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[Column] General: Finding the Familiar in an Unexpected Place
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Some of the best parts of any MMO are the social aspects: Farming, chatting, tending to non-combat related stuff around a virtual home. In today's Social Hub, we take a look at a virtual world that is tailor made for those who enjoy those parts the most. Read on!
One of the reasons I’ve been enjoying Animal Crossing: New Leaf so much is that it’s an incredibly relaxing sandbox of a virtual world where I can go and engage in activities like fishing, friendly competitions, chatting with the NPC neighbors, and take care of some town tasks if more in a sim mood. I can plant for a while and tend to my trees and flowers. Should I want to fish, I can. There are daily things you can do, but some events and happenings are random, and nothing is forced upon you. You don’t ‘win’ Animal Crossing’, so the pace is whatever you make of it. There’s even player created content in the form of clothing, flag, wallpaper, path, and accessory designs.
Read more of Christina Gonzalez's The Social Hub: Finding the Familiar in an Unexpected Place.
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Comments
The reason socialization feature have been removed from modern games is because a segment of the community want to use it for anti-social purposes. You mistakenly believe that this segment that is asking for a virtual world is looking for something like Animal Crossing. They are not, AC has controls in place to limit or prevent anti-social behavior. This is their unspoken definition of what is not a virtual world.
Stalking, harassing, griefing, kill stealing, and exploiting are the true definition of a sandbox virtual world, that these sociopathic gamers want. I am not a licensed medical professional, and my statement is not a medical diagnose of anyone or thing. Why do I feel confident in my statement? Because if what they were looking for in a sandbox virtual world, was not what I stated. They would be playing Animal Crossing.
When ever some asks, why are there no social elements built into MMOs anymore? I answer, because of lessons learned in the industry regarding the player base. Why are social items relegated to the cash shop? because anti-social gamers wont stand for their game play to be taxed and paid for by themselves.
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
I disagree with your sentiment and comments completely.
You are talking about a minority of players in a virtual world when you say "Stalking, harassing, griefing, kill stealing, and exploiting are the true definition of a sandbox virtual world, that these sociopathic gamers want. ".
Players such as this (though a very small minority) exist in all games when possible, and this has nothing to do with sandbox gameplay.
All of these things can be limited and almost completely removed from sandbox gameplay and many recent AAA mmo's have demonstrated they can be removed from Themepark's as well.
It sounds like you played an open world full loot sandbox and had a bad experience and are now trying to characterize all sandbox worlds by this limited experience.
I agree with the writer that it's a shame that these features which create community and foster relationships have been overlooked for too long. Many exist in older games and I look forward to seeing this area of MMO's move forward as well.
The posts above remind me of the phrase.
"Sometimes the glass is half empty and sometimes its half full."
People can be dicks and ruin community and gameplay.
On the other hand people can strengthen communities.
Like life its all random. We will see these features back on the rise again soon enough.
MMO's are returning to sandbox roots very quickly.
MMORPG Gamers/Developers need a reality check!
I have played all sandbox MMOs, except for LOVE. I hope, I am talking about a minority of players. I am talking about the ones not playing the currently available sandbox games, because that list of things has been limited and almost completely removed from sandbox gameplay. I am speaking of the minority that constantly post here asking for more sandboxes, in search of Stalking, harassing, griefing, kill stealing, and exploiting features. The minority that post here and say come play our sandbox, we won't stalk, harass, or grief you. Then they do.
Again Developers expect "Killer" type gamers to make life miserable for "Socializer" type gamers. So they wont spend money on them, except to develop cash shop "Vanity" items.
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
That's a pretty negative review of the community here and while I know this community can be very opinionated on games, I doubt the sandbox players on the site have the manifesto you believe they do.
You sound like a player who got killed repeatedly in Darkfall and scammed in Eve...and a bit bitter about the experience.
My point is there is a large community of players who want to see community gameplay in sandbox settings here on this site. I'm sure Stalking, harassing, greifing, kill stealing, and exploiting are not on the top of their reasons why.
Lucky for us it seems sandbox games are about to experience a renaissance and we have a lot to look forward to.
actually, i kinda agree with Konfess. minority of players or not they are significantly louder and more demanding and thus tend to draw attention. perhaps this makes their numbers appear inflated, but i don't believe that Konfess is overestimating their impact.
it is difficult to imagine a discussion on any up and coming mmo as to whether it will include FFA PvP or not. admittedly, and i am in this group as well, there are many sandboxers who prefer PvE over, or even against, PvP.
one of the real signs of their desire to act out a certain level of sociopathy is their refusal to accept suggestions that would give those of like mind the resources to FFA PvP with each other while letting pure PvE'rs go their own way in the same world.
instead their response is to try to constantly tie greater rewards in order to strongarm other players into having to PvP with them.
so along with Konfess' comment that real sandbox players would be playing the ones that are currently available and making the best of them; i would add that, real PvP'rs would be playing the games that were available and making the best of them as well.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
I personally wouldn't mind if each guild had access to a similar virtual village where crafters could grow crops, players had their own house and the guild crafters could sell stuff in their own store and so on. I think a sandbox element like that could add a lot for themepark games.
