Monday, April 8, 2013

"If I do poorly, it's the game's fault..."

The above quote is probably the faulty ideal of modern game design, from pen-and-paper games to MMOs. Today's players are being trained to blame the game first for a lousy experience, and designers are encouraging that with 'no-lose' gameplay. Let's rewind a little bit, and see how this came about.

George wanted to boot up his old Everquest account, and see how the game has changed. Thankfully, it hasn't changed terribly much over the years, and that is its appeal. At high levels, the game is hard and unforgiving. If you don't spent XPs to develop your character at high levels, you will suck, and the monsters will use you as a dishrag to wipe the zone with. The game doesn't stop you from leveling past certain points, but if you don't put in the required time to fully develop your "alternate abilities" at certain level break points (55, 60, 63, 65, etc), take it from me, you character will suck. Monsters will out-dps you, you won't be able to enjoy the high stats of good gear, and you will be hindered as you level further with none of the cool high-level powers and abilities.

In Everquest, if you do poorly, it is your fault. The game doesn't hand-hold, you have to ask questions of the community, you have to research character builds and zones, and you need to do your homework in order to do well. It has gotten a little easier over the years, but the core concept of the game still remains. I think the statement "If I do poorly, it's my fault" is the defining belief of a hard-core, old-school gamer - we believe this, and we seek games out that give us that experience. The more unforgiving, the more arcane knowledge needed to do well, the more learning and perfecting technique needed - the better. You see it with some online shooters, and other games where mastering the game (without cheats) leads to success. There has to be a skill set you need to earn the hard way, and this separates the good players from the bad. D&D3 used to call it system mastery, and it still applies today.

Contrast this against games like Farmville, most of the newer content for the World of Warcraft MMO, or any other modern MMO where if you show up and do anything, you will succeed. If there is a challenge point in the game where only 10% of the people playing it can get past - that is seen as a bug or game defect, and the community complains until it is eliminated. If you do bad, it is often seen as the 'game's fault' first. This theory is the dominant game design theory in most new games, they handhold, they make it easy to level, and any sort of challenge is weeded out by complaints from the community.

In old-school games, these challenge points are what separates the bad players from the good. You get a series of these challenges, be they strategies, dungeons, learning your class in different situations, power selection and use, and any other activity where you need to learn and apply a skill set - and you get a natural filtering process. This creates a system where less-skilled players fall out and never get past certain points, and great players learn and adapt. Yes, this is an article on creating an elite group of players, with a real cost to get there. You won't be able to buy your way to the top, nor will you be able to grind your way up there with time - only skill will get you there.

I like to have my butt kicked, and have to learn a new set of rules every once and a while - even within the same game. I like not having things told to me, and having to figure them out or ask others. I like a game that creates tough un-winnable situations, and the only way through them is to adapt and excel at the limited set of abilities you are given. I like games that reward the time put into them, and that don't have easy ways to win, or ways to buy your way to the top. I like being that 'uber player' and I like games that make it next to impossible to get there.

If I am going to spend my time in your game to be the best at it, the highest measure of respect a game designer can give to me is to make it hard on everyone to be the best. Like in life, we can't all be the gold-medal snowboarder or star basketball player - but we can be that in MMOs. If you make it easy for everyone to be a 85th level Michael Jordan, no one will ever be the best or be special. You have just robbed me of the respect and awe of others, and frankly, I am less interested in your game. I will always play 'screw around' games, but games that I am serious about require a serious effort to them to succeed at.

Challenges where players quit and fall off are good. Not everyone can be the best. And if I do poorly, I want it to be my fault.

No comments:

Post a Comment