[MUD-Dev] Mass customization in MM***s

[Ron Gabbard]

There have been a number of threads focused on the issue of
enhancing the game experience for players of MM games.  Me and a
couple pots of coffee just recently finished the 'pre-packaged'
modules in NWN.  It was one of the better CRPG experiences I've had
in years.  But, it then hit me that the fastest way to ruin that
experience would have been to add 3,000 concurrent players.  Every
encounter/area/quest was designed for the single player/group
systematically going through a achieving sequential goals.  There is
just a vast difference between single-player/group CRPGs and
MMORPGs.  It's kind of like the evolution of grocery stores.

Grocery stores used to be small corner markets where the owner
operated the store and knew most of their customers.  "Charge"
accounts were kept in paper books and the individual business owner
would extend or deny credit based on their previous experience with
the customer.  If an elderly person came to their store, they would
have someone help the person get their groceries to the car or even
deliver them free-of-charge.  It was a very individualized, personal
experience between the customer and the grocery store/owner.  The
person at the check out counter wore a friendly smile and had the
authority to knock a couple cents off the price if a cantaloupe was
particularly bruised.

Enter the 'supermarket'... Supermarkets carry a greater variety of
products at lower prices.  They are typically less convenient to get
to than the corner grocery store as they have opted for a
centrally-located position to many residential areas versus 'walking
distance' from a specific residential area.  The owner of the
grocery store probably isn't on-site and may even be comprised of
thousands of individuals in the case of publicly-traded corporate
chains.  Credit is given through Visa or Mastercard and checks are
accepted based on the issuance of 'check cashing' cards once the
customer has followed standardized 'credit check' procedures.  The
friendly face at the check-out counter has been replaced by a 'Hi My
name is Fred' robot whose goal it is to get you through the line as
fast as possible and will price things according to what the scanner
reads.

In short, they are both grocery stores but one is designed to serve
the needs of the massively multi-shopper market while the other is
designed for a more personal experience for a couple hundred regular
customers.  The supermarket just can't offer the same level of
personal experience as the owner-operated grocery store while
maintaining their economies of scale and the corner grocery store
can't profitably offer the low price, wide variety of products, nor
support as heavy of traffic as the supermarket while maintaining a
'personal' experience.

This presents an interesting dilemma for designers of MM games.  The
'shopping experience' in the supermarket is a by-product of the
customer going in and buying their products.  The 'gaming
experience' is the product in MM games.  Thus, creating a
'supermarket experience' isn't acceptable for many players as they
want that personalized attention (feeling like they are 'the'
hero... or at least significant in the game world).  Nor is trying
to cram thousands of customers through a 'corner market' acceptable
as the system just isn't designed to handle it.

The latest trend has been towards 'mass customization'.  That is,
giving each customer the ability to purchase the product/service
they specifically desire while still maintaining the benefit of
economies of scale.  This is true of almost every industry -- golf
clubs, computers, automobiles, supermarkets, and now MMOGs.
However, while mass customization may try to emulate the personal
experience of the 'corner market', the best it can do is to provide
the customized tangible product... not the experience.  Having a
last name that is not intuitively pronounced, I get to experience
this failure first-hand almost every day as sales clerks hand me my
debit card and say "Thank you for shopping with us, Mr. <Enter
bastardized version of my last name>.  Come again."  The clerk
doesn't know me from Adam yet they are trying to emulate a level of
intimacy that was pretty standard in the days of the 'corner
markets'... the personalized shopping experience.

Within the context of MMOGs, this is even harder to achieve.  I can
go in and buy groceries, a pair of jeans, or a new computer and come
home satisfied that I got my money's worth if I received a good
product at a fair price.  As long as the store is relatively clean,
not too crowded, and the service is adequate, the actual shopping
experience is of marginal importance.  (Note the other trend in the
rise of super mass-merchandising like Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.) It
may be that MMOGs are turning into 'virtual Wal-Marts' where players
now spend time to earn 'a bubble of XP', camp 'uber loot', or bump
'blacksmithing X points'.  The tangible costs and benefits (XP and
loot per hour spent in-game) dominate the intangible benefits of the
personalized experience (with the 'personalized experience' in an
RPG being defined as the player being significant in the game
world).

One attempt at mass customization has been the implementation of
'mission terminals' where players can get access to content that is
specifically designed by the player in terms of difficulty, theme,
and rewards.  This has helped alleviate many of the issues faced by
previous games that tried to cram thousands of players through a
'corner market' system.  However, is lowering the price (in terms of
time and availability) and increasing the tangible rewards a step
towards personalizing the experience for a mass market or is it a
step towards 'Wal-Martism'?  Does the player become any more
significant in the game world because they no longer have to camp
mobs for hours to get a specific weapon or no longer have to wait in
line for access to certain content or are no longer forced to group
with other players?

Having played MMOGs almost exclusively for too long, NWN was like
being parched and having a glass of water.  It was fun being
'significant' again and playing a game where the tangible rewards
(loot and XP) were the by-product of achieving in-game goals versus
being the goal in itself.  Are MMOGs destined to become 'Wal-Marts'
where "level-appropriate" content is conveniently provided at the
lowest cost possible or is there a way of achieving mass
customization where every player can be significant in a game world
of thousands?

Cheers,

Ron




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