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General: Seven Underrated Systems
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com's Jon Wood writes this week's list, this time counting down seven features that often don't get the love they're due from developers hoping to make their virtual worlds home to hundreds of thousands of MMO players.
This week, I wanted to focus our list on some of the systems that seem to be underrated these days, but that would help in constructing honest-to-goodness virtual worlds, or at least providing the illusion of one.
#7 Tutorial
I know that this particular feature isn't necessarily forgotten in MMOs, but I think that the craft of actually making a good tutorial has somehow gotten lost in the shuffle.
MMO tutorials, at least the ones that I've played recently, have all had a similar problem: While trying to introduce players to the specific intricacies of the game, the developers seem to have forgotten how to seamlessly teach new players about the conventions of an MMO.
Read Seven Underrated Systems.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Good article & I'm sure much could be added about building a "world" game as opposed to the popular "game", worlds have seemingly fallen out of favor as the audience for them is all but dead to the eyes of the masses, hope remains thoughthat all the gamers will one day want a world to play in.
as far as point 6 goes, I can't say anyone has done it yet though a few are planning to at last attempt to provide an illusion of that, beyond one or two limited events in a tiny handful of games little to no changes have occured in games as a result of the players (such as zones radically changing in design, art or purpose due to storyline / in game interaction changes)
Yay!
I agree especially on crafting and economy, modern MMO developers have never learned how to do the things right (and those who knew how to, well, have long forgotten *cough* *coughswgnge*)...
MMOs nowadays are a straight race to kill the boss to get the weapon to kill the bigger boss to get the bigger weapon to kill the frickin' boss with laser beams to get the frickin' laser beam weapon to kill the... well... you get it...
And that is sad...
Heh numbers 1 - 5 are the 5 features I always want in an MMO, and also the 5 features most MMOs leave out as you say. Player housing in particular, even if it's instanced, goes so far to make you feel more attached to your character and more involved with the game world.
The problem is that many of these features are left out because the devs don't think there is much demand for them. Unfortunately this is self-perpetuating as many new players haven't actually had the chance to try out these features and so can't really know if they'd enjoy them or not. I've noticed a lot of players immediately dismissing player housing, saying it's a waste of time and takes people away from groups and raids, when they've never actually played an MMO that has a housing feature. They don't seem to understand that groups and raids aren't meant to be the sole purpose of the game, they're just what recent MMOs have given all the focus to and so, as usual, it's all they know.
I find it ironic that everyone is looking for the next big thing in the MMO genre, the real 'next-gen' MMO, and yet so many vehemently oppose the new features (or returning older features) that could make it happen. What we really need is a new game that does to UO and the old sandbox genre what WoW did to EQ and the themepark genre. The indie devs are moving in that direction with a good bit of success, we just need a bigger developer with a lot of money to give it a shot.
Very good article, pretty much sums up my thoughts too so I don't have much to add.
That said on the part of the tutorials, I don't think it's wrong to assume players know a lot already about MMOs and such tutorials often end-up bothering the majority of "experienced" MMO gamers which is probably why the tutorials are so weak in today's MMO. There's also very few MMOs who actually let you Skip the Tutorials .
I don't know why they don't make very detailed and helpfull tutorials while also giving you the possibility to skip them. It would make more sense wouldn't it?
+1
great job here! i literally just finished talking about 4 of those points today in another thread. Number one was by far the most overlooked!
This list is so perfect in my opinion that I have almost no words to describe it, I shall leave an image with the idea. If developers understood these basic principles instead of just being different versions of the main features you mentioned, this genre would be a lot richer and diverse instead of copies of each other, World of Warcraft did it right at the time, but you won't be hitting another 10 million score doing the SAME thing. Focus on these underdeveloped areas, it might be the next subscriptions mine, as long as they give players fun instead of gear, experience, gear, experience, gear, and the next gear to look after... which will all be rendered futile at the next patch.
Best group hands down in any MMO I have seen: Star Trek Online Reason: Groups of players in the same instance are often pulled together to work together for that mission.
Best tutorial: Aion Reason: Teaches all of the basics of any MMO in an entertaining way. World of Warcraft's only major benefit in their tutorial is they had a crafting tutorial, something fairly unique to it, with the two exceptions of Lord of the Rings Online and Everquest.
I don't post often, but I wanted to say, great article. Its rare for me to agree with every single point that people post in an article like this, but I found myself nodding my head in agreement as I was reading through it.
Short and to the point, well said.
Good article. I agree with all of them!
My big three are:
Housing
Crafting
Economy
I like the list.
Seems like many devs put most of their focus on a massive level and gear grind, or a carrot on a stick approach to get life out of their game. If they took some time to make features like world shaping, housing, economy, and social aspects more exciting then its conceivable that people would stick around becase their game time is enjoyable. The treadmills lead to burn out and quitting.
