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If a guy said they had all the answers to MMORPG's genre problems...
n3verendR
Member UncommonPosts: 452
...Would you take that person seriously?
If a person said they had worked for 13 years on a flexible, malleable MMORPG project that a few people enjoyed, but the few people that enjoyed the project were the ONLY PEOPLE TO EVER PLAY IT. Would you be interested in seeing the product outside of a miniature setting? Perhaps a massive setting, like the one the game was built for?
Alright, if you are still with me - what if...
This person had also been playing MMORPG games for almost as long as they been in existence, barring Ultima and before. This person had an answer for PvE, PvP, Loot, Social Activities, Balance, Instant Action vs Worldy Immersion, Races, Classes, Personal Stories, and that almost none of it was subjective.
Would you say that person is qualified to at least touch on and attempt to release a manifesto on what their perfect game would be like if it was brought onto live computer screens everywhere? Perhaps at least qualified to QA for a company, possibly becoming a developer in the future.
What if this person had spent the last 13 years on fusing the Sandbox and Themepark crowds into assumedly perfect harmony, and had game mechanics that had never been seen?
So what about it? No trolling please, I am asking a serious question here.
People think it's fun to pretend your a monster. Me I spend my life pretending I'm not. - Dexter Morgan
Comments
Not really. Paradise on earth doesn't exist for most people. Gaming paradise doesn't exist for most people. Getting most people to agree on what a gaming paradise on earth would consist of is impossible.
My accepting one persons opinion that they know everything there is to know about what people want in a game and can create it isn't going to happen.
No, simply because there are different strokes for different folks, there will never be 1 game that pleases everyone.
So are you saying that you wouldn't even be interested in what that person would have to say?
People think it's fun to pretend your a monster. Me I spend my life pretending I'm not. - Dexter Morgan
Interested. Just hightly skeptical.
I would laugh until i cried and then most likley be able to point out one ot two areas of problem for him to sink his teeth in to.
Edit: Oh i would be very intersted. If nothing else i'l like to test his theory on the "solution for all and everyting"
This have been a good conversation
I have a condition that prevents me from reading manifestos. But maybe if it was short and simplistic idea, it could get my attention.
Of course I'd want to see the game. That doesn't mean I'd take anything the developer says seriously though. I would want to gather enough information to decide if I liked the idea of the game, and then if I liked the idea of the game I'd have to gather more information to see how well the game itself lived up to the idea of the game. More or less the same as every other MMO out there.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
I would be skeptical just hearing about it. The author's answers may not be the answers I am looking for to begin with. If it had been worked on for thirteen years I would not expect much from it at all to be honest. It's gotta be running on a REALLY OLD engine hehe.
Hypothetically, Yes I'd be interested.
However, to say he'd have fixed EVERYTHING wrong with current mmo's and made a perfect one?
No, because the simple truth is it is impossible to have anything everyone will love. That's just life. Whatever one likes, another will dislike. Be it games, movies, cars, furniture. Whatever.
I'd be more interested if the dev said he wants the game to be customizable by the player to fit his/her needs and play it the way he/she wants, but that's not possible yet with today's gaming minded devs. Idon't mean character customizations or housing etc.
If you could change the options of quest grinding, mob grinding, gear orientation (i.e not wanting but not having it interfere with progression), having more/less mobs around you when you travel, deciding whther you want lvl based or skill progression, etc.
Then you might more attention, but again that's impossible as some of those things are core mechanics that can't simply be changed while ingame.
You can't please everyone, the world is my example and my proof. No matter how optimistic one is, that fact is irrefutable.
If they said they had all the answers, I'd probably not give them the time of day, especially if he holds that contention and feels that none of his answers were subjective. You can get that kind of input from any armchair developer on any forum.
However, if his claim was that he has successfully run an MMO for several years and that he himself was an avid gamer, then I'd be very interested in his thoughts on the genre.
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
Would they be capable of writing a manifesto on their perfect MMORPG? Sure. Everyone's capable of writing about their own perfect MMORPG.
Would I trust them to make a decently good game? Not really, unless they come from a pedigree of actual experience (and obviously experience on the better MMORPGs makes them better qualified, but even generic game industry experience helps a lot.)
There's always a chance of some random nobody making something awesome, but behind that genius are 50-100 other people who think they're genuises but don't have a clue about making fun games.
