I've just developed an MMORPG game called Heroes and Vampires where two sides battle each other for control of modern-day Romania. Is the goth market big enough to support this game, or do I need to add elements to the gameplay to increase my market share? ============== H&V http://www.heroesandvampires.com

If it's fun people will play it, gothy or not.

On the topic of limits though, why can't the player choose whether to be a human or vampire, or which breed they are? Won't people make a ton of characters until they get what they want (or just give up)?

How popular would WoW be if Blizzard said "You'll play what we tells ya and you'll likes it!"?

What d oyou mean "developed" ? Is it all coded and ready to ship, just being held up on your findings here, or did you just finish thinking up a simple concept for a game ?

Basically how far along are you and what are you trying to accomplish with this game?

It's important that the two teams be as balanced as possible at the start of the game. Then, as players are abducted from one team to another, one team will become more powerful and win this round.

Then everything resets and we play again.

The site is nearing completion. The beta version is live and I am tweaking things as needed.

Because the game has a gothic undertone, I guess the question is should I focus my initial marketing efforts on just the gothic market or the gaming community as a whole? Are there enough gothic gaming users to populate the game, or is that niche too small?

Your genre isn't "gothic;" your setting may be "gothic." Genre very generally and very basically describes (but does not define, important difference here) how the game is played. I wouldn't worry about the setting at all, but I do agree with erissian: I think decidedly few people will want to play an MMORPG where they're railroaded into a specific type of character. The hallmark of this genre is customization and individualization. That's really the whole point.

If you're almost ready to ship, perhaps it's too late to change any of that. At the very least, this will be a valuable experiment for you; perhaps it will be popular. The thing is, there are many things about your initial post that don't make sense to me. You make a game and then ask, "will people enjoy this?" Well, what if they don't? Do you then say, "that's too bad, because it's what you're getting"? Say goodbye to your customers. You're supposed to ask these types of questions before you start development, to get a grasp of market demographics, and then you (hopefully) use that information to make a successful game.

But in the end, demographics aren't as important as polish. Some of the best games in my opinion have been ruined by such obvious trademark flaws as poor control, frustrating cameras, confusing menus, unnecessary modal message boxes, and so on. You do have to make the kind of game you'd want to play, or you won't put your heart into it; that much is true, but when you start charging people to play it, the rules change: now you have to cater to the customer and give them what they want, which is a fun, stable, polished product.

Being a successful commercial game designer demands a level of humility the vast majority of people cannot even begin to understand. The best-selling games in history (e.g., Myst, The Sims) had nothing in common with anything else. They bounced off the wall, came out of nowhere, and took the world by surprise. They worked because the designers put their all into it. I would not worry one more second about your setting. Setting alone has never made nor broken a game, and it never will. Worry about the game.