[MUD-Dev] MMO Communities (keywords: commercial influence)

[Eric Random]

Commercial game design can be affected by commercial influence.

Even though multiple individuals may be working on the development
of a game, there is ultimately team leadership and team
goals. Leadership and goals can be influenced by the business entity
funding the development. Game development companies in which the CEO
is also the Lead Designer may develop games differently than when
the CEO is not directly involved in game development.

Commercial game design can be affected by market opportunities and
pressures. Leveraging specific market opportunities to increase your
customer base is important in business. If you need to attract
customers away from competitors, you may need to match your
competitor's products and value-add (we offer the same product, but
better!) , or take advantage of a market opportunity where your
competitors are not offering a core service in the specific industry
(we offer something that others can't!). If a market becomes
saturated in specific areas, incumbent interest in those areas
become more competitive, but start-up interest will decrease unless
it is demonstrably revolutionary. This can stifle fresh new
perspectives in those areas of the industry. Further, if a
competitor adds value to their product which could threaten your
customer base, you may be pressured to match it.

Notice market opportunities not only affect initial design in an
established industry, but any ongoing development of the product. A
MMORPG, unlike single player games, is constantly under development.
The direction of this development can be affected by the market.

Regardless of the overall design a game designer might create, it is
ultimately limited by time and budget contraints. Time can largely
be set by marketing opportunities such as competitor release dates
or technology expiration (graphical assets and engines can become
outdated). Some design elements may take too much time to implement
given optimum target release dates, forcing one to pick and choose
core elements. During implementation it may be found that some
elements may increase the budget, placing one in a position of
abandoning or altering it. Further, in alpha and beta testing, some
elements may not work as planned, forcing one to make quick changes
to continue to make the release date, which could change originally
intended goals. Once the product goes gold, you can only change an
active product so much so quickly and some aspects might be
rescheduled for better marketing leverage. Further, since the
product has gone gold, the development team may be restructured to
handle other new and ongoing projects, changing the development
dynamics.

As you can see here, even though all this influence occurs, the game
designer is still attempting to make the most enjoyable game he/she
can. The influence is still there.

Further, like in most professional endeavors, a professional game
designer can be placed into a context they may not be all too
familiar with. They may be passionate about making games, or even
specific games, but perhaps not specifically the context. For
example, hiring a game designer who makes flight simulators to
design a flying shooter game compared to hiring a game designer who
makes side-scrolling shooters design a flying shooter game. Compare
this with a game designer who has a passion for making flying
shooter games. He might be best for the job, but he might also not
be available. He may have been hired by a competitor, and your other
designer just quit to go create his own company. So now you might be
stuck with a designer who makes side-scrolling shooters and you'll
need to rush him so your release date doesn't slip again. I'm sure
that designer is still going to attempt to make the best possible
enjoyable game he can.

It is important to note that the MMORPG industry is still young, but
commercial influence is much less during it's birth. Games like UO
and Everquest occurred at the beginning of the industry. Their
initial development was perhaps more passion than of commercial
profit as they were taking a huge risk in approximating success in
an industry that largely didn't exist. Influence is not how the
market was born, but how it's developing and evolving. Even though
these games may not have had a strong commercial influence in their
early design, it most probably exists in their ongoing development.

I could go on, but compare this influence with those that effect
hobbyist development. This is one of the reasons why hobbyist
environments do not resemble as much their commercial
descendants. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's just different,
but the difference does exist and it affects the future of the
industry.

On a side note, in my opinion, Everquest, since that was the only
example in this thread, was and is a success from both a design and
commercial perspective. I think those that tend to say Everquest is
a poor design are attempting to compare the future with the
past. Yes, today's televisions are better than those in the
1950's. Yes, tomorrow's televisions will be better than
today. What's your point?  The more constructive perspective to me
is: it's there, it works, it's popular, and it's defining the
industry. Let's see where we can go from here.
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