[MUD-Dev] The Casual-Player Killer: Time? (was Re: MMO Communities)

[Michael Sellers]

Will Jennings wrote:
> Yannick Jean wrote:

>> The question facing future MMORPGs is: can you [encourage
>> cooperative play] without alienating the "30-45 mins. session"
>> players ?

> I hear: the time commitment of MMOs is what's keeping the mass
> market out.  It's a common refrain (especially in press for games
> that try to fix the problem), but I'm skeptical.  I would expect
> most mass market players to leave most games before they get to
> the point where the length of a fruitful session becomes an issue.

> From anecdotal experience introducing people to these games*, the
> biggest barrier to their enjoyment is the interface.  Simply
> moving around in a third person view is frustrating for them -- an
> object comes between the camera and the avatar and they don't know
> how to see themselves again, or they get stuck on things.  And
> they have as many controls and instruments to worry about as a
> shuttle pilot.

This too is a function of time.  Call it "time to first enjoyment."
I've heard MMO players in focus groups say things like 'it may take
a week or two of playing before I figure this out."  Bzzzt.  That
won't work for the mass-market.  Your competition there isn't EQ,
it's Freecell -- or worse, the TV remote.

To grab the burgeoning and almost completely ignored mass-market,
you have to grab their attention fast, make the game immediately
worth their while, avoid frustrating experiences (getting ganked or
just stuck by a rock in the first five minutes, say) and then most
difficult of all, let them go again while giving them ample
incentive to come back (that is, if you want to maintain the coveted
subscription revenue model).

IMO the game that comes the closest to this now is probably Three
Rings' Puzzle Pirates -- though with due respect to their
accomplishment, I think they've primarily shown us how steep the
climb out of the niche-ravine of current MMOGs is.

> Other issues I'd expect to come into play before time commitment
> include the behaviour of other players, the lack of good
> documentation, and complexity.

All of these relate directly to time commitment: if the other
players are welcoming instead of threatening, if the game is easily
understood (usable, predictable, silently learnable) then the time
needed to have fun, and the time *commitment* needed to continue
having fun, go down drastically.

There are many other time-related elements too.  For example, the
level-grind is an inherent time-commitment: if I can play 1 hour per
week and you play 20 hours per week, how long will we be able to
effectively play together?  Or if it takes an hour to traverse the
world to catch up with my buddies, what happens if I only have
thirty minutes to play?

> These are some of the things that might keep mass market players
> from enjoying MMOs.  But even these probably aren't the real
> barriers to _selling_ MMOs to the mass market in the first place.

Ah, the old acqusition vs. retention debate.  You're right, even if
we could sell current MMOs to the mass market we couldn't keep many
people there.  But we can't even sell current MMOs to the mass
market!  "Men in tights" games won't sell to the mass market.  But,
since that's pretty much what we know how to build... well, we keep
building them.

Mike Sellers
Online Alchemy
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev