Comments on: Thought of the Day: We have gamed through a privileged era http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/ MMOs and game design Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:09:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Bronte http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15878 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:57:18 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15878 I am not sure of Eve is a good example of this. Sure it is always easier to pit players against each other and thus creating these fantastic, dynamic situations vs. generating a ton of PvE content, but at the end of the day, these PvP conflicts, at least in Eve, take a fair toll. Ships with a good outfit cost a lot. In nullsec, setting up a base can be one of the most costly endeavors in the game, not to mention hep defend it. And in order for all these in-game elements to come together, the back-end needs to be coded specifically and extensively to support these systems. The PvP in Eve has evolved constantly, because the developers have kept introducing newer elements into the existing infrastructure to continue to spice things up.

]]> By: Killed in a Smiling Accident. » Blog Archive » Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation. http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15852 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:25:37 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15852 [...] buffings, and I do worry that it’s because I’m letting myself be carried along by the decline in co-operation which the genre seems to be experiencing. Thus it may be that the epic content –which used to [...]

]]> By: The “Virus ate my homework” roundup post http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15842 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:52:45 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15842 [...] but thought-provoking suggestion – maybe the days of strongly cooperative gameplay were the sign of a golden era: “The internet in general has been friendlier towards strongly co-operative games than [...]

]]> By: Stabs http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15824 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:26:19 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15824 If people get old enough we’ll get more time for heavy schedules. The number of people who have retired from work and who want to play MMO games will become significant within our lifetimes.

]]> By: Melponeme_k http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15823 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:00:50 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15823 The norm is independent play. I always viewed the group play in MMORPGs as the anomaly.

And just why are people running from it? Just take a look at any games forum. It is filled with “group” players lambasting solo players, calling other players lousy and various other insults.

That is all anyone needs to know when it comes to the problem of group questing. Most are happy to be able to leave those co-operative players behind, far, far, behind.

]]> By: Stabs http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15818 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:32:29 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15818 Long answer from me today:
http://stabbedup.blogspot.com/2011/08/unbearable-darkness-of-online.html

]]> By: spinks http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15808 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:16:43 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15808 I suppose there is Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 also, for non-shootery things. But they don’t really bring out the crazy emergent player organising behaviour in quite the same way.

You’re quite right about it being increasingly popular to have co-op modes in PvP games.

]]> By: boatorious http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15807 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:07:39 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15807 MMO co-op usually requires a knowledgeable, well-organized, trustworthy group with a healthy amount of free time and the right class-makeup that either 1) is exceptionally smart and capable, 2) is really patient and understanding, or 3) knows the content before it ever experiences the content.

Overcoming all these obstacles certainly makes for a satisfying experience, but then again there are ten ex-raiders for every raider. For every raider that made it there are nine that couldn’t find the time, or the discipline, or the patience, or (most likely) couldn’t find a group of 9 or 24 other people who all had the right classes, time, discipline, and patience.

Outside MMO’s, co-op is flourishing, because it removes these barriers. There are few time issues, there are few decisions (like loot or raid spots) to cause friction, there are no required tank/healer/dps roles, success is always mutually beneficial and griefing is impossible or ineffectual, there are no static groups required, and everything’s simple so a new player can drop in and instantly contribute and have fun.

This “simple co-op” is everywhere. I’m dabbling with buying a number of (non-MMO) games this year: Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3, Space Marine, Toy Soldiers: Cold War, Resistance 3, Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One, Bastion (which is already out) and Might and Magic Heroes VI. Every single one of those games has co-op (“simple” co-op) except Bastion; some of them (like Gears) not only have co-op modes but entire co-op campaigns. Currently I’m winding down a month-long obsession with Terraria, which I’ve been mostly playing with my brother and some friends.

Co-op is doing great! It’s a golden age for co-op. It’s just MMO co-op that’s broken.

]]> By: spinks http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15806 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:42:14 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15806 My feeling is that large raid-type guilds always relied on a mix of people who were very team focussed, people who were very goal focussed (where the goal required a team), and people who were very reward focussed (where the personal reward required a team.) When the goals and rewards can be achieved more easily without being in the team, you won’t be able to keep those players. Sure there will be some left who love team play, but will they all be of the standard that you require, able to play as many nights as you need, and able to make your schedule?

Good on you if you can make it work, and I don’t think the playstyle is dead yet, but I fear we’re a shrinking minority and as people get older they have less and less time for heavy schedules.

]]> By: Dril http://spinksville.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/thought-of-the-day-we-have-gamed-through-a-privileged-era/#comment-15804 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:43:33 +0000 https://spinksville.wordpress.com/?p=5732#comment-15804 I think it’s to do with how challenging/harsh the world is to the players.

If it’s so harsh that solo and self-centred play is utterly ridiculous, people will suddenly realise grouping isn’t such a horrific endeavour after all and that they *can* actually find people to group with without spending their entire evening typing in /lfg for a group (yeah, I’m getting sick of people making excuses for not grouping.)

But, in something like EVE, where you can realistically do quite well for yourself on your own (so long as you have the time) then players develop a self-centred approach.

WoW’s development is really quite paradoxical: as group content has become more and more commonplace and accessible, people have become more and more selfish.

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