Issue #3 - 21 March 2009
Staff Editorial #3: A Great MechScape Flood?
Written by Oscar
Hi, Oscar here, presenting the MechScape Post's third editorial. This editorial will deal with the potential of a mass exodus from RuneScape to MechScape upon MechScape's release and the effects a mass movement of players would have on both games. Enjoy!
In the gaming industry the release of new games is always big news as it is usually the defining point for a game: the point where it will either stand out from the crowd as something original and brilliant, or fall into the swirling mass of simply ordinary games. The first few glimpses of the game are usually enough to distinguish between the brilliant and ordinary and are key to ensuring a successful launch.
According to Henrique Olifiers, Head of MechScape "Less than 1 in 20 massive multiplayer online games released every year reaches maturity in user base terms. Even heavy weight studios with previous experience in the creation of MMOG have recently failed." Since MechScape was first discovered it has been anticipated that there will be a significant movement of players between RuneScape and MechScape upon its release. However, there are many factors that will define this movement, not least the quality of the game itself.
With all MMORPGs, there is an initial surge of players. Whether it's through word of mouth or prominent advertising campaigns, new games will attract a whole horde of new players, something most will be familiar with. However, very few of these games retain their initial user base; these people usually flock from game to game in search of the most popular or the one that is suited to them most. At first the MechScape user-base will mainly comprise of keen Jagex fans, RuneScape players and a few who have been attracted to the game through word of mouth. This initial surge of players will last for around a month, sometimes longer, as people explore and discover various aspects of the game. It is likely that during this time RuneScape's population will be severely dented until eventually players decide on which game, if at all, they prefer. Both free-to-play and pay-to-play populations are likely to change dramatically, with many players moving, if only briefly, to test out MechScape. How big this surge of players will be and how big the retention rate will depend mainly on the audience; whether they prefer one style of game play or genre over the other and so on.
So far, MechScape has been a low-key project, along the lines of FunOrb in terms of official information. Jagex have almost always kept planned updates a tight secret up until the brink of release and it has been no different with MechScape. While MechScape World, Ren in particular, has been successful in gleaning a snapshot of the game, in comparison to many other games there has been very little pre-release information. Again this is similar to FunOrb, with similar limited levels of pre-release information, many only hearing about it when the two week teaser site was released into public viewing.
While there have been several mentions of FunOrb on the RuneScape homepage, it has received a surprisingly little amount of publicity, with Jagex primarily relying on word of mouth to advertise it. While MechScape may not follow this pattern exactly, (surely it will be much bigger news than FunOrb!) it is likely to have a quite unspectacular release; it is unlikely to be advertised via any major media* forms and Jagex will probably rely on word of mouth to spread the news. A low-key release will affect the size of a MechScape exodus dramatically, at least at first; limiting it to the relative few who have spent time looking into the game (that's you reader!).
* RuneScape HD was displayed in all its glory at the 2008 E3 conference but received little attention. While a MechScape may receive more attention, the poor reception makes Jagex less likely to repeat this move.
Throughout MechScape's development, the team behind it has stuck by the motto 'This is not RuneScape in space.' This is one of the main reasons I think MechScape's release will not be very high profile, especially to the RuneScape community. It has also been said that the game will be aimed at an older demographic, which leads me to believe that Jagex would like to see two different communities for each game. There will be overlapping between the two, certainly, but for the most part, the games will appeal to separate audiences. Despite this, Jagex is likely to employ the same strategy as with FunOrb, attempting to convince members to buy a dual membership, or what could potentially be a triple membership; one that will provide membership to all of Jagex's gaming sites at a reduced price, drawing members from both the RuneScape and FunOrb communities.
While not part of Jagex themselves, I can see them wanting MechScape to grow up in a similar way to RuneScape, with a community that is dedicated to the game. Of course there is a business interest behind all of this, appealing to multiple audiences means more money through subscriptions, but I do not believe Jagex's reasoning lies just in this, the developers will want to create something new, something original and innovative, not just future RuneScape. This is their first chance to launch a completely new game since 2001, and their first chance to plan out a game from scratch since they became a commercial developer - their first chance to make a new game while taking advantage of their experiences with RuneScape
I have no doubt there will be a migration from RuneScape to MechScape, however brief. How this will affect the two games I do not know, I can only guess at the outcomes. If MechScape is as popular as we all hope, we could see a high rate of retention, with many of those who have decided to play MechScape continuing for months and years to come. We must not discount Jagex's promises to continue expanding RuneScape, not just in terms of game play, but also continuing their efforts to translate the game into new languages, tapping into huge new audiences. Future projects will go a long way into recovering numbers lost to MechScape. Whatever happens, both games will end up generating or continue to generate their own individual fan-bases, who will hopefully be united by their love of MMORPGs.
What do you think will happen in the first few days of MechScape? Do you think there will be a mass migration between RuneScape and MechScape? Do you have experience with other games in a similar situation?
Thanks for reading!
- Oscar
MechScape and Community News
iCould Videos:
This Wednesday Ren was doing his research of MechScape and came across some very intriguing videos pertaining to Jagex. These videos contain some Jagex employees discussing both their careers and what their responsibilities are at Jagex. Some of the employees include Henrique Olifiers (Head of MechScape), Mark Brassington (Senior Graphics Modeller), David Coleman (Bug Abuse Lead Curator), along with others. (Read more)
Mod MMG Clan Chat:
On Thursday night, the CEO of Jagex, Mark Gerhard (known as Mod MMG in RuneScape), logged onto his clan chat and generously answered many questions about MechScape and RuneScape. While he was unable to go into detail about all of the questions, he gave us some concrete information to what the game will be like. (Read more)
Display Names in RuneScape:
Recently Mod MMG mentioned a new system which will allow display names in game to be different than your login name; this could have a huge impact on MechScape. (Read more)
Server:
This week we switched back to our original server from our temporary server without any problems occurring.
Please PM an administrator or moderator if you have any problems pertaining to server errors. Surprise coming soon!
Footnotes
Make sure to read MechScape Post #1 and MechScape Post #2 as well!
Contributors: Dirk389, Ren, Ed5 (Content Research Team); mike470, Oscar, zepherusbane (Writing & Editing Team).
Disclaimer: The views expressed by members of staff do not necessarily represent the view of MechScape World.
. Your writing skills are neat!
