No need to lock this thread. I think Bartle’s vision for the mmo community is far more important to talk about rather than the debating whether or not he was the inventor of MUDs.
Powerful article OP, I hope others take their time to read it.
I believe that Bartle is telling us that his vision for mmos was a place where people could gather and interact without caring or knowing about others’ social stigmas. This absence creates a “metaphysical” world where people can pursue what they want to do rather than worrying about what people want them to become.
To some extent, Bartle’s vision has become a reality. People interact with each other regularly to accomplish tasks. People can play as avatars far differently from their perceived outward personalities. Players can also be exposed to arguments they usually would not partake in during their daily jobs. However, none of this occurs unless people are invested in the game.
Gw2 saw a wonderful innovative release that promised a vast evolving world. The company also had a legacy built upon the successes of the “niche” game Gw1 that delivered rich lore and large scale content consistently through expansions. When released, Gw2 delivered their game in a successful manner as it would forgo the traditional gear treadmill. People were engaged in exploring the land and were rewarded by doing so. Map completion was exciting and people often were motivated to attempt crafting a legendary as this was one of the first steps in completing those coveted weapons.
Endgame was not as absent as people initially thought. There were different armor sets to accumulate, materials to farm for mystic forage recipes and legendries and pvp for those who wished to compete. These elements combined engaged the player in a unique way most mmos did not. The problems was that the core mechanics began to stale as the company promised updates which fell short of their original goals. The development team for dungeons was disbanded, promises of legendary armor and precursor scavenger hunts never came true, and pvp remained largely ignored at its core. These issues were continually evaded as the living story began to take over arena net’s development cycle.
While sounding promising, the living story delivered poor narrative and meaningless content. The veteran base seemed to be getting increasingly frustrated. More importantly, the living story began to seem like it was a façade that was constructed to keep players’ attentions away from the core issues at hand requiring more effort and money to fix.
To answer the OP, I believe that Gw2 has become a product of publisher influence and greed. Observe the current situation. The gemstore update was claimed to have made obtaining gems easier, yet most of the player basis preferred the older system. Additionally, the September quality of life patch centered on making the personal story “easier.” This seemed like a blatant move against the veteran population as it ignored the fact that no actual game content had been released and gave priority to new players’ interest.
In summary, I think both Arena Net and NCsoft have planned a successful business strategy that is reliant on casual players as well as newcomers. Since this clientele progresses through content so slowly, the living story and quality of life patches feel adequate to them. To the veteran players, content seems lackluster and avoidant of fundamental additions.