Azaroth

One wonders certain things while endlessly grinding flying green whelplings in a zone called “The Swamp of Sorrows”.

In a way, it actually brings me back to a post I read on Brian Green’s blog a couple of weeks ago. The post itself was about alternatives to itemization, and I’ve intended to comment in my own unique way for some time.

My third foray into the world of Warcraft has inspired me to ask some questions and make some comments here on my blog.

First of all, a little bit of background. While this is my third attempt at conquering the world of Azeroth with an iron fist, I’ve never been much of a raider. Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed hitting up UBRS with my first level 60, and did quite a bit of Molten Core and Black Wing Lair raiding with my second. Luckily, both of these classes I got down with, and felt - at least partially, and for a while - satisfied with spending my time gearing them in then somewhat powerful gear. Regardless of the fact that it ate up way too much time and my girlfriend detested me for it. I LIKED tanking on my Warrior, and I was god damn good at it. I LIKED owning faces with my Warlock, and I was god damn good at it. Had I rolled a Pally earlier in my career hoping for some sort of Holy Warrior Pew Pew Roxor (or even average) class, I would have experienced the aura of Righteous Burnout much sooner.

What is Righteous Burnout? Well, to me, it’s a term that encapsulates all of those feelings of anger, frustration, helplessness when an MMO player realizes that his favourite classic Diku-style MMO has lead him on a neverending treadmill that, by its very nature, causes all he has worked for to become completely obsolete sooner rather than later unless he continues wasting his life in the persuit of keeping up with the Joneses in a video game. Eventually, it happens for everyone who has a functioning left brain hemisphere. They just eventually, and rightfully, end up rather pissed off and disgusted at the complete pointlessness of what they’ve been doing.

Sometimes, it’s dramatic. For instance, I absolutely cannot imagine the severe burnout that those who pursued the highest rewards of the old WoW PvP system experienced. I believe that universally, almost all of them quit upon achieving Grand Marshall status.

And frankly, I’m surprised the politicians didn’t get ahold of it and go to town. The system literally forced a player to spend more and more time sitting at a computer, bumping them down and making them restart at an earlier progress point if they took any time off. People did this for 20 hours a day, six months at a time. My friends, we’re talking Serious Righteous Burnout at the end of this process no matter how much of a catass you are. And you’d really have to be to even consider starting on such a quest.

This is bad game design. Obvious in hindsight, but I couldn’t stop screaming to everyone I knew the second they proposed this. Are the developers insane?

No.

They are simply stuck in a twisted paradigm that evelopes nearly all classic MMO designers.

These games survive on a kind monthly donation of around $15 a month from each player. To maximize profit and thus keep all involved involved happily, certain mechanisms are introduced to the game which are aimed toward keeping players, and the duh is inserted here for dramatic effect and nothing else, playing.

Over time, these designs have become more and more twisted. See the above example of the original WoW PvP system for one, but in general, this means a lot of things about the design in general, and especially about itemization.

See, all of the gear I raided for diligently three to four times a week and inevitably terribly pissing my girlfriend off the same number of times per week somehow is next to worthless this time I log in. Nevermind that it was next to worthless back then in the face of someone who raided more than me and was in a guild doing AQ40. That’s an immediate effect that blurs the treadmill. Most players don’t quite realize they’re on it at that point. The carrot looks an even brighter shade of orange each time some rogue in full one-dungeon-ahead-of-you gear jumps your bones and force feeds you your own lower intestine.

Only after an expansion has been out a while and you log in to see level 70 characters in gear from dungeons roughly five or six ahead of where you last were does a stark realization set in for some. Wait the fuck a second, says the hard-earned Tier 1 outfitted Warlock - these assholes are in Tier 6. Hell, it was hard enough fighting people in Tier 2, and damn near impossible when they started getting Tier 3. But ten levels and Tier 6?

And there’s a new expansion in the works? Am I interested in playing a game that widens the gap between myself and other players by infintesimal margins just because I dared to do something else with my life for a while?

