All Modern MMOs are not WoW Clones

In light of recent comments by Richard Bartle about MMOs being too similar I thought it would be fun to list out why some future games might prove him wrong. Not all new games emulate World of Warcraft despite the popular opinion that says otherwise. Its funny since I bet the professor was probably trying to appeal to believers of the WoW clone theory when he stepped on a landmine. Even though Warhammer is the original IP which spawned Warcraft people get very defensive when you compare the two. In all honesty the two games have very different game mechanics underneath the hood, even if they share a similar paint job.

Professor Bartle also is at a disadvantage since he thinks of designing game worlds like they were still text based. It was a lot easier to program off-the-wall revolutionary ideas for text based games since there were less limitations. Modern games have to worry about graphics engines and physics processing and can't just say depend on pure imagination. Also quite frankly text based games were more niche based and dealt with hobbyists instead of customers. MMOs can't get away with treating their players like some of the old MUD games. Perma Death, world resets, and trapped rooms that deleted all items are just not going to cut it anymore.

I'm off my little rant on the glory days of MUDs, so without further adieu here is what I'm looking forward from future MMOs.

Champions Online
This game has a very strong skill based system which introduces weaknesses at the cost of increasing your power sets. Also very intriguing is the idea of designing your own arch-nemesis who will follow you throughout the game. I've been watching the new episodes of the Venture Brothers and I laugh out loud thinking about being able design a similar superhero/villain conflict in MMO form. This game will introduce player made content and control over lore that I have never seen in any other MMO to date.

Warhammer Online
While Realm vs. Realm combat has been done before in Dark Age of Camelot, I think Warhammer is really changing the entire concept. In the past, a lot of MMOs ignored PvP content since they didn't want to force direct competition between their customers. Warhammer is changing this trend by creating an all encompassing PvP system which doesn't necessarily depend on direct combat. Public Quests, Zones Control, and even Dungeon Running will all be tied together as part of factional warfare. This will be the first game where every player will be participating in PvP in some manner.

Stargate Worlds
I'm not that experienced with MUDs but I believe a majority of them were stuck in the fantasy setting just as much as MMOs are nowadays. In fact I believe the problem was inherited from MUDs which probably relied too often on D&D modules for sources of lore. Its only going take one successful sci-fi MMO to blow this trend away and I eagerly await any game that looks solid enough to accomplish this. If MMOs can break out of their dependency on high fantasy then I think they will have become more "revolutionary" then MUDs in my book.