So, what does "MMORPG" mean?

[Morreion]

Free for All: So, what does "MMORPG" mean? (Massively)

...The best way for me to explain MMOs to non-gamers is to refer to the shopping mall: thousands of people around you, all within their own store or group, who create the potential for you to socialize with strangers.

While I want to pretend that roleplaying in the "How art thou?" sense of the word is both commonplace and my favorite activity, it is neither. Technology has gotten to the point that we hardly need to describe what we look like or feel like -- emotes do that, as well as voice fonts and bios. Games have now become so immersive that we forget we are playing them.

Beau's conclusion:

I attempted to define the term MMORPG, but found that it is now more undefinable than ever. I understand the need for a persistent world, but we must be honest about how few of us access players outside of our friends list, anyway.

He has a point. Unfortunately, the trend towards just playing with a few people and everybody else might as well be NPCs is a sign of the decline of the traditional MMORPG genre. Sure, things are different now in many ways with both players and the games themselves, but one could argue that 'multiplayer co-op lobby games' have fallen far from what the original MMO experience was. The genre has left its foundations, and isn't as interesting as it once was, IMHO.

[Regolyth]

I would have to agree.

[dotty]

Hmmm, how often do you go shopping and walk up to strangers to strike up a conversation? ...or anywhere else for that matter. Most people are huddled over their iPhones texting their friends. I think this is more a result of society these days then just game play alone. Have you met your neighbors?

I do have to strongly disagree that games have become more immersive. I believe they have become extremely shallow. All flash and not much substance. Unless they mean that games are more immersive than a TV. To that I can only say... DUH!

[EchoVamper]

Sept 9, 2010 10:35:14 GMT -5 Morreion said:

He has a point. Unfortunately, the trend towards just playing with a few people and everybody else might as well be NPCs is a sign of the decline of the traditional MMORPG genre. Sure, things are different now in many ways with both players and the games themselves, but one could argue that 'multiplayer co-op lobby games' have fallen far from what the original MMO experience was. The genre has left its foundations, and isn't as interesting as it once was, IMHO.

If one studies communities, community and organizational development, and such topics (as I do from time to time in my work) you can begin to define several levels or generations of communities. These actually fit a little bit with the experience of MMO's, and perhaps are a little informative of what we see in our "MMO experience":

1st Generation: These are a bit like single player games. The time frame of participation is immediate and lasts only the length of the scenario(s). Participation is also typically just the individual (or in some cases a hosted group). The in-game community is artificial. You manage the logistics of the game and then move on to the next one. It's like Oblivion or Myst or any number of pre-MMO games. Really your only problem is just shortage; shortage of time to play, shortage of computer equipment etc. (Real Life Equivalent: Just a training; Lance Armstrong gives a series of cycling clinics across the the country and people attend to learn and recieve a certificate).

2nd Generation: This is a little more complex. It's more like a community development project. Your in more of an MMO situation, thus you can get into problems of local inertia if your fellow players don't engage. You play the game not as an individual but as a neighborhood, or village, or guild, or alliance, or realm etc. Part of your job is now to mobilize the community to move forward in the game. You can do this as an individual too, but that doesn't capture the whole design of the game. You don't just manage the logistics of the game as in the previous example, you manage projects within the game in concert with other people. The community members will help each other. There is a community to develop here, and so you begin to identify mobilizers and leaders within the game. This is much like the original MMOs or perhaps any number of so-so products that we have tried. Perhaps its a bit like an FPS game. Most every MMO gets at least this far.

3rd Generation: Now we are getting into MMORPG as we fondly remember them. These take community a step further. Regions, nations, races, realms come into play. All relevant aspects of a community are represented: economy, housing, trades, combat etc. The guilds and alliance and factions of different kinds of players are varied enough that you begin to run into institutional and policy constraints. People argue about rulesets. People arise that are even more than mobilizers, they are catalysts, leaders, generals whatever. Strategic management rather that just community self-help becomes a factor. The best of these end up something like DAoC did for a shining moment and a sustainable (though not immortal) system develops for a while.

