The Playground Model

[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.