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What has worked? What hasn't?
Barge
Member Posts: 65
While looking up alot of the MMOs in developement alot of them throw around the phrase "Taking concepts that have worked in the past". They seldom specify what they are looking at. So out of my curiosity, I am going to open up pandora's box and ask you guys... What "concepts" have worked in past/current MMOs, and for those of you out there who love to bash things what hasn't worked?
For example I feel that Instanced dungeons are great, they solve the problem of of Bosses being camped in large zones (think Lguk in EQ1's hayday).
I also feel that that WoW's honor system was the worst executed idea in the history of MMOs. All it did was make people who have no life/ hire powergrinders easier to spot. Just look for the awsome looking weapon.(Pig sticker FTW)
Comments
I think conscepts that many game developers use today, that they believe work, are those that allow the players to get right into the heart of the game, allow them to achieve almost anything on their own, and cut them a lot of slack if they should fail.
Basically, from what I've seen these concepts are mostly thought of as things of the past when it comes of mmorpgs:
- large seamless gameworlds where players compete for resources, mobs, etc. Now there are instances to allow anyone to get access without outside interferance.
- Death penalties that may discourage a player, after hours of playing, only to lose what they have "worked" so hard for.
- scope and size of todays games may seem to be getting larger, but in fact, they feel like the worlds are shrinking because it is becoming extremely easy to quickly get from one place to another in most modern mmos. The days of waiting for a ship that sails to a far away land are over, and instant travel is now widely used. Scope of mmos have always been large, and they continue to be in most cases, but they may not seem like it because instead of being a massively multiplayer game where everyone is mixed into the same game world, we now see more mmos that allow this in certain areas, but take the core gameplay to instanced zones where players can feel secluded and even, at times, alone.
- roleplaying has never been a focus of any mmorpgs that I have played. They revolve around combat and crafting, exploration, and socialization, etc. In my experience, very few players really play mmorpgs for roleplaying. But, in recent times, it has decreased even more and I think it is due to the way PvP is implemented in modern mmos. They have now become more of a competitive platform, where players can come in and build up their characters so that they can "own" other players. This becomes such a focus, that roleplaying, even in the most simple sense, gets lost.
There are other concepts that have either changed for have been left out of modern mmorps, but these are the ones I think are most prevalent.
Large Seamless world with (massive, ruthless, economic political and militart) competition for resources and terriatory?
Check!
Death Penalty?
Check! (total equipment loss on death)
Massive scope and travel times that reflect it?
Check! (actually this is what puts most Wow/EQers off)
Roleplaying?
Yes, although often overlooked. Politics ingame are roleplaying, and politics decide everything.
I tried the trial of Eve a while ago and I was impressed, but I think I tried it at a bad time. I was really into another mmorpg that I was reluctant to quit at the time. The same thing happened with Saga of Ryzom. I always wanted more time to really give it a try, but always went back to playing the mmorpgs I was subscribed to.
I think Eve Online would be a mmorpg I would like, but I still think the major drawback is the fact that I would essentially be playing a ship. I need to be able to play a character who can get off the ship, walk around on a space station or a planet's surface, etc. I am currrently playing Auto Assault and it is nice to be able to get out of the vehicle when I get to towns, it really makes a difference for me.
All of the other concepts in the game I like, and I wish more modern mmorpgs would embrace some of the older cocepts like these that are now often looked down upon. I am looking forward to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes to include some old concepts, as well as mix in some new ones.