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MMORPG.COM News: Editorial: MMORPGs Need "New Blood"
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
This week, News Manager Jon Wood pens an editorial highlighting the existing need within the MMORPG industry to attract new players to the genre.
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MMORPGs Need "New Blood" Growing up, computer games were always a huge luxury. My parents could rarely afford to get me the newest and best. I was always one gaming system behind and we always had to wait until games came down a little bit in price. I am sure many of you have experienced this or something quite similar. I suppose that is one of the reasons that I still find the MMO industry a little bit mind-boggling. Now, not only are we paying top dollar for a game, but we are continuing to pay month-to-month. The reasons for this are many and varied, but the reality is that it is hard to make an MMO viable in a business sense without the pay-to-play format that has become standard. I understand this. You understand this. Still, there are still a significant number of people out there who just do not understand. If they do not soon come to understand, this genre may not be able to support the ever-growing number of titles (and a fair number of excellent titles at that) that it is producing. |
To read the rest of this editorial, click here.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
I disagree in a lot of ways to this article. I liken the mmorpg situation to the dot coms before the bubble burst. There were simply too many too fast to be supported. I don't know that mmorpgs come around too fast, but there are certainly too many. Most are the same to boot.
I think its more that a lot of these games need to die, or innovate to succeed. Personally I'm glad that games are starting to feel the pinch, they need to be come something different then an eq clone. I agree they need new players but not to the extent this article suggests. An mmorpg is an mmorpg, just like any other society it has requirements standards and expectations. In the name of casual friendly those things are being eroded. Eventually what we cherish in mmorpgs are going to give way to a lukewarm "one size fits all" situation. I think they should remain a niche of a sort. If i want to play basket ball there are things I need to do to be a good basketball player, but what if they did an international study and found that most people who don't like basketball think the hoop is too high and wide? So what if they lowered it and made it wider?? It wouldn't be the same game at all.
I agree the language is a hurdle but its a necessary hurdle. Every culture has a language, do you really think me sitting in front of a computer in a graphical world is enough? Its the community and communities need a language.
As far as the bullying thing, I agree the games have harsh communities. But guess what? the more casual friendly the game is the more immaturity you will find. Think of the basketball example: The lower the physical requirements the less fit you have to be to participate. In a hardcore game, say everquest with its forced grouping... If you make people mad and have poor social skills or you act like a bully... you wont get far alone.
However, casual friendly that take a solo viable approach don't have the "get along or die mentality." Also, alot of the courtesy someone learns from a more "hardcore" game from trying to survive, don't translate into easier games with less of a margin of error. In everquest if you had a buff someone else could use you slapped it on, and likewise. In world of warcraft for example, with a large casual customer base, the lesson and courtesy is lost. The game is treated like a console game, where as you are the player and the only one in the entire game world that matters. I can see perfectly how a new mmorpg player might see it that way, its understandable, but the more casual friendly the game is, the less likely the experience will change that outlook.
That's what I mean about changing what makes an mmorpg an mmorpg. Is that really what is best?
And by the way I'm not some hardcore elitist I play wow actually, I don't think I'm better than anyone, but I don't think all changes are for the best.
Well stated. I understand your point of view. To every opinion, there is often an equal and valuable counter opinion.
Personally, and from my own experiences, I think that these games are going to be moving farther and farther away from the niche market that they currently occupy. I've heard talk that these next-gen consoles that are coming out will feature MMOs in their libraries (I'll be interested to see how THAT turns out). That will only increase the exposure of these games. I think that the pre-existing societal structure that has been created in these gaming worlds needs assessment and change. Whether that will happen or not... well... we'll see.
Cheers
Stradden
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
I agree with you, it will change. My thoughts are that it shouldn't and wont be for the better.
It's a lot like fast food, it becomes more bland and standardized as it has to cater to more and more people, its sad that mmorpgs are coming to that. Call me a social outcast if you want but I enjoy being a part of a subculture, with all the little trials and hurdles that comes with.
Guess i've got to look elsewhere to get my geek on;)
I appreciate you writing this article Jon. I know it is easy for something like this to be posted in a game developer type situation for discussion, but when you have a pretty specific demographic reading, it's hard to step out and state where things are and why they should probably change.
