Drawing Comparisons
by Mercurie

An important part of any computer game, whether a MMORPG or some other

sort of computer game, is its graphics. After all, a game’s graphics act as the visual representation of that particular game’s world. It is largely the graphics that will set the mood of the game and provide it with its atmosphere. As might be expected, then, many players are very critical when it comes to the graphics of any given game.

Indeed, players seem to become more and more critical as far as MMORPG graphics are concerned, with each passing year. I suspect this is due to the fact that considerable advances have been made in computer graphics since the Eighties. Those of you who played games in that decade may recall that representations of human beings in games often looked more than a bit cartoonish and simplistic. Anyone who has played the original Civilization or any other number of Sid Meyer games from the Eighties can testify to crude avatar illustrations. It should then come as no surprise, then, that this was no less true of the early MMORPGs. The early versions of Ultima Online featured graphics that were absolutely primitive by today’s standards.

Fortunately, graphics in computer games advanced just as all other aspects of computer technology did. By the late Nineties, many of the first person shooters (such as Doom) featured very sophisticated graphics, especially when compared to earlier computer games. By contrast, if one must look for a turning point in MMORPG graphics, I think it would probably be Everquest. Even then, the graphics were not up to par with the first person shooters of the day, and they certainly do not compare to today’s generation of MMORPG graphics, but at the time, Everquest’s graphics were better than anything else. They certainly put the graphics in Ultima Online to shame.

As might be expected, the graphics in MMORPGs have improved significantly since 1999. From the screenshots I have seen, both Anarchy Online and Final Fantasy XI boast better graphics than the original Everquest. And, of course, Everquest 2 was a marked improvement in terms of graphics over the original game. The imagery looks much more realistic, as do the characters, although I have one friend who has always complained about the women’s faces not being pretty enough (while she has a pretty face in real life, she wants one in the game too…).

Of course, this begs the question of what the graphics in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will be like. While I have not yet played the game (it is still in beta, after all), the screenshots seem to point to the designers taking a more realistic approach--Everquest 2 as opposed to World of Warcraft. In fact, the graphics look to me as if they could outshine any other MMORPG that has been on the market. One has to admire the detail that the graphic artists have put into the wide range of the game’s indoor and outdoor settings, and all of the avatars. I imagine most players will be very happy with it.

As noted above, Everquest 2 has fairly realistic graphics for a MMORPG. Vanguard looks as if it will too. This is not to say that all games take the more realistic approach. This is something I find a bit strange, as I have noticed over the years a distinct preference on the part of players for realistic graphics as opposed to cartoonish ones. Indeed, the number one complaint I have seen about World of Warcraft in reviews, on message boards, and within blogs has been that its graphics are far too cartoon-like. And I must admit that, from the screenshots I have seen, I find myself forced to agree. I suppose one could ask what difference this makes? After all, it is only a game. In my opinion, it probably does make substantial difference.

As I pointed out above, a game’s graphics are largely responsible for setting its mood and creating its atmosphere. In MMORPGs set in the fantasy genre, then, one would expect graphics that would seek to create the mood of the great works of fantasy: The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and so on. Cartoonish graphics simply do not create such a mood. Instead, one would think of a fantasy illustration come to life, something that might have been painted by the Brothers Hildebrandt. I can then understand the complaints about the graphics of the World of Warcraft.

That having been said, I don’t necessarily think all games should have ultra-realistic graphics. Obviously, if Warner Brothers came out with a MMORPG based on their classic cartoons, one would expect the graphics to be cartoon-like. After all, a character who looked as if he had just stepped out of a Frank Frazetta illustration would appear very much out of place beside Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd!

Ultimately, I have to wonder how far graphics will advance in the coming years. Looking at CGI in motion pictures, I have to wonder if we won’t one day see graphics that are wholly realistic. In the movie Young Sherlock Homes (made in 1985) there was the first computer animated character, a figure from a stained glass window come to life. While it looked advanced for the time, it does not look quite so impressive now. Just twenty years later, however, Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong was released, with a realistic looking giant gorilla that was completely computer generated. It makes me ponder what we will have to look forward to in graphics in MMORPGs when we reach the year 2019…