The Playground Model

[ldwater]

Im quite surprised that no one else has said this (or Im too lazy to find it ) but Shamus has pretty much just described EVE online. They even use the whole 'playground' analogy for themselves. (Linky: http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/About_EVE_Online)

Progressing (or leveling) in EVE is all done in real time, so it may come across as a barrier at some early stages it actually ensures that you are ALWAYS progressing - rather than being based on how quickly you can grind quests etc.

Obviously its not the only thing needed to progress - money is the lifeblood of Eve. I won't bore you with the different ways but there are lots - which is supposed to keep it interesting. Bored playing on the swings all day? Play on something else? In something like WoW if you DON'T raid you can't progress (because you wont get the best loot) but in Eve you always progress regardless and its a choice on how you spend your time rather than feeling like your being pushed into a single activitiy.

Personally I see the main problem is MMO's is that they either try to satisfy too many or too few people / play types. If its done too thinly (ie, SWG) then you end up with alot of different game mechanics which are as deep as a tea spoon. Something like WoW is designed for the 'killer' playtype - everything else is an accessary to killing. Crafting gives you more money so you can buy stuff to kill easier - questing provides XP so you can kill stuff easier etc etc. This means that although the game machanics for killing and grouping are quite excellent, without much variation it gets boring very quickly. It also means that very little attention is paid to the players or lore / RP because most are completely focused on getting the 'lewt' and everyone else in the party is an expendable assest to help them get what they want.

I don't think that any MMO will be perfect and alot of the time its down to the players. If you give people a playground some will love creating new games to play with the equipment with friends and have alot of fun. Others will see just the bland equipment that will be used to destruction and cast out once the fun has exhausted and expect something new and different because they can't create the fun themselves with the tools provided.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

I don't play MMOGs, but I know a lot of people said that Borderlands was a grind fest, while I think endlessly killing stuff in the midst of completing fetch quests is tons of fun. Especially when playing system linked at my friends house and we're drinking loads of scrumpy between missions.

 

[TJM8]

the problem with the playground idea is that leveling doesnt allow this. while leveling may be allowing, its one of the reasons why RPGs are addicting: Instant Gratification. Instead of slowly improving over time... BAM you level and you get an instant improvement of stats and/or skills, people love this because you can't get it in real life. maybe on the horizon there's a playground utopia with no leveling, and the players can just run free and play, the problem is filling that playground. And actually it kinda sounds like PlayStation HOME... meep

 

[lewiswhitling]

I was shocked that you said spring riders were the least popular - my order of preferance was definately; spring riders, swings, roundabout... then if i really had to, boring climbing things.

It sounds like what youre suggesting is to offer players all the things they might or might not want to do - like a playground, and offer it simultaneously. What this means is removing any "pre-activity" to get to where you actually want to be, i.e. if you want to do it just jump in.

The huge problem with this is that suddenly you've removed a massive element of progression from your game. Suddenly, the 50 plus days you've spent in the MMO have much less to show for them than the 20 or so that someone else may have put in. In WoW however, the people with 50 days will be the ones with most to show for it (in game terms), because they've followed the progression "road" for much longer.

Also look at the kind of activity that you would have to engage in to be truly have an activity that was "jump into" - one with very little depth, which is probably designed to cater to a maximum of an hour's play. Whilst i like the playground analogy, can you imagine what it would be like if designers wanted their playground to attract people, and keep them there all day, nay, all year? Imo, that would be an MMO playground for sure.

 

[dragonbjorn]

I play for the exploration and the solo adventure. I enjoy a group, but only if it is not a dreaded Pick Up Group. And only if the group of potential friends enjoys exploring the actual dungeon, not just running through to get to the boss.

I personally love WoW, but there are of course some niggling issues I have with it and agree these are put in place as an attempt to force players to "play the game" in a certain way. Tho Blizzard is honestly better than many designers at giving the players what they want (despite the cries of the gamers saying otherwise on the WoW forums).

I have to agree tho, giving the players what they WANT would be better than forcing them to do what they MUST in order to find the "fun" they are seeking out of the game in question.

 

[zahr]

Dunno if it's been mentioned in this thread, but Guild Wars also acknowledges exploration.

 

[Gringoloco]

I'm more of a singleplayer guy, so I made my "brief" instance of WOW playing a single player endeavour... which sucked when you got to lvl 30-40 or such because everything forced you to team work after a while. then I quit.

 

[sneeky033]

MMORPGs are just to slow-paced for me. i'm not patient enough to play until the game actually becomes rewarding to me

 

[Evilbunny]

I was usually a loner in MMOGs until I got to a very high level. I usually don't like talking to people unless we need to use teamwork to achieve a goal.

 

[Gwynnbleidd]

I played a lot of MMO's. How much? Well, I played Warhammer Online, WoW, Champions Online, Eve Online, Guild Wars, Ragnarok Online, Fallen Earth, Everquest II and lots of others that I simply cannot remember. Most games couldn't simply make me playing them longer than 3 months, because in every game something important was missing: the feeling that every activity is as rewarding as the others in terms of fun and reward.

Let's look at WoW. Raiding is the ONLY way to get good PVE-equipment. But what about crafting? Why do I have to look like thousands of other players? Why is the reglementation for raiding so harsh? And why can't I use that stupid armor in PVP? Oh, yes, because it has the wrong stats. That was the point where I left the game. PVP, PVE, crafting ... they're like own worlds for themselves.

Another example: Eve Online. I loved mining and crafting stuff, but sometimes I simply wanted to kick some pirates' asses. I could not simply change my roles. Not even making a second character helps, because you could only level-up one of them. I was stuck at mining. My attacks against other players made them laugh and I needed 3 months real-time (!!!) to even dream of competing with them.

The most time, I love to craft things and explore territory to find stuff to even craft more. I love variety in character classes (that's why I liked Everquest II) and skills that I can work with in my own way (that's why I still like Guild Wars)

Conclusion: playable(!) variety is gold in MMOS. Crafting, PVE, PVP, ... you should reach your goal with all of them and all of them should be accessible everytime without harsh limiting of the other facets of the game. People should not be reduced to the skill set of a class and its armor or to a separated activity

EDIT: Damn, I left out the most important part! Story ... it's nice to bash enemies to get good equip, but there should be a meaning attached to it. And this meaning should be of more importance than the stuff you get. The mission system of Guild Wars was a good example for that.