To reach a broader appeal, MMOs need to attain the same status of our favorite shows that we watch on a weekly basis. The public needs to have a gut level desire to find out what happens just like in Sweeps week on TV. All of America is drawn to the TV to find out what has changed in this fictional world and perhaps come away with not only an enjoyment of the experience, but a way to relate it to themselves and the world they live in. If you think about it, tv execs would be in board meetings talking about the same thing if MMOs and computer games came along first, "How can we get the level of people playing MMOs to watch our shows?"
The process of delivering these experiences I think would need to be simplified into a way that is more easily accessible to everyone. Tutorials are great, but I guarantee you that my mother will never play a MMO before she dies because the task of completing the experience is too difficult compared to the operation of a tv remote (props to Nintendo for its new Revo controller).
Here is a great article on a somewhat similar topic,
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050809/eilers_01.shtml
As our society moves faster and faster everyday to fit more things into our lives, the game designer is going to have to adapt to fit meaningful experiences in those gaps and do it well enough so that the gamer's time is spent playing your game for 15minutes to an hour.
I hope that all makes sense. Feel free to share your thoughts! Take care,
-Sentientv2
This was a fine article, I have played about every Fantasy/Medieval/Theme based MMORPGs out there (excluding some like EVE or Asheron's call) and yes the part I read on your article seems true to me. I don't want to denigrate World of Warcraft or anything, I play the game until a "New Blood" comes out but.... to get straight to the point... I'll say WoW has most "Teens" playing. (I have my ideas on why like the game being real popular, the game looking real fluffy and cartoonish, the ability to kill other players really easily and fast to boost your ego, etc...) Having a community of low age mixed with a community of mid age makes it really special... specially when you have this magnificent thing called "General chat"(spooky music) Exemple: The Barrens (spooky music again) all of you WoWers have experienced.....The Barrens 'Chat! You will throw in a "Hey is there shammy trainers in XR" and you might get a "UR MOM" then a bunch of "REPORTED!".... I have played other games... and really... most of the time the only place you can WIDELY speak is the trading place so no one really cares about trolling and that is great.
If you didn't notice I put a particular attention in the community part of your post as it IS the MMORPG's most important fact... for me. I mean come on MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER. Without the community you can't play sorry...
I think if they are going to stay solvent, they need to attract new blood. While EA can cancel MMORPG after MMORPG(UOII, they cancelled TWO seperate developments?) some companies don't have the money to throw away like that.
As far as the "Newbie" experience, MMORPG's offer many different things. Anarchy Online for example, has a "starport" of sorts to help players make choices as to what clan they will be, and newbie specific training grounds. As for live support, they have the "Greeter" program, in which they use entry level ARK's(Advisors of Rubi-Ka, the all-volunteer customer service organization of AO, which is managed by a paid Funcom GM) to help new players gain their situational awareness early on, and avoid getting frustrated.
As a former ARK, I am proud to say that my time as a greeter, I took it seriously to ensure that those people whom I greeted didn't leave the game because they were frustrated at trying to learn some of the early controls.
As far as game language goes, it goes beyond "ganking" "pvp" "mob" etc. A lot of those terms are interchangable between MMORPG's. If you asked an experienced AO player what an HHAB was, they would tell you its Hold Hell at Bay, a special item needed to prevent massive DoT(Damage over time, also one of those interchangable terms) damage just from being in that final Shadowlands playfield. Theres another hundred acronyms or more that hell, me being a 200+ player, don't even know them all. Likewise, with any other game, theres a buttload of acronyms referring to people, places, and things. Learning those just takes time.
Bartle's test results
Explorer 73%
Achiever 60%
Socializer 46%
Killer 20%
With so many products avalible to the end consomer these days its a wonder theres still millions of people out there willing to invest 20-40+ hours a week to a game.Hell you have tivo,family,loose chicks,bills to pay,mouths to feed.Ive bean playing mmorpgs for years.So many betas and so much time wasted has brang me to the conclusion no matter what i play sooner or later it will just get old or put me in the hosptal with a nice fat ulsar.one time i sat in plane of fear for 36 hours straight..
