May 2009
- MUD-based Articles for Hartford Gaming Lifestyle Examiner Michael Tresca
- opensim and muds in general bristle2008@yahoo.com
- [NEWS] mischief & opensim Bristle Mischief
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Jeffrey Kesselman
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Caliban Darklock
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Sean Howard
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Nathan Yospe
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Nabil Maynard
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING Threshold
- Since when has MUD-DEV become MUD-MARKETING bristle2008@yahoo.com
- Getting the word out about your game Threshold
- Getting the word out about your game Ilia Malkovitch
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Benjamin Tolputt
- [Technology] Lend your ears to science! Mike Rozak
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Mike Rozak
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Matt Owen
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Mike Sellers
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games John A. Bertoglio
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Damion Schubert
On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 8:54 PM, Mike Sellers <mike@onlinealchemy.com> wrote:
> Beyond this though, I think you're seeing MMOs through a particular lens
> that isn't entirely accurate. Many people like playing "solo" in MMOGs,
> but
> that doesn't explain the games' success. It is the *potential* for
> meaningful contact with others, even if it is for some people rarely
> realized, that is part of the success of MMOGs.
>
I actually think that the potential to play solo -does- explain the success
of World of Warcraft. Before WoW came out, too many designers were
utterly in love with the idea that playing with other people was MANDATORY.
EQ and EQ2 required grouping for any sort of non-tedious advancement.
UO and SWG had huge, complex economies predicated upon players
depending on other players to provide goods and services you needed.
Shadowbane and DAoC's best features depended solely on having the
player base on any given server reach critical mass, so you could enjoy
the pvp/raid game. Soloing in all of them kind of sucked.
In WoW, the best content is by far the elder game content that requires
10, 25 or 40 people to play (raids and battlegrounds), and these elder
games have avid fans (and equally avid detractors). But where WoW
differs from those other games is that they have plenty to do if you're
alone - including taking your character from level 1 to the cap. This
idea would have seemed heretical in 1998, but is actually grounded
on a handful of simple facts.
* Sometimes your friends aren't online.
* Pick up groups often suck.
* A lot of gaming geeks aren't exactly social butterflies.
Look at it this way, and the solo-friendly MMO is a no-brainer.
A lot of people like to claim that WoW had no innovations in it. In
my opinion, this is a big one - and may well have been the force
multiplier that took the classic MMO formula from six figures to seven.
Mike Rozak wrote:
> Most people WANT to play a single player game. Or, they want
> to play a game with their close friends.
To swing the other way - I don't think so. People choose WoW
and other MMOs despite the fact that solo and small-group friendly
RPGs exist. Some people come for big end-game experiences
(raids, city sieges) that can only happen in MMOs. Others come
because, well, other people are content. Chatter is interesting.
And it's fascinating to be part of a larger organism, even if you
tend to solo or only play with 3 friends.
In my personal opinion, the answer is NOT to make purely solo
or small-group 'MMO' experiences - you are then competing with the
people who can make those games faster and cheaper than
you, because you're not trying to tackle all of the infrastructure
an MMO requires. To me, the answer is to provide a solid solo/
small group backbone to the game, but have those paths lead
to a truly 'massive' experience that only the MMO experience
can provide.
> In addition, I think your assertion about what most people want in an
> online
> game doesn't stand up to experiences ranging from the sprawling and hugely
> successful Chinese MMOGs -- where acting as part of a group is a necessity
> at anything beyond the lowest levels -- to the more casual but nonetheless
> compelling groupings occuring in many lighter games, from those like Mob
> Wars on Facebook (extremely casual, dead simple gameplay, hugely
> multiplayer, staggeringly successful commercially) to web-games like the
> RPG/RTS-ish Ikarium. That's where to look for how MMOGs are evolving, not
> into re-treads of old concepts like Free Realms.
>
One of the key parts of the success of Mafia Wars and Vampire Wars
on Facebook is that they are played asynchronously. Which is to say
that while the game SAYS you're killing enemies with your friends, in
truth, you're doing little more than poking them and sending them
mails. Which is to say, you're really soloing (albeit borrowing a friend's
strength from time to time).
--d - [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Richard A. Bartle
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Mike Rozak
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games cruise
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Mike Rozak
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Mike Sellers
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games cruise
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Dana V. Baldwin
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Threshold
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Dana V. Baldwin
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolveto massively single-player games Threshold
- Fallen Earth John A. Bertoglio
- Fallen Earth Threshold
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Amanda Walker
- Fallen Earth Vincent Archer
- Fallen Earth John A. Bertoglio
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Benjamin Tolputt
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Aurel
- Fallen Earth Damion Schubert
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Jeffrey Kesselman
- Fallen Earth Threshold
- Fallen Earth Aurel
- Fallen Earth John A. Bertoglio
- Fallen Earth Dana V. Baldwin
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Tess Snider
- Fallen Earth Sean Howard
- Fallen Earth Tess Snider
- Fallen Earth Siege)
- Fallen Earth Tess Snider
- Comparing Worlds (was: Fallen Earth) Christopher Lloyd
- Fallen Earth Jeffrey Kesselman
- Fallen Earth John A. Bertoglio
- Fallen Earth Mike Sellers
- Fallen Earth Matt Owen
- Fallen Earth Threshold
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Vincent Archer
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Threshold
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games cruise
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Aurel
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Amanda Walker
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games John Buehler
- [Design] Dinosaurs evolve to chickens, MMOs evolve to massively single-player games Bristle Mischief
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Bristle Mischief
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Siege)
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Nuno Silva
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Jeffrey Kesselman
- [Design] is home-base networks not possible? Jeffrey Kesselman