MMO Communities (was RE: [MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?)

[HRose]

Byron Ellacot wrote:

> Oh?  What is it about cooperative play that defeats the concept of
> an MMOG?

The fact is that we are loosing the "massive" aspect. Diablo 2 isn't
a MMOG because, despite it IS persistent, it's still not
massive. Instancing goes against the "ideal" of building a "world"
(with its rules) opposed to the idea of building a fun arcade. Where
the gameplay is the real and only core. In a PvE game you only need
access to the dynamics involved, like a group of 8 peoples. When
your group is full, every other player around the zone is a source
of problem and will hinder both the gameplay and the fun. This is
why PvE works *always* better if instanced:

  - You are able to tailor the experience (like the difficulty)
  exactly for a well defined group

  - You are able to control better the load on the servers

  - You are able to control the load on the client

  - You erase the possibility of griefing since everyone is focused
  on a shared objective, without a competition inside the group

By instancing you are able to control and tweak the experience
exactly as you want. EverQuest did exactly this with the LDoN
expansion. Successful because they brought back to its origin the
PvE experience. Since it's back where it belongs, the gameplay is
more fun and presents less problems. As a direct consequence of its
nature.

A non-instanced PvE game presents all sort of problems.

  1- Difficulty problems because a mob that doesn't die to 10
  players will die to 50 (so the impossibility to predict and then
  tweak the experience to be compelling and fun)

  2- Griefing, because the various groups step on each other toes,
  competing for the same objectives

And all this because PvE, at this moment, is faked. It's a
single-player game with a cooperative aspect that begs to return to
his origin since the "massive" aspect is completely excluded,
hindering actively the fun. It's not building a world. It's building
an arcade.

When building an arcade you need more and more control on the
"variables" involved, since you aren't creating a dynamic structure
based on an imaginary society and rules.

> Griefing exists whenever there is a way for one player to cause a
> detrimental effect to another player.  Training, kill stealing,
> ninja looting and offensive language don't rely on player combat,
> but corpse camping

Griefing happens when a game is designed badly. In DAoC's PvP I
never encountered a form of griefing in two years. Same for
instanced PvE. If you build an "adventure", tailored for a specific
group, there's no reason to grief, because each single player will
"win" ONLY if every other player in the group will win. Griefing
happens when the design gives the opportunity to do so. Exactly as
you wrote in the first line.

I think good design is possible and "griefing" isn't something
unavoidable.

> Competition occurs as a result of the supply and demand ratio of
> content being heavily tipped to the demand end.

And this why instancing works. The content is cloned "on
demand". Tailored specifically for a target and with no
surprises. The competition is completely wiped from this status.

> Saying that the PvE playstyle is at fault really is throwing out
> the baby with the bathwater.  Limiting yourself to PvP only means
> you limit yourself to those who can compete in a PvP world, which
> is exclusively the people with eight hours a day to tweak, tune,
> and practice.

PvE could be a lot more but till now the tendency is about going
back to Diablo. For me this means that MMOG have "failed". We hit a
wall and noone was able to understand how to cross it. Now we are
going backwards. I believe that PvE could be a lot more. A lot. But
what I still see is a leap backwards. Games like CoH represent the
failure of the MMOG ideal. They are successful because they toss
away what a MMOG is to go back to the fun, cooperative arcade.

I actually criticize this and I think MMOG still have a lot to say
without betraying their own nature. They are valuable without
becoming clones of Counterstrike (with a slightly massive and
persistent extension).

-HRose / Abalieno
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