03-18-2010, 09:26 AM
Interesting, but I think it's attributing a lot of well-thought-out malice to concepts that at least initially were nothing but very lazy game design and coding.
The current pay-to-play MMORPGs are based on old MUDs -- multi-user dungeons. They were free to play and apparently coded and run by bored college students. They wanted a lot of gameplay but they didn't want to spent a lot of time coding unique new content. Consequently the games were mostly what we would call a "grind".
It wasn't a money making scheme or a nefarious plan to get people addicted, it was just the easiest way to add lots of game time: by creating a lengthy leveling system with progression in stats rather than any sort of real content. Creating real content is hard and as a college student working on a game part time for fun, spending time on content is not what you want to do. Creating a sword with 2% higher stats and a monster with 2% higher stats to fight, using that sword -- that's easy. And you can keep doing it over and over.
It's not really addicting, but if you're a poor college student stuck in the dorms on a limited budget, it's better than TV or the library.
EQ was basically a 3-D transformation of the MUD. And every MMORPG since has basically been doing the same thing.
I actually don't think this plan is working that well. Whatever effect is has on hooking gamers early on, it wears out after a few years. None of us lasted long in Aion or Age of Conan because ultimately they were the same game we'd already gotten tired of. We'll still try new stuff for the novelty but once we get down to the core "grindey" game play we tend to get bored and quit.
I feel like the MMORPG industry is not healthy because it's stuck on these old, lazy, college dorm room game design models and the players eventually tire of it -- not just tired of a particular MMORPG, but of the whole industry, because so many of them are so similar.
So my conclusion is the opposite of the author's: he thinks that some years from now MMORPGs will just be that much better at these addicting elements. My opinion is that some years from now MMORPGs will either be dead or largely re-invented, because the current model only appeals to new gamers. Old gamers get burnt out on the concept and go fishing for other types of games.
The current pay-to-play MMORPGs are based on old MUDs -- multi-user dungeons. They were free to play and apparently coded and run by bored college students. They wanted a lot of gameplay but they didn't want to spent a lot of time coding unique new content. Consequently the games were mostly what we would call a "grind".
It wasn't a money making scheme or a nefarious plan to get people addicted, it was just the easiest way to add lots of game time: by creating a lengthy leveling system with progression in stats rather than any sort of real content. Creating real content is hard and as a college student working on a game part time for fun, spending time on content is not what you want to do. Creating a sword with 2% higher stats and a monster with 2% higher stats to fight, using that sword -- that's easy. And you can keep doing it over and over.
It's not really addicting, but if you're a poor college student stuck in the dorms on a limited budget, it's better than TV or the library.
EQ was basically a 3-D transformation of the MUD. And every MMORPG since has basically been doing the same thing.
I actually don't think this plan is working that well. Whatever effect is has on hooking gamers early on, it wears out after a few years. None of us lasted long in Aion or Age of Conan because ultimately they were the same game we'd already gotten tired of. We'll still try new stuff for the novelty but once we get down to the core "grindey" game play we tend to get bored and quit.
I feel like the MMORPG industry is not healthy because it's stuck on these old, lazy, college dorm room game design models and the players eventually tire of it -- not just tired of a particular MMORPG, but of the whole industry, because so many of them are so similar.
So my conclusion is the opposite of the author's: he thinks that some years from now MMORPGs will just be that much better at these addicting elements. My opinion is that some years from now MMORPGs will either be dead or largely re-invented, because the current model only appeals to new gamers. Old gamers get burnt out on the concept and go fishing for other types of games.