alt="blur those lines"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92502">
There is no set-in-stone definition of what makes an MMOG that gamers
can universally agree upon. The genre continues to redefine itself in
small ways on a regular basis with the launch of practically every
title that hits the retail shelves.
alt="I got yer back!"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92496">To
confuse the matter even further, its becoming increasingly common for
single-player titles to offer rich multiplayer experiences that rival
those of competing MMOGs, pulling the two disparate genres closer to a
common middle-ground. Some have recently gone so far as to restrict
themselves to online play exclusively, including the top-down alien
apocalypse shooter developed by Valve,
style="font-style: italic;">Alien Swarm. Oh
sure, there's a tutorial mode you can play through offline, but
everything else the game has to offer is available exclusively through
online multiplayer interaction.
At least one upcoming title is going so far as to spin off into an
entirely new sub-genre, calling itself simply a co-op RPG. Despite
previously developing exclusively MMOG titles, Cryptic Studios has
decided that Neverwinter
Online will blur the lines of traditional MMOG
expectations and seek to create an entirely new type of online
experience.
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92500">
I had the opportunity to meet with Cryptic's Chief Creative Officer,
style="font-weight: bold;">Jack Emmert, and
seek some clarification regarding the details of
style="font-style: italic;">Neverwinter's
online interaction. Specifically, I was curious to find out whether
this blurring of the lines between MMOGs and single-player games with
multiplayer content is motivated by an industry-wide shift, or
something that developers have to consider carefully based on the game
they are developing.
A little of both, replied Emmert. I look at recent RPGs with online
elements and I see games that continue to thrive. In many ways, this
experience replicates the D&D of the 70s and 80s a group of
friends gathering around a table and having fun. But now the table is
purely virtual.
Clearly Neverwinter
Online is being heavily influenced by successful offline
RPG titles like Ultima,
Baldur's Gate, Planescape
and its direct predecessor, Neverwinter
Nights. But these have all been single-player experiences
with a clear beginning, middle and end. How does Cryptic intend to
adapt the style of an epic story arc intended for a single play
through, to an online experience that will keep players returning to
style="font-style: italic;">Neverwinter Online?
alt="Emmert" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92498">The
previous Neverwinter
tales were excellent, narrative-based RPGs. We wanted to pick up where
they left off, but focus on making a cooperative RPG. People like
playing online with their friends. There will be social hubs where
players can interact with each other. From these spots, players launch
into adventure areas instanced for them and their friends. We'll also
have other ways of meeting people and friends and going on co-op
quests.
Jack then gave us a glimpse of how Cryptic is enhancing the
replayability directly, Perhaps even more importantly,
style="font-style: italic;">Neverwinter allows
players to make content for each other. Theres no limit to the
imagination of the players. Itll be like an ongoing D&D
campaign, but with hundreds of potential GMs to choose from.
While this melding of mechanics seems to work from a design philosophy
standpoint, how will players react to it? Even though Emmert feels that
the small group environment of Neverwinter will not be a problem from a
community standpoint, critics of Cryptic's other titles have voiced
concerns along those exact lines when referencing the heavily instanced
environments present in both Champions
Online and Star
Trek Online. Each of these titles lacks the large-scale
social areas present in many other popular MMOG titles, such as
style="font-style: italic;">World of Warcraft and
EverQuest,
and instead segregates the population into smaller chunks that leave
players with a less than massive impression of the overall community.
Socialization in MMOGs is about more than just playing with friends, or
making new ones. It's also about prestige and vanity. Why else would a
level 9000 Super Storm Crusher hang out on the steps of the busiest
building in the primary social hub, if not to cause newbies to wet
their pants in awe? Criterion Games recognized this drive for infamy
and crafted an online experience into
style="font-style: italic;">Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
that caters directly to it by automatically updating leader boards and
achievements, and broadcasting the results across the internet to
anyone a player has associated with, then offering them the opportunity
to either beat it on their own time or compete directly in head-to-head
online matches. This feature, called the Autolog, has successfully
caused the game to leap from being solely a single-player experience,
into a complete social game that rivals the interaction many casual
gamers get from web-based games like those found on Facebook or iPhones.
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92494">
I can see some of you rolling your eyes at that statement, but yes
Facebook and iPhone games are online games, like it or not, and the
vast majority of them are social experiences that offer players
incentives for playing with other people. In fact, some industry
professionals even claim that these forms of online gaming are closer
to the roots of social gaming in general, which sprung from activities
like playing chess by mail or participating in BBS door games, than
modern MMOGs do. And even though it hurts sometimes to admit it,
they're frequently more successful in terms of profit, even if they
fall short of meeting other gaming needs.
alt="Neverwinter Tableau"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/88438">
One of the most notable of those needs is the fact that any game,
whether single-player or online, must possess a strong central plotline
that motivates players to care about the outcome of their actions.
Getting back to Neverwinter,
Jack Emmert has been quoted in the past as saying that it would have,
a very strong storyline throughout the game. So it's more of a
story-based game closer to things like
style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Age or
style="font-style: italic;">Oblivion, which we
really try to follow.
