MMORPGs are popular for their leveling treadmills and gear grinds, something that ArenaNet is hoping to eliminate in Guild Wars 2. In a new developer blog, Lead Content Developer Colin Johanson discusses ArenaNet’s approach to designing Guild Wars 2 for fun without the kind of systems that many MMORPGs adopt to drag out subscription times by designing on a principle of fun vs time investment and utilizing player feedback to improve the fun factor.

When your game systems are designed to achieve the prime motivation of a subscription-based MMO, you run the risk of sacrificing quality to get as much content in as possible to fill that time. You get leveling systems that take insane amounts of grind to gain a level, loot drop systems that require doing a dungeon with a tiny chance the item you want can drop at the end, raid systems that need huge numbers of people online simultaneously to organize and play, thousands of wash/repeat item-collection or kill-mob quests or dailies with flavor text support, the best stat gear requiring crazy amounts of time to earn, etc.

But what if your business model isn’t based on a subscription? What if your content-design motivations aren’t driven by the need to create mechanics that keep people playing as long as possible? When looking at content design for Guild Wars 2, we’ve tried to ask the question: What if the development of the game was based on…wait for it…fun?

Find out more about the team’s approach to designing for fun and why your feedback matters in the Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekends in Johanson’s full blog.

Source: Is it Fun? Colin Johanson on How ArenaNet Measures Success


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Guild Wars 2 Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 14, 2016

About The Author

Stacy "Martuk" Jones was a long-time news editor and community manager for many of our previous game sites, such as Age of Conan. Stacy has since moved on to become a masked super hero, battling demons in another dimension.

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