Let's discuss a somewhat "radical" MMORPG theory

Josh Sutphin · 2004-09-15T23:16:45

The radical theory is this: do away with the experience, level-ups, skill-based systems, etc. ENTIRELY. I know, I know: the whole point of an MMO is to build up your character. What possible draw could the game have without experience, level-ups, skills to pump? In short, what good would an MMO be without... THE GRIND? There are actually two reasons behind this idea. First is the elimination of the grind. Without such a traditional character-building system, we'll be forced to create new and interesting ways to give the player the all-important sense of achievement. (I'll tackle this in a moment). The second reason has to do with PvP. Unbalanced PvP battles really suck, mostly for the loser who has no chance, but also somewhat for the victor who quickly grows bored with the lack of challenge. But if we eliminate the traditional systems, there will no longer be any such thing as a battle between a level 50 and a level 5. But what do we replace the system with? There is, in fact, one age-old method of building up the character's skill which was pioneered in the very beginning of all video gaming. Can you guess it? The skill of the PLAYER. Instead of focusing on numbers, arbitrary statistics with little to no physical meaning, we focus on the actual human player's skill at the game. Through various systems we will tax his intelligence and problem-solving abilities, his various social skills, his strategic wit, and of course his manual dexterity. Over time, the player will simply become better at the game due to his real-life experience with it. It's a given that the player's ability to learn imposes a certain "cap" on the amount of time for which the game remains interesting to him. For example, if a player is able to master swordplay within a week or two -- having played many games with similar sword-fighting scenarios before -- then perhaps the game won't hold very much appeal for him. This is a problem which must be considered, because ultimately, the goal of every MMO is to keep players playing, and paying their monthly subscription fees. A large part of the solution lies in variety and depth. To use the sword-fighting example, perhaps the combat system consists of numerous types of "basic" moves -- horizontal and vertical slashes, thrusts, a few directional parries, and maybe a slow but powerful "crushing blow" type of attack -- which can be combined in a rather fluid fashion. Some combos might be predefined by the designers, and may have certain prerequisites such as a particular weapon type (more on this in a moment). Many combos wouldn't be "combos" in the normal sense, so much as a certain sequence of moves which the player finds useful and commits to memory. The ideal here is that the player could develop his own particular style of swordplay, rather than choosing an arbitrary stat value defining the same thing. This creates infinitely more possibilities and allows a player that much more freedom for defining his character. Additionally, non-combat systems must be equally well-developed, and possibly even more so. Crafting systems are one area in which this can absolutely excel. The player should have the ability to experiment wildly with crafting -- which of course is broken into various sub-disciplines such as alchemy, weaponsmithing, scroll-writing, and whatever else the designer can imagine -- but more importantly, the player's crafting choices should always have an intuitive effect on the outcome. No more of this behind-the-scenes dice rolling to see if the crafting attempt succeeded or failed. Failure would be determined simply because the resultant object is all but worthless (though remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure!) Anyway, my point is that if a player wants to build a sword out of, say, straw, he can do so, but it will be a very flimsy sword! (This idea can be taken to an almost funny extreme regarding alchemy and spellcraft). Players can now find a sense of achievement in their personal increase of skill in various areas. In fact, a major "fun factor" in the game could be dabbling in unfamiliar areas just to see what it's like. This is very doable since the player doesn't have to sacrifice valuable experience or skill points (read: hours and hours of GRINDING) to try out a new discipline. At most, he would need to acquire the necessary equipment, and maybe have another player show him the basics (more on this in a moment). But there needs to be more to the game than just learning its systems. What's a player to do once he's mastered those systems? Item collections are one possibility. Allow players to collect pretty much anything and everything. Give players a house or similar dwelling in which to display their collectibles. Let them configure these displays in the aesthetic manner which most pleases them. Sure, it has no effect on gameplay, but it's the true essence of role-playing, desu ne? Ditto for everything else related to the player's house, including decorations, artwork, furnishings, even architectural modifications/additions. (I have some other ideas relating to the home ownership aspect but I'll save them for another thread). Let the player have a pet. Yes, I realize this has been done before, but in my view it's been one of the better elements of certain MMO's. The more personality we can inject into the pet, the better. Pets also need permadeath, but never from combat! Pets should only permanently die of old age. Many of the non-combat systems may create gameplay in and of themselves despite their mastery. The idea of a player-driven economy, implemented with relative success in numerous MMO's, has proven this. Combined with a very deep and flexible crafting system, among other such non-combat systems, players may find plenty to do, discover, and claim without ever lifting a sword. Now, let's consider the implications of this system in an MMO. First, with respect to gameplay in general and eliminating the grind, well, this system pretty much nixes it. You're not striving for the next experience level any more. Your achievements are actual accomplishments: locate a rare item, complete a certain quest, collect something you want, finish that big addition to your house, or develop an award-winning potion recipe. No longer must you endlessly slay randomly-spawning beasts in search of the elusive "level-up goal". No longer must you LOSE your hard-earned skills and abilities because you lagged out of a battle or got PK'ed by some 12-year-old griefer. All that's left is the pure, clean simplicity of mastering the game in your own way. Of course, there's that blasted PvP that's going to get in your way! This brings me to my second point: the effects of this system on PvP. Consider any given one-on-one PvP battle: with this system, the winner is the character who is better at playing the game. Maybe he's only put 20 hours into his character, but he uses his brain and figures out how best to handle the PvP situation, while the other guy (who's logged 200 hours) bangs uselessly on his keyboard and yells obscenities at the screen. Maybe not. But the point is, players are motivated to become better at the game, to adjust their play styles, to solve problems and figure out strategies, rather than just farming the nearest monster spawn for six days straight (or worse, macro-farm while they head off on vacation for two weeks). Naturally, in any PvP situation, even with this system, the player with the best equipment has an upper hand. At some point you've got to give them that: everyone can't be perfectly equal all of the time. But that's a part of the motivation as well: go find (or make) more powerful stuff with which to deal with your enemies. I haven't yet taken into account any particular measures for dealing with griefers, who I'm quite certain would become rather expert at a game like this. (What, I don't have to play for 200 hours before I can start successfully killing people? Best. Game. Ever!) They certainly need to be reined in, to a point. Although someone in another thread, a griefer himself or so it would seem, made a good point about "their kind", which was that griefing (well, PK-ing, at least) is their particular way of enjoying the game, and if they're able to do it without really annoying the hell out of their victims, then everybody wins. (Somewhat oxymoronic, I know, but he worded it well and it's food for thought). Anyway, sorry I got so long-winded. I'm curious what the rest of you think. Can an MMO succeed without experience points, level-ups, skill trees, etc.? Can it survive, even thrive, based solely on the skill of the flesh-and-blood PLAYER? Thanks for your time. Josh Sutphin Lead Designer Third Helix That is all.

