO was within a couple of years of that and even the FFXIV relaunch was within a stone’s throw. There was just an incredible 2-to-4 year period where we got some real bangers that continue to this day. Of course there were some great games that didn’t continue, but they weren’t without their fans too.
Tyler Edwards (blog): It seems weird to me to declare a “last great year” as if the genre is already dead and gone. The best years may very likely still be yet to come, especially given the potential for technological advancement.
There does seem to be a persistent perception the genre is in decline, which I also don’t agree with. The genre has matured, which entails some shrinking, but it’s healthier in the long run. I’d rather have a smaller number of games with distinct identities than an endless parade of forgettable trend-chasers.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