Actually I'd echo Loktofeit's comment too: If they honestly believe they have all the answers, they're almost certainly full of it.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I'd probably think that it was strictly opinion, and therefore subjective. And if he claimed it wasn't subjective, I'd write it off as 'ego'. I've got my own solutions and ideas, just like most everyone else visiting these forums. But I understand that my solutions are subjective, that no one else might believe the same way and that I don't have the resources to put my ideas into operation.
And I'd hope someone professing to have all the answers had lots of flame-retardant outfits, because if they posted these ideas as a solution / manefesto, they'd need them.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Only a complete moron would utter such a sentence and actually mean it. As everybody else already stated - you can never please anyone. Either way thats why the most successful products always give the players many different ways to enjoy it. Thats what I love, for example, about Vanguard: you can do so many different things in that game.
Anyone can have "all the answers." Many (if not all) of those answers can be terrible answers. Not every answer is a good one.
Your (the OP I mean) post makes it sound like you know of a secret mmorpg being produced. I would definitely like to know about it, if only to satisfy my curiousity. It is possible that the secret mmo may be fantastic. It could also be stupid and terrible too. Instead of asking us if we would trust in some kind of hypothetical omniscience developer, it would be simpler to just describe in great detail what these "answers" are and then let us judge and critique them for ourselves.
So please, share what you know of this secret mmo and the answers, hypothetical or not.
Wait a second, are you seriously implying that you are "that person" OP?
This just smacks of "a friend of mine did X."
If that person had a 200 strong development team behind him and the graphics were 2011, rather than 2001 then sure.
What would I say?
I'd call them a liar.
Like the example above I would be expecting the next sentence to ask me for cash.
Anyone making statements like the OP quotes ithat is too good to be realistic generally has something they want.
Then he don't know much about mmoRPG, he probably can make a good mmo *caugh* *caugh* WOW clone *caugh*.
Ok after reading the 3 pages i think i'll edit that comment for something positive, i'll always be glad hearing some good idea, so give us a link ;p
I have to agree with all 3 points here. "Big picture" ideas have basically nothing to do with game development as a whole. If it's one single person's brainchild—and if that person feels that the perfection of their glorious ideas is "not subjective"—that effectively rules out any possibility of iterative design, which is crucial for a huge game. Experience with making that arduous transition from raw ideas to finished product is immensely more valuable than having good raw ideas. I wouldn't be interested in hearing this person's ideas for any reason except to tear them a new one by pointing out all the glaring flaws.
Yes.
That person is me.
I'm serious. I've got an answer for everything. Real answers. Check my posting history and blog on this site.
I haven't been working on something for 13 years but I've been playing these games that long and I'm technically a genius, IQ 136 does that count?
The answer to MMORPG problems would be a group of talented people with large amount of disposable funds, ie a few lotto winners, trust fund kids. They then would sit down and think critically and outside the box, being able to admit to a mistake or bad idea and try to fix or just start over on something.
I think what really destroys MMO's is the stress to pay off investors/make money. You are not going to think straight with those weighing on your mind.
Someone just writing about the problems won't solve them. Unless someone has the money to actually test it out, no one would take them seriously.
Sent me an email if you want me to mail you some pizza rolls.
"I've played games and I have opinions!"
Ironclad qualifications there, guy.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Well, there is really only 2 options here. Either you give the guy money or you assume that he is wrong and ignore him.
You should show your project to a publisher to try to get some funding for it. If you do get that you need to hire in a really good programmer as well.
But it is very hard to guess exactly what people want, Mythic was sure they had the next Wow when they released WAR.
Impossible.
No one can have all the answers to the MMORPG genres problems because different consumers have different problems.
Case and point? Look at the schism with SWTOR fans and GW2 fans. Some players are sick and tired of the WoW paradigm and they are gravitating to GW2 largely because it's going to be different and fixes some of the problems that THEY have with the WoW paradigm.
Whereas other players want more of the WoW paradigm with staples like raiding and quests so they gravitate to SWTOR.
There are tons of threads with these two camps trying to convince the other that they are wrong. They are both so sure that their opinion is right and are willing to bicker about it for days when in reality, it's just a matter of taste.
And that's the real problem. MMORPGs are a matter of taste. There will never be a single MMORPG (or any game) that EVERYONE likes.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?