[MUD-Dev] Focus vs. Scope (WAS: Homogeneity and choice)

[P J]

--- Michael Sellers <mike at onlinealchemy.com> wrote:
> Cruise wrote:

>> Both WoW and CoH seem to have chosen to focus on one particular
>> play style and make sure that is as polished as possible, in
>> contrast to the "do anything" style games of earlier generations
>> of MMORPG's. Guild Wars has distilled the core combat even
>> further.  of reductionism?

> This may then be a local minimum of sorts, an extreme end to the
> pendulum's swing: given all that we now *know* works (given WoW's
> subscriber numbers), a good candidate for success is to go where
> they're not: broaden the world, broaden the audience.  Mike
> Sellers

I'm gonna throw my .02 in here, fwiw.

I guess 'success' would be my first question.  What is a successful
MMO? WoW absolutely has broken every sales record - but is that the
yardstick for MMOs? Do you measure success in box sales or longterm
retention and recurring subscriptions on the MMO model - or both?
Where is the dividing line if you sell a million boxes - what
percentage of those sales do you have to retain, and for how long -
and how many new sales do you have to attract to measure success? I
honestly have no idea of this answer - but my gut tells me that
longterm retention > box sales.

I play Wow - and I was in Beta. My impressions haven't changed since
then (even with the content that was added for release), and my
concerns remain the same.

I look at a MMO as having two parts.  The game (mechanics -
technical aspects like leveling, tradeskills, etc), and the world
(the persistent 'stickiness' - the reasons folks keep playing for
years).

Blizzard did an amazing job with the game aspects. WoW is fun. It's
funny. It's fast-paced with gratification in the
leveling/advancement process around every corner. As a 'game' I'd
give it a very solid A. My one hope as a player is that it will
prove you don't have to be punitive to a player's time for the sake
of longevity (see EQ). Artificial time-sinks for the sake of
stretching out the game irritate players and they are very
transparent. The Achilles heal is - that is the mechanism chosen by
MMOs traditionally to 'stretch' content - and that is where WoW is
likely to have problems (indeed, already is having problems after
just 3 months).

On the world side - the 'stickiness' factor unfortunately hovers
around a D. While players are screaming for new high-end content -
and I'm sure there will be some, that's only a temporary patch to
the problem. There is simply no way any company, no matter how good,
can keep ahead of the consumption of content curve in a MMO. That
again is looking solely to the 'game' for retention. Games end -
games can be 'won' - MMOs cannot, which is why it's not uncommon to
find MMO players playing the same game for years. Nearly every
'game' mechanic has a world component.

As an example - gear. While WoW does have 'decay' - it's not really
decay - it's simply having to repair.  While this is a minor
gold-sink - it does nothing to further goals of replacement, or to
stimulate need of tradeskills. Decay is a very delicate matter - too
much and it becomes punitive - too little and you might as well not
have done it in the first place - but eventually having to replace
items does indeed produce recurring goals and it does stimulate
market share for tradesmen (which is ongoing purpose for that niche
of player).

PvP while it's a great ongoing goal isn't for everyone. Time will
tell (once the system is really in) if that's enough to keep folks
around.  With the user base WoW attracted it may be - but I wouldn't
bet the farm that alone is enough.

Faction - there is a faction based system but it seems broken at the
high-end - and will only mean something if it actually DOES
something eventually.

Fluff factor - WoW actually has done more in this area than most
MMOs - which is great, but it really wasn't done in a manner that
continues goals. I will give them a lot of credit for recognizing
the importance of 'fluff' - i.e., things that are fun just for the
sake of being fun vs. power, much more could be done in this area in
continuing goals with their current setup.

The 'other' - the other can be pets, houses, guilds, NPCs, subgames,
anything in the world outside of one's personal character that a
player can have input into to improve, buildup - or maintain.
Probably the best strategy for recurring longterm goals that can
have many faces. Unfortunately at the moment, WoW has very little
'other' factor.

Most importantly - 'stickiness' requires a core user-base that is
persistent. While churn is normal and to be expected, if your core
user-base churns so often a sense of community doesn't form - I
suspect your overall churn will be far higher.  There won't be the
normal hesitation to move on if your friends already have.

The game is what folks do while they are in the world, the world is
community and ongoing purpose, the 'why' that gives reason to
continue to play past the mechanics.

Back in beta, I heard WoW called - the best single-player game I've
ever played with other people.  That pretty much sums it up in a
nutshell. While there are things you need other people for - and I
totally disagree that you have to FORCE grouping - it addresses the
fact that there is little beyond game mechanic goals to retain
users. You CAN 'win' WoW - or at least it feels that way.  Great as
a game - IMHO longterm death for a MMO.

BTW - most other MMOs are also guilty of this very thing - however
the game process is so long and tedious it takes a LOT longer to get
to that point. I guess we'll see if WoW puts this problem in the
spotlight to the point it MUST be fixed.  If that happens - the
genre as a whole will be eternally in their debt. If nothing else -
I suspect users won't be nearly as tolerant in the future of
artifical, endless, useless, timesinks.

I guess the good news is - the world part is infinitely 'fixable'.

So, what is the yardstick that is used to determine success?
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