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For
years, there’s been one aspect of video game design
that has always confused me. With each new game that comes out,
there’s a
desire by developers to give players something awesome. Whether this is
accomplished by creating brand new game mechanics that have been
tweaked from
older designs or something completely new, the goal is the same
– to wow the
player and have them convince their friends to play as well. As such,
it seems
like a no brainer to me that mounted combat should have become a staple
in MMOs
long ago, yet we still don’t have it in the vast majority of
our games today.

To
me, mounted combat covers a wide range of various
combat forms and mechanics. Some of those include the idea of fighting
while on
horseback, ship to ship, and aerial combat. For over 10 years now,
we’ve heard
the promise of mounted combat to be added to our favorite MMOs or
incorporated
in future titles. Well, it’s 2013 and I still have yet to see
it. When the
concept was brought up back in the early 2000s, we wanted it all and we
wanted
it immediately. At this point in time, I’d be happy to just
get a single piece
of it. No, seriously. Just one.

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Perhaps
part of the confusion surrounding the lack of
mounted combat comes from being an “old timer”. You
know the type. We grew up
in arcades, played Atari when it was a new system, and always ramble on
about
“the good ol’ days”. I remember playing a
game called Defender
of the Crown on a Commodore 64
in 1987. Part of the
gameplay included jousting on horseback. Now to be clear, I’m
not saying this
system was incredibly detailed or allowed you to go around killing
anyone you
came across by running them through with a lance on horseback. What it
did do
however was provide a fun tournament jousting simulation, albeit a
limited one.
My point is that this was over 25 years ago. Why the hell do I still
have yet
to take part in a jousting tournament in any MMO to date?

Things
like this make no real sense to me. I’ve been
fortunate to have worked at a number of companies that gave me access
to many
great game designers over the years. As a result, I style="">think
I understand more than the average bear that companies are
only willing to innovate so far, but there comes a point when
it’s time to take
a step off the beaten path and give something new a try. This is
especially
true when it comes to adding something like a jousting side/mini-game
to a much
bigger project.

While
I’m on the subject of why the hell has it taken so
long to get something new injected into the MMOs of today, what ever
happened
to aerial combat? Even if it’s not characters with wings
locked in mortal
combat high above the ground as was promised in the past ( style="">*cough* Aion *cough*),
we should at least be able to fight in some
form on flying mounts. They’ve been a staple of MMOs long
enough now that some
form of combat from these mighty beasts needs to be made available to
players.
I understand that allowing Wizards to sling spells willy-nilly at
Warriors may
be a bit lopsided (“Make
fun of my pointy
hat again… I dare you!”),
that doesn’t mean there can’t be some form of
crossbow action going on.

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Ignoring
the ideas of mounted combat on land, or any form
of aerial combat, where is my ship to ship combat? Hell, for that
matter, where
are my ships? Off the top of my head, style="">Darkfall
and Vanguard:
Saga of Heroes are two
of the only games I can think of that even allow you to build ships and
sail
them in any piece of water you chose. Neither of those games may be
smashing
successes in the overall scheme of things, but that doesn’t
mean they don’t
have some very good ideas. It was neither the ships nor their
implementation
that caused the plummet in popularity of either style="">Vanguard
or Darkfall.

There
is a glutton of MMO options for players available
right now. By the end of next year, there are going to be even more.
Future
titles such as Gloria
Victus
(inspired by Mount
and Blade)
promises mounted combat and even jousting tournaments as I mentioned
above.
Whether it materializes as advertised still remains to be seen. Sooner
or
later, mounted combat has to be done by someone. Players demand too
much
innovation in their gaming to be satisfied playing the same titles for
long.
With that in mind, do you want to be the company that’s
leading the charge or
the company that’s left in the dust? I don’t know
about you, but I know which
one I’d rather be.

So
what do you think? Should mounted combat be a
reality soon? Have you got a game you enjoy playing that’s
already found a way
to implement it? If so, how did it pan out? Let us know this or any
idea you
may have about the subject in our comments below. You’re also
welcome to href="https://twitter.com/Dalmarus">hit me up
directly at Twitter any time.