What are your four pillars of MMO gaming?

[Morreion]

The Daily Grind: What are your four pillars of MMO gaming? (Massively)

Stickiness would be my first pick; games need to keep people coming back because they want to come back, not because they feel they must. Community would make my list as something developers should develop intentionally rather than hope it happens offscreen. Setting to me is far more important than story since how seriously a studio takes its setting determines how invested players will be in their own stories. Customization would round out my quartet; our ability to take charge of our character's development, appearance, home, and activities is crucial to keeping us around...What about you? If you were tasked with coming up with the four pillars of MMO gaming, what would they be?


To be brief, mine are:

A Virtual World

A good sandbox can last a long time, certainly longer than a scripted theme park whose content is devoured far more quickly than it can be produced. The world should be large and have lots of things to do- combat should be merely one of multiple ways to play. Players as content beats dev-created content. I put in-world player housing in this category- it's a great long-term feature that gives one a feeling of ownership.

Community

The whole game should encourage social interaction. Group experience bonuses, custom chat channels, roleplay-friendly content (being able to use furniture, plenty of emotes, etc.) guild versus guild warfare which allows for player politics, places like SWG's cantinas where players gather for a definite benefit, every player having a 'drive-by' buff that is useful for other players...

Specialization

I know it's not fashionable these days, but I miss the times when players had a definite role they could excel at and good players were in demand for their skill. I like classes that each have strengths and weaknesses that contribute to groups. I'm not a fan of 'your class does everything' that means everyone is a vague DPS class that is a carbon copy of everyone else and group play is nothing but zerging...if everyone can do everything, nobody is special.

This would also extend to the world. Say certain resources are common in the far east, but rare elsewhere. This allows enterprising players to bring scarce resources to faraway markets and make good money in the process- if they don't lose their investment to bandits and such, or to competing players.

There should be areas of specialization in the world so that the world is not one homogenized blob.

Customization

Player-created content is great, fresh and unique. For instance, allow grandmaster crafters to be able to create their own special items that they can name and give specific bonuses to so that their stuff will be in demand. Allow expert magic users to create their own unique spells with research and special ingredients. It should go without saying that unlimited dye options for clothing and armor is a good thing.

I'm also a big believer in special rewards for those who put in time and effort. Say that players with enough renown can run a village or town (set its tax rates, have certain laws in place, etc.), a powerful guild can run its own zone.

Bottom line- players should be able to leave a small but real imprint upon the world through effort and dedication.

[Regolyth]

I really agree with the four pillars you've suggested Gack. We're pretty much in line when it comes to stuff like this.

Customization
I think being able to make the game your own is a big thing. If players feel like they have ownership in the game, feel like they have put time and effort into something, feel vested... they'll stay longer. This starts at the very first thing you do in a game, creating a character. I think there needs to be a higher level of character customization; not just with how a character looks, but with how they function as well. Allocating stats were a great way back in the day to truly make your character unique in this regard, gimping one stat to massively increase another. Customization also carries over in having various skills to profess in. No more everyone can do everything, or cookie-cutter templates. Allow true customization, much like UO did. I could be a mage with awesome magery skills and be able to stealth (or bake!). Allow world customization too, like with housing or claiming/fortifying structures within the world.

Community
Community is definitely something that will keep players around. I would not have played UO and DAoC as long as I did if I didn't have a great guild/alliance/friends to hang with every time I logged on. Community really made a difference. And how did I find those people? Mostly through grouping. If I can solo an entire MMO, then something is wrong with the basic mechanics of the game. I know some people are loaners, and that's okay, but everything shouldn't be soloable. Sometimes you just need a little help. Bring back group and camp bonuses! Don't discourage soloing, but promote groups. If someone doesn't like other people, that's fine. Allow them to play the game and progress through it as well. But they shouldn't be allowed to achieve everything a group could (such as taking down that huge dragon in the swamp). Players should be rewarded for helping others.

Too Much to Do
Give players more things to do than just fight, or just fight in the traditional sense (mobs and other players). You can only kill so many rats before you'd rather just walk away from the game rather than kill another. Sure, it's fun to kill players all day, but too can get old after while. Add some non-combat things to do. Add some fishing and an intricate crafting system. UO made fishing awesome in the fact that you could pull up sunken treasure (of course you could pull up a kraken too, but that just adds to the fun). Think of treasure hunting, stealing, spirit speak, baking... how unique were they? UO also allowed you to just mine the day away and become rich in doing so. I could never touch a weapon in UO and have a fun, rewarding experience and be one of the richest players in the game. This would also be how you would appeal to multiple types of players.

Fun
Above all else, the game should be fun. You should enjoy playing it and doing all the things within it. If tedium is fun to you, then you can partake in the more tedious tasks in the game (collecting a set of something, doing all of the achievements, etc.). If crafting is fun, you should be able to craft and never have to pick up a weapon, other than the ones you craft! And players should be rewarded for their time. If I put 100 hours of play into the game, I should receive 100 hours worth of rewards. If I put 10 hours of play into a game, I should receive 10 hours worth of reward. Just because new guy Joe comes along and wants what old guy Joe, who has been playing for years, has, it doesn't mean he gets it without the time and effort old guy Joe put in. Hardcore players reap hardcore rewards, and casual players reap casual rewards. Now this shouldn't effect competitive play, such as PvP. Everyone on the PvP battleground should have equal opportunity (no super-powered players because he's been at it five years). But playing for five years could certainly mean that old guy Joe has a cool set of armor that he displays in his house that it's going to take new guy Joe a while to get.

[Laethaka]

Minimal instancing
I'm playing an MMO to engage in a persistent, shared reality. Adding realms slices that up and really kills my interest. So stupid. I'd rather just deal with lag.

Permanent class roles where I can play a healer
Something inside me really, really, really loves supporting a close friend/group and quietly compensating for their mistakes so they can kick ass. Every single MMO where I didn't or couldn't play support, no matter how good the game was, quickly lost my interest.

Minimal cheating/botting/multiboxing
Makes playing feel pointless and fake. Sounds simple but the impact is sudden and severe.

Good music
There was a good article someone posted here a few years ago about a girl getting hooked on EQ2 purely off the intro music.

[Morreion]

Minimal instancing
I'm playing an MMO to engage in a persistent, shared reality. Adding realms slices that up and really kills my interest. So stupid. I'd rather just deal with lag.

Permanent class roles where I can play a healer
Something inside me really, really, really loves supporting a close friend/group and quietly compensating for their mistakes so they can kick ass. Every single MMO where I didn't or couldn't play support, no matter how good the game was, quickly lost my interest.

Both of these are really big in my book!