Question of the Day, May 7, 2010

[UnSeEn60]

Persistancy is overrated - if possible, it's nice to see the world change alongside your character, affected by the choices you make, etc.

I know this doesn't technically count, but Guild Wars showed how dramaticly things can change. Look at Prophecies - you start the first 10 or so levels in happy-sunny-fun land until some furry bastards rain hell upon it. The change is devastating and very effective.

It's hard to pull off, but totally worth it.

 

[felixader]

Why is the question on the title different from the actual asked questions in the survey?

My Answer would have been: I don't care.

 

[Ravek]

Persistent is not the same as unchanging. What makes MMO's persistent is that the effects of your actions continue to exist even when you're not playing the game. This should never change.

Whether MMO worlds should ever change or not is a different question altogether.

 

[lomylithruldor]

Variation in long-term MMOs is a good idea, but wandering too far from the setting and history of the story should be avoided. I used to play WoW pre-TBC and even I was pissed off that it had guns and robots in the same story as dinosaurs. As soon as space was added to it I just had to leave. Point is, new areas are a good idea as long as it doesn't piss all over the main concept.

warcraft 3 had tanks [http://www.wowwiki.com/Rifleman_(Warcraft_III)]. Draenor has been torn apart in space since the end of WC2 : Beyond the dark portal. It's been a part of warcraft's setting for a long time.

Warcraft has been pretty kitchen-sinky for a while with Cthulhu monsters (faceless/forgotten ones), draenei's crystal technology, Aesir mythology, Titans, sorcery, etc so things like that are part of the main concept imo.

 

[StriderShinryu]

The best part of playing an MMO is being in an ongoing "living" story, and as such the world should reflect that as much as possible.

 

[reg42]

I think it's great. It gives players a reason to play more, as they'll be curious to see exactly what has changed and what hasn't.

 

[Yureina]

Definetly an ongoing storyline. I mean, it *is* a living world, right? Things just don't stay the same forever.

 

[Kiefer13]

Change is good, it stops the game from stagnating and becoming boring. I honestly don't think I could play an MMO for long if it stayed permanently the same. It just wouldn't feel as though I was part of a living world. I do think it needs to make sense and be explained within the game and its lore as well though, and not just done "for the hell of it". Even though it's not nearly enough to make me want to try playing it again, I think the new changes in WoW are a good move on Blizzard's part.

 

[Lancer873]

To be honest, I get bored with MMOGs pretty quickly when I'm running around the same area over and over and over to do the same thing. If they're going to make a new area for me to run through five hundred times, I'd expect it's not just the same place with a new paint job.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I'd like the environment to change over time gradually. It helps to spice things up. I also don't want to leave one day and come back to find that everything has been rearranged. Having the same basic elements stay the same and easy to locate or find should be pretty constant, but other things can change.

 

[Anacortian]

This is a no-brainer. ON the mass, people play MMOs so as to escape to varying degrees into another world. Nobody really wants an inert world. They want, to paraphrase Sid Meier, a world of endless progression. They want inertia with an upward momentum already in place. You want advance, and things like geography are going to have to happen. Remember, the progression is desired in the player-characters, not the world.

In DnD, it is great to take your heroes to new lands, but it is better still when you must return home, defend the town in which you began, and show-off your new badassery before that barmaid that wouldn't do you.

Lastly, I note Tolkien and the Scouring of the Shire. If you are unfamiliar, read the book. If you are familiar, no further argument should be needed.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

They should change around. That adds more variety and gives people more of a reason to come back.

 

[coldfrog]

I think it really depends on the MMOG, really... some games make more sense to change on a frequent basis, while others might be more suitable to a static environment.

Agreed... IN a world like WoW, where there are a lot of people who are actually into the story that's going on, it's a great idea. But if you don't want to make it like that, if that's not what the game is about, the no-change idea is fine.

However, I think that, at least to me, the complete elimination of all other content without a chance to do it yourself if you want is a little unfortunate. I wish they would have servers dedicated to a limited expansion level.

That said, I really really can't wait for a redesign of everything that I'm familiar with front and back. It's going to be interesting and, as was mentioned in an article long ago, is a great way to keep a dedicated playerbase involved in new content that doesn't exist only at the end of the game.

 

[ionveau]

Yes as long as it dusent cost $60 everytime they do it(WoW i am looking at you)

 

[Angerwing]

Yes as long as it dusent cost $60 everytime they do it(WoW i am looking at you)

That is, if you fail to take into account the extreme amount of free content patches they offer.

 

[Scumpernickle]

It is nice to see changes to the world, but not dramatic changes. It also gets overwhelming if you add too many areas.

 

[Capt. Crankypants]

Mmm, only slightly. The problem with a story MMO is that not everyone is there from the start

 

[ionveau]

Yes as long as it dusent cost $60 everytime they do it(WoW i am looking at you)

That is, if you fail to take into account the extreme amount of free content patches they offer.

What free contant? you mean the reskined bosses and the copy+pasted raids they give for the $30 wait time?

I really see nothing free about WoW in fact i see nothing cheap about WoW other then their content being made at the lest cost to them

 

[nick n stuff]

i gte lost alot. no-one likes change

 

[Angerwing]

Yes as long as it dusent cost $60 everytime they do it(WoW i am looking at you)

That is, if you fail to take into account the extreme amount of free content patches they offer.

What free contant? you mean the reskined bosses and the copy+pasted raids they give for the $30 wait time?

I really see nothing free about WoW in fact i see nothing cheap about WoW other then their content being made at the lest cost to them

No, I mean the tons of raids an events that came out between launch and Burning Crusade. Then, all the content added between Burning Crusade and Wrath. Now, all the content added to Wrath, until Cataclysm comes out.

Here's a list for you. All free. [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/implemented/index.html]