Tabula Rasa, now with no FUN!

[Ratman_tf]

Ah, poor Tabula Rasa. Your daddy went off into space and left you to die.

[Lantyssa]

It did have fun moments and beta, which they made sure to properly stomp into the ground in the name of grind.

[Sir T]

Well I'm off to play some TR while I still can 

(which is the proper attitude to a game you found fun ending, imo)

[Ghambit]

I still really dont understand why they have to end live service.  Can anyone here educate me on the "logical reasoning" behind this?  One small box in the corner of someone's basement could probably handle the load necessary for this game.   

[Venkman]

They don't own the bandwidth between their datacenters and their clients. Every MMO has some type of dedicated staff to it (MMO yet has been run entirely on autopilot afaik, as none are ever that level of stable). Hardware gets obsolete and needs to be replaced. Billing, account management, credit checking, and credit card processing all require people, money or both. Then there's whatever TR contributed to the NC mothership money-wise.

A lot of these are fixed costs because they're budgeted ahead of time. I have no idea what those costs are, but the structure of them and the business relationships behind them are used in comparison to the number of accounts these games get. NC probably projected their retention/attrition curve through 2009 and realized nothing would help them grow the game to break even much less make profit.

[Ingmar]

Stick a fork in it.

http://www.rgtr.com/news/latest_news/message_from_the_tabula_rasa_t.html

Auto Assault lasted longer than TR

It was more fun too. 

[Baldrake]

Well thank goodness we still have Darkfall to look forward to...

[TheCastle]

Here is what they should do.
Quadruple experience point gain on everything
Increase drop rates for everything to 90-100%
Nerf most monsters that were designed for you to need a group to kill

Resale it as a single player game in bargin bins around the world.
Say it fully supports coop on a lan!
hehe

[Ghambit]

CC/account services dont cost anything.  They're lumped in with the monthly fee (just like a CC company takes a chunk of your profits if you're a vendor).  There's no need for a development studio to undertake that responsibility unless they just want to increase their profit margin.  If they dont have PLAYERS then that margin works against them; i.e. they're topheavy... and end up losing more just maintaining the service.  Like many of us have said before, it's better to sub-contract it out.

As for QA/CS; smart companies offset costs for that using robust forums, online manuals, and voluntary CS from the playerbase.  I.e.  it costs NOTHING.

Networking these days is a dynamic thing... it costs what it costs depending on how many people you have sending/giving packets.  Ultimately, it's free because your playerbase is flitting the bill.

I've been in a gaming community that runs more servers and handles more players 24-7 than most MMOs, and it's even slightly profitable (and been running longer then any mmo out there)... yet really cheap for the players and well worth their monthly investment.  We have a level of automation and service that's above and beyond most any MMO I've seen, let alone quality of gameplay.   Now, we cant be serious in thinking a 100+ million $$ project cant hold a candle to a bunch of gaming dorks.  There's just no excuse for this other than greed.  They dont see dollar-signs so they just say "phuck it."  Breakeven isnt enough for these guys.  They care nothing of legacy, the creative aspect, or the IP itself... or else they'd just make due and leave the servers up.

All that hard work and beautiful code is just lost... and that to me is totally unecessary.  The information contained therein should never turn vapor after it's been produced.  It should be allowed to exist on its own accord at the whims of its users.  This is the point of digital age we live in and the games/MMOs we play.  Why fight it?  Just let it live on.

[sam, an eggplant]

I called it back in the schadenfreude thread. Before you say it, yes, this does make me fucking Nostradamus.

NC needs to show decisive action being taken to shore up their bottom line. Whether dropping TR makes sense short/mid-term or not is debatable (long-term it was clearly a loser), my guess is that they had no choice. They're almost out of all that lineage money and have almost entirely failed to make an impact in the western world. Only guild wars could be termed a success.

[Mrbloodworth]

The closing of this game is a shame.

[tolakram]

Breakeven isnt enough for these guys.

Wow that was insightful. 

Quoting pieces:

- CC/account services dont cost anything.  They're lumped in with the monthly fee

- As for QA/CS; smart companies offset costs for that using robust forums, online manuals, and voluntary CS from the playerbase.

- Networking these days is a dynamic thing... it costs what it costs depending on how many people you have sending/giving packets.  Ultimately, it's free because your playerbase is flitting the bill.

