We Fly Spitfires – MMORPG Blog

I cancelled my Star Trek Online pre-order from Amazon today. I certainly had my doubts when I ordered it but decided to take the plunge anyway, the thoughts of a sexy Borg Officer (Locutus of Borg obviously) standing by my side on the bridge of the USS Dorothy swaying me. However, even though I haven’t even finished downloading the beta yet, let alone try it, I’ve already decided that the game isn’t for me.

Priests are scary, especially when they have legs for arms

Firstly, it hasn’t exactly been received by the blogging public with welcoming arms and glowing reviews. Lukewarm at best, some have even been downright negative and outright disparaging. Although the Star Trek universe and intellectual property appeals, I don’t have the time in my life to play games that just aren’t that good. Play less; play more quality was my MMORPG New Year’s resolution let’s not forget (blogging consistency or what?). Besides, Mass Effect 2 comes out on the 29th and that is definitely a game to get excited about.

Secondly, Amazon emailed me to kindly notify me that the game is going to be delayed in the UK from the 2nd Feb to the 5th and that I won’t receive my copy until the 10th. I can do the time but honestly, this has to be a sign from the Gods if I ever saw one. Bye, bye pre-order. Plus, Amazon already sent me my beta key so if a minor miracle does occur and Star Trek Online turns out to be just my cup of tea, I’ll just pop up to the shops and buy it.

Anyway, I’ve decided to use my refunded gift vouchers to pre-order Thirst on blu-ray instead. It’s a South Korean film by one of my favourite directors, Park Chan-wook (who made the exceptionally good Old Boy) and stars one of my favourite actors, Soong Kang-ho (from The Host and The Good, The Bad and The Weird, among other things). It’s had great reviews and is about vampires. What more could a guy ask for?

Foreign cinema is starting to appeal to me more and more these days as I find Hollywood becoming increasingly predictable and formulaic. There’s something refreshing about films that are made for the sake of art and don’t try to appeal to the mass market in order to turn the biggest buck. Asian cinema, especially Korean, is becoming increasingly exciting these days and turning out some great films that rival their Western counterparts in terms of scale and beat them hands down on characterisation and story.

In Tuesday’s post about Blizzard’s next MMO, I touched upon the topic of MMORPGs on consoles. I was originally going to entitle this post “Would Console MMORPGs Work?” but changed the first word to “do” because it occurred to me that we’ve actually already seen a few console MMOs before plus we’re slated to get some more in the near future (DC Universe Online being one of them).

Controllers before ergonomics was invented

Even though the XBox, PS3 and Wii are big business, console MMORPGs are still very rare, the only current ones that I can think being Final Fantasy XI, Everquest Online Adventures and Phantasy Star Online although I’m not even sure if the latter two are still running (anyone know?). Although there’s also loads of talk about MMOs hitting the console scene they just never seem to appear – whatever happened to Age of Conan for the XBox 360 and Champions Online for the PS3 for instance?

It was obviously a struggle to both create and play MMORPGs on older consoles, the PS2, for example, not coming with built in networking or even a hard disk. Of course now consoles are a lot more advanced and come with wireless networking, hard drives, and quite happily deal with online downloads and purchases on a day to day basis. Console gamers are also a lot more comfortable and familiar with using headsets to talk with people online, removing a lot of the communication barriers required by keyboard chat only. Still, consoles come with some inherent limitations, the most notable of which being their lifespan and target audience.

The lifespan on a console has always traditionally only been about five years (if that) and I can recall the days of the 1990’s when new consoles seemed to hit the shelves every three years, the Nintendo and Sony arms race of sorts. Albiet things are different now and both Microsoft and Sony have made it clear that the XBox 360 and PS3 will be around for a while to come. But still, given that they’ve both been out for 4 years now, if I was a developer I’d have to wonder how long it will be before they’re made obsolete. Everquest has been running for over 10 years, since the days of the Dreamcast and N64… how many people do you know that still have those machines? Even World of Warcraft hails from the time of the original XBox and PS2 and those are practically already obsolete.

PCs and Macs conceptually present a slower evolution and gamers don’t seem to worry so much about loading up a 5 year old game on their brand, spanking new rig. Plus, those games can be updated, overhauled and their settings graudally improved to meet new technologies. Would a developer re-release an upgraded version of their existing console MMO onto the next generation of console machines for free? I doubt it.

