Console MMO's - Do they work? Can they work?

Bens0503 · June 2015

What makes an MMO work?

For me the answer is very much the community and ease of communication. This is the part that consoles struggle to translate. My first impressions of ESO over the last week on Xbox EU Server has done nothing as yet to change my mind. Surely, voice chat is the way forwards but the quality of in game voice chat on Xbox is and probably will always be, terrible. Add to that people who spam voice chat with singing and background noises (TV, Radio, Screaming children etc). On PC you don't have this problem as games have spam and flooding filters that 'mute' people if posting excessively to chat; I can't even conceive how that would work for voice chat! maybe we can mute people somehow?

The frightening thing for me is that the above isn't even the main issue currently. The main issue is that small groups of friends who have purchased the game together are playing it together and as such they are all in Xbox live party's - 8 max! My group of friends is generally no different. When we're not in party chat we all moan about the horrific quality of voice chat. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing many of the people playing ESO on console probably haven't played MMO's before and this is probably adding to the issue.

If you check the xbox guild recruiting forum you will see that almost all of these small groups of players are attempting to start their own guilds too; once again my group of friends is no exception. Aside from the trading guilds (which of course need to fill up) almost everyone is recruiting for their own guild and no one is actually joining any (or at least I'm led to believe that by the lack of views and posts on most of the recruitment threads). Of course over time this will become less of an issue, but it is frustrating for me right now.

We have 25 people in our guild presently and other than the core 6 of us who have been gaming together for years we have only actually spoken with or interacted in any way with 3 or 4 more. We simply can't get people into voice chat.

The irony of the above is that the people who might benefit the most from reading the above ramblings of a mad man, will probably never read it. They're console players who have never played an MMO and won't think to join this forum.

I also think that starting a guild should be made significantly more awkward. Less guilds would force people to interact more. There is so much great content in this game that many are never going to be able to take advantage of because they lack a group of people large enough to do so; myself probably included...

Yukian · June 2015

Ffxiv works fine. Great, even, with text chat.
u.u

Tors · June 2015

The big issue you get is the average age of the console player.

While you are playing a game, which by its very definition is juvenile you really dont want to play with the lowest common denominator.

Yeah gamers are getting older, and more older people are buying consoles. But the average console player is a kid, which you need to deal with.

The OFFICIAL average age of a console player is around 30-31, but the numbers and demographics this figure is taken from makes this figure utterly useless (they cant interview peole below 11 for example....)

Some of the posts from console players you see since launch shows the general level of the console gamer in comparision to a real member of society

Ace_of_Destiny · June 2015

To mute on console....

Open Voice Chat...View Paticipant List....Highlight Player...Block...PROFITS!

Milktray · June 2015

lol .. go look at xbox groups on FB .. majority are NOT kids and old enough to afford the console, games etc

So age isn't a big issue, issue can be some pc players who can't get their heads round it that others play on different platforms

Heromofo · June 2015

Milktray wrote: »

lol .. go look at xbox groups on FB .. majority are NOT kids and old enough to afford the console, games etc

So age isn't a big issue, issue can be some pc players who can't get their heads round it that others play on different platforms

This plus we have had MMOs on consoles for a long time no idea why people keep forgetting that.

Germal · June 2015

yeah final fantasy 14 works awesome on ps4, and i hope at some day microsoft cuts that stupid idea of not letting the game on Xbox cause they would be forced to let the people play it without Xbox gold.

King Bozo · June 2015

Yes mmo can work on console don't know why someone thinks it could not. There is as many annoying people on pc as there is on console as I played both.

Granz · June 2015

Yes console can work and has worked. Need text chat communication to start with. As a PC player the game seems dead as I don't enjoy hearing background noise and breathing in the mic. The successful MMO model has already been invented it just needs to be put in the game.

Heromofo · June 2015

Granz wrote: »

Yes console can work and has worked. Need text chat communication to start with. As a PC player the game seems dead as I don't enjoy hearing background noise and breathing in the mic. The successful MMO model has already been invented it just needs to be put in the game.

I did end up listing that among a few other things for the console side in my series.
Im not sure what else should be or could be pulled across but there are some that should be in the game's main frame.
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/179206/improving-on-eso-s05e03-console-improvement-addons-vampire-werewolf-improvements#latest

Ulaidian · June 2015

I see what a lot of you are saying, and the inability to mute someone is bloody annoying, but in general I think the game is great. I've played many MMO games before, this is my first console one, and honestly, I think it is pretty fine. The Guild thing will sort itself out, as it always does over time.. the players lack of discipline on mic will have to be tackled, but all in all, including the little problems well established, there is nothing that can't be 'fixed'.

x2link777b14_ESO · June 2015

Considering there is at least 3 other MMOs on console that I have played, and all do varying degrees of success, yes, they most certinly can work. Final Fantasy XI alone shows they can as while it's obviously on PC, it was built around, and came out on PS2 and was later ported to Xbox 360. And it is one of the oldest still sub-only MMOs around. Both DC Universe Online and Final Fantasy XIV were on PS3 and ported to PS4.

coryevans_3b14_ESO · June 2015

Heromofo wrote: »

Milktray wrote: »

lol .. go look at xbox groups on FB .. majority are NOT kids and old enough to afford the console, games etc

So age isn't a big issue, issue can be some pc players who can't get their heads round it that others play on different platforms

This plus we have had MMOs on consoles for a long time no idea why people keep forgetting that.

A long time to me is not a couple years.

Azrael008uk · June 2015

Bens0503 wrote: »

What makes an MMO work?

When you eventually realise that the "Perfect Elder Scrolls Online Experience" exists only in your imagination and no-where else you may be able to stop staring at your own belly button, pick yourself up and join the rest of us in having a great experience with this MMO.

Spottswoode · June 2015

coryevans_3b14_ESO wrote: »

Heromofo wrote: »

Milktray wrote: »

lol .. go look at xbox groups on FB .. majority are NOT kids and old enough to afford the console, games etc

So age isn't a big issue, issue can be some pc players who can't get their heads round it that others play on different platforms

This plus we have had MMOs on consoles for a long time no idea why people keep forgetting that.

A long time to me is not a couple years.

Yeah...there are several MMO's that have been active for multiple console generations. Final Fantasy XI has been around since 2003. (Predictably, Square Enix is developing a mobile client for it.)

Sausage · June 2015

Why not, I'd add note system, player writeable notes, what they could trade/share/sell, just to reduce the need of typing, and then I'd prefer NPC recruiters for raids and guilds. Imagine if NPC walk around the zones and invite people into your guild, or when you enter to Cyrodil, theres NPC recruiters, and you could choose which kind of raid/group you prefer.

coryevans_3b14_ESO · June 2015

Spottswoode wrote: »

coryevans_3b14_ESO wrote: »

Heromofo wrote: »

Milktray wrote: »

lol .. go look at xbox groups on FB .. majority are NOT kids and old enough to afford the console, games etc

So age isn't a big issue, issue can be some pc players who can't get their heads round it that others play on different platforms

This plus we have had MMOs on consoles for a long time no idea why people keep forgetting that.

A long time to me is not a couple years.

Yeah...there are several MMO's that have been active for multiple console generations. Final Fantasy XI has been around since 2003. (Predictably, Square Enix is developing a mobile client for it.)

Wow time flies. I suppose you're right about that. 2003 doesn't seem that far back to me. Gettin old

coryevans_3b14_ESO · June 2015

On that note, did you see they are making a remade version of FF VII!!!!!!! My favorite one. I remember playing that game as much as I remember playing super mario brothers on the NES when I was 13. FF VII was a HUGE game for me.