Sony Online Entertainment recently launched the Living Legacy initiative, aimed at former Everquest/Everquest II players who are hereby invited to return to the games, assuming they left on good terms. This is a pretty common strategy in the MMO world and it also comes with some treats for the nostalgic, returning player. In this case, the treats include two months of free play, free expansion packs and in-game items. With EQ's tenth anniversary just around the corner, SOE plans to support this initiative with online and print advertising campaigns. But is it all worth it?
The press release calls EverQuest a "cultural phenomenon" and I'm not sure I can disagree with that. Back in its glory days it spawned tons of fansites, won awards, generated huge amounts of attention and, by all accounts, helped shape the MMO genre into what it is today. But that was then. Now, the old kings of the MMO (such as Ultima Online and EQ) lay forgotten and the world turned its face to new gods. Their players gone, they drag on quietly in the shadow of the next-gen titans, their portion of the pie (chart) severely diminishing.
So what's the purpose of this initiative then? Of course, it's only fitting that they raise the flag and pull our sleeves with a sly "we did this ten years ago" insinuation. But beyond that? Ultima Online's masters run similar initiatives and they have little to no effect in the grand scheme of things. Even if these worlds keep expanding and getting facelifts, it turns out that curiousity and nostalgia only last for so long, for the returning player. For one, they have experienced new alternatives. And even if said nostalgia drives them forward some more, the breaking point usually occurs when they run into the years-old problems that might've made them quit in the first place. Problems that newer games treat in different, better ways.
So all in all, I'm skeptical about this. The times when EQ could make huge waves are gone and hoping for more than a temporary interest revival in SOE's worlds is ...well silly. It goes without saying I guess, as it also goes without saying that they were probably expected to do something like this. Could they have done it better though? I think so. For one, they could've made the offer tastier. Forget the items and the free software, I can get those myself if I decide to stick around. Why not tell me what's changed? SOE is probably sitting on one of the largest feedback databases in the MMO world. So why not put it to even more use? A quitting player might be more partial to the idea of returning if he knew that the problems that made him depart were fixed than if you bait him with freebies. Is the EQ experience a better one than it was when I quit? Sure, quite a few people will reactivate and go check that out. But, well, if it isn't, then what's the point?
campaigns // games // MMO // MMORPGs // SOE // Sony Online Entertainment
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