Familiarity is not always good
The big problem with MMOs at the moment is their tendency to be overtly similar. Developers work hard to create a game people will want to play, a game rich in lore and promise that people want to spend their hard earned cash on. Be it a subscription or micro transactions, they build something which will keep player interest. However, familiarity is also important. New games can be scary so there needs to be that note of homogenisation to keep people sane until the addictive side kicks in.
It's now gotten to the point where every game I play has the same UI, the same map layout and the same kind of quests. There are unwritten rules, for example, which are dependant on where your eye is drawn so the life and mana bar goes in the upper left with the info on that mob or boss next to it, a minimap in the right and the bottom is dedicated to the action bar and inventory. On one hand this is more familiar, as well being a silent homage to the great and the popular MMOs that came before. On the other hand, it's something UI and AddOn makers, as player-developers, are constantly challenging.
Just look at the numerous UI AddOns for World of Warcraft, for example. Some have awesome minimalist layouts, others focus on the centre of the screen and some -- like those of Turpster's infamous Turpstervision -- offer a distinct graphical twist which may (or may not) help the player. There are UIs for casual players, raiders, farmers, crafters, pro-gamers, and ultra specialised ones for each class. It's all about customisation and in someways this is one element which rests with the players over the developers who created the game.
To level or not to level
The other must-have feature of every MMO is leveling, a system of progression which normally relates a player's power to experience points, time played, reputation or quest hand-ins. In some games, particularly World of Warcraft, leveling is essential as it teaches you how to play a class properly and this can be justified for many MMOs. It can however be a bane to players, especially if they've got two or three alts of the same class waiting in the wings, and is often associated (sometimes unfairly) with grinding. APB will be one of the latest games to ignore this, turning the concept on its head and making a character's level dependent on their skills. Final Fantasy XIV, meanwhile, is completely getting rid of the experience and leveling mechanics altogether.
Gamers still play all these 'new' titles but the market is becoming so saturated with that seem to borrow the best bits from games that have been doing the rounds for years. At the same time though, the lack of new material and innovation means some MMOs are tanking even before they launch. Each year, for the dozens of MMOs that are released, several either close down, consolidate servers or try to invigorate their player base by going free to play.
Looking forward
Perhaps it's time to reassess what we know as an MMO, to reinvent it for the twenty-first century and consult with players to find out what they want in their favourite games. Either that or the MMO industry is doomed to a slow demise which will see even the most fanatical and dedicated gamers becoming frustrated and, in extreme cases, bitter. Fortunately there are titles, like APB, Final Fantasy XIV and Cities XL, which are attempting to break the mould and look beyond the normal constraints associated with MMOs. Perhaps there's still hope.
Reader Comments (16)
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 9:43AM arnavdesai said
While leveling in itself is not bad, making it a reason to play is a bad design decision IMO. I loved the fact that GW took that to hear with their second and third GW games when they substantially reduced the leveling time. Also, it cannot get any similar for GW players with only 8 skills to worry about at any given time and a part indicator & minimap. If that is not minimal I dont know what is. I hate the fact that they are going to level up skills based on levels in GW2 but their choice has been made so cant help it.
Also, to be fair to the developers-- games like WoW are really popular with casual players. I also know that the parents of one my guild members in Guild Wars used to play using a dial-up connenction and the member was 43 years old so his parents were at least in their 60's or even probably 70's. So I would say even with conventional mechanics the game was simple enough to be picked up by older folks. I dont believe that picking classes etc is always overwhelming as long as stats dont muddle the picture. Now imagine if something Oblivion was an MMO. I consider myself a fairly moderately exposed gamer & even I had to read up online to really grasp the workings of Oblivion. So while it avoided a class earlier, it was harder to figure out what you wanted to play.
