Post by Morreion on Jan 11, 2010 7:43:12 GMT -5
Why Players Should Be the Ultimate Content for MMOs (Wolfshead Online)
Excellent article! Instead of being an anonymous ant in an ant farm, players should be creating their own story, have their own history.
Players ARE content. (Muckbeast)
An Ownership Society (Tish Tosh Tesh)
Virtual worlds have become so incredibly detailed and immersive that the primacy of the player in the grand scheme of things has been eroded. As MMOs become more like movies we’ve become spectators instead of participants. Is the tennis court more important than the players? Is the stadium more significant than the athletes? Has the beauty and majesty of $50 million virtual worlds blinded us?
Have players have taken a backseat to the content?
Have players have taken a backseat to the content?
MMOs have become all about the egos of the designers and the quest writers. They are the drummers and you the player must march to their beat. Lurking in the shadows, they are the puppeteers that tell you where to go and when. Initially you love it and are awestruck because you are in their version of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean — but it’s all a distraction that prevents you from contemplating why you really came here in the first place — to be part of a virtual world with other people.
Players should be the stars not the world — not the designers and not the storyline. The only way this can ever happen again is if designers allow players to tell their own stories and make their own history within these worlds.
Players should be the stars not the world — not the designers and not the storyline. The only way this can ever happen again is if designers allow players to tell their own stories and make their own history within these worlds.
Solutions on How to Empower Players
* Make Socializing Rewarding – Good game design revolves around ensuring that cohesion exists between other game mechanics notably achievement mechanics:
o Create special unique quests and item rewards only available for groups and friends
o Reward achievers for making friends which would encourage conversations and communication
o Have various levels of friendship and accord prestige and status to higher levels of friendship
* Create a Player Reputation System – Let players rate other players and police their own servers with a vote up and vote down system. Good players will rise in reputation, evil players will lose reputation. Create actual consequences by awarding benefits and meting out punishments for different levels of reputation.
* Encourage Emotes – Give players something meaningful to do while they are walking and running around:
o Bring back the Hail command — Reward and encourage players to hail NPCs and use other emotes to illicit responses and actions from NPCs such as buffs and even attacks
o Encourage civility among players by rewarding emotes like /wave by granting small buffs and bonuses
* Encourage Player Freedom — Allow players to attack friendly faction NPCs at a cost of reputation and let those players be attacked by same faction players during those times
* Bring Back Trains – Yes you heard me! Stop leashing NPCs.
* Improve NPC A.I. – No more Stepford Wives NPCs
* Bring Cities and Towns to Life – this would entice players to congregate more. Here are a few suggestions:
o have agroing drunks, pickpockets, courtesans and criminal NPC’s come out at night
o have bar fights breaking out in inns and taverns
o have food scarcity fights breaking out in cities
o create real jails for chat violators and other offenses, let other players visit them and throw rotten vegetables at them for sport
o have public executions of chat violators and griefers each day — execute their avatars whether they are online or not
o have the good city and townsfolk NPC come out during the day
* Create Random and Triggered Events that actually affect players and bring them together in common cause (as in the real world) such as:
o invasions
o plagues
o famines
o earthquakes
o revolts
o uprisings
o riots
* Allow Players and Guilds to Create their own special Events – Let them rent out NPCs like caterers, jugglers, guards, priests and give them serious tools and items to create:
o treasure hunts
o birthdays
o anniversaries
o parties
o weddings
o funerals
* Fewer Scripted Quests and Storylines - Designers it’s not all about *you* it’s about the player.
* Create Interactive Buildings — Allow players to impact the world by creating new mechanics that allow players to build and destroy infrastructure.
* Make Socializing Rewarding – Good game design revolves around ensuring that cohesion exists between other game mechanics notably achievement mechanics:
o Create special unique quests and item rewards only available for groups and friends
o Reward achievers for making friends which would encourage conversations and communication
o Have various levels of friendship and accord prestige and status to higher levels of friendship
* Create a Player Reputation System – Let players rate other players and police their own servers with a vote up and vote down system. Good players will rise in reputation, evil players will lose reputation. Create actual consequences by awarding benefits and meting out punishments for different levels of reputation.
* Encourage Emotes – Give players something meaningful to do while they are walking and running around:
o Bring back the Hail command — Reward and encourage players to hail NPCs and use other emotes to illicit responses and actions from NPCs such as buffs and even attacks
o Encourage civility among players by rewarding emotes like /wave by granting small buffs and bonuses
* Encourage Player Freedom — Allow players to attack friendly faction NPCs at a cost of reputation and let those players be attacked by same faction players during those times
* Bring Back Trains – Yes you heard me! Stop leashing NPCs.
