Atmosphere and MMO's

Talraekk

I've recently gone through a few threads with people sharing their opinions about what is missing in most new mmos and I figured I'd throw my own opinion in (in a new thread no less, in the hopes a dev might see it ).

Alright, now as the title implies I feel the main factor in drawing and keeping players playing in an mmo is the atmosphere.

Now, I personally like graphics, and love story, but what keeps me playing a game is how much it pulls me in. I play these games as a break from the world, or rather a break from myself. For a few hours I get to be the guy running around in a suit of armor heavy enough I probably couldn't drag it across the floor in real life and strong enough to take out a horde of enemies without breaking a sweat. The less I feel like 'that guy' the less happy I am with the game.

Looking back on the mmos I've played and the fun that has unfortunetly died away the longer I've played a game I've started to ask what was missing. Sure, it may just be plain ole boredom, but I've got games on the NES I'm STILL playing (over and over) which leads me to believe it may be something deeper. So I started comparing the mmos I've played to eachother, and to regular non-mmos. The biggest thing I could ever come up with is these mmos lack atmosphere (I've noticed this trend in newer solo games as well).

The biggest thing, to me, about atmosphere is sound and music (although to a lesser extent, graphics, although I personally believe we have the graphics portion covered nowadays).

I'll start out with a few things I notice myself doing. Humming. I hum themes songs and music from games I've played. Normally games with catchy tunes or epic compositions. IE, I'll hum the Zelda theme song, or any other song from nearly any of the Zelda games. In the case of mmos, I've noticed only a single game that has caught my attention enough to have me humming its music, and that's Final Fantasy XI. Understandable, considering as a series they have got quite possibly the best rpg music out there, and their mmo delivers it in spades. Now, FFXI is the only game I can even recall the music to. Sure I can recall some (bad) sound effects from nearly any mmo I've played but any music that actually played escapes me.

Outside of mmos, I'll pick my favorite game for atmosphere (even if its graphics did not hold up well over the years). That game is Unreal. This game is pretty old but the atmosphere in it is phenominal. The music is varied and heart pumping without seeming in the way or thrown in. Birds caw, insects chirp and machines hum. Without even moving I can hop on anywhere in the game and have fun just listening to the sounds. Epic. To me at least.

Now I'm not saying music and sound alone is going to build a good game. But a mediocre game with good sound can suddenly become a better one. I personally will play a game only if its interface and characters seem to be a part of the world rather than pasted on it. But normally the only thing that will keep me staying is the story and atmosphere (and in an mmo, story is VERY hard to come by, although by that same measure, so is atmosphere)

 

Now as I look up I notice I wrote more of a rant with no clear ending and I apologize for that, but I seriously feel that some ground breaking music needs to put in some of these games.

Czzarre

Best music Ive heard in an MMO recently is from AoC....very cool.

Best atmosphere in my mind are in LOTRO and AoC

elocke

Yeah, FFXI to me is the epitomy of how to make atmosphere matter in an MMORPG. That's one of the reasons these newer mmo's fall short.

Although, Lord of the Rings Online has it's share of awesome scenery and music, giving a very nice atmosphere. Ask anyone who has been through the Shire and you'll see what I mean. Also, Age of Conan, while limiting itself with invisible walls and instanced zones, has some nice visuals and the music is one of the best soundtracks in a game I have heard in recent years.

Warhammer Online however, failed me in this regard. Hardly any music, linear/parallel leveling making me less part of the zone I'm in. Which really stinks, after having read the books I was hoping to explore that gritty, scary world, but the online aspect doesn't even compare. I never feel like I'm exploring a continent or islands. Everquest 2 tends to do that to me too, although I like the music in EQ2 and there is at least enough ground to cover in each zone to make me feel like I'm in a bigger world. Although, seemless zones would make this game SHINE.

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elocke

Funny thing is, this can also be applied to movies. Or any type of visual entertainment. Imagine taking Star Wars, removing the awesome music. It would probably be horrible to watch. It wouldn't even grab you.

I keep thinking about WAR, because I really wanted it to be good game, and if you listen to the sound, it's the same thing all through each area, this wierd echoey sound of far off battle and strange npc voices. Unfortunately, EVERY zone has this same sound so it tends to feel "fake" instead of immersive.