Heres "mmorpg,s" in a nut shell.You get in get cracking.Next you make it to mid lvl and if your not divorced,single,unenployed,fluncking school,bored to tears life is good.Then you get to the point were you have to rely on others to acheive certain goals "also the point were your probally hooked like a dope fiend".This is were the new mmorpg user learns about "drama".People have two sides,the ones we see every day and the little voices in there heads.Sadly when exposed to a world with out consiqunce you always end up with the voices 90% of the time.Need proof?Just watch that wow ninja video lol.so then if you can survive the drama of 40-100 people going at each other then comes the next inevitability.
Everything your doing is absolutley pointless.Thats right,the uber sword of doom you just got will sooner or later be a rusty long sword.Just look at the new annoucemant to add repeatable quests to wow to obtain epic class items.this cycle usalley will come just about when you think your getting some head way in the game world.witch brings you to the final cross road "am i haveing a ton of fun" or "is this my part time job".
I dont think theres a lack of new blood realy i just think the patient is on life support.People want to think that with the success of world of warcraft that theres this huge untapped market out there when in reality all blizzard did was tap its own fan base.As for me i will continue to particeipate in any beta that will have me and share my opinions on it.I think the real mmo war start in late 2006 but then again ive bean hyped to many times about a product to see that its just a newer pretty hamster wheel.
I disagree about pay-to-play. Because this model exists in many countries since 2000, that 5 year long and proved that this model is not fair to customer (many online game company just growth exponentially with this model) and cause many problem. This model is the reason of all the "grind" which destroy all the fun in the long run. And many social problem also caused because young people play like mass with this model.
The next genre in my opinion is
1. no monthly fee - sell expansion as offline games.
2. montly fee with all content- all games, all online contents. You just pick what you want with the fixed monthly fee, including new game, movies, song, etc.,
I basically disagree with the article. I have spent thousands of hours in MMO's over the years, the problem is simply comparable to the Auto industry. When it was young the cars were slow, noisy, stinky and hated by many, however people still drove them. Over the years as the auto evolved people began to see its usefullness. This is the same with MMO's they are not exactly "new" but they are extremely young. When people start to figure out how cheap the actual cost is per hour of entertainemnt, the industry will take off. TV adds, yes these are needed, but it is the short sightedness of the game developers and business model that stop this from happening. I am actually in the middle of designing a website for MMO players, I hope to do my part to give the industry the little push that it needs to start raising the level of gamplay and advertising so that MMO's can start to shine a little better then the current crap that is being shoved down players throats. Yeah , there are a few good titles, but these are dwarfed by the failures. When I hit level 60 with all the clases in WOW,(horde side) I asked my readers(I am a writer for a strategy website) what they wanted to see next, and the reply was to get the highest PvP rank, I started this out and after 3 weeks of harcore PvP,(60+ hours a week) I had only hit R6 and talked to the first on Nath to actually hit R14. And he said it really was not worth the time and trouble. So now I am stuck taking the Pally to 60,(she is 39 now) after that I will most likely get reassigned to a different MMO. I am in a closed Beta for an upcoming MMO,(which just got pushed back 6 months) which is trying to be a different model for future MMO's and so far it is "O.K." Another thing the industry truly needs is to get away from this "get to the end game in 3 weeks" style gameplay, this really hurts an MMO's longevity.
My level 60's:
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/91/mysh6ls.jpg
An my 39 Palagimp, opps I mean Paladin:
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4716/mysh13jg.jpg
P.S. by the way here are some additions to "noob"
Noobile = same as a "noob" for example: "OMG look at the noobile!!!"
Noobiefied = one who is being a "noob" for example: "LOL, the level 30 just tried to gank a 60 and got noobiefied"
n00b = the l337 5p3Ak version - replace the "o" with zero's(l337 5p3Ak is my version of "leet Speak")
newb = another version
noobed = same as noobified
I agree that the main emphasis should be on the community. You create better communities by eliminating competition and encouraging cooperative play, which in my eyes would mean things like eliminating PvP and increasing depence on other players. Dungeons & Dragons Online is limiting the number of players on one server severely, which seems like a great idea; the less people there are, the more your reputation counts. Kinda like how people from small rural towns tend to be warmer and kinder than people from big cities.