This is really special, for all relevant factors are working in concert: the communities, realms, UI, ruleset. When one of these evolves into inevitable decay, there is real pain. People, whether they recognize it or not, truly mourn the passing of a community like this, in many of the same ways we mourn things in real life. You remember these times and these people forever, just like your undefeated high school football team or being the homecoming queen, or winning a forensics meet, or winning Odyssey of the Mind or whatever. Whatever that community was, you remember those times, those people...for a long, long time... probably forever.

These golden examples are finite, and many MMOs just stay at the low end of this generation due to constraints that just can't be overcome (Warhammer, AoC etc). Some MMOs, like WoW get it partially right in many aspects, but really never have that magical era when it all comes together. Statistically ( in terms of research on community development) the best of these take a long time to develop and don't last forever. Perhaps every 10-20 years we would see that magic.

4th Generation: I don't know that I've ever seen this in an MMO and I don't know if we saw it we would call it an MMO. This is the ultimate sandbox we talk of. It's a people's movement, spaceship earth. It just moves on indefinitely and it is totally created and maintained by loosely defined networks of people and organizations. There are all these coalescing and energizing self-managing networks floating around that drive the outcomes. The leaders of this community are not just mobilizers, or catalysts, they are activist/educators. There are problems that can arise here, primary that of a lack of an adequate mobilizing vision. Sometimes with the freedom to create there also can develop a subset of mediocrity, and that can be a problem.

To me this 4th Generation is the sandbox Morreion dreams of and we all talk about. There is a lot of freedom. But I just don't think I can identify one of these from my experience. The closest thing I could compare this to would be something like Second Life (which I haven't played) or its equivalent. I get a hint of this from some of the descriptions of Eve Online. And oddly, enough, when people reminisce about UO, I get a little of this flavor too. It's really canvas people paint for themselves; a place for diverse people to explore, teach, and observe many things. But I don't think this type of community has ever been totally actualized in a video game.

It occurs to me that the next great so called "MMORPG" may occur INSIDE another shell ... maybe Second Life or its equivalent.

So there you go. Another one of my long-winded philosophical ramblings.

[Morreion]

Cool comment, echo!

I find it interesting how you mentioned UO reminiscing in your analysis. I often get the feeling that, what UO started may be the key to progressing beyond the fossilized quest-theme-park level we are on now. Often I am reminded of UO's content when I think of features that could bring fresh experiences to MMOs. I think the key to this was, UO was among the first in its genre, and there was no template- it was totally fresh. Second Life and EVE on certain levels approach this as well- the sandbox where you allow players to create the game as opposed to hopping on the same theme-park ride with 100,000 others waiting in line. UO has features that I haven't seen replicated in games since- almost nowhere else could you find books written by players in a public library, be a professional beggar, play chess or grow your own garden. It also had a very early community of like-minded enthusiasts (a cult following, versus today's mainstream playerbase). I think it is worth looking back at to find keys to the future of moving the genre forward.

[Regolyth]

I had an odd thought while reading this thread... it seems to me that we are progressing backwards with MMOs. I think that MMOs after UO have been taking away from the true meaning of having an MMORPG. UO gave the ultimate sandbox as far as games in it's genre goes. Games after it only slowly took away from those elements, until we get what we have today.

Just think of all of the "classes" you could be. You didn't have to be a mage or a warrior, you could do both (of course, with some restrictions, and to a lesser degree)! Think of how you had crafters create your weapons and armor in that game, but now you have to farm endlessly for it. You used to have great player interaction, and now you solo through an MMO. That's not right.

In an odd sense, we're going backwards in our "grand scheme of things" MMO development. Sure, there are some great new systems and ways of doing things in later MMOs that are a definite must in today's games, but the overall direction of the games has greatly went askew. Someone really needs to meld the two concepts together.

[dotty]

I'll confirm that your description of the 4th generation does match Second Life. Whether it's SL or another similar sandbox that ignites a population around the world, I dont know. But I think the next great concept is in that direction.