But instances like that should be shared by some players, preferably a guild since MMOs are meant to be social.
Nothing like woopin the snot out of a guy that is trying to farm nodes. It makes me feel.......warm inside....Ya know?
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
My partner and I have been playing New Leaf since release. Its an awesome little game. Gotta farm up the beetles on the island so I can pay for my next house expansion project haha.
Best "fluff" or social/fun implementations in MMOs (in my opinion):
1) Music system in Asheron's Call 2: Pure clever the way the tunes were "broken up" across a large array of different instruments. Pop The Dereth House of Jazz then pull your own instrument and listen to it all sync up. Then listen to how the tune altered as The House of Jazz auto-swapped their instruments every so often. Really mixed it up. Other players wander by would often stop and pull their own instruments out and join in and it all sync'd up.
2) Music system in LOTRO. The ability to play any real-life song, provided it had been properly converted to a text file format (forget the extension) was really cool, often seeing bands forming up in Bree, etc. Santana's Maria-Maria, as well as Creedence Suzy-Q were favorites of mine I'd play using a Guitar.
3) Housing system in LOTRO: Placeable monuments in the yard, trees/shrubs, boss monument trophies, walls/floor types, as well as rare drops from creatures let you have a stuffed version (stuffed snarling Warg, drake, whatever), as well as smaller rare boss drop trophies mountable inside. Caused people to want to go out and either hunt for stuff, or do instances for a chance at "King Tut's Helm of Badarse" to display on a wall plaque.
4) Dances / Kata movements / belly dance / acrobatic dance - Guild Wars: Well done for something so simple. Not a bunch of rehashed dub-steps when you do /dance.
5) Fireworks - various. Who doesn't like fireworks?
6) Chest of surprises (forget exact name) - Guild Wars 2: Drop a chest that lasts some number of minutes. People use it get a random effect or transformation. Quite a hoot to drop one in a city center and watch people converge on it like minnows to bread.
Wherever you go, there you are.
"You don’t ‘win’ Animal Crossing"
and this is the difference between a 'finite' and an 'infinite' game. both are fine, both can entertain, its simply a matter of what you want to play at the moment.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
WoW 's blingtron is like that chest of suprises, only it usually gives vendor junk, and not much of any real fun use...
I Love the Lord of the Rings Online music system, but their housing system is so limited, Everquest 2's is far superior.
I've never played guild wars, but it always sounds like such a fun game everytime I read about it.
I will never play on a PvP server or a PVP enforced only game, I played Eve Online and stayed in safe space 100% of the time, and took 42 jumps just to avoid PVP space. That was only because there were no other space ship games at the time, and it was interesting to see something new. However, when a game is pvp, they usually don't have fun pve... They nerf pve abilities and homogenize everything like Blizzard did to WoW. All the fun racial spells and abilities? Nerfed and removed, so that everyone can be equal and have the same crowd control effects and movement abilities in pvp.
If anyone is unequal in pvp, along comes another patch to nerf whatever class is overpowered currently in pvp, and the pve players just gotta deal with their class losing dps or funtionality, because their class was to powerful in pvp.
Say you lost 20k dps in a patch update? Oh sorry, that's because your class kept winning in arenas and battlegrounds, to bad you don't pvp yourself, your class was simply to overpowered in pvp!
Yet, rogues are still annoying in pvp with their vanish and stun/silence/incapacitate/cc combos... Alas...
I wish we could have a huge variety of strategic skills, no more hotbar roulette/macro system, and actually use skills that are useful in that situation like in Everquest 1.
Say a monster is immune to fire? Start using ice!! Why use fire spells? Oh that's right, your class only specializes in fire because you're a fire mage, so you're blasting away with fire spells on a fire npc... Or your cooldowns for ice are all on recast timer, so you can't cast anything but fire spells... Waiting to use your huge dmg nuke because its on cooldown? No, should be waiting because its aggro and you have to control your aggro meters!
Get rid of cool-down timers and create realistic aggro management!! Resists and partial resists and immunities in everquest 1 were fun... Having to actually debuff and slow mobs was fun... Enchanters are awesome with mezzing and charms, bards in Everquest twisting songs were sweeeeet!! Bring back the challenge and social communities please! More spells and abilities the better, make us strategize! High levels should mean harder gameplay, not easier!! It should not be the end-game, it should be the highest challenge of the game, if you're terrible at it, you should be able to be low or mid-level where the game is easiest... By the time you reach high level 6 or 12 months later, you should have the skills to be good at the game ...