[MUD-Dev] Future of MMOGs

[Eric Lee {GAMES}]

Shane P. Lee wrote:

> That stuff isn't very hard to add to text MUDs, and I can't see
> why it would be such a big deal to add it to a MMORPG.  Am I
> missing the point here? If so, please tell me what all the fuss is
> about, namely: What IS PGC?

I'll delurk to answer: Yes, your understanding of player-created
content is pretty much correct, and yes, it's easy to add to text
MUDs.  Generally it's much harder to add player-created content to
commercial/graphical.

First of all, text is infinitely expressive with very little work on
the part of the game designer.  In a text MUD, all you have to do is
provide a way to create rooms and objects and attach text
descriptions, and poof!, you've got player-created content.
Everyone who plays a MUD can read, write, and type, so everyone's at
least minimally qualified to create content of one sort or another.

Graphical MMORPGs, on the other hand, are much more difficult to
create content for.  You've got to do 3D models and textures.
You've got to keep from adversely impacting frame rates.  You've got
to distribute all the new content to everyone.  And you have to have
decent tools with which to create all this stuff.  The barriers to
entry are a heck of a lot higher.

Rather than having players create their own content from scratch,
the game designers could provide a set of pre-built "primitives" in
the game that allow the players to make a permanent effect on the
world.  (Player-built houses in UO being one example.)  The problem
is that the players can only do those things that the designers have
already thought of and implemented, and it's a huge burden on the
designers to try and stay ahead of tens or even hundreds of
thousands of users.  The player's range of expression is really
quite limited.  I agree with the GameSpy article that UO was the
best MMORPG so far at this, but it was still nothing like text MUDs.

A related problem is that since MMORPGs are persistent and usually
have fairly dense player populations, you've got to avoid giving
people any tools that would allow them to create permanent negative
effects and upset your paying customers.  Player-built housing in UO
is again the classic example: it was nifty at first, but once every
square inch of the continent was covered in houses, it was a bummer.
 
And that brings up the final point - commercial MMORPGs
traditionally have a responsibility to maintain a reasonable level
of quality across all of their content.  There's just no way they
can allow everyone to create random garbage and drop in into the
game, for a variety of business, marketing, and probably legal
reasons.  Some text MUDs have a content review system in place where
major new content must be approved by the admins before being opened
to the public.  Of course, those MUDs also have the luxury of having
a relatively low player-to-admin ratio.  There's just no way a
commercial MMORPG can keep up with thousands upon thousands of
people.


All of these problems are ultimately surmountable, I think, but
they're non-trivial with our current technology.

Eric

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