Comments on: MMO Development Lesson #32 http://www.nerfbat.com/2008/04/15/mmo-development-lesson-32/ Game design, development, and industry commentary by MMO Game Designer Ryan Shwayder. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:20:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Steve http://www.nerfbat.com/2008/04/15/mmo-development-lesson-32/comment-page-1/#comment-75769 Steve Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:46:31 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=487#comment-75769 The most important choice for a lot of people is the choice or serries of choices that leads them to be able to contribute and to be wanted in end game content / raids. In this matter I am a big fan of enabling players to respect choices they made along the way and this includes: Gender Race Class Achievement Traits Feats Etc. There should also be some significant cost… but less than “We have too many tanks not enough healers… guess I will spend 3-6 months on an alt before I can play the end game with my friends” The most important choice for a lot of people is the choice or serries of choices that leads them to be able to contribute and to be wanted in end game content / raids.

In this matter I am a big fan of enabling players to respect choices they made along the way and this includes:

Gender
Race
Class
Achievement
Traits
Feats
Etc.

There should also be some significant cost… but less than “We have too many tanks not enough healers… guess I will spend 3-6 months on an alt before I can play the end game with my friends”

]]> By: waldo http://www.nerfbat.com/2008/04/15/mmo-development-lesson-32/comment-page-1/#comment-75757 waldo Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:27:56 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=487#comment-75757 Heh - Shalkis I had the exact opposite reaction to Eve's character creation process. I loved how I could customize my appearance, but I saw the sheer depth of the choices for race, school, family, side of the street I grew up on (I kid but you get the idea) as being ridiculous. It's like... <blockquote> <strong>Me</strong>: "I want to be an Orc!" <strong>Game</strong>: "OK. A Hill Orc, a Valley Orc, a Mountain Orc, Ocean Orc or Cave Orc?" <strong>Me</strong>: "Uhh... Cave Orc?" <strong>Game</strong>: "OK. A fissure, talus, solutional, granite, slate, erosional, man-made, rare emerged sea caves, sea caves, or sandstone Cave Orc? Each has a slight difference!" <strong>Me</strong>: "Uhh... I want to be an Orc!" </blockquote> Heh – Shalkis I had the exact opposite reaction to Eve’s character creation process. I loved how I could customize my appearance, but I saw the sheer depth of the choices for race, school, family, side of the street I grew up on (I kid but you get the idea) as being ridiculous. It’s like…

Me: “I want to be an Orc!”
Game: “OK. A Hill Orc, a Valley Orc, a Mountain Orc, Ocean Orc or Cave Orc?”
Me: “Uhh… Cave Orc?”
Game: “OK. A fissure, talus, solutional, granite, slate, erosional, man-made, rare emerged sea caves, sea caves, or sandstone Cave Orc? Each has a slight difference!”
Me: “Uhh… I want to be an Orc!”

]]> By: Ted http://www.nerfbat.com/2008/04/15/mmo-development-lesson-32/comment-page-1/#comment-75730 Ted Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:27:32 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=487#comment-75730 I agree wholeheartedly. What's worse though is when some vague blurb about the character class is revealed either in the game manual or during character creation which during gameplay turns out to be absolutely false. My favorite is any kind of character selection overview text which includes the phrase "masters of". That's almost always guaranteed to be false. I'd love to have character creation spit out a kind of report which says: Based on your choices here is the type of gameplay you can expect. It doesn't need to be exactly that blunt, but I think you get my meaning. Most recently I have been playing WoW the longest (as I think we probably all have been since it's the 800lb gorilla on the market) and one of the most frustrating things for me is how some of the classes slowly change over time... so that there's a good chance that if you have a toon you've been playing from day 1 (3? years ago) you're probably playing it totally differently than you thought you would. TR has turned out to be a huge dissapointment (aside from the truly epic feeling massive battles here and there) but it did have some good ideas... like the idea of clone credits. Oh how I wish I had a few WoW clone credits. I agree wholeheartedly. What’s worse though is when some vague blurb about the character class is revealed either in the game manual or during character creation which during gameplay turns out to be absolutely false. My favorite is any kind of character selection overview text which includes the phrase “masters of”. That’s almost always guaranteed to be false.

I’d love to have character creation spit out a kind of report which says: Based on your choices here is the type of gameplay you can expect.

It doesn’t need to be exactly that blunt, but I think you get my meaning. Most recently I have been playing WoW the longest (as I think we probably all have been since it’s the 800lb gorilla on the market) and one of the most frustrating things for me is how some of the classes slowly change over time… so that there’s a good chance that if you have a toon you’ve been playing from day 1 (3? years ago) you’re probably playing it totally differently than you thought you would.

TR has turned out to be a huge dissapointment (aside from the truly epic feeling massive battles here and there) but it did have some good ideas… like the idea of clone credits. Oh how I wish I had a few WoW clone credits.

]]> By: Shalkis http://www.nerfbat.com/2008/04/15/mmo-development-lesson-32/comment-page-1/#comment-75729 Shalkis Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:33:46 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=487#comment-75729 I liked EvE's character creation screen. While the game does have an open skill system, making the wrong choices at character creation can severely worsen that critical initial experience. Not only did the character creation screen give me a generic idea of the meaning of the choices (I.E. "pick this if you want to focus on combat"), it also showed me specific bonuses I got from each choice. In the end, I got a summary of the bonuses and could go back and tweak my choices. Lo and behold, I got just the character I wanted. I liked EvE’s character creation screen. While the game does have an open skill system, making the wrong choices at character creation can severely worsen that critical initial experience. Not only did the character creation screen give me a generic idea of the meaning of the choices (I.E. “pick this if you want to focus on combat”), it also showed me specific bonuses I got from each choice. In the end, I got a summary of the bonuses and could go back and tweak my choices. Lo and behold, I got just the character I wanted.

]]> By: JuJutsu http://www.nerfbat.com/2008/04/15/mmo-development-lesson-32/comment-page-1/#comment-75727 JuJutsu Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:23:07 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=487#comment-75727 I agree in principle. In practice I've seen the truth of 'experience may change during gameplay' in too many games. The consequences of my choices can [and probably will] change at any time. Once Nerfbats are issued there seems to be a compulsion to use them :) I agree in principle. In practice I’ve seen the truth of ‘experience may change during gameplay’ in too many games. The consequences of my choices can [and probably will] change at any time. Once Nerfbats are issued there seems to be a compulsion to use them :)

]]> By: 18Rabbit http://www.nerfbat.com/2008/04/15/mmo-development-lesson-32/comment-page-1/#comment-75725 18Rabbit Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:20:04 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=487#comment-75725 Absolutely! In fact, I know of several games where this sort of decision anxiety has actually stopped me from playing a game all together. I'd rather make the choice to stop playing than to make a permanent decision about something in a game without knowing enough about the possible outcomes to determine which is the "best" choice for me. It's related to being a min/maxer at the core but I hate not knowing what to choose. I would also say that if you cannot provide enough information to a player then you have make it so that the choice is not permanent. If I can try out something and see if I like it then I'm much less likely to actually stop playing (and paying). Absolutely! In fact, I know of several games where this sort of decision anxiety has actually stopped me from playing a game all together. I’d rather make the choice to stop playing than to make a permanent decision about something in a game without knowing enough about the possible outcomes to determine which is the “best” choice for me. It’s related to being a min/maxer at the core but I hate not knowing what to choose. I would also say that if you cannot provide enough information to a player then you have make it so that the choice is not permanent. If I can try out something and see if I like it then I’m much less likely to actually stop playing (and paying).

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