I agree that EVE is in a world of its own in these aspects, which is why it has been such a success. The problem is the learning curve and perceived inaccessability for new players when faced with 6 year vets.
Very good article!
The only one I disagreed with is the one I think hurts more mmos than it helps and that's housing. While giving someone a small plot of land and some things to do with it definitely help to draw that player into that world, it hurts the community. Every player that is spending time in housing is spending time in an MMO away from everyone else playing. The housing in DAOC wrecked the cities because it gave the players in that game every reason to not go the main cities. They went so far as to give bonuses to crafting to people that stayed in housing. When the game was young the cities were full of people. Need something crafted and dozens of people were there to help. Baddies invading your lands? jump into a few locations and /yell and have an entire army ready to go in a few minutes. After housing went live a large % of the population disappeared from nearly every area in the game and it felt empty. When a new player comes along and a game feels empty or they have a problem and noone is around to help, they move on. If the game devs put enough time into giving players things to do as part of a community there shouldn't be any time for housing anyway.
Great article.
Housing and Crafting....totally agree. As a matter of fact, if you DON'T do a very good job of BOTH (along with the other more commonly catered to systems of MMOs).....I can GUARANTEE YOU that this gamer won't be stayin' long.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
A really nice post! And I completely agree!
To me I would like to see more and better crafting and economy in mmo's
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waiting for ... nothing..
You hit the nail on the head! Your number one is truely correct. Recently the only game I can think of that I enjoyed was Lotro. It wasn't the story/quest line. It wasn't the fact that I loved the movies. It was the fact that when I got tired of killing thousands of monsters, there's actually other things I can do. I can spend hours just hanging out in Bree or other cities, strumming on my Lute (MIDI Keyboards ftw!). Then there's the fact that not only do I have a guild full of people to talk to and have parties with, I also have a Family, made of close friends that I've known for years from other games. Probably the greatest thing of the "Strictly Social" is my house, and guildhouse. We constantly have parties and gatherings. This also thrives another point you had, Crafting. Between cooks and other crafters (door prizes hehe), it gives the game a sense that we all made this party happen. We didn't just go to the store and buy booze and a feast, we actually cooked and made it ourselves.
This really depends on implementation. The problem with your example is that the devs gave players an incentive to leave the active community and made housing an unsocial feature. That's just a bad implementation.
Housing shouldn't be a private place to do things that can be done elsewhere, like crafting, it should really be a means of furthering the customisation of your character and expressing yourself (as well as showing off your accomplishments).
I remember in EQ2 they made interesting use of the feature through the broker system. If you went to a player's house to buy an item off them it would be 20% cheaper than if you bought it through the broker. This made it a bit more social since I'd often be going around and seeing what other people have done with their houses whilst I was shopping. It doesn't solve the problem you're describing but it's a step in the right direction.
I remember my huge collection of books as well, all lined up neatly on my shelves... every single one was a complete book that could be opened and read, many of them obtained via quests or creature mastery and developing the lore of the game world. I didn't read all of them, but just knowing that they were there and could be read really made the world feel that much deeper.
The key, as with all MMO features, is to integrate it into other systems. Crafting always feels 'tacked on' unless it's integrated into the economy properly. It's the same with housing, it won't work unless they work it into the social systems of the game, giving players reasons to visit other players' houses and involving it with other aspects of gameplay.
couldn't agree more especially
with what you said on crafting, housing, and Malleable World
swg did the housing and crafting better then any game iv seen yet
as for malleable world i have yet to see it pulled off
I play City of Heroes/Villains which seems to do most of those things rather well.
1) Tutorial... the Tutorial is fairly simple, and gives you a very good grounding for the basics, including teaming up with other players. The Heroes tutorial has a badge quest in it that is mega easy in a team, long and grinding solo, so that if nothing else, encourages teaming, as experienced players are always calling for a Badge Team, and new players can get a feel for basic teaming through that.
Later on you can get a Crafting Tutorial at one of the Paragon City Universities, and a Scenario Creation tutorial at the Aeon Corp buidlings, so they cover several layers of play.
2) Maleability... I don't see this much in CoX. There are some adventures that seem to point toward it, and, thanks to events like the Rikti Invasion, the Zombie Swarms, and a few others, you do get some feeling for world events happening and being effected by players, but to tell the truth, the world is static. Wish it could be otherwise, but it seems to me that all the other games I've played are the same to varying degrees. When a truly maleable game is invented, it'll be the next big thing, I don't doubt that.
3) Crafting... CoX didn't start out with Crafting, but it certainly fulfills the need with the system introduced with Wentworth's/Black Market/University Invention Tutorial. You gather stuff, ostensably bits of equipment taken off of villains or heroes you defeat, and, using your gageteering skill (Invention skill) turn them into enhancements for your powers, new costume parts, or temperary powers. These can be traded, sold, saved, or otherwise used, in most cases. Temperary Powers and Costume items can't be traded once made, however, you can certainly trade the parts around.
