So Many Good Games...

It's going to be hard to get me to write new articles for the next few days - what with Skyrim, Minecraft's official release, and MW3 to play. Not to mention my new found addiction in AoC:Unchained.

I don't think many people realize this, but Minecraft could teach the MMORPG industry a thing or two. The level of freedom it gives its players in unsurpassed in games today - and it's so open ended and flexible that it can be modded to create whole new games.

For example: currency (I'll do a longer post on this subject soon). I remember in D2 when gold became so abundant that it really didn't matter, people began using runes as currency. I enjoyed that! It may not have been a perfect economy, but the fact that the players invented it was interesting, and it kept things flowing. In Minecraft, there is no currency, so players must invent a system of currency that works for them.

Anyway, I'll try to keep writing during breaks from the aforementioned games. In the meantime, happy gaming!

The Paradox of Choice

In this TEDtalks video, Barry Schwartz tells us how the abundance of choice can cause indecisiveness, and a feeling that something you've chosen is not quite as good as another option.

This is relevant to MMORPGs in a couple of ways, the first being that there is a growing number of games to choose from. Each time we play a new MMORPG, we may not be able to help feeling like there might be something better out there. This can hurt our ability to sit and actually enjoy a game for what it is. As this game market grows, we become more analytical of our selections (given that we have more to compare them to).

The second is related to in-game freedom. As Mr. Shwartz points out early in the video, freedom is the equivalent to more choices. When we play a theme park game, we are more likely to feel like we made the right decision, because there are so few choices available. But in a sandbox game, with so many choices, people may find it difficult to choose at all.

Watch the video and tell me what you think. Keep in mind that he is not saying that more choices is a completely negative thing, but that there are some negatives involved with giving people more choices.

Trying out a number of MMOs

Lately, I've gotten the itch to play something new. The current list of PC games that I play includes no MMORPGs; I had just been burnt out on the disappointments of whats available.

But this blog has made me want to jump back into the fray. Here's a quick rundown of what I've tried out in the last week:

Lineage 2 - This one was pretty awesome, until I used a scroll that's usage wasn't clearly outlined and ended up far from my level-appropriate zone. The roads back were guarded by monsters who were obviously more powerful than my character, so on the run back I was killed so many times that I just decided to put L2 away for now. I'm not saying L2 is a bad game - it seemed like it would be excellent, I'm just taking a break due to frustration.

Vindictus - The first thing that bothered me about this title was that you are confined to a single town. Nevertheless, I spent a long time playing this one. The combat system and destructible environments were enough to keep me interested for a little while. However, I feel that this game doesn't have much else to offer; but I'll keep playing on and off to be sure.

Eden Eternal - I couldn't get this one to patch properly, so I never actually got to play it. It seems promising, but I won't know until the devs fix the patcher.

Mortal Online - This one has potential. But my foray into the MO world was a horrible experience, and I won't be returning to it for a long while. Reading through reviews and their website had me thinking this could be the sandbox experience I was hoping for. But the game is glitchy, and combat was very clunky. I'm keeping this game on my watch-list however, and I may return to it in the future - especially if they convert to F2P.

The last one I checked out is Age of Conan: Unchained. This one was pretty satisfying, though its the exact opposite of sandbox. But so far its a decent game, and worth checking out especially since its gone F2P. My absolute favorite thing about it is the polished environments; everything is very detailed.

So that's it so far, but I'm still on the lookout for good games to try (especially ones with a trial, or F2P option). If you have any recommendations, let me know!

On my to-try list: Wurm Online, Ryzom.

4 More Days!

I can't even begin to express how excited I am for this game. While not technically MMO-related, let's be honest, you've been excited for this one, too.

Levels - Are they really necessary?

Traditionally, MMORPGs follow the typical formula of create a character, level up, end-game. My question is, are levels really all that necessary?

The Good
Levels give new players much needed guide rails. You know when you see that "Level 1" printed on your character sheet that its time to go out and get some experience points. They also separate content that's meant for higher level characters - something that might be difficult to do without a level system.

The Bad
They separate content that's meant for higher level characters. Yes, that can also be a bad thing. What if all content was available to you as soon as you create a character? What if there were other forms of advancement?

This bleeds into another bad point about leveling: ~90% of in-game content is designed to help you level up. With a different type of progression system, you can still feel like your character is growing and advancing, without the need for wasted content, IE, everything is end-game. There could be a reason to go back to any zone!

This thread discussed why leveling is necessary, but all anyone could muster to say that made any sense was that it gave players a scale to show how they've advanced. Well there can be other scales (gear, class advancement, skill progression, titles etc.), and to me those make more sense flavor-wise than levels do.

I feel that a skill-based combat system can negate the need for level-based advancement. But some of you might say: How do I know which monsters I can beat when there are no levels? Well, that can be remedied in any number of ways. But first and foremost, a little common sense never hurt anyone - if a player see's a wolf, he knows he can probably kill it. If its small, he can probably kill it. But if its a giant magma elemental, that player might have enough sense to call a few friends to aide him. If not, trial and error - and we'll talk about death penalties later (that's a whole other can of worms).

