by Karen Hertzberg on Oct 06, 2010
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Once upon a time, we measured
our commitment to a single MMOG in years rather than months. When the
genre was new, the novelty was enough to carry us along until
we’d forged lasting friendships within a game that could keep
us logging in long after we realized the game itself had become a
grind. But MMOGs are no longer a novelty, and players have become
nomadic, abandoning many games after the one month free trial expires.
Developers have learned to create compelling newbie experiences, but
what can hold players beyond that one month period? Karen
“Shayalyn” Hertzberg explores one possible solution
in
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/oct/6">Loading…
The Cure for One and Done.
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/">What
is The Pulse?).
Today's
top 5 Pulse results:
Biggest
movers today:
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Events
What's
your PlayerScore? World of
Warcraft players, find out at
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/playerscore">playerscore.com.
“One and done” can refer to any number of different
singular things that lead to the completion of a task—one
year of college basketball before moving on to a career in the NBA; one
baby to complete a family; one alcoholic beverage to achieve a drunken
stupor. I’ve never really heard the term used in gaming
(except maybe in reference to that one FPS headshot that pretty much
finalizes an encounter with an enemy), but allow me to be so bold as to
put forth a new meaning for this venerated expression: one month before
you’re done with the MMOG you thought would hold your
attention for a good long while.
A brief email discussion between my fellow Ten Ton Hammer editors and I
about lasting appeal in MMOGs brought me to a stark
realization—there hasn’t been a MMOG that held me
captive past the 30-day free trial period in, well…a while.
It’s not for lack of trying, either on my part or the
developers’ parts, but the magic simply hasn’t
happened. And I peruse gaming forums often enough to know that
I’m not the only one who can’t seem to make the fun
last.
It seems to me that, for most MMOGs, the contributing factor to one and
done syndrome is the mid game, or the lack thereof. When MMOGs were new
to me, back in my
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/38">
style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest
days, I had few expectations. It was exciting to be in a virtual world
filled with characters played by real live people. And by the time that
initial buzz wore off I’d found a community of fun,
like-minded players who kept the game vibrant for me and whose very
existence compelled me to log in night after night. I didn’t
mind the experience grind; I could keep coming back to quad kite the
same group of Garanga Hunters in Maiden’s Eye because I had
these friends to keep me company, and because I wanted to compete with
them and stay at the top of the leveling food chain. I would imagine
the experience is much the same for
href="http://tentonhammer.com/wow">
style="font-style: italic;">World of Warcraft
players—by the time any of them bothered to realize that the
game was getting dull and repetitive, they’d found people to
enjoy it with.
We’ve said it many times here on Ten Ton Hammer—any
game can be fun if you’re playing it with friends. Given
that, the cure for one and done syndrome is simple: a MMOG needs to
hold our attention long enough for us to forge in game connections that
we don’t want to abandon. The problem is that developers seem
to have lost sight of this. They focus heavily on making the newbie
experience compelling, using things like voice acting, cut scenes, and
a detailed story line in which the new player plays a starring
role. But then they drop the ball. Raise your hand if you
made it to level 20 in
href="http://tentonhammer.com/aoc">
style="font-style: italic;">Age of Conan
only to find that the post-20 experience lacked the luster that was the
main Tortage quest line. Tip your wings if you felt proud to discover
that you were an immortal daeva in
href="http://tentonhammer.com/aion">
style="font-style: italic;">Aion
only to realize that your daeva status couldn’t prevent you
from having to hunt crabs along the riverbank.
When MMOGs were new to us, we were content to stick with them until
they started to stick with us, lingering until we’d developed
player bonds that would keep us logging in night after night even after
the content had become old hat. But the days of MMOGs as novelties are
long gone. We’re veterans now, and we need more to keep us
playing. I might have stuck with many a game past the 30-day point had
the game given me reason to stick, but if the people I’m
playing with are jumping ship as their free trials expire, the odds are
good I’m going to be canceling my account as well.
At some point, all MMOGs become a grind—there’s
only so much content a developer can reasonably spew out before it
becomes a case of lather, rinse, repeat. The trick, I believe, is to
keep MMOGs interesting longer, giving players time to become enmeshed
before they start to mind doing the same things over and over. 10-20
levels of solid, engaging content before the grind kicks in no longer
cut it—modern MMOGs are doomed to wither after their free
trials expire unless the developers are able to bring a compelling
mid-level game to the table.
There’s plenty to be excited about where upcoming MMOGs are
concerned—
href="http://tentonhammer.com/dcuo">
style="font-style: italic;">DC Universe Online,
style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars: The Old
Republic,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2339">
style="font-style: italic;">TERA,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2035">
style="font-style: italic;">Rift: Planes of Telara,
style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars 2
and more seek to do new things and bring gamers worlds of new
experiences. Watching what these devs are trying to do with their
titles, I’m hopeful that some of them are going to bring us
games that not only entice us in the beginning levels but hold us until
we settle in among friends, content to enjoy the ride to the end game.
Got comments? We’ve got
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53950">forums.
From our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=137">WoW
General Discussion forum
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53893">
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53893">Editorial:
Will Patch 4.0.1 Kill Raiding?
Our
World of Warcraft writer, Cyrak's
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/90387">editorial
asked whether WoW patch 4.0.1 would kill raiding...and thus the debate
began. There are some strong opinions in this thread.
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=53893">Share
yours!
=====================================
Awesome
Quotes from the Epic Thread
"If
they mess up the game so that it is no longer possible to enjoy it, why
should I continue with my subscription? I hope they don't screw it up,
because I do enjoy it, but I'm outta there if they do take a hard line
and screw over their customers."
-
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=443261&postcount=2">Harrylal
=====================================
3 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 19 Ten Ton
Hammer features in September! 1079 in 2010!
INTERVIEWS
Skaven
Exclusives! A WAR Q&A with Carrie Gouskos
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/war/interviews/carrie-gouskos-skaven-10.5.10">http://www.tentonhammer.com/war/interviews/carrie-gouskos-skaven-10.5.10
In
the latest Ten Ton Hammer Live! Podcast, Warhammer Online Producer
Carrie Gouskos provided exclusive, never-before-revealed information
about the hideous Skaven. Under the influence of warpstone, she
revealed details about the various type of Skaven you can
use,
plus details on the huge Skaven dungeon. (Dungeon?!) There’s
also some
information on changes to the RvR mechanics, the decision to stay
subscription-based, and other non-Skaven things.
FEATURES
& GUIDES
Industry-Related
Implants In EVE Online
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/business/industrial-implants">http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/business/industrial-implants
In
EVE Online, implants are pretty important. They provide lasting,
meaningful bonuses that give pilots an advantage over the competition.
In this guide, Space Junkie explains the convoluted section of the
implants dealing with industrial activities.
WoW
Warlock Guide Updated - 4.0
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/warlock
It’s
that time again--a new patch is soon to be released and we here at Ten
Ton Hammer are working hard to bring you the most up to date
information. Our Warlock Guide has been recently updated with the
changes upcoming in Patch 4.0.1. Some of the changes are huge (Soul
Shards), while others are small, but all will provide you with the most
up to date information on the basics of everything Warlock.
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
- Karen “Shayalyn” Hertzberg and the Ten Ton Hammer
team