What keeps us coming back for more?

Endgame

What is “endgame”? Is it simply a concept introduced by developers of games with a linear design? Is it an attempt to “squeeze blood out of a turnip” as grandmother used to say? When Giskard, known as “The guild master” to those who are acquainted with “The Engineering Guild” web site, was on a recent show he said that a good game was like a good movie – you just don’t want it to end.   But what is it that keeps us coming back after we have finished all the quests? Why do we keep hanging around game worlds (as opposed to social/virtual worlds)? Why not simply treat an mmo like a single player game? Why don’t we simply finish the game and move on to the next mmo?

On the face of it, the answer from the developer’s standpoint is easy…they want us to keep handing them our money.  So much so, that many “western” developers have jumped on the “free to play” bandwagon and are willing to say “hey, come play my game for free and when you have a few extra dollars throw it my way.”Developers and producers of games try several methods to produce an “endgame” that will keep the dollars flowing. There has been many an interesting approach, not the least of which is simply to deny the reason for one.  In most cases this simply doesn’t work.  When Lord of the Rings Online came out, the good folks at Turbine tried this tactic.  They claimed they would produce so much content so fast that the players would never run out.  I must admit that they have come pretty close to accomplishing this, but they have missed the mark.  The only game that, at least so far, seems to have accomplished this is that same game that seems to elude any attempts to “pigeonhole” or otherwise classify it – Eve Online. This is, in fact, one of the discussions we will have with Keen from Keen and Graevs gaming blog on the next No Prisoners, No Mercy show.  With Eve Online it is truly possible for players to leave a mark on the game.  It is one of the few games where players can say “What end game?” or “What level cap?” and have it come even close to resembling the truth.

The usual tactic is to appeal to a player’s greedy nature, and as I have said all along, “Never underestimate the incredible drawing power of greed.” Richard Garriott once described World of Warcraft (WoW) as a “system of inventory management.”  This may be, but it works – as we have all seen.  Whether it is in a raid, or on a battlefield, the main purpose is to get bigger and better armor, and Activision/Blizzard is always willing to feed this particular monkey that is on many a player’s back.  There is also a “subsector” of the greed approach to endgame that encourages the “he who dies with the most toys wins.”  There are those, even in sandbox type games like Ultima Online, who dedicate themselves to being virtual “J. Paul Getty’s”.

There are an increasing number of games where the “endgame” takes place on a battlefield. There may be some of my readers who would say the whole point is winning.  That might be true in the short run, but over the “long haul” no matter who wins or loses in a battleground it usually doesn’t matter – World of Warcraft is the perfect example of this. Now this wasn’t always the case. There was a time in WoW when “honor” was not currency with which armor is purchased. Honor, at one point, was something that you earned and was measured against all the other players on your server; and with it you attained and kept a particular rank.  Yes, those were the days. Without honor used to attain rank if you want it to mean something…well we have come back to Eve Online again haven’t we?

There are those among us, myself included, who will pvp simply for pvp’s sake.  Even this, however, has its limits.   Mythic Entertainment tried to create arbitrary incentives for players to battle one another.  You can try and keep one side in an antagonistic relationship with the other. You can try and instill some sort of arbitrary “pride” in not having the other side take over your city if you like. But in the end, even in Warhammer Online, none of the “end game” objectives have anything but a transitory affect on the game.

When it comes to pvp there is one drawing factor that was discussed in Aion Online in our “Legion” a few days ago.  It was agreed that if the combat itself was done well enough, when it comes to the artistic style of the animation and the quality of the sound, that this alone can have tremendous drawing power.  But as we have seen, a pvp endgame for the sake of pvp itself hasn’t always been a long term drawing card. And that, sad to say, is what many investors seem to be looking at these days: not “does it pay the bills?” but “how does the bottom line compare to the rest of the market?” You can’t entirely blame them though, can you? After all, a game is a business.

Happily, some developers are beginning to turn away from the “ten more levels” mindset toward game development and lean more toward providing more content instead.  One facet of this, that is much easier to produce than a full expansion, are repeatable quests.  Now I will be the first to admit that “dailies” as they are called in WoW drive some players stark staring bonkers.  Still, quests are easy to create when you don’t have to create a whole new virtual landscape in which to place them.  An interesting new twist to game design is what Cryptic is doing with Champions Online.  The ability to create my nemesis alone is reason for me to stay in the game.  Many is the game that has an end game instance with a boss that must be beaten.  How many games have the ability for you to design your own personal end game “boss” that is not only out to get you but will do so when you least expect it.

In the end we each have our own “carrot and stick that appeals to us and that is the most difficult task of all for developers of mmo games: trying to find that carrot that will appeal to the most gamers.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

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