I’ll most likely get in trouble for this post. Lots of developers disagree and many have their eggs in this basket. But someone has to say it, might as well be me 
For the record, MMORPG refers to Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. This refers to games like Everquest and World of Warcraft. There is a long-ass list on Wikipedia: here.
First of all, I must state this: I mostly play video games to escape the real world. I entertain myself by playing video games in the same way that I would read a book or watch a movie. I find that video games provide a deeper, more interactive experience than the above mediums in several ways. And I have rarely played an online game that enhances the experience of Escaping at all.
To me, MMORPGs feel like online chatrooms with prettier graphics and sexier avatars. Sure there are a few quests and there is some leveling things but when you’re finished with those, you’re just hanging out with your friends in an online chatroom talking about your past exploits when you were doing quests.
Another common thing in MMORPGs is basically spending thousands of hours to try and make your avatar look like a Ninja. Others will refer to this as Epic Equipment or Blue Items. Really, it’s just the black colored equipment which your character can equip to look cool and badass like a Ninja. However, by the time you can finally look like a Ninja, you’re at level 50 or 60 and it is end game already, so you have no one to impress but the other chatroom buddies in your Guild.
Oh, Guild? Sorry, that’s the same thing that online chat rooms call ‘topics’ or ‘rooms’, where similar people of interest hang out and discuss a particular topic. In MMORPGs, it doesn’t change much since you’re really just be talking about level grinding and getting that Ninja equipment.
One thing the really bugs me is… the world never changes. There is no over-arching story and you never complete the game. The world is never saved. The laundry is never even finished.
Once you finish a quest by doing some NPC’s laundry, you’re feeling a bit accomplished… Two seconds later, another hero comes up to the same NPC with a laundry problem and takes up the same quest you already solved. That poor NPC. (Even worse, the NPC is asking many Heroes to do his laundry at the same time, sneaky bastard)
However, online gaming will continue to thrive and is still the future. How this applies to the design of future MMORPGs I don’t know.
I had a recent conversation with my friend, B-Dawg. And he enlightened me with:
‘I’ve realized the appeal of online games, its the feeling of being connected to other living people. Playing a console game feels dead.’
Now, I candidly disagreed with him, with my response of:
‘That’s nonsense. That’s like saying losing yourself in a good book or movie feels dead. Perhaps you simply need more opportunities in your actual life to connect with real people. Especially if your lifestyle has changed so much that you stay mostly at home to play online… you’re missing out on the opportunity to be bothered by/connected to people and also, the need to escape from them.’
His response was:
‘I disagree. Books are books. At no point have they been introduced as an online forum where you’re sharing the experience simultaneously. You know I love a good story, I just wish I could enjoy a story while being “plugged in” with other people.’
I’m not sure where he is going with this… but I forged ahead:
‘Why? So they can make really interesting comments like the lovely person sitting next to you in the movie theater? People can read a book at the same time but they will both experience it in two completely different ways. Basically, you’re saying the characters in the many games aren’t interesting or engaging enough to be as interesting as a human; I don’t think I can argue with that.’
I’ve played a lot of online games and I’ve watched many people play online games… I’ve seen the level of deep interaction there is with other players. Such as:
‘Dude, can I gets a buff?’ and ‘Need teleprt plz!’
While this is very much in the spirit of great storytelling within a Fantasy World, I somehow fail to feel the deep connection with another living soul. Even AI comment spam can come up with more interesting responses than most players I’ve encountered.
True, you do get to boss others around (which is fun, if you don’t get to it in real life), or you can be bossed around by someone else (not so fun).
When not being bossed around or engaging in leveling up or doing inane quests which accomplish nothing for the world (but I must admit, do further your goal of getting Ninja clothing), you can take a break and chat about your real life with other players. You don’t need to be logged into WoW to do that.
B-dawg thought about this for a bit, and then responded:
‘But I still like feeling I’m a part of something. Im a bit surprised at how resistant you are to the idea.’
I’m not resistant. I love the *idea* of online gaming and it brings plenty of opportunities to the table. I just don’t get the same feeling with MMORPGs. There is a Game Design flaw somewhere which doesn’t provide a fulfilling experience for me.
B-Dawg continued:
‘Online Games have expanded the experience beyond waiting for your friends to come over and play. Like, what’s Street Fighter without a human opponent?’
Ah… I get where he’s going here. But honestly, this post is already a bit long, so we’ll have to pick it up in Part 2
Photo Credit: jcmedina
Part 2 continues: here
MMORPGs Suck, And Are The Future of Gaming, Part 2
Unfortunately, Life is Not a Videogame, Experience Points Don’t Count.
Jaybot’s essential Top 10 best Videogames of all time.
Arvale Game Designs on Paper, Part 3
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Great read! I agree whole-heartedly. I think there is simply some sort of flaw in the way such games are conceptualized, but worse so in the way they are executed. There is a fatal shortage of story and purpose that simply can’t be compensated for with inane dialogue and cool ninja gear. The worlds need to be both expanded and modularized, if that makes sense, so that there isn’t that overlapping of banal “quests”. I just never really got into the WoW fascination. I’ll stick with classic RPGs… you know, the ones where I sit my lonely arse in front of my TV/Computer and, as you said, escape.
Thanks for the comments Michael!
I definitely agree with you. The game design flaws are difficult to overcome (modular world which is affected by everybody’s actions + over-arching storyline) as they seem extremely huge in scope. Without resorting to a full time story writing team constantly expanding the story (which is a cool idea), it would be difficult even to come up with fresh and new ideas in a world filled with other Hero’s constantly running into one another. The closest automated thing by far is the Storytron by Chris Crawford, found here: http://www.storytron.com/
But implementing that into an online world and handing out tasks, and then having those tasks affect the world in which the players are playing… is difficult, for now
C’mon! Anyone who’s played WoW (or seen South Park) knows the real reason for playing is to hopefully one day acquire the Sword of A Thousand Truths.
Hah! I loved that South Park episode
Mmorpgs like everquest dont even exist anymore. Besides Gw, lotro, and ddo, there hasnt been sh*t to pick from for a few years, and it seems to be getting worse. To be honest im sick of china sick of Korea, and f**k the mmorpgs now adays.
Thanks for dropping by sgt bilco
I’m not sure what China and Korea have to do with the general designs of MMORPGs. Although, I do agree that many MMORPGs are churned out by Korean developers and most of them are *really* simple in design (but some do have pretty anime art) and I think are targeted at a casual audience (if one exists).
I agree 100 percent but i dont think its good that single player masterpieces like beyond good and evil or even ico dont sell millions over millions is people being dumbed down nowadays. ico mass effect b g a e even eternal sonata is art culture, tired worn out questing ppl in wow just make you feel sick about the state of the world
Thanks for the comments, Steve!
I’ll be honest and say that Beyond Good and Evil was not my favorite. The story telling was nice, the characters were fun (if a little 2-dimensional) and the dialogue was entertaining. But the gameplay fell short about half-way through the game. So even though I wanted to continue the story, the gameplay became tedious and nonsensical enough for me to just give and find a more entertaining game. So even if a game has a great story it still needs to be backed by solid, or easy, gameplay.
I say easy, because this is how and why many casual games work today. The majority of the casual game audience are what some expert would call ’story/dream chasers’ and they care more about the story than playing tedious games which hinder it. This is why the majority of Casual games coming out these days are find hidden object or simple puzzle games with stories in-between (or casual RPG games like *cough* Arvale *cough*); quite similar to Graphic Adventure games of old.
Which is why RPGs have this fascinating dilemma. RPG gamers are divided into two groups, the story chasers (those who could care less about leveling up, but just want to survive into the next cutscene), this type rarely finds interest in MMORPGs. The second group are the uh, level-uppers; the types that want to max out all their stats to level 9999 and the story is secondary, but still enjoyable to them. These types love MMORPGs for the challenge.
And I’m pretty sure Mass Effect sold quite well, enough to warrant a sequel at least