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by invicticide September 13, 2004 08:28 PM

20 comments, last by EricTrickster 20 years, 4 months ago

invicticide

Author

135

September 15, 2004 11:11 PM

Umm... that's me above. Apparently I wasn't logged in. :P

Which means I should back off a little from my harsh reply to firewindshadow for also posting anonymously before.
~foot in mouth~

That is all.

third-helix.com | @invicticide

EricTrickster

142

September 15, 2004 11:16 PM

Quote:
I'd like players to be able to construct a huge variety of different attacks, blocks, maneuvers, and other "tactical actions" where it's not the power of the skill, but the context in which the skill is used that determines your success in the fight.

Forgive me for what i know is an over simplification, but what you're talking about is an MMO using a card game mechanic. Or to really over simplify it, rock-paper-scissors.

Game combat would consist of you choosing particular manuevers: forward sword thrust, sideways cut, angle slash, block, upward slash. Your opponent queues up his or her own set of combat manuevers.

Depending on the various strengths of one over another, the victor is the one who happens to choose the better combination of "cards" to play in sequence, correct?

So instead of Street Fighter Online we have Magic Online, or Yu-Gi-Oh?

I'm not necessarily saying whether that's bad or good, I just want to get a better assessment of what you're trying to accomplish.

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Let's discuss a somewhat "radical" MMORPG theory

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