Tipping the Scales

Tipping the Scales

One of the aspects of gaming that Fran Kosac, the co-host of the No Prisoners, No Mercy (NPNM) show, and I discussed with Doctor Bartle yesterday was the reason that he and Mr. Roy Trubshaw created MUD (the original text based multi-user game).  Doctor Bartle has said that he created the game so people would have a place to be themselves. There is an interesting interview where he speaks on the subject available here:

I would never be presumptuous enough to speak for Doctor Bartle. What I will say, is that no matter what one may think of his original intent, if indeed it was to create a place where someone can be themselves (and that includes those people who are just simply jerks) that not all game developers have followed in this line of reasoning.

There are some developers who have busied themselves telling the participants of their game world not to “be themselves” but rather “be who we want you to be.”  We saw this downfall with Warhammer Online (WAR) when Mark Jacobs and his staff saw the main focus of WAR as realm vs. realm. Unfortunately, no mater how Mythic Entertainment (or whatever they are calling themselves these days now that they have been reorganized by Electronic Arts) saw it, the players didn’t see it that way.  No matter how Mythic tried to create incentives to cajole players out into realm vs. realm warfare, for most of the game they chose to stay in battlegrounds (scenarios as they are called in War).  Just as with the proverbial horse, you can lead a gamer to water but you can’t shove the water down the gamers throat.

Yet I still see games worlds hit the shelves where the developers feel the need to “educate” the gamers on how to properly play their game.  My reply to which is this:

“Thank you, I already have been playing games on computers since they were programmed with punch cards.  I already have two master’s degrees and a 126 IQ and I am doing just fine thanks. I know what I want out of a game.”

But even if I were dumber than a box of hammers and  couldn’t put 2 plus 2 together without it equaling  a multiple of 3 doesn’t mean the developer has the right to “educate” me.  The whole point of marketing (and this is a lesson I learned in Grad school from the head of marketing of a Fortune 500 company) is MAKING YOUR PRODUCT MEET THE NEEDS OF THE CONSUMER.

Not the other way around.

Say it with me…make your game meet the needs of the gamer, not try and bend the gamer toward how you want them to play your game.  

Several cases in point: It is popular these days to slam World of Warcraft (WoW) and their incentive for playing the game. What is it? It’s the same game mechanic that Richard Garriott once called a “system of inventory management” and that is keeping players interested in better and better armor.  It is done several ways, including creating situations where players need the armor from one “dungeon” to effectively conquer the next. However it is done, no matter how anyone feels about it, the simple fact of the matter is IT WORKS. Tabula Rasa has gone the way of all things; I wished it hadn’t. ( I miss “Lord British” - if you are out there we want to interview you). Yet WoW still has more players than Switzerland  has citizens.

Next case in point:

Games that try to “encourage” team play to the point where it is shoved down players throats.  Two games immediately come to mind.  The first is Lord of the Rings Online by Turbine before they saw (at least to some degree) the error of their ways and allowed the game to have a solo friendly path.  The second game, sadly, is my new favorite game Aion Online.  If you venture into the lands of the Tower of Eternity you will reach a point at about level 16 or 17 where NCSoft has created what is effectively an impasse for the solo player.  It is as if the developers are trying to cram team play down the players throat with a funnel and a hydraulic ram.  I reached that point and felt as if NCSoft was there in the background cackling gleefully saying:

“Be part of the group or CHOKE ON IT YOU BITCH.”

It is at this point that the emails will no doubt start calling me anti-social (it wouldn’t be the first time).  The simple fact of the matter is that I work a 10 and a half hour day and often keep odd hours.  Even if that were not the case I enjoy the challenge of being the “Rambo-esque” scout who faces impossible odds and comes out on top.   I also don’t mind hurling myself against the wall for a bit, but even Rambo would have heard the words of W.C. Fields at some point:

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again: Then quit – don’t be a damned fool about it.”

Now somewhere in the back of our virtual room here, someone will raise a hand and say “but if all that is the case, you need to be taught how to be a team player for pvp.”  My reply (in my best Yoda voice) is simply, “not so my padawan learner. PvE and PvP are two entirely different animals. You can be the best raider in gaming and still get your ass handed to you (and that is only after the opposing player has worn it around as a hat for awhile). 

Be a team player?

Sure…the United States Army did a fine job of that.  And I am, before anything else, a nun and I have no problems whatsoever following orders.  But not everyone enjoys raiding (I don’t). Given the option, I would rather level through pvp. Actually, given the option I would get rid of classes and levels altogether.

So in the end, the message is this:   Make the game suit the needs of the player, even if that means putting more than one path toward what the ultimate goal of the game – whether that goal is pvp or pve orientated.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather