“I think that people should not look down on niche products…by focusing on a niche, you can deliver a more focused experience to the players that want that experience.” – Brian Green; interview with RPG Vault.

Not all online games are EverQuest. In fact, all online games were "niche" games until a very short time ago. Just check out the Mud Connector (www.mudconnector.com), and you’ll see what I mean. Meridian 59 and games like it are steeped in the tradition of text MUDs; a college student runs a server from his basement for some thirty-two regular users.
What makes Meridian 59 a niche game, and what makes EverQuest a mainstream online role-playing game? There are many factors involved with that question. First of all, it’s a foregone conclusion that any game that allows for (mostly) unrestricted PvP is going to reach only a limited audience.
High amounts of unrestrained player versus player combat will drive away most players. Most don’t find it relaxing to have to check their back every thirty seconds, and they certainly don’t find games to be peaceful escapes from the insanity of “real life” if they are fighting other human beings to defend their property; we do enough of that in our everyday offline lives.
However, Meridian 59 certainly draws an audience. All good niche games do. Yes, it’s a very selective audience, but it pays. By striking a balance between classic hardcore PvP gameplay and more intuitive and recent gaming standards, the game is made profitable. Text MUDs have the advantage of being virtually free to run. They require little bandwidth, little processing power, and very little staff. Graphical niche games that have the intention of being profitable need to compromise.
The question is: do those compromises ruin the game? Is Meridian 59 - or any other PvP-centric game - better off in the hands of the community than it is in NDS’ hands? I’d have to say no. There are several reasons for that opinion, and the most important of them is very obvious: fulltime dedication to the game’s advancement.
Some say the changes made to the game over the years were positive; some say they were showstoppers. Our familiarity with the product has given us a handicapped perspective. Most of us cannot consider the game mechanics objectively.
I propose the following approach. Ask yourself, “Does this game need new players to thrive?” Only a fool would say no. New blood is necessary to keep things interesting. We need “newbies” to prey on and to teach. If you examine Meridian 59’s mechanics as they are, you’ll find that they are complex, cumbersome, and just plain broken. That doesn’t mean they’re not fun; they are fun to the experienced player. It just means they’re not intuitive. The game is incredibly difficult to learn. The elite understand the mechanics of player versus player combat, but the new players that we need to keep the game alive and interesting do not.
Meridian 59 attracted its original player-base because it was one of a kind – it was unique. Now, there are dozens of graphical MUDs out there, and many of them are much more intuitive to the average gamer than Meridian 59 is. Meridian 59 has lost its edge in attracting new players.
The changes being made to the game are a bit shocking, yes. But are they really showstoppers? Are they really even bad? What’s being done to Meridian 59 by Near Death Studios is being done in an attempt to renew an aged game. This renewal will help attract more players. More players will help save the game.
If we’re really the elite, longtime Meridian 59 PvP gods we all claim to be, then why should it be so hard to adapt? These changes don’t make the game less fun in the long run – they just make it different. “Different” is not always a bad thing, in fact, it’s very often a good thing. We’ve adapted before, and we’ll adapt again. This time, however, Meridian 59 is going uphill, not downhill. New players have come looking for the “good” online RPG they’ve always wanted, and old ones have rekindled their interest. We’re starting over again, and even though changes have been made, we’ve got another shot at the greatest PvP RPG ever.


Note: The opinions expressed in this editorial are not necessarily the official stances taken by Gilroy's Meridian 59 Reference. They are merely the personal words of this editorialist.

Source: Sindar - sindar@gilcon.net