No, you’re not. Burnout sets in. Quickly this time. You consider beginning to raid again on your favourite character. You slap yourself. You resign to plodding along on a new character with your best friend or significant other, enjoying the things you once enjoyed for the first time all over again. Because they’re enjoyable. But you realize there’s no future in it. By the time THIS character is level 60, everyone else will be level EIGHTY. By the time this character can begin to raid, everyone will be in Tier Fourteen.

The gap widens more. And, in their own ways, more and more players begin to realize it. This game has its own merry way of cannibalizing its player population. By the very design intended to keep them, the majority of players will eventually become disenfranchised and move on to a new game - or simply quit playing MMOs and spread the word that they’re a “huge waste of time”. A perception I forsee being shared widely by many once-potential customers in the future.

All of this is fine, but what can be done? Even if it works for a while, are there any alternatives?

If a game focuses on a more highly casual style of play, yet still remains an MMORPG in the classic sense of the term, do the players stick around for as long as they would have would they have been snared with the addiciton-driven design style? Or do they last longer because of a(n attempted, at least) lack of burnout eventuality?

Were a player able to not only play solo, but in small groups, and achieve rewards of the highest order in the game without hardcore time investments - does the same attachment form with the character and their accomplishments? What about if the items are simply purchased from a website? Does the integrity of the achievement remain? If not, is this acceptable to Western MMORPG gamers?

Obviously, in smaller and different niche games such as, say, Barbie World and Puzzle Pirates (apologies to Daniel James for pushing these two together, just firing out examples here) the purchasing of items for real life cash is acceptable. The game design encourages this in many ways. Others are not punished, because there is no mechanic for grinding out the process to receive The Sword of Kewl as well as an option to simply buy it for $19.95. In fact, the power to lord over other players with your purchased items is generally absent. Whereas in a more classic MMORPG, the ability to purchase items would cause problems.

So what if we douched the entire angle? At least a mild douche, no chemicals or anything. Just a fresh scent and some water.

Regardless fo what model for player payment was used, consider that the design for advancement and achievement follows the lead of more casual games, in a classic MMORPG sense. What if advancement had a ceiling that was relatively low, but achievement continued in other ways that failed to give the ability to lord over other players with less time on their hands? Examples of such a thing being the customization of powers and looks, interesting items for collecting, and making ones mark on the world in ways such as player housing systems. Consider a game such as World of Warcraft with a level 60 cap, yet a bunch of endgame raiding dungeons that were relatively similar in gear output power and difficulty. However, the gains in these dungeons revolved heavily around interesting customization of the player character, his spells abilities, unique crafting recipies, rare and flashy mounts, pets, etc. Additionally, the inclusion of a player housing system and a political system give players something unique to do without giving the players interested in achievement such a large power advantage over others that 80% of the population of the game eventually comes to realize that everything they’re doing is pointless.

Ultimately a lot of things can be done, of course, to keep a classic MMO classic. Swords and sorcery, leveling up, pew pew, etc. Not all of these things MUST revolve around treadmills, grinds, and time=power equations that only widen the gap between catasses and regular people over time, causing the regular people to throw up their hands in disgust. These games don’t HAVE to leave a player with an unrelenting sense of embarassment with themselves for spending time running the treadmill only to be slapped in the face with the realization of Righteous Burnout.

Would a game more like this have all of the initial success of a game banking its profitability on an addiction/treadmill design? No, probably not. When players aren’t tricked into endlessly chasing carrots and are simply given a world to have fun in where they can come and go as they please, obviously there is less FORCING them to be there. However, I’d argue that because of this, you end up with a game that eventually has a stronger longevity. What is ultimately more profitable is something for the beancounters to figure out, but it’s a valid question to ask and something someone like myself may want to know. However, I know what would be more fun for ME, and I know that I couldn’t personally morally defend creating a game that hooked people all around the world into an addiction for profit. So obviously, were I to create a game in the future, you can bet the farm on a lot of customization, social endgames, and two man dungeons.

And I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that’d be fun.