* Improve NPC A.I. – No more Stepford Wives NPCs
* Bring Cities and Towns to Life – this would entice players to congregate more. Here are a few suggestions:
o have agroing drunks, pickpockets, courtesans and criminal NPC’s come out at night
o have bar fights breaking out in inns and taverns
o have food scarcity fights breaking out in cities
o create real jails for chat violators and other offenses, let other players visit them and throw rotten vegetables at them for sport
o have public executions of chat violators and griefers each day — execute their avatars whether they are online or not
o have the good city and townsfolk NPC come out during the day
* Create Random and Triggered Events that actually affect players and bring them together in common cause (as in the real world) such as:
o invasions
o plagues
o famines
o earthquakes
o revolts
o uprisings
o riots
* Allow Players and Guilds to Create their own special Events – Let them rent out NPCs like caterers, jugglers, guards, priests and give them serious tools and items to create:
o treasure hunts
o birthdays
o anniversaries
o parties
o weddings
o funerals
* Fewer Scripted Quests and Storylines - Designers it’s not all about *you* it’s about the player.
* Create Interactive Buildings — Allow players to impact the world by creating new mechanics that allow players to build and destroy infrastructure.
Excellent article! Instead of being an anonymous ant in an ant farm, players should be creating their own story, have their own history.
Players ARE content. (Muckbeast)
One of my new mantras as a game developer is the belief that players are content. Developers who ignore this do so not only at their own peril, but to the disappointment of their own customers. What do I mean by saying players are content? I mean they provide at least as much (and probably more) entertainment for your customers than any actual content you create as a developer. In a fashion, the game you design attracts a certain type of player, and those players take it from there to keep each other amused and entertained.
So, how does one acknowledge, support, and take advantage of the fact that players are content? Here are a few ways:
1) Dump the subscription model. (Yes, here I go again.)
2) Run events.
3) Give players ways to show off their own creativity and talent. I’m back to my player housing rant.
4) Let players affect the world.
I love this one because it is something pretty much unique to the text MUD world. On graphical MMOs, players have almost no ability to affect anything in the world. They can’t change the landscape. They can’t change the politics. They can’t change the factions. The state of the world is set in stone and they are just passing through tinkering with the respawns. But on text MUDs, players can dramatically affect the game world. They can repel major invasions that would have otherwise devastated the landscape. They can overthrow political leaders of cities or kingdoms and take over themselves. They can make THEIR religion dominant over others. They can control the economy through role play and politics rather than just buying all of an item and relisting it for a higher price. When players feel like they can affect the world around them, they have a much deeper emotional connection to the world. They will work together to make the world feel a lot more alive.
So, how does one acknowledge, support, and take advantage of the fact that players are content? Here are a few ways:
1) Dump the subscription model. (Yes, here I go again.)
2) Run events.
3) Give players ways to show off their own creativity and talent. I’m back to my player housing rant.
4) Let players affect the world.
I love this one because it is something pretty much unique to the text MUD world. On graphical MMOs, players have almost no ability to affect anything in the world. They can’t change the landscape. They can’t change the politics. They can’t change the factions. The state of the world is set in stone and they are just passing through tinkering with the respawns. But on text MUDs, players can dramatically affect the game world. They can repel major invasions that would have otherwise devastated the landscape. They can overthrow political leaders of cities or kingdoms and take over themselves. They can make THEIR religion dominant over others. They can control the economy through role play and politics rather than just buying all of an item and relisting it for a higher price. When players feel like they can affect the world around them, they have a much deeper emotional connection to the world. They will work together to make the world feel a lot more alive.
An Ownership Society (Tish Tosh Tesh)
Perhaps it’s not so much that I want a sandbox game, but rather, I want a sandman character. I don’t mind some structure to my games (after all, a sandbox is still a box, and you can’t think outside of it until you know where it ends), but I want to have flexibility in how I approach the game’s challenges. I want to really own my approach to the game, to leave my stamp on the experience. Not because I want bragging rights, but because it’s simply more fun to me to do things my way. I want to make my own memories, tell my own story, and have my own fun.
Because, well, that’s what I want for my money.
Because, well, that’s what I want for my money.
They used to have so much of the things listed that made the world feel alive.