This tradition of leveling up - it feels dated. Nowadays, [some] players want immediate action, and levels (not to mention consistently increasing level caps) prevent them from getting that. The term 'end-game' doesn't have to exist.

Negativity in the MMO Community

So much negativity. I spent some time perusing MMO-related forums - what I found was that a lot of people use them as outlets to complain about the industry. They see all the negatives it seems.

Well, at the risk of sounding all zen and whatnot, let me say that I am remaining positive. I see a bright future for MMORPGs - there are some very promising new titles coming out in 2012. And as more of these titles come out, the market will spread thin, forcing developers to continually think outside the box. Maybe this timeline is unsatisfactory ("I'm a consumer, I want the product now!") - but patience, my dear gamers, patience.

RaiderZ - New MMORPG from Frogster

The publisher of Runes of Magic and TERA Eu, Frogster, has just released a trailer for a new F2P title called RaiderZ. You can view the trailer here. Or sign up for the newsletter here (the first 10,000 will get beta access!)

Now, this normally wouldn't be significant to me - this isn't a news blog. But this game boasts an action combat system similar to TERA's, and I have a few things to say on the subject.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm excited to play TERA when it does roll around to beta time in NA. The combat in TERA looks to be a step in the right direction for the future of MMORPGs. I've always felt the GCD-based combat in most current MMORPGs is lackluster at best. And the fact that I can hook up a controller and play - that is definitely innovative.

But a quick gloss over of their official website, and something became glaringly obvious to me: That seems to be all it has going for it. Is that going to be enough to get players hooked?

Again, don't get me wrong, I'm definitely going to play it. But outside of the combat, I'd really like to hear something about crafting, or any sandbox features, or if/how linear the game is. It's even apparent in reviews; all anyone is talking about is the combat. I'm going to have to play for myself to decide if its worth sticking around for, but I've got my fingers crossed for player housing, innovative crafting, or any other outside-the-box non-combat features (Vanguard:SoH's diplomacy feature comes to mind).

Now what does all this have to do with RaiderZ? Well RaiderZ has an advantageous position over TERA from the get go: It will be free to play. If TERA doesn't deliver, I'll just play RaiderZ to get my action combat fix.

EDIT: I did read a little about the crafting, but none of it was all that different from what you'd find in other MMORPGs, and end-game crafting becomes relatively worthless. On player housing: There is guild housing, but no player housing as far as I can tell currently. Still researching other features.

Archeage Combat Trailer

This combat trailer I found on BetaCake showcases some of the combat mechanics in the upcoming MMORPG by XLGames, Archeage.

There are quite a few points of interest in this preview.

First off, while the video is pixelated, the quality of the graphics is apparent, and only one word comes to mind: wow! Early in the video you can spot a few Asian-themed buildings that look absolutely gorgeous. Pause a few times throughout and you can see XLGames has definitely paid attention to detail.

At 0:12 there seems to be a ship coming through some sort of portal. I wonder what that's all about? Speaking of the ships though, the mounts and vehicles in this game are fairly varied. Aside from the usual horses; airships, gliders, boats, and more unique land mounts all seem to be common in the Archeage world. Though so far they've only revealed three land mounts - I may be spoiled, but I do hope there are more.

As for the combat, I'll have to play it to know for sure, but so far I'm impressed with what I see. The skills seem dramatic in scale, as we witness a mage levitating giant crab-monsters, or a warrior-type charging into his foe.

But perhaps the most impressive element is the enemy NPCs. From the sea monster to the horde of zombies being AoE'd away, everything seems very polished. And that rock dragon pictured towards the end of the video is very detailed!

I'm very excited for this game, and am becoming increasingly impatient as more information is released.

Sandbox vs Theme Park

Now, this isn't really a post to decide whether the perfect MMORPG should be sandbox or theme park. It's hard to say how exactly it will turn out. Instead let's try to imagine that neither word exists. This way we can decide on features that we want, and how they will affect the game, without limiting ourselves by encapsulating the game as a 'sandbox' or a 'theme park.' For now, lets try to outline why these words hold us back.

For theme park, the problem is obvious. You're on a set path, and once you've played it out, you have nowhere to go. And if you've gotten to the cap once, getting to it again is going to seem even more monotonous than before. But theme park comes with its perks. It's newbie-friendly, it's familiar, it has direction, and it sets goals for you.

Sandbox is generally deemed as a play style suitable mostly for hardcore gamers (see this article for a good comparison). But I see that as something that can be remedied.

While PvP combat does seem to overshadow many other features in a sandbox MMORPG, we're taking our opinion of sandbox from games that have tried and either failed, or have only appealed to a niche audience. What if that void was filled with rewarding PvE, dynamic events that encourage participation, and combat that is fun?

This post presents some very interesting challenges to overcome in a sandbox title. Direction seems to be something that casual players miss from their theme parks, something which sandbox usually lacks. And that might be the key to Pandora's box here. A sandbox with goals - a reason for the grind.

But if we forget those words altogether, we can imagine a game where we think of how each feature affects the whole. Instead of sandbox, we can say, how will this feature affect the freedom we offer our players? Instead of theme park, we can say, will this feature provide direction and guidance? And most of all, we can ask, will this feature be fun?