The quest format works great for sucking players in but it seems detrimental to a game's community because you rarely want to group with someone who is of a lower level, or who needs to do a quest you have already done. Unless you level at the same pace and the same way as the people you meet in the game, relationships tend to end when the level gap gets too big.
I had this problem in WoW at least, less so in SWG.
I agre with kleang, pay-to-play is't nesesary. I have payed MMO:s sins Ultima Online and the monthly fee is a big problem espcialy if you'r not hardcoore sins the $/time ratsio gets quite hi.
Now I'm playing Guild wars and fore the firs time I don't feel the pressur to play just becouse I'm paying fore it.
I firmly believe that to allow the communities grow the industry will have to provide true law and punishment in game. Certain violations referred to as trolling are so widespread because the people who choose to do so get away with it. Certain gamedevelloppers try to enforce this through banning people for a limited ammount of time. Most of us know that this behavior will in most cases just generate more revenue for the company (i.e. buying a new code to be able to play again), rather then change the players mind about his behavior. Fact remains that without a true punishment in game the genre will remain unfriendly to new players.
And indeed, in the long run mmo's in general (not mmorpg's specifically) will replace sitcoms/soaps/etc. on television. I know they have for me. Being a part of something is always better then watching something passively when it comes to entertainment. With the development of our outside society (i.e. cocooning) the socialization will go more and more through a virtual world as there is a need to socialize. The fact that there is a possibility for different age classes (teens up to mid fourties I'ld say) to mingle is one of the greatest strong points of these types of communities defined by the "numbers" of you character rather then by the age of the person playing it. It allows a great transfer of ideas between generations that would elsewise hardly communicate.
The pay to play system is really not the largest barrier imho, I pay 10$ a month to play a game and 10$ a month to watch cable television. It's basically the same thing except that I enjoy playing my mmorpg more, not very hard to realize once you have played a free mmo. There's enough free games on the market to be able to test the genre and see if you like it. The pay to play model will not be dissapear unless it's replaced by some form of in game forced commercials, a company that makes money is not going to be willing to make less money.
edit = typo
-
pay-to-play is nesesary, they have to keep the servers up, add stuff etc...
that cost money...
1. if you dont have the money, u dont need to be playing a MMO..
2.and out of all the MMOs..if they was free. still you cant play them all and get far <.<
one word duh. <.<..MMO take time,you can stop for 4 weeks and think everyone esle will 2 XD
This guy or girl, crys to much..I been playing MMOs for a long time...the only thing that needs to change is the SOE devs XD
sorry for English, its bad XD
Thanks Impyriel for the sig^^
Thanks for the thought-provoking article Mr. Wood. While I agree with your points, I would add another one: The industry needs to show a little imagination. How many times can you rebuild Everquest? Even the sci fi genre is dwarfed by the fantasy genre in mmorpg's.
They are just like the tv programming industry: The "flavor of the year" currently is reality tv, although that will probably soon change. Let's say it changes to dramas. When it does, the big four networks will show dramas overwhelmingly during prime time, with maybe a sitcom or reality show thrown in once or twice a week.
The mmorpg developers have proven they are just as unimaginative. Just look down the game list on this website if you don't believe me. There are a few developers showing some creativity. Look at City of Heroes. That's a huge leap from the fantasy genre. The moral of the story is if you pick a different genre for your game, and build it well, you could end up better off than if you built another fantasy game.
My message to all new game developers is this: Don't start with the fantasy genre. You're going up against the big boys, who have all the money and the talent. You need to build "the next great game", not a rehash of every game that has gone before you. You need to take risks.
This is true, however if the companys are forced, due to copetition, they will lower or get rid of mounthly fees. This is the interesting thing whith Guild Wars. If it succed (and it sertenly seames it will) others will see that it's posible to compet with prices as well as quality.
