Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

For awhile, I actually maintained a relatively high place in the overall progression for EQ2, ranked as the 16th best Paladin on my server in the very beginning weeks of the game. Although real life eventually kicked me until I dropped out of my position, the idea of being a real leader on my server was a phenomenal feeling. My kills and loot had purpose. Suddenly you're the most desired player out there simply because you are that much better than every other player of your class.

Remarkably, the leaderboard concept seems to be an off-and-on sort of idea for developers. Although Warhammer Online implemented them for their PvP purposes and Lord of the Rings Online has dozens of achievements for players to earn, I don't know if any game has implemented leaderboards to the degree that EverQuest II did. Remarkably, even World of Warcraft has really jumped on the leaderboard bandwagon, even with all of their methods for tracking player data beyond simply PvP statistics.

Jumpgate Evolution should have some awesome leaderboards.

One upcoming game that I know will include a variety of leaderboards (and that I just previewed here at Ten Ton Hammer) is Jumpgate Evolution. In a space combat MMO, it would seem almost ridiculous not to be accurately tallying every piece of information that a developer could pull out of the database. Capital ship kills, player kills, PvE kills, wealth, loot, items crafted, resources mined, scenarios won....all of these statistics should be tracked and easily accessible for the players on leaderboards and in their own character UI as well. Due to the short amount of time I spent with Jumpgate Evolution, I wasn't able to discern what kind of statistics are kept and tracked by the developers, but I can only imagine that their will be ample ways to pull up data for your character.

In fact, the original Jumpgate has one of the most complete leaderboards I've ever found in MMO gaming. Everything from faction kills to missles fired to net worth is all tracked on a leaderboard that's updated every 2-5 minutes! The NetDevil developers certainly know how to make their leaderboards, and I can only guess at the sort of options that will be available to the JGE pilots.

Frankly, I'd like to see all of MMO gaming take a more JGE approach to their leaderboards. There should be an incredible amount of leaderboard options for players to fight over, from death to kill ratios to successful quest attempts. With so much data at a developers fingertips these days, it's almost a disservice to the players to not offer bigger leaderboard options and more ways for player to brag and say "I'm the best!"

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe leaderboards break immersion, drive players to not enjoy the game, and merely lead to more internal strife among players. If you disagree, I'd like to hear from you either on the forums or via email. Until next week, you've been In the Trenches.