Also, to be fair to the developers-- games like WoW are really popular with casual players. I also know that the parents of one my guild members in Guild Wars used to play using a dial-up connenction and the member was 43 years old so his parents were at least in their 60's or even probably 70's. So I would say even with conventional mechanics the game was simple enough to be picked up by older folks. I dont believe that picking classes etc is always overwhelming as long as stats dont muddle the picture. Now imagine if something Oblivion was an MMO. I consider myself a fairly moderately exposed gamer & even I had to read up online to really grasp the workings of Oblivion. So while it avoided a class earlier, it was harder to figure out what you wanted to play.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 3:00PM (Unverified) said
No, this has not been said in any arena-net interveiws or anything. They haven't commented on the number of skills, how skills get more powerful, or even how many skills there will be. We know nothing about that part of GW2. Of all the MMO's I've played, Guild Wars is the most different. Playing PWI, WoW, or Warhammer feels almost exactly the same, in terms of interface and the way you get skills and such. Guild Wars is a lot different. Part of that would have to do with it being more of an online co-op game, but it does share some things with mainstream MMO's.
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Posted: Aug 6th 2009 3:23PM arnavdesai said
I am not 100% sure but I believe they said they were going to level skill along with player level. This might have changed of course, but they did say skills might be leveled. I so hope they dont and it was the most disappointing part of GW2 I have heard but if you are right then all the better.
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Posted: Aug 6th 2009 9:58AM (Unverified) said
Personally my best memories in MMOs are in the ones which didnt do anything new, and my worst memories are in the MMOs that tried to do something different. Its not about breaking the mold or doing something new, i think its about doing things RIGHT and presenting them to the player in a different and interesting way.
Developers are trying to add new things in MMOs or are trying to break part of the mold, but they still end up presenting the MMO in the same way. I guess an example of this would be ToR. Adding voiceovers to quests is great! but thats not going to change the type of quests you get, its not going to change the flow of quests and its not going to make the quests itself anymore fun then they already are in MMOs.
I think people who are waiting for a MMO to come along and break the mold will be disappointed for a VERY long time. While i personally dont see any mold breaking MMOs been released anytime soon, i do think there are some MMOs coming up that are providing different themes and different experiences. I dont think we need a mold breaking MMO, i just think we need to see a MMO do things right rather then different for now.
Developers are trying to add new things in MMOs or are trying to break part of the mold, but they still end up presenting the MMO in the same way. I guess an example of this would be ToR. Adding voiceovers to quests is great! but thats not going to change the type of quests you get, its not going to change the flow of quests and its not going to make the quests itself anymore fun then they already are in MMOs.
I think people who are waiting for a MMO to come along and break the mold will be disappointed for a VERY long time. While i personally dont see any mold breaking MMOs been released anytime soon, i do think there are some MMOs coming up that are providing different themes and different experiences. I dont think we need a mold breaking MMO, i just think we need to see a MMO do things right rather then different for now.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 11:32AM (Unverified) said
I think the current MMO business model is a big factor in "the mould" and while I respect polishing 'what works' and doing it "RIGHT", two MMOs later, it gets old, and cosmetic changes no longer feel like different experiences. Even if they cosmetically explore different themes, the gameplay doesn't complement the theme in any way, kneecapping the entire experience.
There are enough MMOs in the pipeline who have learned the lesson of cherry picking the best ideas and polishing them. And there are some people who will never get tired of that, but the rest of us are not in the market for a same-old-same-old MMO, and there are enough of us to support something new done right, instead of something old done right. Maybe not 10 million of us, but enough. More than enough.
APB, FF14 and Cities XL all show a bit of promise, but to be honest, none of them are really up my alley personally. I'm more curious about whether Secret World can get me away from arbitrary abstract character growth, action bars and fighting over loot. We'll see.
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There are enough MMOs in the pipeline who have learned the lesson of cherry picking the best ideas and polishing them. And there are some people who will never get tired of that, but the rest of us are not in the market for a same-old-same-old MMO, and there are enough of us to support something new done right, instead of something old done right. Maybe not 10 million of us, but enough. More than enough.
APB, FF14 and Cities XL all show a bit of promise, but to be honest, none of them are really up my alley personally. I'm more curious about whether Secret World can get me away from arbitrary abstract character growth, action bars and fighting over loot. We'll see.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 10:39AM (Unverified) said
My favorite system for leveling still has to be SWG.