About commercials, is it realy suth a bad idee? I meen look at City of Heros wold anyone realy mind if the in game bilbords had reel adds on them? I wold't. It's just a quetion of how it's imblemented.
I would like to just say that I agree with Mr. Wood's article. He has done an exemplary job of describing the dilemma of the "new" and "casual" players in the MMORPG genre. As our society moves faster and faster with less and less time for family, recreation, etc., people will value what free time they DO have even more and will be choosier and choosier about how they invest that free time each week.
While "social" is indeed the draw to MMORPG's, it is also the main deterrent. As Mr. Wood aptly pointed out, people won't want to spend money or time that is scarce to begin with playing a game FOR SOCIALIZATION purposes where they end up being put down, bullied, and generally treated badly by the very population they want to socialize with--it is a paradox that game developers somehow have to breach. There are NO EASY ANSWERS! This is human nature.
The best that the industry can hope to do is revolutionize and change the avenues given to online game communities for communication and interaction somehow. For example, the board systems alone make alot of people cringe. The best approach a new player can take to an MMORPG is to AVOID the boards entirely!!! Most community board systems consist, to a large extent, of politics, personal vendettas, and people grandstanding for attention either individually or in groups. While one can find good game information on the boards, it takes alot of reading "between the lines" to find the valid information amidst all the (for lack of a better word) "crap". If there were a way for game developers and game compnaies themselves to police their own board systems and really do a thorough job of this, with consequences levied against "negative behavior", then things might begin to turn around. It is merely one place to start albeit the "core" of most online game communities' communication centers. There also needs to be alot of monitoring and consequences in games themselves in addition to the boards, but starting with the board communities would be an effecitve place to start. The mode of operation of most of the negative stuff: bullying, vendettas, etc. starts and then is perpetuated on the Boards themselves. In game, there is not, up to this point in time, significant community ties to facilitate this type of community intereaction....yet. If, in future, something like a Board system in game is developed, it will need to be monitored closely for "negative behavior outbreaks" and then have significant, meaningful consequences levied against offenders for these negative interpersonal situations to be prevented from happening.
People coming to these MMORPG's to "relax and have fun" need to be able to do just that: relax and have fun!! It is not a hard principle to understand really. They have less and less time to expend for personal enjoyment and the last thing they need is "personal drama" when they log in. It is , after all, a virtual world. Drama and problems of real life far exceed those of online games or should...yet I have seen drama in games and more specifically on the board communities of online games happen to the extent that people have been driven away from games and gaming altogether mainly by the behaviors of their own fellow gamers. While this variable of online gaming is exceptionally hard to control, there are rules and sanctions that gaming companies could initiate in online worlds that would simply mirror the same types of rules and sanctions excerised in real life by employers and companies, for example. I could see many gamers reacting negatively to such a premise, but, alot of the very people who would react would also, upon closer inspection, tend to be the offenders in the first place.
The principle would be very simple: treat others with the same respect that you would wish to be treated with yourself without exception. Disallowance of "flames" on messageboards along with poor in game treatment of people (that would be monitored and logged by game developers themselves) would be but a couple of examples where this principle could best be applied.
In my years spent in online games, I have seen people devastated emotionally, longstanding friendships ruined, reputations of successful guilds massacred by people in online communities who seem to have personal needs to "be better than" others in order to elevate their own self-esteem. The online environment permits this kind of thing to go on only because of the sense of anonymity that exists here. People feel "safe" taking on attitudes and carrying out behaviors that they NEVER would take on in the real world say in a job situation. In real life, to tear someone apart "for fun" as is often done on MMORPG community board systems, would result in that same individual being fired from a job if such behavior were practiced in the job setting against a co-worker, for example. So, what I am suggesting is practice of enforcement of the same principles practiced by many employers in job situations. This would clearly be an initial step to improvement of the genre for "new" and "casual" players.