4) Grouping... or Teaming, in this case, is facilitated by a "Looking for Team" tool which is fairly detailed. It is proactive, in that you can place your wish to be teamed into the tool as well as look for others to team with using it. You can even add text with team type preferences. Invitations to a team can come from anywhere in the game, making it a universal tool. There are a lot of reasons to team, most obviously a large experience bonus for bigger teams. I like being able to team with up to 8 players, rather than the more common 6 players of other games.
There are also a lot of communication tools to facilitate looking for a team.
5) Housing... Well, CoX sorta has housing, if you count the building of a Superhero Base. This requires cooperation from several players, as you group together in a supergroup and gain prestige which is used to build your base. This solves one of the complaints people have about housing, in that it has to be a team effort. A single player simply cannot gain prestige fast enough to do much, though from personal experience, you can do a very basic base with only one or two players contributing. In order to have all the bells and whistles, however, you really need a fairly large hord of players helping.
The Invention system impinges on this as well, in that you use invention salvage (the stuff you pick up after battles) to build a lot of special base equipment like teleporters.
6) Economy... Through Wentworth's and the Black Market, CoX has a thriving economy. You can sell just about everything you can find in the game from Enhancements to Invention Salvage to Crafted Enhancements. The price is dutch auction style, you set a minimum price to sell and buyers set a maximum price to buy. If the prices are right, the transaction happens automatically.
Things trade according to demand and real game value. I've seen common Inspirations sell for 5 and uncommon ones sell for 250,000. I've seen recipes sell for 100 and others sell for 500,000,000. The unit of exchange is Influence or Infamy. Sometimes I'll go on and buy up cheap things for horridly high prices just to thrill some player who might be down on his luck. I'm not the only one who does it, I once sold a common Inspiration for 1,000,000 influence, a real bonus for that character, as it was the only one I had on the server.
The only thing I can't understand is why more people don't check the price things sell to vendors for before selling them on the markets. Sigh. You can make a nice bit of gelt buying enhancements for a pitance on auction and selling them to vendors for a huge profit.
7) Strictly Social... CoX seems to straddle the fence on this one. There are whole zones who's function is pretty much social interaction like Pocket D, and systems like Badge Hunting, which are mostly for the bragging rights ( a few badges give bonuses, and lead to Accolades, which give bonuses, but mostly it's for the bragging rights.) Both players and GM's are always holding contests, dances, races, and such. I'd say that CoX is pretty social. Certainly it gives room for it, and players are open to it.
...
In the final analysis, CoX seems to answer all these points. Howcome you guys aren't over here playing? LOL.
Ironically.. the game that I believe is the best example of all the above is Star Wars Galaxies.
I know players love to bash the game... and the dead horse has been beaten over and over again for years upon years now.
But really, in terms of full developped systems, on current games (not their launch-versions)... Galaxies has a surprisingly high number of these kinds of 'preferred' game features.
SWG Tutorial is basic,but it gets you there, including crafting, space flight, combat, entertainment.
SWG Housing.. for a combat game, is outstanding. There are some breathtaking player-created houses in Galaxies. There is a wide variety of housing (mostly crafted, see below)
SWG Crafting.. in-depth, functional, a complete system with 3 classes of its own. Crafted items are desired, purchased and add depth to the game (clothing & armor is almost exclusively crafted). Crafting is a cornerstone of Galaxies... not an afterthought.
SWG Economy... not the best, not EvE.. but still functional.
SWG Malleable World... there is SOME kind of worldwide change since the last game Update on the Galactic Civil War (GCW). Your factional 'presence' affects regional spawns and interplanetary scores (and factional item costs). Its not a dramatic change, but there is a 'factional' team score system in place.
SWG Grouping... some improvements here to. Player search (by profession) helps.. but the new 'group pickup' instant travel makes it easier to team up together. The tutorial does not touch grouping however.. perhaps some day.
SWG Social.... Entertainers.. you can play Galaxies and never shoot a single creature to level up as an Entertainer. Entertainers do provide buffs to other characters but also are the 'tools' use for character appearance changes (hairstyles, height, age).
The sad thing is.. players are simply too hung up on the whole Next Generation Enhancement (NGE) 'betrayal' and their anger about the changes to the combat-based classes that they abandoned this otherwise well-rounded game.
Space, Ground, Crafting, Housing, Entertainment, Chronicals, Collections, Herioc Instances, Faction Combat, Bounty Hunting... all tied together in a 6 year old MMO.
If SWG was launched as it is today, without the history 'baggage', and a few visual upgrades (and a few less fairy wings)... I bet the hype-meter would be pretty high overall.