World of Warcraft, surprisingly does a good job with music, as I found myself singing or humming the music in certain zones. Especially Grizzly Hills. Love that music. I think the music in WoW is one of the things that makes it so addictive. Too bad the story is lost in bad delivery. I think story should be given the way FFXI and LOTRO do it, with intricate interactive cutscenes.

DarkPony

Back in my WOW days I could get all fuzzy and emotional just by traveling through Ashenvale and hearing that music. *blushes*

I am very sensitive for those kind of things. Actually experiences like that would be the reason for me to come back to an mmo.

I had similar experiences in Lotro, though the music didn't stand out so much but the zones beyond Bree are just amazingly beautiful and it is a pleasure just to walk around in them.

p.s. a great soundtrack is what lacked for me in WAR; only drums and 'sounds of war'. That really disapointed me.

heremypet

I think your right, the main things that seem to make games good for me when I look back is the music and ambience.

I don't know what the deal is with me and video game music, but when I think back on video games I'd played in the past, it's mainly the music that I remember.  I swear sometimes I can remember an entire track from a game I played just a few times almost a decade ago, and then look at old screenshots and barely recognize them.

I think I might be a rare breed though, because I'm the only person I know who listens to video game music in my car or at work lol  Also the only person I know who plays moderns FPS with Doom midis playing in the background haha!  People who ask "What music is that?"  look at me all weird when I say "Oh yea it's the third boss battle theme from FF7"

I always manage to keep a creative sound card close by my main PC for it's midi processor, sometimes I'll forgo upgrading my OS if my old midis don't sound right on the new one.  I've even made VMs so I could record them to an mp3 from whatever midi processor sounds the best..

I can't log on EQ and see a freeport full of noobs, but I can pretty dang near relive the experience by listening to the old music   I don't know why I'm so attached to video game music, maybe cause it's technical-instrumental or something.

Sorry, I'm know no one really wants to read about me, I guess I'm just curious if anyone else feels the same way.

If you would like to listen to some great game midis, just search the net they're all over the place.  This site has all of the main classic EQ midis.. www.laurasmidiheaven.com/0vg/PC-Everquest.shtml

elocke

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Originally posted by heremypet
I think your right, the main things that seem to make games good for me when I look back is the music and ambience.
I don't know what the deal is with me and video game music, but when I think back on video games I'd played in the past, it's mainly the music that I remember.  I swear sometimes I can remember an entire track from a game I played just a few times almost a decade ago, and then look at old screenshots and barely recognize them.
I think I might be a rare breed though, because I'm the only person I know who listens to video game music in my car or at work lol  Also the only person I know who plays moderns FPS with Doom midis playing in the background haha!  People who ask "What music is that?"  look at me all weird when I say "Oh yea it's the third boss battle theme from FF7"
I always manage to keep a creative sound card close by my main PC for it's midi processor, sometimes I'll forgo upgrading my OS if my old midis don't sound right on the new one.  I've even made VMs so I could record them to an mp3 from whatever midi processor sounds the best..
I can't log on EQ and see a freeport full of noobs, but I can pretty dang near relive the experience by listening to the old music   I don't know why I'm so attached to video game music, maybe cause it's technical-instrumental or something.
Sorry, I'm know no one really wants to read about me, I guess I'm just curious if anyone else feels the same way.
If you would like to listen to some great game midis, just search the net they're all over the place.  This site has all of the main classic EQ midis.. www.laurasmidiheaven.com/0vg/PC-Everquest.shtml

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Hey, don't knock on yourself. Trust me, you aren't alone in this music/video game fascination. I remember taping the FFVIII music when I was playing it years back on a casette tape and using that in my car. I also have a few friends who buy the soundtracks for games as well. Granted, we like other types of music too, but we do look at music in a video game as one of the major selling points.

I found out recently, that some people are more predisposed to aural learning and music. I happen to fit into that category, which explains alot now that I learned that. Google learning styles/methods. One of those has a test that is pretty accurate in telling you what your learning style is.

Anyway, yeah good music, ambience and fun make games like Zelda, WoW, Final Fantasy games to remember and what we would now call CLASSICS.