The human factor

rubadub

Ok, i"m a little altered right about now, but here goes.

 

MMO"s, whats it about : its about your altar ego, the only reason you want to play them is to show off to other people what you cant show them in real life.

You  want to be the best, you want to be strong, you want to be the boss, you want to kill the moron thats in your way.

If dev"s would pick up on this, throw their morals away and give the players the power to do these things, they would have a wining game, instantly.

This aint about pve or pvp, its about giving people the power to furfill their inner desires, the ones they would go to jail for, or be called dictator, torturer, sadist, dreamer, lost, rebel, etc...

Fantasy is whatever you cant optain in the real world, its what we think about on the way to work in the middle of traffic, its what we wish for. In the wolrd of  gaming, their is no reason why we could not get these things, in the real world, we are governed by certain rules, rules that are hard to brake, in the gaming world, its all about script and polygons, give us what we want, or be gone.

Give us end game, not a long boring road towards end game.

Give us power, not a grind towards the illusion of power.

Give us lust, adventure, fright, action, politics, that we can control, because that is what our ego wants.

Give us fights that are so epic it makes real history look like schoolyard games.

Give us conspiracy, give us a reason to work togueter, a reason to be more then one.

Give us realism, give us a world that feals alive, that reacts to our actions.

Give the guy thats alone the chance to do as much as the ones whit many friends, if he deserves it.

Give us what we could not, would not, might not ever get in the real world.

 

That is your mission.

 

 

 

 

Sroek

The only MMOs that will provide those experiences are ones that don't cater to the mainstream audience, so you'll have to search beyond what's prevalently presented and available in the media.

The typical MMO hasn't evolved from the standard formula that was first pioneered by the likes of EQ and Asheron's Call because the financial risks involved don't seem to be worth it, from a strictly corporate standpoint, at least. There's very little room for failure if you simply take a reliable formula that the masses are already conditioned to playing, tweak it and call it a different title.

This is why I support games like Infinity: Quest for Earth, Darkfall Online, etc. that are breaking the mold for the sake of innovation and quality gameplay, pushing the boundaries of what an MMO can and should be.

dawn3000

go and tell this to a MMO dev and he will laugh at u...

its a game not a replacement for ur live... ur expecting bit much imo

NoUrbanLight

Originally posted by rubadub

If dev"s would pick up on this, throw their morals away and give the players the power to do these things, they would have a wining game, instantly.

  A game like that wouldn't last long enough to even pay back the cost of developing it. The Human Factor is that "there will always be @$$holes"; if you'll pardon my language. You put that kind of power in people's hands, there will be a few that abuse it. I was in a game where morals got thrown out the window, and there is currently a betting pool going on as to how long it'll be until the company folds. The worst of the worst will drive away the rest of the player base because there is always another sandbox to go play in if the bullies make it so hard it's no longer worth playing there. You talk about the real world having rules that are hard to break... well guess what? The real world is still here for a reason, whereas game after game after game has gone under. I'm not saying a game where people could let out their inner sadist wouldn't have it's following... just saying it's completely impractical for an MMO. It'd do far better as a single player unit.

Beatnik59

 

Originally posted by rubadub


Ok, i"m a little altered right about now, but here goes.
 
MMO"s, whats it about : its about your altar ego, the only reason you want to play them is to show off to other people what you cant show them in real life.
You  want to be the best, you want to be strong, you want to be the boss, you want to kill the moron thats in your way.
If dev"s would pick up on this, throw their morals away and give the players the power to do these things, they would have a wining game, instantly.
This aint about pve or pvp, its about giving people the power to furfill their inner desires, the ones they would go to jail for, or be called dictator, torturer, sadist, dreamer, lost, rebel, etc...
Fantasy is whatever you cant optain in the real world, its what we think about on the way to work in the middle of traffic, its what we wish for. In the wolrd of  gaming, their is no reason why we could not get these things, in the real world, we are governed by certain rules, rules that are hard to brake, in the gaming world, its all about script and polygons, give us what we want, or be gone.
Give us end game, not a long boring road towards end game.
Give us power, not a grind towards the illusion of power.
Give us lust, adventure, fright, action, politics, that we can control, because that is what our ego wants.
Give us fights that are so epic it makes real history look like schoolyard games.
Give us conspiracy, give us a reason to work togueter, a reason to be more then one.
Give us realism, give us a world that feals alive, that reacts to our actions.
Give the guy thats alone the chance to do as much as the ones whit many friends, if he deserves it.
Give us what we could not, would not, might not ever get in the real world.
 
That is your mission.
 
 
 
 

And yet, all they can give you is a probability generator that spews out some mathematical solution when your character "x" does action "y" on object "z."

 

That's all an MMO really is underneath the surface.  It's just a slot machine, or dice rolling.  If you want to be a "hero" in an MMO, all you need to do is master the math, and you're there.

It's the same thing in our society, which is probably why you (and I for that matter) sense that our society is too sterile, sanitized, and clinical to satisfy our need for meaning.

But the secret to making these games work their magic has nothing to do with what the developers can give us, and everything to do with how we approach play.

Yes I'm talking about roleplay.  Something that we've lost the ability to do, because frankly, the combat engine doesn't care if you roleplay or not.  It only cares if you "master the math" in the most efficent manner possible; the most boring manner possible.

See, we players sort of  "got smart" and "grew up."  We choose the teamspeak over DIKU, the clan over the PUGs, and the grind over the glory; because all of the fun things you and I want just get in the way of pwning the game, stroking our ePeens, and moving on to the next game.

GreenHell

The only problem I see with the OP's post is that to have the illusion of power in a game some other player has to be your (for lack of a better word) victim. Who is going to pay a monthly fee to be your bitch? No one.

All of this freedom you want to have in a game is not possible. The things you enjoy may not be what some one else enjoys. By having this freedom you may well take away another persons freedom to do what they want. What if a crafter just wants to go out and collect mats. You want to kill crafters who collect mats. Whose freedom is more important at that point? You could always argue that he should go collect mats in a group and once again you take away his choices.

There can never be a game that has total freedom to do whatever you want to do. That is why most games have PvP and PvE servers. You can say it is not about PvP but in the end it really is. People love the fact that they can be total dicks in a game and it has no real consequences. People love to act in a way that they can not in real life with out getting their asses kicked. It may be the majority or the minority of players. I dont know nor does it really matter. In the game that you dream of it only takes one person to take away the freedom of choice for another.