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The Soapbox: The perils of passive gaming

Jef Reahard — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Business models, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous

Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

My folks don't really understand my infatuation with video games (and MMORPGs in particular). "How can you sit there and play a game for two or three hours at a time?" my mom is fond of asking. Ironically, this usually happens on a visit that ends where most of our visits do: on the couch in front of the television.

Don't get me wrong; she's no couch potato, and in fact she has the meanest green thumb you'll ever see. When the sun goes down, though, my parents (like most of their generation, I'll wager) park their butts in front of the TV. That I should park my own posterior in front of the computer is exceedingly strange to them even though online gaming is to the 21st century what television was to the 20th.

I wonder, though, if games are starting to become more passive forms of TV-like entertainment.

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The Soapbox: The perils of passive gaming originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Have you ever facerolled MMO content?

Brianna Royce — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Endgame, PvE, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Dungeons

I've recently returned to World of Warcraft and was surprised to find a much more complex game than when I left (contrary to popular lore in our comments). Several of the classes have been revamped mechanically to be far more interesting and layered, and new dungeon encounters are frequently among the best in the industry.

At endgame, anyway. I realize that outside of heroics and raids and PvP, WoW (like many MMOs) aims for accessible simplicity, which is nice when you're just happily grinding away or teaming up with weekend warriors not looking for a stressful challenge. One of my mates even bragged about facerolling his way through the dungeon finder, and I had to wonder, do people really do that? Even if content is easy, I still try to play it "right." I'll still make sure I know how to play my character, probably because I'm terrified of being that person in a PUG -- you know, the one who makes people hate PUGs. But I have to admit that the idea of honestly just punching whatever buttons just to see if we'll still win has its own amusing charm (and a strange level of challenge too).

Have you ever facerolled MMO content, literally or figuratively?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Have you ever facerolled MMO content? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why I Play: EVE Online

Jef Reahard — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Economy, Game mechanics, Opinion, Roleplaying, Sandbox, Dungeons, Crafting, Why I Play

I can't for the life of me convince my friends to sign up for EVE Online. In their defense, the game can feel like a job at first. There are no skinner box particle effects or angelic choirs signifying your latest achievement, nor does anyone shower you with virtual confetti as you graduate from the newbie island.

For these reasons and others like them, CCP seems to have topped out somewhere around half a million active subs at the game's high point. EVE is seen as unfriendly in some ways, but in actuality it's the friendliest MMO around if you're an imaginative sort with the desire to direct your own in-game destiny.

Could the tutorials be better? Sure. Could PvE missions be more engaging? Absolutely. Does either of these failings, or numerous others, detract from what is the genre's premier emergent experience?

Nope.

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Why I Play: EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why I Play: Final Fantasy XIV

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, Why I Play

From the moment I set foot in the beta to Final Fantasy XIV, I was hooked. This, if you somehow managed to miss everything going on around the game's launch, was the exact opposite of most players' reactions. Most people found the interface clunky and counterintuitive, the main form of content repetitive, and the combat system awkward and frequently frustrating.

Here's the thing: None of those statements is wrong. The game has made enormous progress over the past year toward fixing those issues, but the players like yours truly who do enjoy the game don't love these elements. They love the game that lies underneath all of that, the design elements that shine through despite a lot of hoops you have to jump through first.

I enjoyed the game at launch. I enjoy the game now, and based on what I've seen so far, I'm going to enjoy the game in the future. There's something very special about the game amidst all of the downsides, something that made me decide back in beta that even if this game is going to take extra work to play, it's going to reward the effort.

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Why I Play: Final Fantasy XIV originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the hardest learning curve?

Jef Reahard — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Second Life, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Sandbox

MMOs come in all shapes and sizes, and with new titles launching every other day, there's bound to be one out there that caters to just about every skill level imaginable. While many of these games boast similar mechanics, occasionally a dev team will stray from the norm and create a head-scratchingly complex title (or in some cases, a title that is deliberately user-unfriendly).

Games like EVE Online and Second Life are renowned for their learning curve and the amount of research necessary to play at a high level, and we're curious to hear about others you may have experienced.

For this edition of The Daily Grind, share your thoughts on MMO complexity, and whether the term entails mechanics, the UI, gameplay options, or some combination of all three. While you've got your thinking cap on, which MMO has the hardest learning curve?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the hardest learning curve? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Soapbox: Decent challenge

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, Endgame, Opinion, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous

Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

The ancestors of modern humans had a lot to contend with, but I'm willing to bet that the seeds of MMO gamers existed even in those days. There had to have been at least one person who looked at a wooly mammoth, a titantic mass of tree-trunk limbs and tusks and fur, and announced "I bet you get great loot for killing that thing!" And as it turned out, he was right, assuming "great loot" means "meat for food and fur for clothing."

I'm exaggerating, naturally; everyone knows that ancient humanity spoke Norwegian, not English, and it's a well-known fact that the term "loot" was first coined in the Canterbury Tales along with "spawn camper." But that need for a challenge is still there, the central idea that in order to get something really awesome you have to overcome a big obstacle. Which is why challenge is such a thorny issue for MMOs and always has been, because one person's challenge is another person's irritation.

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The Soapbox: Decent challenge originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Soapbox: Sandparks

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Virtual worlds, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous

Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

The war between sandbox and themepark MMOs is being fought now, not just in the hearts and minds of players but in the simple matter of which project is getting funding for development. It's a war in which adherents to one design philosophy loudly decry the other, where both sides sling insults at one another and mourn how the other side has damaged the promise of MMOs or has no idea how to make a compelling gameplay experience. It's a battle of words and of subscription fees.

