I think the answer has to be "both." I want a broad landscape where I can go where I want and do what I want, but I also want some direction. As much as I respected the people who spent their time in Morrowind gathering pillows to make pillow forts, "making my own fun" was never the thrill for me. More ofen than not, I liked discovering quests and following up on the stories that interested me at the time, with the option to get wildly sidetracked by any of a hundred different things that I stumbled across on the way.
The Elder Scrolls series, while not as ideally suited to an MMORPG as many think, still had a mix that would fit ideally in the genre: a large, open world with numerous optional quests, guilds and goals. It was broad enough that you could make your own fun if you wanted to, but it offered enough direction that you never had to stand around wondering what the heck you were supposed to be doing.
When you go too far in the "open" direction, you get EVE. It's a great game, but it provides absolutely no direction whatsoever.
When you go too far in the other direction, you get WoW; it's also a great game, but it suffers from precisely the opposite problem.
I don't think it's too much to ask for something that has both freedom and direction. In fact, we shouldn't have to ask for that at all - it should have been the starting point all along.
Excellent post. I actually agree with your assessment and it's exactly what I was considering within my game design :P Awesome
Comments
Excellent post. I actually agree with your assessment and it's exactly what I was considering within my game design :P Awesome