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Group players, multiplayers, individual players and solo players
alecbr
Member Posts: 64
Almost everybody divides MMORPG players into group and solo players. I think that it would be much better if we would divide players into four categories instead of two: group players, multiplayers, individual players and solo players.
Group players: Most of the time they play in a group with other players. But they also interact with players outside of their group and with other groups and they enjoy the interaction.
Multiplayers: Like group players, but they don't interact with players outside of their group. They only interact with players inside their group and everybody else is just a nuisance who is disturbing their gameplay. These players are playing MMORPGs like multiplayer games.
Individual players: They don't like to be a member of a group, but they still interact with other players and groups and they enjoy the interaction.
Solo players: Like individual players but they don't like to interact with other players. They are playing MMORPGs like single player games. Other players are just a nuisance who are disturbing their gameplay.
If we take for example instanced dungeons. How would these four categories react to it:
Multiplayers and solo players love instanced dungeons, because instanced dungeons make their game experience much better. They are rid of other players so they can fully enjoy the game as a multiplayer or single player game.
Group players and individual players hate instanced dungeons. Because it takes an important element out of the game: interaction with other players and groups. Their game experience is reduced. They have to reduce their style of playing to the level of multiplayer or single player games.
At the end I would like to stress two very important things:
The categories are artificial. A lot of players would be between two categories or even between more categories. Also a lot of players are changing their style of play: one moment they are playing like solo players and the next moment they are playing like group players.
This is very important! I'm not saying or claiming that one category is better then another one. Every player has the right to play MMORPGs like he wants to play and hopefully there will be always enough MMORPGs for every category of players.
Comments
Would be nice to integrate those players toward a common goal, instead of separating them. The less things that divide players in an online game community, the better in my opinion.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
Even if i thought your clasification scheme could work, what would be the use for it? Are we taking it upon ourselves to do the work for marketing divissions? Or do we just want something new we can flame over?
Just to make things clear...
I speak for myself and no one else, unless i state otherwise mine is just an opinion. A fact is something that can be independently verified, you may challenge such but with proof. You have every right to disagree with me through sound argument, i believe in constructive debate, but baseless aggression will warrant an unkind response.
It's a messageboard. We kill time, talking about MMOs, while at work/uni or when the game downloads. Do we need a reason, to start another one of those?
Back to the post... I think it makes more sense to classify them like this -
Achievers - Will do ANYTHING to get to max level and grind the best gear. They don't care about the methods.
Busy Guy - He is busy. He always has something important to do. Interacting with other players is for nerds, who have no life.
Chatterbox - Won't care if he's solo or grouped, as long as he can talk to someone. Joins a guild to get access to their Ventrilo.
Family Guy - He plays with his family or close friends. All others are irrelevant.
Me - "Anyone wanna group? No? Okay... I'll just sit there and wait for someone to come by! Not like I have anything better to do..."
That's my view of things. Don't forget about shades of gray and the fact, that a vast majoruty of players jump between those.
I hate WoW because it made my plush hamster kill himself, created twin clones of Hitler, punched Superboy Prime in reality, stared my dog down, spoiled my grandmother, assimilated me into the Borg, then made me into a real boy, just to make me a woman again.
That's what wow tried to do in vanilla and pretty much failed miserably, despite their high subscriber numbers. I believe a mmo should be designed for multiple market segments, each having the ability to progress alternatively in the way that is best for them. In the end, most players are going to interact in some form, whether that be in a pickup group, guild raids, elite crafters, market niches, socializers, etc. You really don't need to force people to a "common goal" to still retain the massive component.
SWG did a lot of things wrong, but they also did a lot of things right, and what I'm stating above is what I feel they really got right. I knew more people in that game than any other mmo I've played, particularly the wow clone games where in the end all you really get to know is your guild. I was an architect, and I knew people from all different areas. Tailors, droid engineers, loot hunters, resource gatherers, etc etc. It was the variety in playstyles in that game that ultimately shaped my impression of what a mmo should be, and what massive really stood for. It's not about stuffing 25 people in a raid, it's about letting people be free to do what they want and group with other people because it's fun, not because they have to.
I'm an individual player but I don't hate instanced dungeons by a long shot, especially dungeons that would otherwise be heavily camped. I detest campers with a passion. I want to be able to go into a dungeon, clear the dungeon, get the loot and get out without having to sit around and wait in line to get whatever it was I went in to get in the first place.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
I play as a duo with my cousin lol
I promise you a logical death.
Here are a few of my favorite classifications:
The Jerk - Plays like an achiever till he's max level with decent gear, often kill stealing and annoying other players in game anyway possible. Once he/she hits max level sits in low level areas and camps low level players. Often will exploit game mechanics in order to piss off people more.
The Forum Warrior - Spends more time agruing on the forums than in the actual game.
Leeroy - Does the stupidest stuff possible. Often responsible for more wipes than your entire group combined. You want to kick him out, but feel sorry for him.
The Gold Farmer - Likes farming gold more than anything else. If there is an auction house you will see the gold farmer sitting it at it most of the time. Has all the expensive items in game and enough gold on his character to quadruple anyone else on the server.
It's a messageboard. We kill time, talking about MMOs, while at work/uni or when the game downloads. Do we need a reason, to start another one of those?
I agree with Caleveira.
It's interesting to discuss game design/development about MMORPGs, and what we like/dislike about each, and the types of experiences we have in each.
It's less interesting to sit and argue about the definitions of MMORPG and how we should subdivide players.
The former often generates useful conclusions for the betterment of the genre. The latter is useless semantics.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
90% of the arguments in these forums would have been avoided if we would have a single set of uniform definitions.
I value the effort. By your definition, I am a multiplayer.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
I completely agree with this.
For example we have a lot of arguing if a MMORPG is solo friendly or not. It's very difficult to argue about that if we don't have the same opinion what solo playing is. For someone solo playing is more like individual playing (by my definition) for someone else it's more like single playing.
Another very actual example is grinding (of course - Aion). For someone a MMORPG is completely without grinding, for another one the MMORPG is 100% grinding. And they are both right.
I have an interesting proposition: mmorpg.com should made a list of clear uniform definitions of all the terms that are related to MMORPG. Then we could use these definitions and the arguing would be much more interesting. I think that it's not so important that the definitions are good, it's more important that we have them even if they are bad.