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Daily Column
16 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 240 for November! Does any other site even come close?
A big round of clap for Cody who covered for me yesterday while my ISP took the day off. Thanks Cody.
Loading... faithful have been discussing the intricacies of death penalties in the forums lately, so it seemed timely to ask the lively souls that create them to chime in. Since none of the developers will talk to me I had Garrett "ClarkKent" Fuller send out the questions on my behalf.
Jason Stone, Game Designer on Age of Conan and the man closest to the PvP blueprint stepped up and delivered, but not before prefacing his answers with "Of course these are just my own opinions as a designer."
John "Boomjack" Hoskin - What in your opinion has driven the change from the heavy death penalties of the early MMOG titles like Ultima Online and EverQuest to the more muted penalties of the games currently being developed?Jason Stone - Video gaming, more specifically online gaming has stopped being a hobby for the elitist and hardcore. This means that in general things are being designed around accessibility that was a non factor when designing in the old days of games like Everquest. Also much of the original game systems for Everquest and UO were being heavily influenced by MUDs which were known for severe death penalties as well, with the transition to a more mass market audience the industry has had to adapt itself to consumer needs.
John "Boomjack" Hoskin - Should PvP death penalties be substantially different from PvE death penalties?
Jason Stone - This really depends on what your death mechanic is. In general anytime your death penalty would negatively impact the advancement of a character you want to have a separate penalty for PvP so they are not penalized in that way for dying. IE you lose some experience on death a la Everquest, when dying in PvP in Everquest however you did not lose experience. In general they tend to be non existent or only different in this way. The exception being if you include looting as part of a PvP death penalty.
John "Boomjack" Hoskin -When determining an appropriate death penalty for a title what are the major factors that a developer deliberates over?
Jason Stone - As with everything MMO related there are so many complex issues you can tie into death that must be included besides just the penalty itself. In essence all death penalties come down to a risk vs reward analysis and the controlling of "lost time" on the part of the player. We can look at experience loss, or experience buffers etc as "lost time" the player had already put into advancing. The key to designing a death penalty is the same as it should be for anything else in your title looking for what fits your specific application. If you are aiming for a slower pace, or want a more severe challenge then you might look for a more aggressive death penalty, while if your game is more casual friendly you might tend to lessen the long lasting effects of the death penalty focusing on something annoying but less intrusive. When we include things like where do people respawn? Do they leave corpses? Do they have to retrieve their corpses? etc it is easy to see how complex a death mechanic can become.
John "Boomjack" Hoskin - In terms of design importance, where does the death penalty fall in the "big picture" of design? Is it something that is discussed from the get-go or is it a design decision that is made further along in the process?
Jason Stone - The details of the death penalty can be worked out farther into the process but it is important to set a base line as to what your goals with the system will be early on as you are coming up with your overall vision for the project."
Jason touched on one fascinating point that I have never heard come from another developer, at least not in so many words, "...online gaming has stopped being a hobby for the elitist and hardcore." This statement reflects upon a crucial problem in game design. How do you build a game that is entertaining for the hardcore as well as the casual? They seem like polar player types, especially when it comes to their response to a death penalty.
Is there a death penalty, perhaps one with a sliding scale set as a player preference that is one size fits all? There are a few threads going on this topic. Here is a link to one to get you started. Contribute!
Pumped about AoC? Check these exclusives out!
- Age of Conan Class Interview #1: The Dark Templar
- Age of Conan Class Interview #2: The Guardian
- Age of Conan Class Interview #3: The Conqueror
Comments, questions or naughty pictures? Hit the forum or hit my mailbox. --Boomjack
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today
- Blog: Unjustified Hatred
- Book: Legend of the Syndicate - Interview With Sean Stalzer
- Interview: Richard Bartle and Jessica Mulligan
- Op/Ed: Setting Phasers To Stun - How To Ruin Star Trek Online
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- Bounty Bay Online: Storm Island Exclusive Hands-on Reveal
- Fury: Screenshots From The Age of Chosen Expansion
- Lord of the Rings Online: Chicken Survival Guide Part 2
- Lord of the Rings Online: The Middle-earth Stable Guide
- Lord of the Rings Online: Little Delving, Michel Delving and Waymeet Quest Guide
- Tabula Rasa: Guide To Torden Plains
- Tabula Rasa: Guide To Torcastra Prison
- Vanguard: CIS Quest Guide - Golem Power Sources
- Warhammer Online: Interview With Games Workshop's Erik Mogensen
- World of Warcraft: Leatherworking Guide Revamp
- World of Warcraft: Instance Progression
- World of Warcraft: Retribution Paladin Guide
Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to.
- Warhammer Online: The Developers Explain PvP Balancing
- Age of Conan: Class Interview #3 - The Conqueror
Real World News
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XP Outshines Vista In Benchmarking Test [Thanks Matt]
XP to be discontinued in 3...2...1...
Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com
- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team