Having 31 professions, from Rifleman to Image Designer to Politician and using skill points to be able to dabble in all of them was VERY liberating and fun. Combine that with being able to drop all of those skills and try something new out whenever you pleased made it the most fun over time IMO.
Having 31 professions, from Rifleman to Image Designer to Politician and using skill points to be able to dabble in all of them was VERY liberating and fun. Combine that with being able to drop all of those skills and try something new out whenever you pleased made it the most fun over time IMO.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 11:45AM (Unverified) said
The problem with the old SWG system as nice as it was, was it was subject to a lot of templating / flavor of the month.
In addition, not all of those professions were fully fleshed out and even fully working.
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In addition, not all of those professions were fully fleshed out and even fully working.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 10:48AM elocke said
The problem these days, is that game developers are trying to break the mold, but doing it in the wrong areas. Like AoC and Warhammer. Trying to build around pvp but using pve to do it and badly at that, due to INSTANCING. Breaking the mold of a seamless world is NOT the way to make mmorpg's better.
So far only Bioware and Square Enix have really shown me a possible shift in the right direction for mmorpgs. Based on STORY and making levels a non issue in order to promote more community mechanics.
So far only Bioware and Square Enix have really shown me a possible shift in the right direction for mmorpgs. Based on STORY and making levels a non issue in order to promote more community mechanics.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 10:52AM (Unverified) said
I am looking forward to FFXI and hearing that the class system is based of your weapon of choice and now removing the whole experience system shocked me, they will most definitely have grinding so I am awaiting what system they put into place for exp.
and champions online has sort of broken the class system, they allow you to pick and choose what powers your hero will have, so essentially you can create some rather interesting hybrid classes. I'm still waiting for open beta to start to make up my mind on it though.
and champions online has sort of broken the class system, they allow you to pick and choose what powers your hero will have, so essentially you can create some rather interesting hybrid classes. I'm still waiting for open beta to start to make up my mind on it though.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 12:03PM (Unverified) said
"In the past games like EverQuest II have implemented mechanics which allow you to get to know the game before becoming locked into a specific class"
How so? I played EQ2 at launch with their old class system as well as the newer one...I don't recall this so much. In fact the "old" EQ2 class system was identical to the lineage 2 class system. You pick a base class then it branches at a gateway level then branched again later on. But you didn't really have any "freedom". A fighter was stuff going down the fighter class branches you just became more specialized.
IMHO, I liked how Horizons handled it. Pick a class, if you don't like it, take another.If you want to go back, sure go ahead and pick up where you left off. Seems like a pretty easy logical solution to me. They also had a system of combining classes to make more classes but I don't remember it all that well.
The overall problem with skill based systems is they are very easy for the community to exploit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to pick out the best defensive skills, the best offensive skills and the best utility skills and mesh it all into one guy. If anything skill based games are more prone to the "clone effect" then any other. Old SWG had a huge issue with this. The masses were all either grind out Jedi or doing Bounty Hunter/medic combos back in the day.
Dunno what to say about levels. IMHO they just promote grind. No one really wants to do it but they all put it in. The "kill 10 rats" thing is just a waste of our time and needs to go.
I'm really interested to see what FFXV has in store for us.
How so? I played EQ2 at launch with their old class system as well as the newer one...I don't recall this so much. In fact the "old" EQ2 class system was identical to the lineage 2 class system. You pick a base class then it branches at a gateway level then branched again later on. But you didn't really have any "freedom". A fighter was stuff going down the fighter class branches you just became more specialized.
IMHO, I liked how Horizons handled it. Pick a class, if you don't like it, take another.If you want to go back, sure go ahead and pick up where you left off. Seems like a pretty easy logical solution to me. They also had a system of combining classes to make more classes but I don't remember it all that well.
The overall problem with skill based systems is they are very easy for the community to exploit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to pick out the best defensive skills, the best offensive skills and the best utility skills and mesh it all into one guy. If anything skill based games are more prone to the "clone effect" then any other. Old SWG had a huge issue with this. The masses were all either grind out Jedi or doing Bounty Hunter/medic combos back in the day.