The target audience for console and desktop gamers also seems to be very different. WoW is successful because it appeals to everyone, from teenagers who own every console under the Sun to Managing Directors who have never bought a console. You can play WoW on your office PC or your Mac laptop, you don’t need to worry about owning the latest next gen machine. This is just my personal take on things though and I’d love to be able to do a survey on WoW (or any MMORPG) players to see how many owned a console. My feeling is that it wouldn’t be that high a percentage.

The positive side of MMORPGs on a console though is that it would present a level of ease that’s very appealing. I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly battling with my PC and there’s something quite nice about my favourite MMORPG “just working” right out of the box. No worrying about system requirements, no fuss, no configuration, no messing about, just picking up the control pad and getting stuck in.

So I guess we’ll see how things pan out with DC Universe Online and, if the rumours are true, Blizzard’s next MMO. My gut feeling is that DCU Online won’t materialise for the PS3 just like AoC and CO never did. Still, as consoles evolve and start to merge more with desktop computers, I’m sure the line will eventually be crossed and we’ll be playing all our games on a single system whether we call that a console or a desktop.

Somewhen, somewhere I read about employers encouraging applicants to list their gaming achievements on their resume. Now I don’t know about you but I’m not sure writing that you neglected feeding your cat in order to complete Super Mario Bros back in ‘86 or that you can absolutely destroy your son at Tekken is really going to guarantee you an interview. But MMORPGs are different. They actually do teach you important skills which could be useful in a job. Right?

I think so. Being a guild leader is tough and actually teaches a lot of important skills like managing staff (your guild mates), the art of negotiation (player conflicts), resource management (loot distribution), time management (finishing the raid before your main tank’s bed time) and how to fire your staff (turning down people for raids). In fact, being a guild leader is a heck of a lot like being a manager in an office (a cross between a Drill sergeant, a school teacher and a babysitter) and ironically most guild leaders tend to manage bigger teams that a lot of real life managers do. 60 people in your guild? 25 people on your raid? We’re talking department level heads here at least.

A couple of years ago my office was hiring a new developer and I remember filtering through several resumes to try and find the right candidate. One developer in particular caught my eye because his resume stood out from the crowd – he had actually listed his World of Warcraft hobby and achievements on it, immediately making his CV a lot more interesting. I was impressed by his candor and honesty and, sharing a common interest, figured he might be the guy we were looking for… Well, he didn’t get the job which kinda makes me wish I hadn’t started this story but hell, you get the picture, right?

I used to be embarrassed about my gaming hobbies but I’m not any more. You see, gaming is cool. We’re cool. And we’re the guys hiring now. All of those 30 something middle managers you see in offices are the same guys who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, hooked on Mario, Sonic and Doom and now they’re your potential new boss. I think any gamer could appreciate the hard work required to organise a raid or lead a guild and given how much of a global phenomenon World of Warcraft is now, it’s not like MMORPGs are a small and unknown niche. Chances are your new boss plays WoW already.

So would you list your WoW achievements on your CV? I say what the heck, go for it. But don’t quote me on that.

A few days ago Massively posted an article stating a rumour that Blizzard’s next MMO will be a FPS or rather contain a FPS portion and a ’social’ portion. Quite whatever that means, I don’t know. Speculation is that it’s going to be some sort of console FPS game revolving around a glorified chat room but I don’t believe there’s any evidence out there to support such claims. Given that Blizzard have never developer a console title before though, I don’t think they will start now (Update: A few people have corrected me on this and informed me that Blizzard did actually make some console games back in the early 1990s).

Personally, I don’t want a console MMO and I think/hope Blizzard would have the good sense to avoid one. My main reason being that consoles have a limited lifespan whereas PC games do not. Everquest is still running and came out when 32MB of RAM was the minimum requirement. My preferred console at the time was the Dreamcast (it was so new and shiny) and now my iPhone packs over 3x the processing power than it did. If Blizzard released a MMO for the XBox 360 and/or PS3, they would be effectively limiting the lifespan of the game to a few years. I think Blizzard have bigger ambitions than that.