Galaxies is not new, its not perfect, its not all-about-Jedi... but it certainly has a wide array of systems and player interests that it still, to this day, despite all the nay-sayers and dooms-day predictions, is fun to play.
Too bad soo many of us are missing out.
I'd encourage you all to take a 2nd look at the game, put your blinders on, IGNORE the forums and really explore what Galaxies has to offer.
SWG/STO/(SWTOR)
"Still though, in order to give your players the feeling that they are contributing to something greater than themselves, and that their actions in the world have some genuine effect beyond personal levelling.".......what?
What was the rest of the sentence supposed to be?
#1 - Tutorial
My biggest pet peeve is when the tutorial is separate to the main world. When I start the game - I want to START the game. The tutorial should wrap around me, not be stuck in the middle of it.
#2 - Malleable world
I'd just be happy to see the seasons change. Did Ryzom do that, or did I imagine it?
#3 - Crafting
Most importantly, I'd like the quality of items to depend on the skill of the crafter and not what level items they bring in. For example, a level 1 crafter can take wolf skin (from a low level wolf) and create a poor jacket. A level 50 crafter can take that same wolf skin and create an amazing jacket that would be good enough to wear for a level 50. For that to work there has to actual skill in crafting the items and not just dinging level 50. This would also mean there's always a flow of money back into lower levels and less trash lying around.
#4 - Grouping
I played MMOs for a couple of years before I ever got into a group. The reason being that I was scared I'd look like I didn't know what I was doing. I think MMOs could do with a (skippable) interactive tutorial into groups that explains what a tank is, how a healer should contribute, how to play a melee DPS class etc. - and most importantly, how the group dynamics work in that particular game!
#3 - Housing
I want a game where the main cities have a finite number of (non-instanced) houses/apartments/etc and they can all be bought/sold/traded/rented. Allow people to get into real estate or become landlords to make there money. Allow people to build there own houses, but make it very expensive and something to do in the endgame other than raiding.
#2 - Economy
I think MMOs give out money far too easily. What I'd like to see is an MMO that gives better starter armour, that'll last longer, and make money much harder to acquire.
#1 - Social
Reet's Retreat in Anarchy Online - the best social hangout in any MMO. I was most disappointed that other MMOs didn't have places like this (AO was my first MMO).
"Malleable World."
I hear this often as a complaint, but I've almost never seen any solutions offered. The problem with this issue (I've always believed) is the mechanics of MMO game design itself make it very difficult to implement successfully. Someone mentioned Ryzom seasons but that's not an example of players impacting the world, although I always enjoyed it tremendously.
How do you create a system that allows a single player to have an overall impact on the world without degrading performance, as well as allow thousands of individual players to make changes that will affect everyone on the server? How much of an impact would it really be? Players are not developers. Do you allow players to destroy towns and cities? Are those integral to the story line of the game in PvE? Do you allow them to build non instanced housing? Which eventually clutters the landscape of a small zone in an MMO, ending up looking like a digital refugee camp? What about accomplishments? Do players just get to put up a virtual sign in a field somewhere with a list of their accompishments? Do they finish a quest which opens up a new zone for everyone? What about the players that come after that who never get the opportunity?
What about the PvE storyline of MMOs? How do you allow players to influence/change that without leaving out the 99% of your playerbase that may not get to experience it? World events seem like the furthest we've seen this concept implemented in MMOs to date. In Everquest 2 there was a world event where you could help build portals to other parts of the world. If you happened to be offline that week, the playerbase voraciously devoured the new content and finished the portals. So if you came back the next week...too bad, you didn't get to participate. Honestly though, what else can developers do?
Not saying I have all the answers. I'm just getting weary of seeing the "let the players impact the world" complaint with no mention of what a nightmare this must be to develop and implement in a way that's at least somewhat available to your playerbase..
Second Life style. It's not hard conceptionally, just hard to create system which can not be abused.
It seems the majority of people these days only care about fighting and getting phat loot. There are so many other things you can do in a MMO if they just put the features there. IMO I think a MMO should be like a virtual world, yes there should be combat, but you should also have other things. I like to explore and socialize. I really enjoyed the music system in LOTRO, and their Pipe Smoke system, different types of pipeweed made different smoke shapes.
If a MMO had 1-6 at the start and there were a lot of people roleplaying I could see my self playing that game for a long time. FFXI was my first love it wasn't my first mmo though. But it had a lot of things I miss, mostly grouping but there was a lot of socializing in that game, be it with people in your party, linkshell or just some random people you met in a town. It seems like everyone now just wants to solo and get stuff done as fast as possible to get to max level. I sure hope FFXIV brings back that grouping socializing that I've missed for a long time now.
Housing, Grouping and Social are very closely tied together. It's a relatively obvious connection but I think that too many devs are trying to develop game mechanics to coax humans to behave a certain way rather than building them to support the way people actually behave.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre