Post by Morreion on Jun 23, 2010 7:44:08 GMT -5
Confessions of a PVP Draft Dodger (Wolfshead Online)
Wolfshead has a point. Actually, this PvP critique could apply to PvE as well. Today's MMOs tend to be sanitized and virtually riskless to the point of not being very fun. Thrills have been sacrificed on the altar of casual instant gratification. The problem with this is, what's the point of the whole exercise if nothing really matters? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, indeed. Games should evoke emotion (and they did, in the old days).
Part of the problem is the element of risk and danger has been removed from MMOs. Without the ability to fail and experience a sense of loss there can be no commensurate glory and honor. Victory without the chance of failure is a tasteless dish. What is the point of a sanitized world where there is no sting of death or parade of victory?
Today’s bland and meaningless PVP is symptomatic of that kind of thinking. It’s like playing poker for fake money. Without risk, how can there be any reward?
Today we play in safe, sterilized virtual worlds much like the playgrounds of most modern schools in America. Nothing can be stolen. No village can be burned down or built back up. Nobody ever really dies. Nothing ever rusts and nothing ever decays. Every day Mickey Mouse and friends respawn enter a pristine Disneyland. Honestly, aren’t you getting tired of playing that low stakes MMO every day?
Today’s bland and meaningless PVP is symptomatic of that kind of thinking. It’s like playing poker for fake money. Without risk, how can there be any reward?
Today we play in safe, sterilized virtual worlds much like the playgrounds of most modern schools in America. Nothing can be stolen. No village can be burned down or built back up. Nobody ever really dies. Nothing ever rusts and nothing ever decays. Every day Mickey Mouse and friends respawn enter a pristine Disneyland. Honestly, aren’t you getting tired of playing that low stakes MMO every day?
I am personally not looking for the ultimate PVP experience but the only way I could ever be convinced to do it was if it was made truly compelling beyond the epics for PVP reward scheme that currently exists in MMOs like WoW. Instead reward me in other ways with a virtual world full of drama and conflict that makes me speed down the highway to get back to my computer to log on to see what’s happening.
I’m going to say something that may shock some but here it is: the perfect MMO in my opinion would not be characterized as either PVE or PVP. It would have both elegantly and seamlessly interwoven with each other. But because of the conventional wisdom out there don’t expect this MMO to come out anytime soon.
I’m going to say something that may shock some but here it is: the perfect MMO in my opinion would not be characterized as either PVE or PVP. It would have both elegantly and seamlessly interwoven with each other. But because of the conventional wisdom out there don’t expect this MMO to come out anytime soon.
So until MMO companies can find the courage to create a dynamic virtual world that is so gripping, intense and visceral as to encourage player to participate against other players I and many countless others will remain on the sidelines of your phony cartoon “war”. Until such a time as you either allow me to create or obtain something worth fighting for, I will remain a PVP draft dodger.
Wolfshead has a point. Actually, this PvP critique could apply to PvE as well. Today's MMOs tend to be sanitized and virtually riskless to the point of not being very fun. Thrills have been sacrificed on the altar of casual instant gratification. The problem with this is, what's the point of the whole exercise if nothing really matters? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, indeed. Games should evoke emotion (and they did, in the old days).