I wouldn’t mind seeing a MMOFPS but it would have to more Fallout 3 than Planetside. I don’t want a game that’s just a chat room with a LFG system that jumps me into combat (I already have that with Quake Live and Unreal Tournament 3). What I’d like to see first and foremost is a vibrant, living, immersive world that gives MMO it’s meaning. I’m not bothered if the driving mechanic is RPG style or FPS style or beat-em-up-Tekken style (now that would be refreshing!) but I would like to see a game that’s driven by a strong story and surrounding, one which keeps me coming back day after day.

Without a shadow of a doubt, their next MMO will be highly polished and extremely well implemented. Although that in itself gives me some degree of confidence, Blizzard haven’t actually released a new intellectual property in over a decade. They stick to what’s tried and tested – making bloody good games from it, sure – but aren’t exactly known for their innovation. Could Blizzard’s efforts to make a game so dramatically different from World of Warcraft as to not usurp it’s player base be their downfall? My worry is that instead of getting another great MMORPG, we get a mediocre MMOFPS just in the hopes to keep WoW safe.

One of my favourite courses from University was one called ‘Evolutionary Computing’. It taught us how to devise programatic solutions to problems by mimicking the process of evolution (Creationists, avert yon eyes).

For our coursework, we had to devise a program that used an evolutionary algorithm to solve the following problem: divide 1,000 ‘weights’, each randomly weighing between 1kg and 1,000kg, into 100 bags so that each bag weighed exactly the same (or as close as possible) to each other. It was a long time ago so my memory is a little fuzzy now but it had to be done by creating a ‘population’ of bags of weights, seeding them randomly, defining parameters of what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fitness and then ‘evolving’ them over thousands of generations, culling the bad and mating together the good. You start with a random pick and you end up with the perfect solution in a matter of minutes.

So what’s this got to do with the MMO industry? Well, there’s been a lot of talk about innovation and evolution amongst bloggers, most recently and aptly summed up and commented upon by one of my favourite bloggers Brian ‘Psychochild’ Green. I would recommend reading his excellent post entitled ‘The Innovation Paradox’ – it far more elegantly sums everything up than I ever could about current thoughts from gamers about evolution and innovation in the MMORPG industry.

However, I wanted to add the following point to the debate: mutation. I think we can all accept that MMORPGs are evolving and providing some sort of innovation however I personally feel that the rate of which seems to have declined over the past few years. We now see evolutions of minor features, like guild windows, instead of sweeping and grand gestures that drive the industry forward. Mutation, the anomalies which bring radical changes and ideas to the table, are necessary in order to challenge the status quo.  As I was taught on my Evolutionary Computing course, without mutation your gene pool will stagnate and cease to diverge and you will never reach the optimum solution.

I think that’s what die-hard MMO gamers, such as myself and Keen and Graev, are looking for – a mutant MMO. We need a game that’s radically different from what’s currently on the market in order to excite us and stimulate new growth. It may fail completely but if it succeeded, it could radically change the way future games develop.

Evolution is based upon the principle of natural selection and survival of the fittest. MMORPGs are evolving and the fittest are surviving yet what we’re lacking is mutation. Mutation increases divergence and the ultimate chance of success. To put it another way, if we don’t start seeing some mutations soon, we’ll end up with a lot of inbred MMOs.

[Update: Andrew from Of Teeth and Claws pointed out the flaws in my analogy here in a great article entitled MMOs: Living games. Highly recommended reading.]

Reflecting upon history is something that’s often neglected yet it can be a very powerful and potent tool in all walks of life if done so correctly. The MMORPG genre is still relatively new to the gaming industry but it’s been around long enough now for newer and forthcoming MMOs to learn from older ones. What mistakes did their predecessors make or what did they do right that gave them their success?

