Pioneers Of MMORPGs Discuss Genre Evolution

Thanks to GameSpy for their new article charting the pioneers of MMORPG gaming, and discussing with them the "major quantum leaps" needed "to grow from two million North American MMORPG gamers to ten million." MUD co-creator Richard Bartle argues that "...so many MMORPGs have become so intently focused on automating and artificially motivating players to engage in the game-world that at times, the experience feels a little too 'Disneyfied.'" The solution, the article suggests, is to focus on "more human elements", "more life and realism into AI-driven NPCs", and stress "user-generated content" in the next generation of MMO titles.

Comments

let human beings attract other human beings

[kipple]

just give everyone the possibility to develop add-ons to the game, make it portable, and let the thing go. a single programmer or a limited team of them cannot think about every possible situation or every possible way to attract people.
but a whole world of programmers in a lot of countries maybe can do it.
make the game easily customizable and playable in many countries (language support, country servers), and let the whole thing evolve.
don't worry too much about piracy issues - if the game is good, people will buy it. make licenses available online to buy. let people try it by providing 20 days licenses to play in a smaller world.

just my .02 euros

Re:There, SecondLife, etc.

[PapaZit]

I really like There. Disclaimer: I'm far more familiar with it than I am with the other "social MMOGs". As I understand it, everything I say also applies to SecondLife.

I've played a few of the other MMORPGs like Everquest and Anarchy Online, and the "level treadmill" always annoyed me. I have a job in IT. I spend days doing stupid crap so that I can implement something cool. The last thing I want in a game is something where I spend days wandering around killing boring monsters so that I can have something cool.

In There (yes, the name gets annoying really fast in spoken conversation), you can either put a lot of in-game time toward earning money, or you can just plunk down real cash to buy "Therebucks" (T$) that can be used to purchase anything in the game. So, people with jobs can actually enjoy the game. In EQ, the people at the top are all 15-year-olds (or unemployed dotcommers who are too proud to work at Burger Kind) with lots of free time. In There, the most respected people in the game are the friendliest, so the annoying "I wish I could PK here" crowd that rules in AO or Everquest is marginalized.

Most importantly, "stuff" or "level" aren't the important part: the people are. There is currently in beta, so it's not open 24/7 yet, but when it's open, I can jump in at any time and get into my choice of coversations with people from half a dozen different time zones. Unlike IRC or a MUD, There was designed assuming modern hardware: you can put on a headset and use voice chat, and there are a ton of 3D expressions ("emotes") and outfits. Somehow, the extra realism prevents a lot of the more annoying behaviour that you see on IRC even though it allows for a whole new level of obnoxiousness. I don't know why -- maybe it's just more obvious when you piss people off.

Like real life, people are judged on appearance. If you run around in a leopard-skin thong and a t-shirt that says "spank me", you'll attract a different crowd than you would with a tux. :) Unlike real life, you can have any appearance you want, so it's not horribly unfair.

The other thing that's nice: there are places to explore. The game's pretty, but some of the best stuff is player-created. There are times when I don't want to chat. When I'm in that mood, I hop on my hoverboard and cruise the islands looking for cool creations. I like to explore: one of the things that annoyed me most about Everquest was the knowledge that I'd never be able to endure enough levelling to ever see some of the cooler parts of the game. In There, I can teleport to any location in the game instantly. The tricky part is finding the cool stuff for the first time, but I enjoy that.

In answer to your question: sitting on a virtual beach is no fun at all UNLESS you're doing it with cool people from around the world who'd never make the trip to do it in real life. How much fun is it to scale a mountain or explore an alien landscape without packing or breaking a sweat?