[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Spore and MMOs

[John Buehler]

Aurel Mihai writes:

> 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 have either withdrawn from multiplayer or never started in the first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..

Try this:

No levels, and the size of a unit operation is dependent on the size of the
group of players that want to play together.  Leadership is a player social
dynamic.  Those players that others are willing to follow are essentially
voted to have whatever command authority is present in the games.

That's the dynamic of raids in WoW.  Everyone is roughly the same level, and
command authority of the raid is controlled by those who are the
acknowledged leaders of the player group.

The removal of levels from a game permits any given group of players to band
together for a common cause.  There is less emphasis on dedication to the
game (as measured by time played) and more emphasis on the skill of the
players.

As I recall, this is pretty much what happened in Dark Age of Camelot as
well when it came to taking castles and such.  Everyone was essentially at
the same level and then player social dynamics took care of who was
responsible for what.

> 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.

There's no question that games should avoid delays as much as possible.
In-game logistics are of dubious entertainment value when they serve no real
purpose other than to slow things down.  It's that whole content-pacing
thing brought on by levels.

> 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?

The whole "defend and conquer territory" thing in the PvP universe is rather
silly in my opinion.  Organize a group of players when nobody else is online
and you win.  I suspect that some serious structuring is needed to ensure
balance.  A group of 5 can only duke it out with a group of 5, and the only
thing hanging in the balance is of value 5.  Whatever that means.  So if you
can't find anyone to fight, you can't take any prizes.

I went through the experience of WoW raiding and it's definitely one of
those things where people assume that raids are the pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow.  In my case, it wasn't particularly appealing.  It was where
my guild spent its time, so that's where I wanted to be.  They were there
because it was the elite portion of the game.  After a short time, I just
stopped playing WoW.  The status of being a raider just didn't hold me.

> 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.

Investors want to believe that they're going to make money.  The current
recipe for that is World of Warcraft.  Will Wright has enough notches in his
belt that when he said "Let's try this", investors are willing to take a
chance.  When the game is a huge success, investors will jump on the
bandwagon.

JB