It's also really, really stupid.

Setting up the MMO sphere as a battle between two opposing design philosophies probably feels like a great chance to explore a two-faction system in real life, but it's also shortchanging not just MMOs but games on both sides of the nonexistent fence. It sells a number of games short, and it adds nothing useful to the genre as a whole. It's time to stop seeing the onling gaming sphere as a match of opposing forces and start seeing it as a varied and frequently awe-inspiring spectrum.

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The Soapbox: Sandparks originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online's Tech III ships hit Singularity test server

James Egan — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, News items

When CCP Games first announced the new line of ships coming to EVE Online with the Apocrypha expansion, a modular design called Tech III, player opinions were rather divided. Some view the flexibility to create thousands of potential ship configurations as a positive thing for EVE. Still, others remain standoffish, citing either the potential for over-complexity or "Lego in space."

Well now it's time for speculation to fizzle out, and for the players to see what Tech III is all about firsthand. An announcement today from EVE dev CCP Nozh let the players know that Tech III can be experimented with on the Singularity test server.

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EVE Online's Tech III ships hit Singularity test server originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Players skeptical about EVE Online's introduction of Tech III

James Egan — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Crafting, Opinion, Races

Everyone loves Lego, right? That childhood pastime of snapping together pieces to create new and often bizarre creations is coming to the spaceships of EVE Online, but not all players are happy to hear about this.

The next EVE Online expansion, Apocrypha, is going to introduce some new aspects to gameplay. Some of these new features, like wormhole exploration, seem to be received positively by the player base. But others -- like the modular "Tech III" ship designs -- have drawn no small amount of criticism from EVE's subscribers. Tech III is an aspect of the game that has players pretty well divided, much like the upcoming Walking in Stations (aka Ambulation) expansion. The sentiment a number of players have been vocal about is 'Do we really need this?' Whines and tears are a daily occurrence on the game's official forums and perhaps the opinions voiced there aren't necessarily indicative of the sentiments of the larger player base. But concerns about Tech III are also beginning to show up on player blogs, far from the bandwagoning of the EVE Online forums, and in some cases from players who know the game very well.

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Players skeptical about EVE Online's introduction of Tech III originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The negative impact of complexity on MMOs and virtual worlds

James Egan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Exploits, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Academic, Virtual worlds

The relative complexity of MMOs in comparison with more standard PC and console titles is a major draw for many of us. We like the crafting systems, the economic underpinnings, and many of the other trappings of massively multiplayer online titles. Complexity can be a core strength of a solid MMO title, but at what point does it become a detriment? Sometimes, emergent complexity changes the environment and the rules which govern it in some negative ways. Likewise, too much complexity-by-design can be equally problematic. This is the focus of a recent discussion at Terra Nova -- "Irreparable Complexity, Game and World" -- kicked off by Timothy Burke.

Burke writes, "I've found that virtual worlds, massively-multiplayer online games (MMOGs) have provided some great examples of Rube-Goldberg complexity-by-design, and have also demonstrated why this phenomenon can be a source of so much trouble, that you can end up with systems which are painfully indispensable and permanently dysfunctional, beyond the ability of any agent or interest to repair."

Burke explores this complexity in depth, through analysis of Star Wars: Galaxies and Warhammer Online, but also how this plays out in virtual worlds. This leads him to the dilemma of developers wanting to keep their game design opaque enough to players so that systems aren't easily exploited, at the risk of becoming ensnared in broken systems and overly complicated game mechanics -- where even the developers themselves can't figure it all out. Have a look at Timothy Burke's "Irreparable Complexity, Game and World" over at Terra Nova for his views on how game designers should handle both emergent complexity and complexity-by-design.

The negative impact of complexity on MMOs and virtual worlds originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively takes on EVE Online's learning curve

James Egan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, Game mechanics, Guides, PvP, Tips and tricks

EVE Online is a complex game. There's no doubt about that. That complexity is a large part of the draw, but that doesn't mean learning about the game has to be a daunting experience. With that in mind, Massively has EVE Online in its sights. We've brought solid writers on staff who are quite knowledgeable about the game and are here to give some in-depth info on how EVE is played.

CrazyKinux and Crovan of The Drone Bay podcast joined us in April, and since then have provided Massively's readers with some helpful columns. CrazyKinux, aka David Perry, writes the Have Clone, Will Travel column. David's most recent piece, 3 Essential Tools for Capsuleers, provides a great overview of some of the third-party programs and resources available to help you plan your skill progression and your ship fittings. But we're also running two more EVE-centric columns at Massively. Read on after the jump to see what else we're bringing to the EVE community, and how we're easing that learning curve.

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Massively takes on EVE Online's learning curve originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ten Ton Hammer takes a closer look at EVE Online

James Egan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Opinion, Hands-on

Ten Ton Hammer's Managing Editor, Cody 'Micajah' Bye writes about EVE Online in his latest editorial, 'The Temptations of a Unique MMOG.' The piece -- the first of many to come -- is an exploration of a game where that standard MMO skillset, employed in virtually all of the industry's dominant fantasy titles, no longer applies.

Bye cites a few aspects of EVE that drew him to the game: depth, no level caps, no class restrictions, skills not determined by grinding time, and open gameplay. He also notes that EVE is becoming a game where players can (slowly) begin to change the rules and systems of the world. In these respects, EVE is largely free of many of the limitations found in other MMOs. However, he notes what many people on the outside looking in lament: EVE can be a very complex game.

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Ten Ton Hammer takes a closer look at EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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