| Developer Shakedown Pt.2 |
With
your host - David Moore
Last week we presented part 1 of gamebunny’s
‘Dev Shakedown’ where we politely shoved a few MMO game developers into
the hotseat and had them answer a few questions regarding the present and
future state of persistent world gaming. Here now is part 2.
This
week's developers are: Matt Firor of Mythic Entertainment (Dark
Age of Camelot), Daniel McMillan of Cosmic Origins (Frontier 1859), Julia Howe of Cyber Warrior (Rubies of Eventide), and Al
Corey of Playnet (World War II Online).
gamebunny:
"The recent
success of Star Wars Galaxies raises a few interesting questions:
Is a massively
multiplayer game ever truly ready for release to the public or will they
always be released in a slightly unfinished, fairly buggy state and how do
titles without a well known license compete in the marketplace?”
While MMORPG's are never truly finished
unlike offline or standalone Games, there is no reason for them to be
released in buggy state. Dark Age of Camelot and its expansions enjoyed the
smoothest launch ever with basically no issues. There is no real reason this
shouldn't be the way for any online game.
Licenses bring an immediate identity and characters to an MMORPG but they
also bring many restrictions. Part of the attraction of an MMORPG is the
development of your own character and traits. A good online game will give
the players as much freedom as possible to develop their characters and
their own style of play. This weakness and others in licensed games mean
that there will always be room for original games to compete.
Julia
Howe (Rubies of Eventide):
Unfortunately, its become the norm that these games are released
slightly unfinished. But the technology curve and customer
expectations are somewhat to blame. For example, a company could put out a
pristine golden bugless MMO, but if it doesn't LOOK good.. no one will buy
it.
Products without a well known license have trouble competing with these big
name brands because they are competing for the same marketing space with the
big guys. Unfortunately, most smaller titles get lost in the din.
Internet advertising has helped open up some new possibilities to get the
word out but still, the "who's who" is in the hands of well-known
magazines, big expensive conventions, and a handful of major websites.
Daniel
McMillan (Frontier 1859):
This is a good question. The MMO is evolving. The rate of
evolution is happening quickly because developers are learning about what
satisfies, and what does not.
Since massive amounts of people enter a MMO world and share
the common bugs, the collective consciousness (if you will) forms an
attitude of its own. At that point, what is hoped for is:
A). Tolerance, and quality of Support = how you treat your patrons, and then...
B).
Reward = What are the players achieving in the world of choice, and is it
worthy of their time.
It's one thing to be addictive, or time consuming, but it is entirely
another to achieve measurable results.
In the past,
if an all-in-the-box "what you see is what you get game" shipped
buggy, it would lose interest quickly. So I think that publishers and
developers who want to stay in the game, don't have any other option at this
time but to prioritize features that ship with release, and then maintain
quality of support all the way through the lifespan of the world - with
continuity of world upgrades and surprises.
Market
and economic pressures effect the release of all products whether it's
toasters or MMOGs. Each team has its own challenges and larger projects
bring larger challenges.
gamebunny:
“Can there be too many MMOs available? Does the consumer benefit
from the current and upcoming glut of choices?”
Matt
Firor (Dark Age of Camelot):
To misquote Twain, the glut of MMORPG's is greatly exaggerated. We've
heard for years about the hundreds of online games coming to the market and
it still hasn't happened.
Even though many games have been released in the last year very few have survived or have succeeded in attracting a large audience. Even if the number of games does greatly increase in the coming years we've barely tapped the full potential of the PC gaming market, only a small number of the millions who go out and buy PC games have signed up for an online game. There is still plenty of growth in the market.
Al
Corey (WWII Online):
The
industry is looking for ways to widen the market but it's becoming clear
that there may not be room for an unlimited number of MMOG offerings.
Julia
Howe (Rubies of Eventide):
I would say the more the merrier. The competition will force
MMORPG companies that are in it just to be another EQ out of the race.
Consumers will finally be able to choose games that don't treat them like
dirt and a lot of MMORPGs may have to re-think their philosophy.
The
only troubling issue this raises is accountability. More stringent griefer-proof
measures have to be put in place to prevent jerks going from game to game
just to mar the enjoyment of others. I'm not saying there needs to be a
criminal database of d00ds, but people will make their own fun if the
content isn't there. In the past, where there were only 1-3 MMOs (let alone
servers), getting exiled from your MMOG server was a big deal. But now there
are lots of other places the same person can go with little risk of
the past catching up with him or her.
Daniel
McMillan (Frontier 1859):
There can be too many too soon, and too many in a particular genre. Our
approach has been to allow the public to hammer out our concept before
finding funding. This presents the MMO developer a new model of development
process for a new era of MMOs.
In
the past, developers and publishers presumed that the public would
appreciate their "cool idea" when it hit the shelf, and proceeded
to sign the project for development. Publishers need to see more
credibility for MMO worlds before the big Kahunas slap down on the
barrel head. MMOs are too expensive and intricate in design and technology
for the old way of thinking, and a famous license will not guarantee a
hit, especially if the implementation destroys any momentum created by the
interest or love the public has for a particular concept. Only what people
can do in the world will be the factor that breaks any genre barrier. That
is what has garnered the attention for our project.
If you're building an MMO for Wall Street - you've already gone wrong. Wall Street knows nothing about MMOs.
Good business is still, and will, always be about customer satisfaction. Since there are SO MANY products of similar style - FPS, RTS, and so on - they all look alike. Boxes' get picked up, looked at, and set back down. MMOs are not as expendable as trade-back games. You never really finish an MMO until you reach a point where you hate the time sink.
People don't have unlimited time. Their time is shared with multiple media. The medium is no longer the message - it's the environment. Yet the human spirit has not changed, and is aching for some sense of extraordinary out of the ordinary - or none of this would be happening. Build the world for them. That is the gift we have been given when the door opened for virtual worlds.
We may be passing from the "Information Age" into the "Virtual Reality Age." That reality can become a powerful educational tool, as well as provide entertainment that involves people, and brings people together from every corner of the world. There has never been anything like this before in history, and it is too big for just one console system.
Don't miss 'Dev Shakedown' part 1 & part 3.
A
huge thanks to everyone for taking part! For further info on the games
listed above you can check the links below:
David
'spridal'
Site Contents ©2004 moorentertainment gamebunny icon by Matt Miller