Game ideas: The Real Definition of an MMO

From GPWiki

MMO, or Massively Multiplayer Online, is a term used as short-hand for a genre of games known more typically as MMO's, or MMO Role-Playing Games. These games typically use a set of rules first "perfected" in the tabletop RPG game, Dungeons & Dragons. Even for those MMORPGs that do not follow what seems to be a standard in the genre, they carry such similarities that they may as well be the same. Thus, let us assume that all MMORPGs have the same basic set of rules, objectives, and playing styles.

MMORPGs are gathering places for many players of the D&D genre, allowing players to travel the lands, fight against hordes of fantasy monsters, and interact with their friends in a place where their character will continually grow and learn. The worlds created by these games are deemed "persistent" worlds because they are ever-lasting and unchangeable. At least, these are assumptions made by many who view MMORPGs as the height of their gaming experiences.

I believe the MMORPG genre to be flawed in several respects. Firstly, it is built around an archaic ruleset that applied in its early days only to tabletop games played with close friends. Playing the same game over the internet with countless unknown persons breaks the trust that is required for some of the experience and puts many players at odds with one another for no good reason. Second, the game tailors to the whims of many thousands of players who all wish to be heroes among the masses of other players. While it creates a sense of competition among those players and may create a better experience for the more mature competitors, many of the players in the game don't have the common sense or empathy to deal with others in a mature fashion, choosing instead to be selfish and greedy. This divides the community within the game and even gives some of the more advanced players reason not to help those newer to the game, or those who choose to play in a different style than just killing everyone in the server.

Third, the nature of the game grants a sense of power to those who have played it for long periods of time. A player who has existed in the game for a long time and has gained strength for his character now has a clear advantage over other players of lesser experience levels. This advantage is not the inherent skills one learns by playing other games for long amounts of time, but instead a physical, game-given ability. For two players of totally equal competence but different experience levels, the balance of power is somehow automatically tipped in the favor of the one with a bigger number next to his name. In terms of the RPG genre itself, this ability is not so alarming, but is a part of the game. For an online game, however, it is absolutely ridiculous to place some players above the ranks of other players.

In one sense, it could be said that those players who have played longer, and thus given more money to the subscription of their game, are granted more power than others by the ones receiving that money. This, as I see it, is a clear violation of the rights of the developer as a controller of the game experience. Such is the design of the game to give the player a desire for greater power and, thus, the desire to stay with the game for long periods of time, in turn filling the pockets of those who made the game. Still, such is also a necessity for the developer to maintain the resources needed for the game's existence, so I do not presume to say that subscription fees are unnecessary or, at worst, stealing. Moving on...

This brings me to what I believe an MMO game should be. First, an MMO should not be confined to the likes of several hundred iterations of the same D&D games with slight graphical changes. Second, an MMO should not even be confined to the genre of RPG. Technology in data transfer through broadband communications allows for much more than simple move and attack commands to be sent from one computer to another. The assumption that only games of the RPG genre will fit into the MMO genre because of technology restrictions is a concern born in the past state of technology, not the present nor the future. It is time to look beyond what have been perceived as limitations and expand our thinking when it comes to the MMO genre of games. If the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the term "MMO" is a gnarly old man in a blue robe with stars and moons pasted across it, waving a magic wand, then you, my friend, have a long way to go in opening your eyes to possibility.

I would define MMO with a much broader terminology. Massively Multiplayer Online is not short-hand for wizards and ogres fighting fairies and elves in bright and sunny dream worlds. When you begin considering the possibilties for new MMO experiences, erase from your mind any thoughts of creating the next big Everquest or World of Warcraft. These games have been done, and, though successful, they cannot and MUST not be re-done. If you can look at your own design for an MMO game and see traces of these games lingering there, you have failed to create the new and unique. Dream of worlds not anything like a dream world, imagine things not so outside of imagination as to exist only in "other" genres, such as First-Person Shooters, Action/Adventure, Real-Time and Turn-Based Strategy, Simulation, and even Puzzle games.

I challenge you to play your favorite game of a genre other than RPG and try to imagine playing the same experience on a much larger scale. See the world through the eyes of a person who would never think of dragons, but perhaps a Dragunov; one to whom a fighter would have to compete with MIGs; and the skies would not be such a dreamy, unattainable thing except to those attempting re-entry. Look beyond the fantasy, wake up from the dream world, and envision new experiences from many other game genres, just on a much larger scale.

I believe I've successfully accomplished this mode of thinking. Search for my name on the GameDev.net forums and you shall see.

EVE

Much of my desire to find an MMO game that breaks from the mold of EQ and WoW has been satiated by a game called EVE: Online. I would advise anyone wishing to design a new MMO experience to pick up this game for, at the least, the 14-day free trial. The experience is, undoubtedly, one of the best I've had in an online game.

I'll leave you to search for information on this title and form your own opinion, as I do not wish this to be a more extensive "plug" than it already is. Check out http://www.eve-online.com for more information.

--NecroSen 14:52, 22 August 2006 (EDT)

Indeed, it is much deeper. A streaming engine, a beautiful, unbroken galaxy awaits anyone deciding to become a pilot, running ENTIRELY on economy and currency. The goods and the cash get the stuff and the jobs. Player-run corporations go to war over money-making resources. Assassin organizations sign big-paying contracts from willing, not-always-roleplaying clients. The world unfolds as the players see fit, and, not surprisingly, some of the largest, hardest-impacting events are consequences or direct results of player actions.

Compared to a locked-up economy with multiple restrictions, programming such an open world must be just as difficult. One programs the fluctuating market based on buying and selling and quantity, and lets the players begin the buying and selling. It could, potentially, be easier than games where the entire economy is locked down, and every bug must be worked out to prevent such fluctuations.

71.180.144.236 19:54, 4 October 2007 (EDT)