I know that WoW's alleged 10 million players looks like a big, juicy pile of money, but there's something you need to understand...
Your target market, the MMO player or POTENTIAL MMO player, is entirely composed of two distinct types of people right now:
1. People playing World of Warcraft.
2. People who DON'T WANT TO PLAY World of Warcraft.
The people who fall into #2 could do so for any number of reasons. Maybe they quit WoW. Maybe they never played it at all. Maybe they've never found any MMO that appeals to them.
The bottom line is that you're not going to beat World of Warcraft by ripping off World of Warcraft and adding a few new elements to it.
Remember that WoW became the winner by being to Everquest what Everquest was to Ultima Online. You can't just deliver the status quo and expect players will leave WoW in droves for your MMO. These are people who left WoW because there was something about it they didn't like. Find out what that was and try delivering a different product.
I've seen too many MMOs released as of late that are carbon copies of WoW, often prettier and with some new, neat features, but they're still just WoW at the core.
The MMO that will dethrone WoW is going to do so by further shifting and advancing the entire MMO paradigm, not by being a prettier version of WoW.
Your target market, the MMO player or POTENTIAL MMO player, is entirely composed of two distinct types of people right now:
1. People playing World of Warcraft.
2. People who DON'T WANT TO PLAY World of Warcraft.
The people who fall into #2 could do so for any number of reasons. Maybe they quit WoW. Maybe they never played it at all. Maybe they've never found any MMO that appeals to them.
The bottom line is that you're not going to beat World of Warcraft by ripping off World of Warcraft and adding a few new elements to it.
Remember that WoW became the winner by being to Everquest what Everquest was to Ultima Online. You can't just deliver the status quo and expect players will leave WoW in droves for your MMO. These are people who left WoW because there was something about it they didn't like. Find out what that was and try delivering a different product.
I've seen too many MMOs released as of late that are carbon copies of WoW, often prettier and with some new, neat features, but they're still just WoW at the core.
The MMO that will dethrone WoW is going to do so by further shifting and advancing the entire MMO paradigm, not by being a prettier version of WoW.