When designing a game I've found that whatever the genre it can be boiled down to one thing: designing meaningful progress for the player. It sometimes seems that the MMO genre is too complex to break down in such a way but in general terms, the design seems to be about progression in key areas like Character, Exploration, Crafting, Combat, Travel, and Community. What do you think is a necessary part of an MMO's design? How would you design features for one if you were focused on increasing the player base and retaining them? What factors are especially important to consider in the design process?
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MMO Design Theory
50 minutes ago, cjmarsh said:the MMO genre
Since MMO means "massively multiplayer online," is that really a genre? Genre is usually based on the prevalent gameplay mechanic, is it not? MMO just means a lot of players, who are not all in the same physical geographic location. Surely there are several genres that can be played online with lots of players. Are you asking about one in particular?
54 minutes ago, cjmarsh said:Character, Exploration, Crafting, Combat, Travel, and Community.
So, specifically, MMORPG?
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2 minutes ago, Tom Sloper said:Since MMO means "massively multiplayer online," is that really a genre? Genre is usually based on the prevalent gameplay mechanic, is it not? MMO just means a lot of players, who are not all in the same physical geographic location. Surely there are several genres that can be played online with lots of players. Are you asking about one in particular?
So, specifically, MMORPG?
Yes, MMORPG. Though I meant to say MMO as in the massively multiplayer online game might not be in a traditional RPG format but I would still be interested in seeing design ideas for it.
I think one of the core design principles for a MMORPG is the gear like design. What I mean is you often have linked mechanics that overflow into each other.
KillEnemy[0] LevelUP[0] So you kill 10 enemies and gain a level KillEnemy[10] LevelUP[1] and then the cycle restarts but now you need to kill 10 more enemies to gain a level. KillEnemy[20] LevelUP[2]
A more complex system would KillEnemy[100] LevelUP[10] NewZone[1]
It reminds me of gears and I think that is why grinding is such a perfect name for it.
2 hours ago, cjmarsh said:Character, Exploration, Crafting, Combat, Travel, and Community
Everything mentioned here can be used as a gear in this system: Exploration[100 000]->Combat[10 000]->Crafting[1 000]->Character[100]->Travel[10]->Community[1](met a player after exploring for 100 000 game units).
Since we are only talking about the theory I thought this could be important.
The main draw of an MMORPG is what differentiates it from other genres:
The content is dynamic, constantly changing and "alive." By contrast, most single-player games feel frozen in time except when you get involved.
Unlike in Single-Player RPG's, you can interact with other humans. Humans are social, so this is huge.
Ideally, there is enough content that people who start playing on day 1 will never run out of fun and interesting things to do.
Plus, it's an RPG. Ideally, it stands on its own against Single-Player RPG's as far as story, character progression, world design, open-endedness, etc..
That said, as a video game, it might also have other selling points not specific to MMORPG's. (I have a friend who loves GW2 and the visuals are one of the biggest selling points for her. )
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