A Lesson in Launching MMO Games

Grand Theft Auto Online was released October 1, 2013 with many glitches and roadblocks. By that I mean many coul;dn't even do the first race due to having a failure to do job message appear, then an error returning me to the main Grand Theft Auto V game. Some people could get through the first race but not me. I think it's a problem with the servers. Other major online multiplayer games experienced similar problems and I feel it's just that Rockstar servers are overwhelmed. Here are five online multiplayer games that had horrible launches as bad or worse than the disastrous opening of Disneyland on July 17, 1955. Final 

Fantasy 14 games Final Fantasy Online Games started in 2010 with poor everything. It seemed unplayable. The game received poor reviews due to it's broken gameplay structures with many bugs and glitches. Final Fantasy 14 wasn't just bad at launch but bad at everything. Who would want to play a MMORPG that is full of bugs and glitches even weeks after launch and virtually unplayable. Why would anyone want to pay $50 then $12.99 per month after 30 days for a broken online game? WTH! I could only imagine the torture the servers went through within the launch time. The Angry Video Game Nerd would have a field day ranting about this horribly structured game on his AVGN show. Square Enix eventually had to tear down the structure and build a more stable one. Final Fantasy a Realm Reborn was launched Augusy 27, 2013 but it's servers were quickly overwhelmed at launch. However, after giving many players the try again finger, The Realm Reborn was given much praise for it's improvements compared to it's predecessor. The lesson to be learned from Final Fantasy 14 is if an online game cannot anticipate problems before hand, it will most likely have so many bugs and glitches and problems that the structure remains too unstable to even fix one bit. To be learned from The Realm Reborn is that the reason it may seem unplayable at first is due to serv ers being unable to meet the demand, most notably at launch. Comparing the Disneyland opening day vs. Final Fantasy 14 is that while both had awful starts, it was Final Fantasy 14 that got demolished and replaced with The Realm Reborn while Disneyland just after July 17, 1955 fixed it's noticable problems and went without problems. Final Fantasy 14 had so many glitches and bugs that it couldn't be fixed. It was like an unstable building and a nest for hoarders, you just can't fix or clean this up at all. So the only solution for Square Enix was to tear down the unstable building and rebuild with a more stable building, with it being called The Realm Reborn. Final Fantasy 14 is one bad example game developers would have shame in repeating.

  SimCity 2013 How come a single player game should have an online requirement when servers will likely almost combust due to high demand. When SimCity launched, so many problems made the game virtually unplayable with EA servers ready to combust and shut down. EA had an excuse citing server side data which was non-existant. Hackers were able to mod the game to make it play offline, which worked much like a charm. EA realized this and eventually pulled the persistant online connection requirement. Long loading times, disconnections, crashing, and loss of saved game data is more than enough to frustrate the average gamer to heck! The lesson learned for SimCity 2013's disastrous launch is requiring online connectivity unless absolutely necessary(if no alternatives found) is a very bad idea. Though The Sims 4 will not require online connectivity for single player, it will require you have online connection for installation plus an EA Origin account. I have no idea exactly how this will turn out but concern here is will installation be disastrous with slow install, crashing, and involuntary cancellation of install? Compare SimCity launch to DisneyLand opening you can see that both EA Games and Disney fixed their respective problems but all EA had to do was remove the persistant online requirement while Disneyland had problems with concessions running dry, mechanics failing, and plumbing being a big B! After all, necessity is the mother of invention. If you put burdons more than their necessary use, then there is bound to be awful problems ahead! Those hackers taught EA a lesson the latter will never forget.

  Diablo III Boy did May of 2012 include a host of frustrations including the persistent online connection requirement and auction house. Error 37 was the finger given to taunt the 10 million gamers who purchased Diablo III. Error 37 prevented gamers from even logging into Diablo III and with no offline mode available, Diablo III remained unplayable until the issues could be worked out. This took days to work out but in the long-run Diablo III eventually worked as it should with positive reviews, even offline single player modes. While online connection requirements are sensible for multiplayer modes, going solo should not require consistent online connection unless it absolutely cannot work offline. Lesson here is a bad launch can make gamers believe the game is broken, unplayable and terrible. Diablo III shattered the trust of those who purchased it and caused frustrations for weeks. Good thing Diablo III's console versions evolved to having offline play for single player. Comparing Diablo III to Disneyland opening is that Diablo III's launch shut players out for weeks wheres Disneyland opening had problems with overcrowding but that was resolved in a matter of less than a week.

  Half-Life II Half-Life II from Valve Corporation didn't have as many severe problems at launch as Diablo III but the former did require internet connection to set up which met with overloading of servers due to one time validation. Half-Life 2 didn't require internet connection for single player mode which was a good thing so players could get used to the game. Half-Life II on this list has had the least bad launch of Online games. At least Half-Life II became one of the best MMORPG games of all time. Lesson here is single-player modes should be as offline as possible so players can get used to the game itself while the servers sort themselves out. I can't even play GTA Online single player due to server issues. I know it's suppose to be online but I should have the option of having it single player offline to get used to playing it while servers get straightened out. Half Life II's launch was less disastrous than Disneyland's opening due to players being able to at least play single player waiting for more responsive servers.

  World of Warcraft World of Warcraft is what I consider until Grand Theft Auto Online to be the best MMORPG game. However, World of Warcraft was launched with regular server problems due to high volume of traffic. Not only that but latency made the game very cryptic. World of Warcraft back in 2004 was in my view considered experimental due to having no other game like this before it. While World of Warcraft had a congested start, it became the best MMORPG game of all time. While launch issues cannot be entirely avoided, it's a great idea to review the servers first and foresee the problems before launching it to the public. Both World of Warcraft and Disneyland became phenomenons in their respective industries. If only Grand Theft Auto Online had some offline modes other than GTA V and had tested server capabilities by having a soft launch for testing before launching it to the public so volume of traffic to server capability ratio could be calculated and launch days for the public could run smoother. Gamers for GTA Online should have the option of playing it somewhat offline to get used to the online version of Los Santos and Blaine County in GTA Online. Once GTA Online gets off the ground, it will become in my view the best MMORPG game, exceeding World of Warcraft. Grand Theft Auto Online's launch is about the same as World of Warcraft, facing the same problems but in the end prevailing in their gameplay. While World of Warcraft gave you an online world video game where you could interact with other real players like a real world, Grand Theft Auto Online exceeds WOW by making the game feel like a real life simulation, ever expanding and evolving, giving players the ultimate gaming experience of any open world game before it.

When Rockstar Games gets the servers straightened out, Grand Theft Auto Online will not only be the best MMORPG, but also the best game ever released, exceeding Grand Theft Auto V itself.