- There's just no excuse for this other than greed.  They dont see dollar-signs so they just say "phuck it."

Companies are in business to make money.  Just saying.  You can't secure funding for new projects unless you can show someone you can make money.  I don;t knwo what to think of the rest of your post, but it sounds wacky.

[Baldrake]

The issue is really opportunity cost. TR has a live team associated with it. They're presumably looking at the money they're spending and the revenue it's earning them, and figuring they can make more deploying those dollars (or won for that matter) elsewhere. It has nothing to do with how cheaply your gamer group can run a server farm.

[HaemishM]

They care nothing of legacy, the creative aspect, or the IP itself... or else they'd just make due and leave the servers up.

No, they don't, because it's a BUSINESS. It wasn't created to be some ideal of art, it was created to make money for people who aren't making any money.

Do you realize just how much overhead costs a one or two server MMOG has? More than is worth incurring just to keep geeks happy.

All that hard work and beautiful code is just lost... and that to me is totally unecessary.  The information contained therein should never turn vapor after it's been produced.  It should be allowed to exist on its own accord at the whims of its users.  This is the point of digital age we live in and the games/MMOs we play.  Why fight it?  Just let it live on.

This isn't the digital age. It's the disposable age.

[Lum]

CC/account services dont cost anything.  They're lumped in with the monthly fee (just like a CC company takes a chunk of your profits if you're a vendor).  There's no need for a development studio to undertake that responsibility unless they just want to increase their profit margin.  If they dont have PLAYERS then that margin works against them; i.e. they're topheavy... and end up losing more just maintaining the service.  Like many of us have said before, it's better to sub-contract it out.

Very few publishing companies will ever want to subcontract out their revenue stream outside of their control, especially if they want to operate any sort of economy of scale (multiple games, direct e-commerce box sales, etc). Not to mention that "15% or 20% of every dollar you bring in" is probably not "free" by many definitions.

As for QA/CS; smart companies offset costs for that using robust forums, online manuals, and voluntary CS from the playerbase.  I.e.  it costs NOTHING.

North American MMO companies have undergone (and lost) lawsuits when trying to turn over paid labor to a 'volunteer' labor pool. And very, very few people will volunteer to do actual QA (as opposed to "demoing a game") as it can be mind-destroyingly boring trying to replicate bugs.

Ultimately, it's free because your playerbase is flitting the bill.

Well, by that argument *everything* is free, because you can just charge someone for it.

I've been in a gaming community that runs more servers and handles more players 24-7 than most MMOs

Given your other statements, that's an interesting claim to make.

The information contained therein should never turn vapor after it's been produced.  It should be allowed to exist on its own accord at the whims of its users.  This is the point of digital age we live in and the games/MMOs we play.  Why fight it?  Just let it live on.

(inhales sharply) Information wants to be FREEEEE, man...

[Lantyssa]

That's some good shit, man.  Pass it along?

[Venkman]

They care nothing of legacy, the creative aspect, or the IP itself... or else they'd just make due and leave the servers up.

*yawn*. Your 60s-era info-freedom screed is cute and all, but what you really want to do is scrape together a few million dollars, build a staff, build a game, watch it grow, then watch it decline, then watch your projected profits turn into projected losses, and then come here and say you'd turn it over to the fans for self-publishing just because you like them oh so much. Or heck, just go get a job in a large company running multiple projects to understand how middle and upper management make these sorts of decisions and why.

It's easy to talk when it ain't your dough you're talking about. This is not some pipe dream you solve with Amazon Cloud and Google Lively's old servers and shit.

[Tale]

They don't have official forums, so here's as good a place as any:

Thank you to the people who worked on Tabula Rasa. I am entertained. I get it. I'll miss it. Good luck, I hope bigger and better opportunities come your way, and thanks again.

[Modern Angel]

As for QA/CS; smart companies offset costs for that using robust forums, online manuals, and voluntary CS from the playerbase.  I.e.  it costs NOTHING.

You are the biggest tool to come around in a good long while.

[Pendan]

SOE has a reputation of keeping a game around no matter how unpopular it is. NC is developing the reputation of closing games down that are not popular enough. That could be a problem for NC.