Everyone deserves personal respect and dignity and people who are paying to play an MMORPG for "entertainment" are just as deserving of respectful, kind treatment as are fellow employees in any job situation. These players are paying hard-earned money and expending limited amounts of personal free time playing the game they are playing for the express purpose of positive social interaction with other people in the game they are playing with the expectation of and hope for such positive social outcomes as making new friends, engaging in fun game specific activities such as raiding a dungeon for treasure, leading a quest for a specific trophy, attending a guild meeting, etc. If knowledge that such standards for behavior in a given MMORPG existed and were rigorously enforced would, IMHO, draw a great many more players to that specific game as players would feel "safer" from possible negative social experiences there. It would admittedly take time and publicity to demonstrate this reality to the gaming public at large. It would also cost game companies a fair share of game resources to monitor and implement such rules and sanctions but, in the long run, I believe that such investments would potentially pay off in a big way for the game company that made this effort towards interpersonal change in online gaming virtual worlds!
Furthermore, in the longterm, I also believe that this sort of rule/sanction system against disrespectful player behavior would ultimately benefit the MMORPG genre at large because, once it was successfully implemented by one company in one game successfully, with subsequen positive results upon that game's demographics and subscription numbers, eventually it would "catch on" and become integrated into other MMORPG's in development, ultimately becoming a "new standard" for all MMORPG's. Such a shift in standards for interpersonal compliance would only serve to bolster the genre as a whole and pull MMORPG's to the forefront of popularity in the gaming industry itself as more and more people would flock to such games in the assurance of consistently pleasant, positive social experience in such games WITHOUT the "drama and negative experience" that MMORPG's are known for now!!!
Two very easy ways to at least retain the customers a company have.
Game wide characters, games with a lot of servers should have the option to take your character and log into any of them, this would solve SOOOO many of the socializing problems. It takes time to grow and understand a game, and your own needs within it, by that time you may well find yourself very alone. The option to join any guild or group of people regardless of server for example would solve a LOT of the community problems you are referring to. It would be a whole lot easier to find a group of people that are like you within the whole 4 million players of Wow then with the 20k or so people on whatever server.
Pay to play needs to stay obviously but the system makes for grinding games were you need to force players to waste as much time as possible without using up any gaming resources. I suggest that if you pay for 30 days you get to play 30 days, no day is detracted unless you log in that day. Other forms of payments may well be needed as well.
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Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts.
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A need for new blood, I'll second that motion. And I am confident every MMO developer would agree that it is in their best interest to attract new customers to the genre rather than siphon a customer base from competing products.
As for those who feel the monthly subscription fees are not warranted... I do not believe the industry will be moving away from that model anytime soon. To launch a successful MMO today the title should be very well rounded. With development times between 2 to 5 years, and the sheer volume of content expected upon launch, an MMO will run between 5 and 25 million dollars to develop. These development cost, are covered by investors who invest with the expectation to be compensated with a return upon investment. Thus the developer is expected to maintain, expand, fix, support, cover operational expenses, and repay the initial investment with a return on that investment.
Then there is the initial product purchase (box & software), in many cases the developer takes a loss on the initial product sale. The average MMO box runs ~$50 and includes the first month of playtime "free". Well the playtime isn't actually free it is still ~$15, so the box price is more along the lines of ~$35. Now that $35 has to cover the cost of producing and distributing the box itself. Additionally, the retailer takes a hefty portion of the sale price to carry the product. Add in the marketing dollars, and the developer is lucky to break even on the initial sale. In many cases the developer takes a loss in order to acquire the customer, in the hopes of retaining the customer long enough to recoup the loss and earn a profit (which first goes to repay the initial investors).
Speculation as to the future of the genre: more control in the hands of the players. Replayability, content on demand, direct effect of an individuals play upon the virtual world, player unlocked content. For example a world in which the cities are built by the players, where the political boundaries are not hard set by the designers, but ebb and flow through the actions of the players, quests that are unlocked as a result of player choices.
