[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs

[Aurel Mihai]

There's a lot of good to be said for massively single player gaming.
Multiplayer can get really intense and I know a lot of people that
have either withdrawn from multiplayer or never started in the first
place because there are too many very dedicated players out there that
raise the bar too high for casual gamers. Massive single player games
would let a player step back from that crowd while still feeling like
their effort makes a contribution to something bigger.

However, that leads to the issue of how a player chooses where to step
into the gameplay. If he wants a top level command position (the
'chess' model), can he just pick that? Does he have to earn it through
lower level command? Through some sort of FPS squad leadership? In
that sense, is there a grind to get to where you need to go? That
could be a problem, but it would also be a bad thing to let just
anyone control where the battalion marches next..

Also, how much meta gaming has to go on? Games like WoW that demand
hours of continuous time for a single activity are still in existence
and will be for a while, but an increasing portion of the gaming
community is getting older and working so they can't be sitting around
waiting for the commanding officer to get orders from the rear admiral
who needs to consult with his staff...etc... before the squad enters
30 minutes of combat and takes out a flag.

On a different note.. the current trend of MMO gaming seems to be
bigger is better. WoW certainly sees this effect with its huge raids.
Even in EVE, bigger blobs are required to defend and conquer
territory. Sure, a couple casual gamers are discouraged because they
don't have 5 hours to devote to an action (of which 4 hours are
undoubtedly regrouping, recruiting, and generally waiting), but these
games are all growing which means more and more people are getting
sucked into these huge events. It's just natural, isn't it? Everyone
wants to be a part of something big. What's going to turn this around
and convince everyone that it's better now to have small group actions
contributing to a large group that nobody sees around all at once
anymore?

Furthermore, what's going to convince developers that this is the way
to go? Spore is a great experiment, but nobody besides Will Wright
seems to be taking that kind of risk in game development nowadays. If
it's not a sequel or an expansion pack, it's got to be a stale,
recycled, tried and true formula for any major studio to take it on.