Ooh Shiny!

Graphics are an integral part of any game, MMO or not. And there are quite a few options to be considered when deciding on the style and depth of the graphics in our MMORPG.

Now, before I start laying out the options, keep in mind that this is a hypothetical situation in which you have an unlimited staff, and an unlimited budget.

2D versus 3D: Don't completely rule out 2D as a possibility. There are arguments to be made for its simplicity and familiarity to casual players, not to mention there are plenty of successful 2D MMO's. However, 3D is simply the way to go when immersion is one of our goals.

Cel-shading versus photo-realism: A lot of recent F2P titles have gone the cel-shading route, and it's easy to see why. Often it means that lower end machines can handle the game, and it gives the graphics a cartoon feel. These commonly anime-inspired graphics are great, but I think given our unlimited budget and unrestricted time frame, we could definitely push for photo-realism.

Example of Cel-shaded graphics

There is however a caveat to photo-realism: In a photo-realistic game, players expect realistic movements. That disgusted face you make when an animation just doesn't look right, or a glitch causes a body to get stuck in a staircase - its effect on the player is more drastic in a game that opts for photo-realism. Cel-shading comes with the notion that the game doesn't take itself too seriously, and thus can get away with sillier things.

There is a median however. And that is where I feel most games fall as far as their graphic stylings, and they are probably right to do so. Attempting to go too realistic comes with risk, as does going too cartoony. Somewhere in the middle ground is where I think we'd like to be, so that we can get away with those crazy emotes and over-the-top animations, while still having plenty of eye-candy.

While not quite photo-realistic, Rift is definitely shooting for realism.

We'll save the gritty details for later (weather, physics, animation, GUI, etc.). For now, what graphic style do you prefer?









I personally don't mind so much if the graphics are a little less than what I'd expect from a triple-A MMOG, so long as the gameplay is smooth, and the terrain and areas are interesting and detailed enough to satisfy the explorer types among us. But great graphics are always a plus, and can definitely captivate and excite players. 

The Feature Game

For the sake of getting the ideas flowing, I decided it might be fun to play a little comment-game. Basically, we'll each name a feature we either have or haven't seen in a game, that we enjoyed or think we would enjoy in an MMORPG.

Rules:

• You can't name something that's already been named. So try to read the comments before you post your feature.
• Explain why you'd like to see it, and if applicable, name a game that has this feature.

I'll start us off: Farming. Not farming as in killing mobs for specific loot - farming as in farming, as seen in games like Luna Online.

Luna had player owned farms, though it took quite a bit of work to get one going - and I feel its a feature that is not often seen and even less often done right. With sandbox features like this, they need to work themselves into the games economy, otherwise it feels like an afterthought and a sidetrack from the point to the game. Nonetheless it was fun to have a farm and tend to my crops.

Your turn!

Back to Basics

I want to start from absolute scratch here. Make no assumptions. The perfect MMORPG could be sci-fi or fantasy, twitch-based or global cool-down based, sandbox or theme park, or it could contain elements of all of those.

That in mind, let's start at the very beginning: the genre. Are we going to be in space, wielding projectile weaponry, fighting giant mecha and aliens? Or will this be medieval fantasy - sword and board with magic and dragons? Or even somewhere in between?

I've always been a fan of high fantasy, if only for it's ability to adapt. I like the idea of magic versus technology, and high fantasy allows for a good mix of the two.

Another reason for my wanting to go this direction is that I'd like to keep things on one planet. Interplanetary travel has just never been my forte.

High fantasy would keep things familiar, while still having plenty of unknowns for players to discover. It's ability to encompass our favorite pieces of all other genres is it's strength - we can have steampunk, sci-fi, and the usual sword and sorcery all rolled into one.

In the long run, the kind of game we want to create will not be limited much by its genre. But it's something we should decide on before we move on to subjects that are affected by the games' genre.

So, what genre would you prefer and why? (poll will be up soon)

The Preliminary

Being that this would be the first post of this blog, I thought long and hard about what the essential question you have to answer is before delving into something like this.

The one that finally popped into my head was: What kind of player does our game cater to?

I thought for awhile about that question. And the answer that I came to, and I firmly believe this is true, is that an MMORPG can cater to all types of players, albeit usually in different ways. So now the question becomes, what kind of player are you? (and by extension, how can we make you happy in our world?)

I, myself, am a bit of a role-player, and a bit of a power-gamer. I like to be competitive, so I get excited when I hear about awesome PvP features. But I also enjoy sandbox elements, especially things like player housing, and raising pets. I was giddy when I heard about GW2's Personal Stories.

Conversely, certain negatives can turn me off from a game. I cringe when I see limited customization capabilities in a game, as I enjoy having a unique appearance for my character. The more hairstyles the better! Another thing that bothers me is poor translations (often found in Korean MMORPGs), and I feel that it not only hurts the storyline, but affects immersion as well.

But that's just one person. And there are many different types of players out there. So, for now, the question we have to answer is:

What kind of player are you? And what gets you excited for a new MMORPG?