Post by Morreion on May 26, 2010 6:38:11 GMT -5
Shift Emphasis Away From Combat For Overall Better MMOs (Keen and Graev's Gaming Blog)
Have to agree with Keen- the less there is to do in a game outside of fighting things, the less interested I am in the game. Games that are virtual worlds tend to promote multiple activities, whereas games that are theme parks tend to be combat-focused with perhaps a bit of crafting on the side. The more there is to do, the easier it is to stick around; plus, the more non-combat activities there are, the greater variety of players there will be. UO and SWG immediately come to mind, I ran into more unique players there than in other games I've played. A player who levels up as a non-combat character will be quite different in abilities and personality than a combat-oriented player. Variety is both good and interesting. Why shouldn't there be an economic game between merchant types, for example? How about a gambling career track for players to participate in games of chance with the ability to gain fame and fortune?
Don't get me wrong, I like combat in a game, but it should be one of multiple things to do.
I always prefer a world over a theme park. Just like in life, I'd rather have a choice of several things to do at any given time than to do 1 or 2 things constantly.
In World of Warcraft the entire game is about combat because you’re either PvPing or you’re PvEing. Aside from doing one of those two things, what else is there to do? Warhammer Online is the exact same way in that every effort put into that game has been towards creating game mechanics that get you to fight something. Age of Conan, Star Trek Online, LotRO, you name it and everything revolves around fighting. An argument could be made that the developers have attempted to add little things here and there that aren’t about fighting — such as LotRO’s music system — but that’s not sufficient enough to alter how the average player can play the game as intended by the game’s natural design.
I think back to earlier MMO’s and I see quite a different scene. In The Realm I spent 80% of my time socializing in a town or on a screen (the game was set up such that you walked onto screens and went up down left or right to a new screen) with other people. We would roleplay, talk about life, talk about the game, and essentially be our character. In Star Wars Galaxies, 90% of my time was spent outside of combat. Decorating my house, crafting, socializing in town, and doing the plethora of other activities (like taming creatures to sell, being a Doctor and staying in Hospitals to earn tips healing people) that were designed to have equal impact on the player as combat did were rewarding. Combat in SWG was the rare thing to do — it would be like playing music in LotRO rather than the other way around. This wasn’t the case for everyone, or even all the time for me, because as I said it was of equal impact and fighting could be rewarding too… I just had options. Even in EverQuest, which is very much about fighting, there was a lot of downtime where groups of people, even when in the act of grouping to fight, simply talked.
I think about what I would want to do if I were actually my character in-game. I would want downtime. There are times when I like just talking to other people or doing other things. There should be other options in the new and upcoming games so that we’re not always stuck with just this over-emphasized idea that if we’re not bashing something on the head then we’re wasting time.
I think back to earlier MMO’s and I see quite a different scene. In The Realm I spent 80% of my time socializing in a town or on a screen (the game was set up such that you walked onto screens and went up down left or right to a new screen) with other people. We would roleplay, talk about life, talk about the game, and essentially be our character. In Star Wars Galaxies, 90% of my time was spent outside of combat. Decorating my house, crafting, socializing in town, and doing the plethora of other activities (like taming creatures to sell, being a Doctor and staying in Hospitals to earn tips healing people) that were designed to have equal impact on the player as combat did were rewarding. Combat in SWG was the rare thing to do — it would be like playing music in LotRO rather than the other way around. This wasn’t the case for everyone, or even all the time for me, because as I said it was of equal impact and fighting could be rewarding too… I just had options. Even in EverQuest, which is very much about fighting, there was a lot of downtime where groups of people, even when in the act of grouping to fight, simply talked.
I think about what I would want to do if I were actually my character in-game. I would want downtime. There are times when I like just talking to other people or doing other things. There should be other options in the new and upcoming games so that we’re not always stuck with just this over-emphasized idea that if we’re not bashing something on the head then we’re wasting time.
Less emphasis on combat definitely creates more of a virtual world feel. It also makes for a more social game which is the seed needed to grow a community. There’s also the sandbox side of a game that offers options; some people even think of EverQuest as a sandbox game when in reality it wasn’t — there was just a ton to do in that game.
Have to agree with Keen- the less there is to do in a game outside of fighting things, the less interested I am in the game. Games that are virtual worlds tend to promote multiple activities, whereas games that are theme parks tend to be combat-focused with perhaps a bit of crafting on the side. The more there is to do, the easier it is to stick around; plus, the more non-combat activities there are, the greater variety of players there will be. UO and SWG immediately come to mind, I ran into more unique players there than in other games I've played. A player who levels up as a non-combat character will be quite different in abilities and personality than a combat-oriented player. Variety is both good and interesting. Why shouldn't there be an economic game between merchant types, for example? How about a gambling career track for players to participate in games of chance with the ability to gain fame and fortune?
Don't get me wrong, I like combat in a game, but it should be one of multiple things to do.
I always prefer a world over a theme park. Just like in life, I'd rather have a choice of several things to do at any given time than to do 1 or 2 things constantly.