[Kageru]

SoE keeps dead games around to bulk out their "station pass" or whatever its called (access to all SoE games). So I guess one more title looks good even if its moribund.

I enjoyed TR, the gameplay was different and the world was quite fun to explore. No reason to reach the level cap combined with a high xp curve and repetitive mechanics sucked the fun out. If the developers had the money / will to keep building at a decent pace it may have lived but clearly they were constrained.

[UnSub]

TR was the first MMO to come out with a bigger budget than WoW.

If it wasn't the size of the budget that made WoW what it is today, I'm stumped how any MMO can succeed.

[FatuousTwat]

Quadruple experience point gain on everything
Increase drop rates for everything to 90-100%
Nerf most monsters that were designed for you to need a group to kill

So turn to back to what it was before they fucked it up at the end of beta?

[TheCastle]

TR was the first MMO to come out with a bigger budget than WoW.

If it wasn't the size of the budget that made WoW what it is today, I'm stumped how any MMO can succeed.

I doubt anyone will ever see the success of WOW. I think it is safe to say that we are reaching a point where WOW is ingrained into our gaming culture to such a point that the standards of what we might consider a genre life cycle might not apply. Who knows.. *shrugs*

A next generation multiplatform MMOG taking full advantage of the next line up of console technology might be the first chance we can see WOW begin to actually lose some ground in a meaningful way. Stylized or not it will be very difficult for the aged WOW 3d engine to compete with next gen 3d engines and hopefully more streamlined design pipelines. Edit: This is also provided that the next line up of consoles don't all cost 500 bucks or something really glaringly dumb like that...

Quadruple experience point gain on everything
Increase drop rates for everything to 90-100%
Nerf most monsters that were designed for you to need a group to kill

So turn to back to what it was before they fucked it up at the end of beta?

haha
I say if your MMOG is going to die anyway. what do you have to lose right?
edited this post like 20 times 

[Sir T]

They don't have official forums, so here's as good a place as any:

Thank you to the people who worked on Tabula Rasa. I am entertained. I get it. I'll miss it. Good luck, I hope bigger and better opportunities come your way, and thanks again.

The people that worked on and the GMs of TR post on http://www.planettr.com/forums/index.php which is pretty much the de facto official forums, so you can post there if you want and they will read it.

[Venkman]

TR was the first MMO to come out with a bigger budget than WoW.

TR was the sum total of two different game development budgets though 

[Slyfeind]

I doubt anyone will ever see the success of WOW. I think it is safe to say that we are reaching a point where WOW is ingrained into our gaming culture to such a point that the standards of what we might consider a genre life cycle might not apply. Who knows.. *shrugs*

They said the same thing about EQ.

fwiw....

[Modern Angel]

I doubt anyone will ever see the success of WOW. I think it is safe to say that we are reaching a point where WOW is ingrained into our gaming culture to such a point that the standards of what we might consider a genre life cycle might not apply. Who knows.. *shrugs*

They said the same thing about EQ.

fwiw....

Yeah, but I think this is the year that the mainstream MMO died. You've got this Star Wars project, sure, but even a year or two ago there were a zillion "AAA" titles in development. They've all fallen flat on their faces. Either this is the year where investors start pulling their money altogether or companies finally stop competing with WoW on WoW's terms. I don't know what the latter might entail but I think AoC and WAR being total fucking failures after all the hype and a market where pulling people from WoW has never been better might finally force some changes.

Me, I'm fucking done with them except for WoW. I'm sick of shit games run by shit companies and shit people.

[Venkman]

This was the year of zombie mainstream titles dying. WAR, TR and AoC were started long enough ago that it is understandable they were built on older conventions and somewhat forgivable that the companies didn't truly yet get what they were up against with WoW. Any project started since 2006 though are the ones at the biggest risk. This is why I have been thinking for a few years now that the only way WoW gets dethroned is when the metric for success changes. There probably won't be another AAA monthly-fee based immersive 3D diku-inspired world that gets close to as many subscribers. Instead it'll be some part of that equation no longer deemed a requirement for success.

