The problem with the term "MMOFPS", is people think "RPG"

[Marth Koopa]

PR needs to avoid the letters "MMO", and focus more on "Massive Global Warfare"

90% of the people I talk to about PlanetSide 2 say something like "I don't like MMOs, too much grinding" when I mention that PS2 is an "MMOFPS"

[LordReaver]

I disagree. Really pushing the fact that it's an MMOFPS and not an MMORPG will really help people get interested.

[Marth Koopa]

But doing that you're still not avoiding the stigma of the letters "MMO" which makes people think of a very grindy, repetitive game. They'll know it's an FPS where you shoot things, but beyond that they're going to assume the worst because of those evil letters.

[SKYeXile]

Yea people are dumb, gotta plan around that.

I was going to try to make afew videos actually, probably in beta like "your first 10 minutes of planetside" Get into the action quick show everybody whats its all about...then also make the same video...but splice it with short clips everynow and again of somebody grinding mobs and "kill 10 skeletons" quests.

Their videos really need to capture the scale of what planetside is going to be, really show how huge the game world is and how many people are in it.

Imagine: The VS have just taken bitol off the NC, you see some indoor fighting briefly, the player then changes into a pilot suit, gets out a scythe, kills afew NC that are pooring from an AMS nearby outside the base, its quickly dispatched by the scyths and mags, the scythe is then attacked by a reaver, its then evades the reaver and the reaver runs back to ixitab, the scythe chases, on the flyover the scyths sees vanguards battling it out with mags. The scythe continues to chase the reaver to Ixtab tower where it is being swarmed by TR coming in from Acan, the scyles goes to ground, heading north passing more and more TR tanks heading for ixtab. it then cuts onto the acan voltan bridge passing more TR heading to voltan, takes down afew on the way(theres gotta be action) the scythe is then hit with flak at voltan, the pilot bails on the base, switches to a sniper loadout and takes out several TR on approach, the sniper then Turns around and 50 TR are bailing out of galaxies onto voltan, the sniper is then headshot, everything goes black and up comes the PS2 logo..

sorry got sidetracked there...needs to be marketed as being epic....

[Khellendros]

Haha, that would be awesome, exile.

I also liked the idea someone had of having the video showing a small fight from above, say a couple squads, then zooms out to show that they are actually a part of a multi-platoon fight. Then it zooms out even more, to encompass the entire base, with vehicles and infantry duking it out. Each time it zooms out, it shows a bigger and bigger portion of the whole battle.

[SKYeXile]

Haha, that would be awesome, exile.

I also liked the idea someone had of having the video showing a small fight from above, say a couple squads, then zooms out to show that they are actually a part of a multi-platoon fight. Then it zooms out even more, to encompass the entire base, with vehicles and infantry duking it out. Each time it zooms out, it shows a bigger and bigger portion of the whole battle.

Yea that sort of thing too, but thats hard to capture unless you're all like up in the server with like clip/fly mode...I liked the first PS2 video where they zoomed in on one battle, something like that, but they hop from fight to fight around ishdar would be cool.

[LordReaver]

But doing that you're still not avoiding the stigma of the letters "MMO" which makes people think of a very grindy, repetitive game. They'll know it's an FPS where you shoot things, but beyond that they're going to assume the worst because of those evil letters.

I don't think it's that big of an issue really. The big issue, is people not understanding that this isn't some weird niche or clone game, but an entirely untapped genre.

[Khellendros]

Yea that sort of thing too, but thats hard to capture unless you're all like up in the server with like clip/fly mode...I liked the first PS2 video where they zoomed in on one battle, something like that, but they hop from fight to fight around ishdar would be cool.

I would imagine the devs could easily do that on a special account.

[FastAndFree]

I would imagine the devs could easily do that on a special account.

A Phantasm could probably pull it off too

[Helwyr]

I don't know... Perhaps Planetside can redefine what an MMO is in players' minds as opposed to being defined by it. The grind type gameplay is a plague in MMOs today, and really doesn't need to be part of gameplay the way it is, including in RPGs.

Basically there's nothing in 'Massively Multiplayer Online' that means grind gameplay.

Definitely isn't in 'First Person Shooter'

Nor is there in 'Role Playing Game' for that matter.

[Coreldan]

These kind of ideas come up with every game. The acronym MMO works cos everyone knows it. Call it an MGWFPS and people are like "what?". Yes, you can further explain it then, but whats the point in using it in the first place.

It is massive, multiplayer, online. It even has RPG elements to it, but it's an FPS first and foremost. Thus MMOFPS. :D

[Raymac]

The FireFall game has actively avoided the "MMO" moniker which I personally thought was silly. It's fairly massive, it's multiplayer, and it's online, so it would fit the basic requirements. But the FireFall devs keep saying "we're not an MMO" and it's for the reason that the sexual harrasser, err Marth Koopa points out, it is because people out there tend to equate MMO with RPG. I think Planetside 2 might just be that paradigm shift game to break that mindset, if it lives up to its potential.

[Sirisian]

PR needs to avoid the letters "MMO", and focus more on "Massive Global Warfare"

90% of the people I talk to about PlanetSide 2 say something like "I don't like MMOs, too much grinding" when I mention that PS2 is an "MMOFPS"
To be fair the game is going to be fairly grindy for a lot of people. That's the whole incentive toward the cash shop really.

I have seen that stigma though where people automatically associated "MMO" with a main focus on RPG grinding.

