by Garrett Fuller



It’s all about the loot! How many times have you heard that
phrase while playing online games? If you are playing style="font-style: italic;">World of
Warcraft, probably a lot. style="font-style: italic;">Everquest 2 even
more so. Most online games
use gear or loot to drive a player’s interest. There has to
be a magic sword or super cool magic helmet with your name on it
waiting for you after you defeat the end boss monster of a massive
dungeon.

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In style="font-style: italic;">World of Warcraft,
much of the end-game content is based off of loot.

However, does this always have to be the case? Is loot the only driving
factor we can put out there as developers and designers to push player
motivation? After you take a look at the general MMOG, perhaps there
are some alternatives that need to be mentioned.



Everyone wants the best gear. Blizzard has made a habit of driving
players through raids and quests to get the top gear in the game. The
main issue is that players who strut around in their epic armor are
almost invincible compared to players who have crafted their own suit
and weapons. Now I know with recent patches Warcraft has balanced the
loot a little more. Still, in the beginning if you did not raid, you
did not stand a chance in PvP against someone who had. It was that
simple. Skill was taken out of the equation completely and good players
were left with raiding endless nights just so they could stand a chance
against those who had the good loot.



In MMOGs, end game is all about balance and competition between
players, especially if the developers decide to have PvP in the game.
If they do not and just want players to continue to grind or raid for
better weapons and armor, then I think they are selling their players
short. The endless gameplay for better loot seems like a let down in an
online world. I understand that players want to show off their
achievements, but asking them to drive through endless raid content
just to get some better items seems like a lot to desire.



Customization of items is critical in any game. Games in development
like SPORE
prove that extreme player customization is in the future.
With crafting as such a high priority among MMOG players, why not truly
give players a way to craft armor and weapons? If players could design
their own axe or sword based off of different options, it would
personalize the games a lot more. If you can name your character, you
should also be able to name your weapon. Instead of hosting a huge
database of weapons, why not make a smaller database of items with more
variables? This would give crafters a chance to really create their own
designs and then grant them a particular name.

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Throughout your
entire gaming career in WoW, you'll amass a treasure trove of items.

After this has been achieved, when you enter the online world, you will
enter more as an individual and less as another player in the same epic
armor that everyone else is wearing. Developers can talk about time and
money all they want, the real obligation is to give something to the
players that will make their game memorable to them. Why not allow the
players to name their sword and even perhaps pass it down to another
player? If customization elements begin to see more of the light of day
in MMOGs, players would have a more individual interest in games. It
wouldn't  just be about the loot they can get, but the loot
they can create to make them an individual in a much more widespread
world.



Equaling out loot in the end game is also very important. Putting
something like damage control on weapons is very important. For
example, all level 50 weapons do ten damage to an opponent. This seems
to work out equally. The real difference in magic items should come in
the weapon’s ability to boost the player, not in the damage
it does. If you create a damage cap on weapons and items at the top
level then you create that equal playing field among players which in
turn allows them to compete even more. How many of you have run into
players who are decked out in such high ability gear that you just give
up the fight? Well, what if you stood a chance? Would you stay in the
fight?



Overall I think loot and gear are essential to player development in
any game. The best thing for developers to do in an online game is to
give players a way to stand out individually while keeping them on an
equal playing field when they have to slug it out with each other.
Let’s hope the future will bring more customization and less
overpowered weapons to the forefront. For now, keep up on those raids.