Here’s my top 5 lessons new MMORPGs can learn from old ones:

• It’s OK to be mature (Age of Conan). Funcom broke records with their AoC pre-orders showing us that MMORPGs don’t need to be aimed at kids in order to attract attention. If done correctly, adult themes can help enhance the lore and immersion of a game. However, be warned, it’s still no excuse for poor or lacking content.
• You don’t have to be the most original, you just need to be the best (World of Warcraft). WoW didn’t exactly break any gaming boundaries when it was released in 2004. It didn’t have groundbreaking graphics or fancy new technology or the most innovative gaming concepts. It was, however, extremely well polished, taking tried and tested concepts and implementing them better than anyone else had before.
• A strong IP won’t save you (Warhammer Online). Just because a MMORPG is based on popular intellectual property, don’t expect that to give it guaranteed success. Players first and foremost want a good game and a strong IP may give lots of hype but it won’t save the game if it sucks.
• Don’t promise the Earth… and then fail to deliver (Vanguard). Vanguard was the worst offender in this category but there have been plenty of other MMORPGs that have shared the shame of promising features, content and general gameplay that just never makes it into the final game or, at least, not as we expect it. Managing expectations is a sure way to avoid disappointment – if you’re not going to be able to incorporate mounted combat, flyable dragons, ship to ship warfare and that amazing nostalgic sense of euphoria… don’t promise it.
• Don’t release before you’re ready (Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Earth & Beyond, Everquest 2, Vanguard, Tabula Rasa, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online). Releasing a game that feels unfinished or partially complete, filled with bugs and missing key or promised content is never going to be a foundation for success. It seems to be a lot wiser to hold out and finish it properly rather than take the gamble that the players won’t care if the MMORPG just wasn’t ready to launch. First impressions count and there’s always another new game around the corner to steal subscribers.

Anyone who knows me in real life will tell you that I’m a likeable and agreeable chap, usually very mild mannered and polite. However, I seem to have a knack for occasionally writing blog posts that create a bit of a controversy. It’s been a while since it happened last but yesterday Matt over at World of Matticus kindly posted a guest article of mine entitled “Tanks And Healers Should Get The Biggest Rewards” (note to self: remember to phrase articles as questions instead of statements in order to lessen the backlash) and it seemed to cause a bit of a ruckus.

Although the majority of the comments were very interesting, insightful and rational, a few were less so and openly expressed their outrage at the article. The result was a bit of a shit storm that would’ve led anyone to believe that I had written an article about denying the Holocaust or how to drop kick a baby.

Of course my intention (and certainly Matt’s or he wouldn’t have published it) was not to cause controversy but rather to open the floor for an interesting conversation and debate. I was rather surprised at the backslash although given all of my years on the Internet I suppose I really shouldn’t have been. As Matt very wisely pointed out in one of his comments, some people read articles and have a neutral attitude towards it whilst others become extremely energised… and due to the wide audience of Matt’s, there were a fair few of the latter.

I can honestly say that I never purposefully write for controversy as it’s just not in my nature. Althought some bloggers, such as Gevlon, thrive on it and the old adage “any publicity is good publicity”, I don’t. I worry too much about offending people and being seen as a dick to volunteer myself for the usual feedback that such articles generate. I write because I love writing and sometimes my thoughts or style are more edgy than others. However, if you are wondering about the publicity side of this post, I’m happy to share with you that Matt’s link through to my site generated a grand total of 67 visits over the course of two days. I guess I can cancel that server upgrade

Even though Matt has probably banned me from ever guesting on World of Matticus again , I at least feel good that I wrote an article that I think is well-written, well-constructed and elicited some excellent responses. My opinions are not carved in stone and I believe in growing, learning and changing and I enjoy nothing more than getting great feedback from a host of different perspectives. In an essence, it’s why I blog. The responses to my post at WoM may have been strong but they certainly gave me something to think about and reflect on which was the entire point.

I’ve gambled on articles in the past and some have generated very positive feedback and some very negative. A few months ago I wrote a post comparing MMORPGs to women and I was sure I would be crucified for it. But I wasn’t. In fact, folk loved it. You just can never tell how people will react.

At the end of the day, blogging is a media for expressing opinion and discussing topics. Sometimes you have to push boundaries to explore topics, just like any good art form. As I said over on Angry Healers (apt name), if every article on every blog was just a positive reinforcement of what we already know and think then they really wouldn’t be worth reading would they

So do you think this article was too controversial and was it a mistake to publish? Should we take risks and write about topics or in styles that may provoke emotions to run high? I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts on controversial articles in general.

P.S. Thanks to Professor Beej for his encouraging tweet saying how much he liked the article! It really made me feel good knowing you appreciated it, Beej. Cheers, buddy.