The FireFall game has actively avoided the "MMO" moniker which I personally thought was silly. It's fairly massive, it's multiplayer, and it's online, so it would fit the basic requirements. But the FireFall devs keep saying "we're not an MMO" and it's for the reason that the sexual harrasser, err Marth Koopa points out, it is because people out there tend to equate MMO with RPG. I think Planetside 2 might just be that paradigm shift game to break that mindset, if it lives up to its potential.
Nope. It's because it's not an MMO. I think what confused people originally was because the world was so large that people assumed it was an MMO. It's actually just an instanced based game akin to Guild Wars 1. Then again since "MMO" has no definition it's easy to say it is which makes my comment 100% subjective.

[Raka Maru]

I remember telling a coworker about Ps2 and said it was an MMOFPS. First thing they said was, "On, no... I'm not doing another MMO". So I get your point. It wasn't till I told them about the game that they really understood and are willing to try it when it comes out.

[Graywolves]

Planetside isn't an RPG?????

[MooK]

I believe the real problem is that people associate "MMO" with "single player, but with about 12-14 other people maybe." PlanetSide is currently establishing that MMOFPS means thousands of people playing (shooting) in a first-person perspective. Maintain that, and the rest will follow.

[Crator]

Then again since "MMO" has no definition it's easy to say it is which makes my comment 100% subjective.

Definition of MMOG (Massively multiplayer online game)

A massively multiplayer online game (also called MMO and MMOG) is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on personal computers. Most of the newer game consoles, including the PSP, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii can access the Internet and may therefore run MMO games. Additionally, mobile devices and smartphones based on such operating systems as Android, iOS and Windows Phone are seeing an increase in the number of MMO games available.

MMOGs can enable players to cooperate and compete with each other on a large scale, and sometimes to interact meaningfully with people around the world. They include a variety of gameplay types, representing many video game genres.

History

The most popular type of MMOG, and the sub-genre that pioneered the category, is the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), which descended from university mainframe computer MUD and adventure games such as Rogue and Dungeon on the PDP-10. These games predate the commercial gaming industry and the Internet, but still featured persistent worlds and other elements of MMOGs still used today.

Pretty sure a big majority of people only know about MMOs because of WoW, which is a MMORPG. A large sub-set of those people might know about a few more MMOs but most likely only MMORPGs because they came from WoW and got bored of it and wanted to try another MMORPG...

[SgtMAD]

Sky, the answer is to stage a fight and have SOE record it,then edit it and put it on the web or cut a commercial,
we have helped them out before and could probably send a couple e-mails and do it during the beta,altho that is too late,the spots need to run during the beta to drive interest.

I have a whole IRC channel ready to go LOL.

[SKYeXile]

Sky, the answer is to stage a fight and have SOE record it,then edit it and put it on the web or cut a commercial,
we have helped them out before and could probably send a couple e-mails and do it during the beta,altho that is too late,the spots need to run during the beta to drive interest.

I have a whole IRC channel ready to go LOL.

Oh yea for sure, i know 666 mega zerg i think it was helped them out.

[Gwartham]

What you fail to realize is the this game will draw a lot of "rpg" players to it.

I play MMORPGS because I am hooked on larger battles then I can get from the average FPS shootemup right now.

I remember a few years back I got a deal on a case of planetside copies, so I handed them out to my rpg buddies, who fell in love with the game.

Remember a lot of us play those rpgs not to bake bread, but to kill on a larger scale :)

Also remember these people will also be far more comfortable shelling out cash for this type of game.

I see the MMO crowd being the vanguard of this game, with the twitchers following after, much like the wow phenomenon.

[SgtMAD]

Oh yea for sure, i know 666 mega zerg i think it was helped them out.

Yea, I am not eating friggin pancakes with anyone.

[Tasorin]

I prefer the term MMOFPS because it let's people know that it is a persistent FPS and not another instanced ladder fps. How do you not see "MMO" + "FPS" having never played one, and not go "I wonder what the fuck that is?" Quite frankly the MMO persistent aspect is one of the major things that sets PlanetSide apart from the other shooters. Don't even get me started with the quasi-sandbox nature of a MMOFPS vs. a matched based shooter or fantasy.

Minor note. Some of us are pushing protected citizen status and beyond, and "MMO" does not = WoW. While WoW was an MMO, and very popular, more then likely it was not our first. For me personally it was Tanrus, followed by UO, PlanetSide and EQ.

Less I forget Comp-U-Serv and the old ChainMail BBS.

[Brusi]

Oh yea for sure, i know 666 mega zerg i think it was helped them out.
Yea, I am not eating friggin pancakes with anyone.


LOL!

[Nephilimuk]

I don't see the problem. It is an MMOFPS and if you wanted to rebrand an acronym which has been around for 10 years then you will just spend all your time expaining why it is not an MMOFPS when it is.

I would rather the time be spent promoting the game rather than creating a new acronym which may or may not stick. Education and advertising is key anything else detracts from the message and dilutes the overall impact.

Keep on message stay on target and develop mind space before launch, its all you can do and hats off to SOE they seem to be doing it rather well.

That being said it would be really nice to see something polished and juicy put out in the wild to keep the gaming sites / journo's attention. The small releases are cool (no complaints keep them coming) but they are not attracting massive attention other than in estabilished supporting sites.

[XPquant]

Was UO for me too taurin, those were the day's.

I just say massive online first person shooter and lead directly into the 3 empires fighting over persistent continent's.

[Crator]

Meh, just tell them about the 3 factions and how many people can be in the same area at one time fighting each other. Always gets people interested... And now, with F2P for PS2, people won't be hesitant to try it out...