If I could change one thing about MMOs, it would be to remove the grind. This can only be accomplished through creative game system design, providing game play that evolves and changes so as not to feel stale or repetitive. The grind is an artifact of an old way of thinking; this thought process sought to keep players subscribing to a game by prolonging the life of the available content. After all it is in the developers interest to keep a player playing for as long as possible. But lets reverse this line of thinking and look at it from the players perspective. They want to enjoy playing a title for as long as possible as well, so in fact both sides want the same thing, granted for different reasons. Yet the player will lose interest if they are no longer having fun. As a developer we must design games that remain fun to accomplish customer retention. To accomplish this there are two methods that are acceptable to the player. One, continually develop and release new content, not only catering to the veteran player but also to allow for replayability (new content for all development stages of a character). This is a costly solution as you are effectively continually in the development stage (these cost are covered by the subscription). The second method is to design game play that is inherently replayable. Allowing the players to alter the environment in which they interact. This is the challenge that faces todays developers.
This is an exciting stage in the evolution of the MMO genre, and I am pleased to be a part of the industry.
Adam "De`Valos" Young
Lead Database Administrator
Funcom Inc.
Excellent article, Jon. Thanks for sharing.
I agree that communities in the MMO industry are it's biggest asset and it's biggest problem. The "exclusionary" nature of these communities tends to make it more difficult for even veterans of MMOs to join other communities. I know I've played dozens of MMO games, and when I feel like trying something new (I recently downloaded the trial of Saga of Ryzom), I find a few things to be true:
1) The tutorial aspect of games in the beginning lacks severely.
2) The community itself is exclusionary to point of absurdity with regards to new players.
Honestly, the biggest thing MMOs could do to improve this is to improve the beginner's tutorial in each game. I remember distinctly playing Earth & Beyond the first time and being VERY pleased with how they ran their tutorial. After running it, I felt like the game was easy to me and getting involved was easy as well. It's too bad that game is gone.
Thanks again for the article...great Friday reading.
-Matt McLean
This brings up several other interesting problems with MMOs... sexism and ageism. While not as prevalent as trolling, they still deter new players who have disposable income and the time to play these games (i.e., can afford the latest video card and don't have to beg parents to pay for account in exchange for doing all their homework).
I am a 31 y/o female gamer and I like to game for the sake of fun and adventure, not because I'm looking for intimate companionship. I've played games where you could only play female characters if you are registered as a female IRL. I *hated* those games, because they seemed to be saturated with 14 y/o's who constantly hit on my character. I'm 31 and married for goodness sake!! If I even tell someone that, they act like I'm Michael Jackson or <too old to be gaming> WTF?!?! I usually just tell ppl I'm a guy and they shut up.
I tend to lean towards games that allow you to play whatever character you want (I still tend to play females, but guys don't *know* you're female IRL) and have an older player base. I find that older players are more patient with new players and generally have more common courtesy. This is not to say that *all* young players are trolls... you definitely have your older creeps as well as younger gentlemen. YMMV
I try to be an example. When a 'noob' asks noobish questions, I take the time to answer and I tell them it's always fine to ask questions as we were all new once. There are a-holes who berate people for asking questions like "what's MMORPG mean?" I see a broadcast response of "Duh, what you're playing now Noob!"
My broadcast response? "p*ss off Troll, even you were new once. MMORPG means..." And I've even made several new in-game friends by talking to 'noobs.'
My final point is that despite the elitism in some games, the games that have a strong community with friendly and helpful players will flourish... the games that don't will see top level characters sitting around bored, chasing off new players who are on the free trial and then complaining that their game never has any updates <because the company doesn' make any money from the game.>
A Rod of Silence means never having to say sorry. -- Dork Tower
I've thought quite a bit about the community of online games ever since I started playing them back when EQ first came out... Since then, I've tried just about every mainstream MMOG on the market, and a few of the lesser known ones. What I can say in every case is that the community has an extremely strong impact on how I view the game and how long I continue to play it. In most cases, I find myself drawn to the Test Server, if there is one available. The rules of a test server usually indicate that a person could find their characters wiped at any time, without notice, and that alone will keep the community confined to a very specific type of player. It weeds out those that need to feel good about themselves through what they have achieved in the game (I have six level 50s!), and attracts those who enjoy the game for its own sake, and don't mind the challenges a buggy server that could be reset at any time creates. I say this not to distinguish these players as "better," but rather more to my personal liking. I don't enjoy playing with people who are greedy, rude, impatient, illiterate, condescending, egotistical, etc. To me, playing with a typical community is like playing with a bunch of online sociopaths. Currently there is little done to weed out less desirable people other than a temporary ban, or perhaps a permanent one if the offense is especially severe (which usually means a hack of some kind, rather than a grievous offense against another member of the community). For a company, there is less incentive to police the population, as any increase in the policing means a potential loss in revenue.