I remain skeptical that a story-driven RPG can be effectively delivered
to multiplayer groups that include more than one player-character in a
video game environment, for the simple fact that these narratives are
traditionally driven by a certain amount of Chosen One plot
tomfoolery. It's very difficult to effectively portray the same scope
and immersion when you're playing as the Also Chosen or even worse,
the I Guess You'll Do.
alt="The Force is strong in this one"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92499">But
style="font-style: italic;">Neverwinter is far
from alone in this bold endeavor. The hype machine around BioWare's
style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars: The Old Republic
has run a feverish pace trying to show potential customers that it will
deliver an epic, personalized plotline that has a real impact on the
world around the player. Even in an MMOG, where such stories have been
considered impossible to portray in the past. From the game footage of
TOR that we've seen online and experienced during convention-floor
demos, this seems to be accomplished at the cost of the massive
portion of the MMOG moniker, as your character is dropped into
instanced story after instanced story, never really becoming a part of
the larger social world outside of their epic little plot. And while
the mechanics for multiplayer dialogues seem to function just fine, the
personal nature of the missions leads me to wonder why I'd bother
bringing a friend at all. Doesn't he have his own epic plots to
experience? Go be your own Chosen One!
Story is not the sole defining factor of an MMOG though, by any stretch
of the imagination. Frequently, the core definition of an MMOG is that
a persistent world exists whether or not the players interact with said
world. If we stripped away the remaining factors, would this be enough?
Imagine yourself in a world with no story, no death, no stats or gear.
Your avatar's appearance texture is entirely malleable without
limitations, and your entire purpose within this world is to assemble
creations to show off your imagination and ingenuity. With a little
technical know-how, and no cost or licensing agreements, you can set up
your own private persistent world and invite as many people as you like
to experience this world with you. Change the landscape, build
monuments to your greatness, and share your creations with anyone that
knows how to connect to your server.
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92501">
Look familiar?
This world is Minecraft.
And even though it is thoroughly portrayed as a single-player game, the
game's developer, Markus Notch Persson, has recently publicly
announced his dedication to focusing his development efforts on the
game's multiplayer aspects for the foreseeable future. I was
unfortunately unable to reach Notch for a comment, but one has to
wonder if this direction is being driven by his own perception about
the course of the gaming industry, or simply based on the whims of his
creation's vocal fanbase. Regardless of the motivation,
style="font-style: italic;">Minecraft's online
gameplay continues to nudge closer and closer to becoming a
full-fledged MMOG with each patch and update. As the indie title
continues to evolve, one has to wonder if the game could eventually
find itself competing with the likes of
style="font-style: italic;">LEGO Universe and
style="font-style: italic;">EVE as the next big
online sandbox experience.
While I've talked about one title or another during this article so
far, it's important to remember that the gaming industry is bigger and
more complicated than just the games themselves. Especially when we are
on the subject of socialization, as big players like Microsoft and Sony
are continually making strides to further integrate their respective
consoles' social networking software into more and more blockbuster
titles as they are launched for the Xbox and/or PlayStation.
alt="OMGHALO" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92497">Xbox
LIVE's vast array of social tools offer a solid foundation for any
upcoming title to become a multiplayer experience that is worth talking
about. There is perhaps no better example of this than the recent
launch of HALO Reach, which within one week of launch had logged over
950 YEARS of online play via Xbox LIVE. You can bet your sweet jetpack
that up-to-date figures are even more ridiculous and likely dwarf the
amount of time gamers spend playing the single-player campaign. The
game was designed to be an enjoyable online experience and the seamless
integration with Xbox LIVE's social systems have enabled it to embrace
that design philosophy. From the ability to automatically share your
achievements and online status with your friends, to painless
matchmaking and voice chat integration, this console's systems are only
a few small steps away from the total social integration that has been
further enhanced with the recent addition of Kinect, which promises to
enable video chat from the comfort of your game room.
As for Sony's PlayStation Network, it's about to get an MMOG-sized kick
in the pants when DC Universe Online lands for the console in the first
quarter of 2011, which is rumored to integrate PSN's existing social
tools into the game's mechanics. Voice chat integration has already
been confirmed a feature which is sadly still not standard practice
in MMOGs, but which drastically adds to the social interaction
available to players. Without the keyboard as a barrier to socializing,
players in DCUO will find it easier and faster to team up and patrol
the rooftops of Metropolis, or coordinate an attack to thwart
Brainiac's next sinister plot.
alt="shake it Mister T"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/92503">A wise
man once said, The more things change, the more they stay the same. I
frequently wonder what the MMOG landscape will look like even a year
from now. Will we recognize it as the same hardcore genre we grew up
with, or will it have adapted to a more casual- and console-friendly
market? Either way, it seems safe to assume that this line will
continue to get blurred, since the audiences on both sides of the fence
will continue to seek out features from the other side to enhance their
personal style of gameplay whether they choose to play alone or in
the company of millions of other gamers. And the dollars they spend on
their games will continue to dictate the course of the gaming
industry. There's no way to say for sure whether there will
still be a line between traditional single-player titles and MMOGs even
a few short years from now. Perhaps the future is actually in a form of
gameplay that offers gamers the choice to experience either type of
interaction, depending on their mood on any given day.
Truth be told, as long as I can dance naked on top of a mailbox and
have hundreds of people check out my package, my online experience will
be as rich as it's ever been.
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