Dunno what to say about levels. IMHO they just promote grind. No one really wants to do it but they all put it in. The "kill 10 rats" thing is just a waste of our time and needs to go.
I'm really interested to see what FFXV has in store for us.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 12:07PM chuckasucka said
There are too many flies swarming this dead horse to even begin to beat it.
But it takes passionate people willing to take a risk to start to redefine the MMO. If you inspire someone with this post to do some design work towards breaking the mold, then I think it's great, but this has been said so many times in so many ways in so many communities that it seems like it is a lost cause. The glimmer of hope is that, like you say, certain publishers are starting to realize that MMOs are stale and can work fine (satisfy the player) without those typical conventions :)
Looking forward to hearing more about FFXIV. I was never into FF, and I don't really like the aesthetic, but this write up makes me want to give it a chance :) Thanks!
But it takes passionate people willing to take a risk to start to redefine the MMO. If you inspire someone with this post to do some design work towards breaking the mold, then I think it's great, but this has been said so many times in so many ways in so many communities that it seems like it is a lost cause. The glimmer of hope is that, like you say, certain publishers are starting to realize that MMOs are stale and can work fine (satisfy the player) without those typical conventions :)
Looking forward to hearing more about FFXIV. I was never into FF, and I don't really like the aesthetic, but this write up makes me want to give it a chance :) Thanks!
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 2:13PM (Unverified) said
I really like what funcom is doing with The secret world at least what they have said. with completely free choice with your character. not much is known about gameplay accept that. It also helps that they already have such an immersible story with there viral campaign, i would support anything out of there game as long as they keep the level of immersion and brain bending puzzles.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 2:31PM (Unverified) said
Look at the D&D formula for table-top gaming and see how the whole idea moved into the MMO arena. The system, even after the horrid changes in v4, still work and have changed with the times so it's still relevant.
MMOs can't easily do that because players can't just "go back" to the older ruleset if they don't like the new one. MMOs are bound by the game they inhabit, so changing the rules equates to a new and different game which may not (and usually isn't) be successful.
Trying to make an MMO that incorporates the best of the current generation is only a snapshot of a place and time. Take too long to release the game and those aspects the developer thought were necessary and innovative are now boring and staid. Release too quick and the content is weak and shallow which turns people off right out the gate.
The ideal MMO, in my opinion, would be a ruleset that could be applied to a number of genres so that players who enjoy sci-fi, fantasy, or noir could do so without having to buy a whole different game and learn all new rules or mechanics. Not easy to pull off since the mechanics of most MMOs are constantly being tweaked in the name of balance.
TL;DR MMOs are a moving target that are never perfect and innovators need to work on the essence of the game world, not the mechanics.
MMOs can't easily do that because players can't just "go back" to the older ruleset if they don't like the new one. MMOs are bound by the game they inhabit, so changing the rules equates to a new and different game which may not (and usually isn't) be successful.
Trying to make an MMO that incorporates the best of the current generation is only a snapshot of a place and time. Take too long to release the game and those aspects the developer thought were necessary and innovative are now boring and staid. Release too quick and the content is weak and shallow which turns people off right out the gate.
The ideal MMO, in my opinion, would be a ruleset that could be applied to a number of genres so that players who enjoy sci-fi, fantasy, or noir could do so without having to buy a whole different game and learn all new rules or mechanics. Not easy to pull off since the mechanics of most MMOs are constantly being tweaked in the name of balance.
TL;DR MMOs are a moving target that are never perfect and innovators need to work on the essence of the game world, not the mechanics.
Posted: Aug 6th 2009 6:13PM (Unverified) said
Mortal Online deviates from the mold nicely. No leveling, no quests, deep crafting.. you have to figure out for yourself what you want to do, the game won't tell you.
Posted: Aug 11th 2009 9:02PM (Unverified) said
I can't believe noone has mentioned Darkfall yet. The launch was terrible due to demand greatly exceeding supply but the core game is IMO great, and is a great example of a fantasy MMO that thoroughly departs from the WOW paradigm.
