When Paul Barnett was on the No Prisoners, No Mercy show one of the topics that he talked about was parking fees.  No, not the type that you pay to rent a small space in a crowded city that could otherwise pay a mortgage at the end of the month.  The type we are talking about here are the fees for playing an MMO.

Case in point World of Warcraft (WoW)

I remember when I first approached the virtual doors to the underground city of Ironforge.  I was awestruck! It was amazing! It was three dimensional (I had just come from Ultima Online). Back in those days the highest level was 60 and the hardest dungeon was Molten Core.  Playing a paladin seemed the greatest thing since a free meal back then, and I hadn’t even heard the words, “get in the back row with the healers and buff.”  Things have changed a bit since then and now paladins (as long as they are holy or protection spec’d) are back in style.  I played WoW to the exclusion of all other games in those days.  Then came time time that a young novice (well maybe not so young) was playing WoW in the convent office when a voice came from the next room…

“Do you have room on your account for me to try the game?”

Shock of shocks! Mother Superior wanted to play World of Warcraft?  And guess what happened? This…

And what’s more I shared her enthusiasm. We ended up getting two accounts so we could both play WoW at the same time.

But then the age old problem occurs. It is something that developers and publishers of mmos alike must face – what do you do to keep players interested beyond the end game.  This is where one of Roger Eberts arguments that video games are not, and can never be art falls flat on its face…not all games can be won.  It has always been interesting to me that so many members of our ever growing mmo community consider a game that is “skill based” rather than “level based” is what will hold the game back at best, and the first nail in the coffin at worst.  When Turbine was question about this they simply said that they will deal with end game by continuing to add content (hint, hint Turbine…you will never be able to come out with content fast enough to address this issue that way).  The ever fascinating Richard Garriott once faulted WoW’s end game as simply being “a system of inventory management” (and did so, ironically, perdicting the downfall of the 800 pound Blizzard Gorilla). So what is a poor game publisher to do.  How do they avoid this…

I eventually drifted away from WoW.  A time or two my mouse button hovered over the delete character key, an attempt at closure beyond the reach of recall on my part.  As our listeners know I have always said that each time I feel like quiting, Fran tells me to lay down until the feeling goes away.  And so I continued to play my hunter, despite my beast master hunter being removed from the top of the DPS charts and plunged to the bottom.  “After all,” I told myself, “Neither I, nor anyone else can ever earn the pvp title “Bloodguard” again – that which I proudly wore as I ventured about Azeroth.  And so I set goals for myself, such as acquire a dragon mount with which to fly the now “my little stary pony” crowded skys of Northrend.  But even those goals reached an end and the though of leveling 55-68 (at which point you can go to Northrend) let alone 1-60 quite frankly sent me screaming each time I considered it.  But Fran’s tale of woe, or shall we say “like/hate”, where Wow is concerned is different…

Fran and I both love alts. The difference here is the application – Fran actually levels the alts.  In fact while my alts languish at rarely any higher than 37 she has several that are at the level cap. The situation she faces is one that no matter how valiently Blizzard trys to controll the situation, they cannot.  Namely, WoW pick up groups (pugs) seem to draw asshats like political action committees during a presidential election year (yes that means alot)  Rarely does a WoW play session pass for Fran that is not fraught with dismay (at least those that include pugs).  Yet when you question her about why she stays, she will simply tell you that she likes playing the game.  And that a classic example of a like/hate relationship with a game. Either that, or Fran is possessed by the spirit of Rob Pardo, which is hard to believe since, doubtless, Rob Pardo is actually using said spirit himself.

So what is the solution?

At least for me, the solution is somewhere within the game with which I have my own hate/like/like/hate relationship…

Much to the dismay of the fans of the “wild west” crowd in Eve Online the times are changing.  The folks at CCP are paying attention to the industrials.  You know us. We are the ones that so many call (and always with a sneer) “Carebears”.  But whilst those few of players are busily typing “nom,nom, nom carebear tears” in offical forums, the “carebears” are the players paying the bills with their fees.

However, no matter how you feel about the direction that Eve Online may or may not be taking with the expansion due out on May 18th, one thing is a certainty – CCP has solved issue of how to keep players interested in playing a game by successfully making a game with no top end.  They have proven that all those in the mmo community who feel that a skill based game can never work are wrong; no matter how loudly they shout it.

Parking Fees

In the end, there will always be players who, like me, dutifully pay their parking fees. Perhaps it is the nature of human beings. After all, as the old adage goes, “hope springs eternal.”  Even when our favorite game gets as dry as a government regulation we keep hanging on hoping things will get better.   Developers and publishers know that.  Blizzard, like many others, waves the changes in our collective faces, trickling out information on what is to come bit at a time, hoping to string us along.  The time may come, however, when the famous Blizzard “It’s done, when it’s ready” attitude will no longer suffice.

Time will tell.

(posted by The Webmaster for Julie Whitefeather)