Trying to find a Fun Formula

Herodes

Hi there,

Yesterday I read about the amount of money Electronic Arts wants to pump into "The old Republic". "Man," I thought "I hope, they´ll make this game fun."

Now I am thinking, what exactly is fun in an online game for me?

My first thought always leads me to Diablo 2: random items, random dungeons, an approach of socializing. Do not forget the "Hardcore" mode: if you die, you are dead... but tricky in an MMO.

Then I found DAoC and Planetside: I wish, everyone could experience the dynamics of a battle with three factions.

From EVE I would take the economy and socializing (a curse for following games like EVE though)

Horizons and Everquest 2 (at release) had awesome crafting.

Would this be possible for $150 million? What did I forget?

Czargio

My friend and I were just discussing this. We came to the conclusion that fun means diversity. Diversity in playstyles, even within the same class, diversity in things to do. tedium is what kills it for us, and MMOs tend to have a tedium problem.

pencilrick

A balance of CHALLENGE is fun.

Too much CHALLENGE can be frustrating. (i.e., full loot PVP games?  Eve?)

Too little CHALLENGE feels meaningless.  (i.e., WOW in its present state.  Welfare "epics"?)

 

(No, "diversity" is not the key.  Even repetitious things can be fun, and too much change can be annoying.)

Herodes

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Originally posted by Czargio
My friend and I were just discussing this. We came to the conclusion that fun means diversity. Diversity in playstyles, even within the same class, diversity in things to do. tedium is what kills it for us, and MMOs tend to have a tedium problem.

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Good argument.
So the solution would be, to change the core gameplay, after fulfilling a level of something? Like, FPS to puzzle, to RPG style, to RTS and so on?

Just an idea

Lansid

Define what is "fun" for you and there you will have your answer and problem at the same time.

What is fun for you isn't for me