Post by Morreion on Oct 7, 2010 9:47:00 GMT -5
Loading... October 6th, 2010 - The Cure for One and Done (Ten Ton Hammer)
"At some point, all MMOGs become a grind—there’s only so much content a developer can reasonably spew out before it becomes a case of lather, rinse, repeat. The trick, I believe, is to keep MMOGs interesting longer, giving players time to become enmeshed before they start to mind doing the same things over and over. 10-20 levels of solid, engaging content before the grind kicks in no longer cut it—modern MMOGs are doomed to wither after their free trials expire unless the developers are able to bring a compelling mid-level game to the table."
Excellent point. It's easy to have the first 10 to 20 levels be very polished (and it is common for 20+ to not be polished). The games that I've stayed in for a year or more were games where I played with a community of other people.
This is the self-defeating nature of solo/casual games- they are initially appealing, but there is no reason to stay. So players bounce around games.
The compelling mid-level game is crucial- and that mid-level game needs to bring people to play together somehow.
"At some point, all MMOGs become a grind—there’s only so much content a developer can reasonably spew out before it becomes a case of lather, rinse, repeat. The trick, I believe, is to keep MMOGs interesting longer, giving players time to become enmeshed before they start to mind doing the same things over and over. 10-20 levels of solid, engaging content before the grind kicks in no longer cut it—modern MMOGs are doomed to wither after their free trials expire unless the developers are able to bring a compelling mid-level game to the table."
Excellent point. It's easy to have the first 10 to 20 levels be very polished (and it is common for 20+ to not be polished). The games that I've stayed in for a year or more were games where I played with a community of other people.
This is the self-defeating nature of solo/casual games- they are initially appealing, but there is no reason to stay. So players bounce around games.
The compelling mid-level game is crucial- and that mid-level game needs to bring people to play together somehow.
