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World Of Warcraft Diversity Explored
Thanks to RPGVault for their interview with World Of Warcraft producer Mark Kern, discussing Blizzard's forthcoming massively multiplayer RPG. He particularly stresses depth of content, especially relevant since recent allegations against Star Wars Galaxies: "I think one thing that sets us apart, aside from all the little things that go into our interface, quest-driven gameplay, and instanced dungeons, is the fact that there is so much to do in the game. This is also the key to retention. We have a huge amount and variety of places to explore that are packed with special locations, encounters, story and quests." He also discusses different play styles, saying the game will offer "..outdoor content for soloing, dungeons that offer cool loot and encourage grouping to succeed, and heavy boss encounters that require large guilds to take out."
I just miss FreeCraft :-(
Actually, Blizzard has already had their lemon, only unlike most gaming companies they did the right thing in dealing with it. For those who don't remember, the game in question was Warcraft Adventures, a cell shaded adventure game similar in concept to the old Sierra classics. Instead of releasing a sub-par game, knowing full well it would sell simply because of the brand name, the game was canceled:
What happened to Warcraft Adventures?
Following an intensive and very serious review of the game, Blizzard decided to stop development on Warcraft Adventures. We determined that, given the game's status and the rapidly changing technology of the industry, it would not be possible to complete development of the title within a reasonable time frame.
While this was an extremely difficult decision, we firmly believe that we cannot release a game that does not meet the exceptionally high standards that both our customers, and we, expect from the Blizzard label.
Stopping development on this game was not a decision that was taken lightly. It was a hard call to make, but each of us knows that it was the right choice. We hope that Warcraft fans will consider our track record and trust our judgment on ending the project.
The other thing that many people don't realize is that before they got into computer games, Blizzard successfully developed several popular titles on the SNES, including Lost Vikings, and one of my all time favorites, Rock and Roll Racing. Even if you do only count the craft and Diablo games as two distinct games, their library is much broader than you seem to realize.
I've played muds as a player, coder and area maker for over 10 years, and have played almost every mainstream MMORPG on the North American market. I believe that the missing element from an RPG vs Levelling 'ad nauseum' MMORPG game, is the idea of permanent character death.
Mentioning the phrase usually incites people to reflexively assume that perm character death could NEVER work. But I don't think it has been
given serious treatment as a conceptual game element.
Consider the following.
-One of the primary appeals of an RPG game is the creation of a fictional character.
-perm character death was the norm in paper RPG games, and the appeal of the paper RPG game had a substantial impact.
-Current MMORPG's suffer from a few conceptual difficulties, inflation of levels (both of players and monsters), inflationary hording of loot, repetitive quests and events, and the big question of whether or not to allow PvP, or PK gaming.
-The inflationary aspects of current MMO's are similar to nations printing their own money.
There has to be a finite amount to give something value. The whole notion of meaning is that there is a start and end point, and the 'mean' occurs somewhere in-between. People are drawn to meaning, and character, otherwise Fantasy RPG's wouldn't exist.
It is a measure of the immaturity of the MMORPG gaming genre and/or market, that no-one has taken a serious look at the potential implications of making a game with permanent character death. (Whether fantasy/magic resurrection or appeals process is included or not)
It is a widely accepted conceit of writing drama that one of the fundamental hooks of a drama is the REAL possibility of losing a character that the reader identifies with. This element of risk makes the story INTERESTING.
MMORPG's have a somewhat different dynamic than conventional drama however, since the readers are players, and are interacting and affecting the playing experience of other players. The game designers are the storytellers from one level, but the notion of timeline that is critical to drama, is either absent, or absurdly predicably cyclical in games, hence the experience of 'camping'.
MMORPG's suffer from inconsistent levels of Role Playing given that people have different ideas of what appeals to them about the fantasy environment.
The common element that draws people to a fantasy game, is the idea of pretending to be someone else, whether thats a svelte elven princess, barbarian warrior, or effete and sinister mage.
A game designed around the concept of permanent character death, with the interest level of the game focusing on story, and character creation, rather than endless acquisitiveness could potentially turn a huge corner on MMORPG gaming history.
PvP could be allowed but would be held in check by the reality that lvl 50 PK'ers just wouldn't live to rise to that ridiculous a level, and then mindlessly take out their own personal aggressions on hapless noobs just entering the game.
PK play would be more balanced by the fact that anyone could play a PK, but would have to face the challenge of getting lynched by NPC's that treat them as outlaws or players working in a posse.
Character creation, focusing on individual uniqueness, emotes, and skills, could be the draw of the game, levelling can be part of the process. But in a perm death game, having a tavern full of 50th lvl mages, and lvl 100+ monsters hopping across the countryside wouldn't happen. A lvl 5 or 10 character would be significant. Characters could age. A real story timeline could be introduced.
Perhaps I'm being too 'literal' about the story and RPG aspects of the MMORPG genre. I believe that one of the current limits of the genre is overall motivation and age of most people drawn to fantasy. There is often a fairly prevalent adolescent notion of immortality, or lack of recognition of mortality, and the appeal of a consequence free virtual world, where one can become supremely powerful, is an essen
In the search for meaning, which includes forays into the virtual world, play itself is the most effective form of learn