In The End…
Between the lack of completeness, the lack of direction and the increased downsides in game playability when an online subscription is required, as well as the limitedness of the games themselves, MMOs are left in the gaming dust by sports games. There is also a wide variety of sports games one can play, in so many fields. There are currently no more than five Massive Multiplayer Online games available in the US market, with no more than three more expected to debut by year’s end. There are no less than 20 sports games for the 2005 seasons on Xbox alone, with another 18 planned for this year, each year gaining us a new game with a new champion, with or without online play. World of Warcraft, the top MMO by far, is only about to experience its first expansion later this year. The expansion will add two new races, two new professions, numerous new items, and a new section of the map, as well as some new gaming aspects, like the level 70 cap. Even with all these changes, the game will stay the same, as you can only make a dwarf fighting a dragon look so much like an “actual” dwarf fighting a dragon. Each year the players in sports games looks more and more like the actual players, and gamers can see the graphics getting better. They have already released screen shots of the Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft, and the graphics are on par with the first game. Sports games will continue to be more of an enjoyable gaming experience, until MMO realizes that most gamers like a path, and an end to that path, otherwise we are just running around in circles like chickens with our heads cut off.