That's Not how you Solve a Rubik's Cube!

New favorite quote about EVE Online, courtesy of PC Gamer's interview: “Here’s a Rubik’s cube, go f%$^ yourself,”

 It beautifully describes being thrown into the world of EVE Online.

Despite my amusement, that's not the part of the interview I wanted to address. It was actually the part where they sat down to critique ZeniMax's statement of “At this point in the evolution of MMOs, every MMO has tried something at one point or another that you’re going to do in your game. There aren’t any more truly innovative features.” 



This is very upsetting to me. I have been with the Elder Scrolls series since Morrowind (which doesn't sound long until you figure in how long each game takes to complete) and this just -reeks- of the development team giving up. Which is awful because some of the features in the Elder Scrolls Online seem quite fun and new for the genre. Real-time blocking and attacking, skill based systems and a three-faction system (alright, that's not new) all come together for what seems like it could be a fun PvP and PvE title.

It seriously concerns me when developers working in the MMORPG industry think there are no ideas left. Obviously EVE's developers spent some time in that article bragging about the upcoming DUST release, but they make a valid point. Integrating genres and having two titles interact with each other so closely is a brand new concept. Imagine an MMORPG where you could download your character onto a handheld and upload it back with the riches and exp they've earned. Or a card game where the deck you build determines the type of abilities you can use while dungeon crawling.

Those are just two examples off the top of my head. The indie gaming industry is proving the mainstream titles wrong in what can be accomplished. I applaud CCP for this effort with DUST. I think it will fail, don't get me wrong, but it's an awesome idea. I may be excited for Mists of Pandaria, but I am excited because I expect it to be more and better versions of the same thing I've been playing for a while. I'm excited for DUST because this is a brand new creature launched into the wild that even titles like Secret World can't hold my attention away from.

The MMORPG industry is very young indeed, and there are many ideas to be had. Leave it up to the big companies to refine what works. I want to see someone do something crazy. You know, like combine a space simulation with a first person shooter.