I'm not talking about games that are so different as to be incomparable as businesses. Rather, I'm thinking the next generation of gamers (todays tweens and young teens) will redefine the successes of "MMO" around things they're used to. Unlike the industry for which WoW was released and now dominates, these gamers grew up on the Internet, really never played D&D to any degree (why? there's plenty of acceptable mainstream methods for escape now), are social all the time in their form, and are too into multitasking to so specifically target one single game experience.

Companies now get what type of resources it truly takes to make a post-EQ1 era game for the hardcore gamer like us ("casual" in this medium is still hardcore by normal measure). Further, we're only getting older and less interested in anything south of WoW quality (the very essence of "discerning"). We're not a growth opportunity when its patently obvious what kind of game we want and what it takes to make it.

[Zzulo]

WoW will be dethroned when someone makes a better game. I think AoC was a better game, but most of it was missing at launch for example. Silly funcom ruined something potentially awesome.

almost every single MMO on the market right now is no fun (except eve, and most people still think eve is no fun). Now we have to wait forever until a new potential winner shows up

rawr

[Venkman]

Somewhere close to 13mil people disagree with you  It's ok to be a market of fun as long as you realize the folly of saying something like "almost every single MMO on the market right now is no fun" without adding "to you".

[SnakeCharmer]

WoW will be dethroned when someone makes a better game. I think AoC was a better game, but most of it was missing at launch for example. Silly funcom ruined something potentially awesome.

almost every single MMO on the market right now is no fun (except eve, and most people still think eve is no fun). Now we have to wait forever until a new potential winner shows up

rawr

Why does it have to beat WoW's numbers to be a winner?

It's not about dethroning WoW, which in and of itself is a fools game.  It's about (hopefully) capturing a percentage of that audience to your (the devs) game and having an established target based on investment.  Do they want 13 mil subs?  Sure.  Do they honestly believe they can get them?  No. 

Players would do better to realize that however many subs a game has or how much money it's making doesn't affect the players one little bit.  Our wallets don't get fatter the more they make.

Nobody is going to come out with a game as well built as WoW.  Not SOE, not EA/Mythic, not Funcom, not CME, and daresay not even BioWare / Lucas Arts.  Todays idea of what MMOs are, IMHO, a dying breed.  4 to 8 to 12 (or more) player cross platform co-op with Fallout 3 style customization/advancement (or even something as 'simple' as CoD4 perks progression) is probably the future of online gaming.

[Zzulo]

WoW will be dethroned when someone makes a better game. I think AoC was a better game, but most of it was missing at launch for example. Silly funcom ruined something potentially awesome.

almost every single MMO on the market right now is no fun (except eve, and most people still think eve is no fun). Now we have to wait forever until a new potential winner shows up

rawr

Why does it have to beat WoW's numbers to be a winner?

It's not about dethroning WoW, which in and of itself is a fools game.  It's about (hopefully) capturing a percentage of that audience to your (the devs) game and having an established target based on investment.  Do they want 13 mil subs?  Sure.  Do they honestly believe they can get them?  No. 

Players would do better to realize that however many subs a game has or how much money it's making doesn't affect the players one little bit.  Our wallets don't get fatter the more they make.

Nobody is going to come out with a game as well built as WoW.  Not SOE, not EA/Mythic, not Funcom, not CME, and daresay not even BioWare / Lucas Arts.  Todays idea of what MMOs are, IMHO, a dying breed.  4 to 8 to 12 (or more) player cross platform co-op with Fallout 3 style customization/advancement (or even something as 'simple' as CoD4 perks progression) is probably the future of online gaming.

I didn't necessarily say that it had to beat WoW's numbers. I was just talking about someone making a better game.  I haven't played many (modern ones) that can contend with WoW

[Ratman_tf]

At the risk of being proven completely wrong tomorrow, I think MMOGs have hit their popularity cap. There's only so many people who play video games in the first place. To expect more to simply spring up out of the ground like dragon's teeth overnight is foolish.

Now, other types of gaming software might someday bust the shit out of WoW's numbers, but it will be something somebody like Schild (for example) says "Is stupid". Hell, he says that about WoW.

But anyway, it probably won't have swords or rayguns or mobiles and won't have roots in 80's style dungeon romping or shooting demons in the face.

[TheCastle]

Does anyone here agree with me that WOWs Achilles heel is the fact that it is not on consoles as well as PC?
With that in mind I see plenty of potential for a MMOG to reach even new heights.