If they continue to evolve the game the way EVE has evolved - gradually adding deeper game mechanics to flesh out the sandbox, then Darkfall may also begin to cross-over into the mainstream the way EVE has begun to.
If they continue to evolve the game the way EVE has evolved - gradually adding deeper game mechanics to flesh out the sandbox, then Darkfall may also begin to cross-over into the mainstream the way EVE has begun to.
Posted: Aug 13th 2009 10:41AM (Unverified) said
How much innovation can an MMO truly experience? The core concept behind an MMO is grinding. Grinding levels, gold, stats, skills, gear, fame, prestige, contests. The core mechanics of an MMO can't change because that is the entire draw to the genre in the first place. If you've finished everything you want to then there's no need to log back in.
So what we're left with is innovation in the game play field, not game style. The games listed at the end of the article (APB, FF14), have different game play, but the style is still the same. TBH the genres are starting to bleed together. If APB can be considered an MMO, then why isn't CoD4 an MMO? FF14 on the other hand... sure there's "no experience" but come on, there's still "experience". Just substitute one of the words I used earlier to define core MMO mechanics. Instead of "experience" there's "skill point gain". Instead of "experience" there's "grinding gold to buy skills". When you remove the core mechanic you're not evolving the MMO, you're entering into a different genre.
I must disagree with your idea that the industry will fall if the market doesn't evolve. It was a text book ending to an article no doubt, but evolution isn't always the answer. Yes, the industry is going to need to keep prettifying my packaged grind fest; but I like my grind fest. People aren't going to start going "oh my god I loooove the new Madden" just because nobody does the impossible feat of changing the core mechanics of an MMO.
The market is saturated, but that's due again to the nature of the MMO. You don't log in and shoot some people then log out. You can CoD4 into L4D into Halo 3. You can't WoW into AoC into War; not at the end game anyway. When Blizzards new MMO hits the shelves sure, who knows how many of the players will continue to keep their WoW accounts, but that doesn't mean they'll ever actually be playing WoW again. That's an example showing that it's nearly impossible to play two MMO's seriously at the same time. Obviously Blizzard is going to combine accounts through Battle.net so it's one fee for both, or a standard fee + minor fee for each additional.
Oh, Guild Wars, you broke the mold and let players enjoy the fullness of your MMO while still allowing them enough time to enjoy other titles in the genre simultaenously.
So what we're left with is innovation in the game play field, not game style. The games listed at the end of the article (APB, FF14), have different game play, but the style is still the same. TBH the genres are starting to bleed together. If APB can be considered an MMO, then why isn't CoD4 an MMO? FF14 on the other hand... sure there's "no experience" but come on, there's still "experience". Just substitute one of the words I used earlier to define core MMO mechanics. Instead of "experience" there's "skill point gain". Instead of "experience" there's "grinding gold to buy skills". When you remove the core mechanic you're not evolving the MMO, you're entering into a different genre.
I must disagree with your idea that the industry will fall if the market doesn't evolve. It was a text book ending to an article no doubt, but evolution isn't always the answer. Yes, the industry is going to need to keep prettifying my packaged grind fest; but I like my grind fest. People aren't going to start going "oh my god I loooove the new Madden" just because nobody does the impossible feat of changing the core mechanics of an MMO.
The market is saturated, but that's due again to the nature of the MMO. You don't log in and shoot some people then log out. You can CoD4 into L4D into Halo 3. You can't WoW into AoC into War; not at the end game anyway. When Blizzards new MMO hits the shelves sure, who knows how many of the players will continue to keep their WoW accounts, but that doesn't mean they'll ever actually be playing WoW again. That's an example showing that it's nearly impossible to play two MMO's seriously at the same time. Obviously Blizzard is going to combine accounts through Battle.net so it's one fee for both, or a standard fee + minor fee for each additional.
Oh, Guild Wars, you broke the mold and let players enjoy the fullness of your MMO while still allowing them enough time to enjoy other titles in the genre simultaenously.