Personally, I like the models that have been developed just fine, but I would very much like to see every MMOG in the future develop a handful of "mature" servers. By this I don't mean more graphic content, but actually the opposite. These servers would have extremely harsh rules and policing that would give people a place to go that would be free from such terms as "noob" and other forms of griefing. These servers would be devoted to those who understand that creating a happy, cohesive community of friends, all working to enhance each other's gameplay is worthwhile. I'm not saying there would be no PvP, but rather that people would be competing more to challenge themselves than to lord it over others. On servers of this nature, if a person was determined to be in violation of the code of conduct, they would be permanently banned from all such servers and forced to start over on a "regular" server, unless the offense was sufficiently bad to warrant permanent banning. I think for those of us who play these games to have fun, and part of our fun includes helping others have fun, such an addition would be extremely welcome. I also think that some sort of minimum age should be actively enforced for these games, somewhere in the realm of 16 to 18. Of course, this is difficult to do since parents often let their children play on their accounts, but I think a good general rule is that if you can't own a credit card, then you can't play the game, either.
These are just my thoughts, of course, but from what I've seen and heard from others I've spoken to on the subject, I think I speak for many other players when I say that the player base needs to have an effective way to ensure that they aren't subjected to the offensiveness that some players feel entitled to bring into the games we play.
No Duh.
While this article addressed many of the issues, there are still some that drive a large number of people away.
1) You can't make a difference in the world. Most games out there now don't allow players to make any actual difference in the world. If I kill Ragnaros in WoW, he's not actually dead. He'll be there again for me next week, or for the group in a different instance. What is a point of "living" or playing in a virtual world where your actions mean nothing in the grand scheme of things? Your character is a hero, but so are the other 20,000 potential characters on your server. In single player games, your actions changed the world. You are a hero known everywhere you go. This can't work in this genre.
2) Actions need consequences. UO is remembered in its early days as being a PKers dream. Low level characters were ganked and robbed, frequently left with nothing. Even if you got revenge on the person that killed you, he'd just do it again. Why? Because there is no real penalty for bad behavior in MMOs. If you die, you come back to life. If you commit a crime, the worst that could happen is someone would kill you, which is meaningless. Imagine our world today if 25% of the people were murderers because there was no real penalty for murder. Or even 10%. What keeps this from happening is that there are consequences. Put the same thing in games - if you kill a player in front of a guard, that character has to sit in prison for 20 years. Would discourage someone from doing it again.
3) Better enforcement of policies. We have been brought up on games that allow us to cheat. From the Contra code on the Nintendo, to Game Genie, to cheat codes in many popular single player games, we've become accustomed to being able to get a head start in games. Many MMO players attempted to carry this into the MMO world. However, they are now affecting a game that affects thousands of other players as well. MMOs need to be better about detecting, removing, and preventing exploits, and removing botters that continue to ruin the games for players actually at the keyboards.
4) Different servers for different players. I'm a working professional with a family. That means that I don't have 8-10 hours a day to spend playing a game. However, I'm "competing" with players that have that much time. I would have no objections at all to playing on a server that was limited to 20 hours a week, or something along those lines. Let the hardcore players have their unlimited time servers, but keep them off my server. Players are scared off by the perception that you need to invest huge amounts of time to be "successful" in the game.
5) Content for players without huge chunks of time to play. One thing that constantly screams out about many games is that much of the content requires huge amounts of time to play. 24 or 40 person raids don't come together in a period of 10 minutes. And once the group is together, many large dungeons and such require a several hour time commitment. This scares a lot of people way.
These are just a few more suggestions than what was mentioned in the article. There were several more in this thread. The genre is still early enough where there is a ton of untapped potential. Hopefully, some truly creative individuals will find a way to unlock some of it.