Everything gets spoiled now as well. There is no mystery. There are lists of what items people recieve at what levels, and how to get them even before they start playing. Everyone knows what mobs they will fight, what dungeons there are and how to get to them. Anyone can easliy findout that crafting materials X result in outcome Y, what skill is required to make it and how it is made.
I can’t see your point from the statement above. If the content of game sites becomes more ample in the category their game guide, it doesn’t mean people will lose their fun in exploration, because gamers could choose if they want to read those instructions or simply skip it, just like you can explore the maps or fulfill the quests by yourself, while glancing over the common gamers trying their best upgraded within the fastest time span.
The problem is people will get affected by the common flow and people just want to imitate what they see in the crowd. But if there is really a certain group of players who seek out the real exploration, then this group can also create their own evolution of play for themselves.
I have even envisaged the future setting of a game site, where players need to choose if they want to see the full version of game guides when they login, and they need to create their own game- wiki if they want. Then the revolution of games could turn into another direction: people pursue a slow tempo of playing game, instead of being swallowed up by the speeding flow and greed for consuming a game.
Evolution or Devolution? IMO the genre is in many regards devolving: - Housing is all but lost. Since UO, there has been just one game with housing (that I know of): SWG, and recently also Darkfall, though it still has to prove how well it is implemented. - The feel of a whole world has been smashed to pieces by instancing. Only a select few niche games hold on to the feel of one consistent world. - Non-combat roles as fully viable playstyles. Crafters, traders, gatherers. I cannot remember a game since UO, that allowed you to play a full-time non-violent career. - a fully living, breathing world. A world where roles interacted in often unexpected ways. You would see people go about doing their own small things. Many different roles, meeting under circumstances not set in stone (like questing or instance dungeons). And often people would meet on uncommon ground - a gatherer would see an adventurer in need and help him out. An adventurer asking direction from a lumberjack, who can warn him about the nearby orc raiding party etc.
Maybe the genre did in some ways evolve, but what was the cost? IMO we got an "evolution" that sacrificed some of the pillars of what I feel constitute an MMOG. MMOGs nowadays are moving away from worlds and much more towards games, and in this move, game replayability and longevity is also lost. Evolution? Are you so sure?
You could have personal housing in Shadowbane as well. I thought that game was pretty revolutionary even if the game engine was lacking.
SWG was pretty revolutionary when it first came out, later to be "devolved".
CoH/CoV/CoX was a revolutionary game for breaking the mold even further. It's big revolution was character customization which a lot of people like but a game up to that point had not been able to provide at that level.
I believe that there may be some de-evolution going on in some games but I don't think the genre is a whole is following that trend. I like my glass half full, thanks.
Comments
I can’t see your point from the statement above. If the content of game sites becomes more ample in the category their game guide, it doesn’t mean people will lose their fun in exploration, because gamers could choose if they want to read those instructions or simply skip it, just like you can explore the maps or fulfill the quests by yourself, while glancing over the common gamers trying their best upgraded within the fastest time span.
The problem is people will get affected by the common flow and people just want to imitate what they see in the crowd. But if there is really a certain group of players who seek out the real exploration, then this group can also create their own evolution of play for themselves.
I have even envisaged the future setting of a game site, where players need to choose if they want to see the full version of game guides when they login, and they need to create their own game- wiki if they want. Then the revolution of games could turn into another direction: people pursue a slow tempo of playing game, instead of being swallowed up by the speeding flow and greed for consuming a game.
You could have personal housing in Shadowbane as well. I thought that game was pretty revolutionary even if the game engine was lacking.
SWG was pretty revolutionary when it first came out, later to be "devolved".
CoH/CoV/CoX was a revolutionary game for breaking the mold even further. It's big revolution was character customization which a lot of people like but a game up to that point had not been able to provide at that level.
I believe that there may be some de-evolution going on in some games but I don't think the genre is a whole is following that trend. I like my glass half full, thanks.
AC2 was my first MMO, just for reference.