Approaching the ideal game?

The MMORPG genre now exists for a couple of years already, and many players have by now played more than one game. Every new game promises not only better graphics, but also improvements in game play. One could suppose that by making games better and better, we would approach some sort of ideal game. But I think that instead with every step we approach the ideal game, the ideal game is moving away by two steps from us. And I see tendencies of veteran players becoming less satisfied with the "better" games than they were with the old games, while at the same time being unable to go back to them.

The problem is that MMORPG have lots of components. The "ideal game" that is forming in each of our heads is a mix of the best components from all of the games we played before. Lets say the massive content of Everquest, the excellent combat of City of Heroes, the excellent item crafting of Star Wars Galaxies, with the excellent auction house of Final Fantasy XI. And it gets more and more difficult for a real game to live up to that combination of excellencies.

I'm fully aware that I fall into the same trap with my reviews, and that it is sometimes rather unfair. Every single game after Everquest has been critisized by many people for not having as much content as EQ. And for the next couple of years everybody discussing character generation will compare whatever he reviews unfavorably with City of Heroes costume creation.

So could we some day reach the ideal game, by somebody copying the best parts from the best games and putting them together? Unfortunately not. Many parts that we like individually are mutually exclusive. We like the fact that in City of Heroes everybody can solo, and that we can mix a group out of any character classes, with no "must have" requirements. But we also like how our "must have" character shines, and performs an important role, in combat of games like EQ and FFXI. Obviously we can't have both.

EQ is praised for the strong friendships it evokes between the players, and we would like to have that back in our ideal game. But once you look why people form these personal bonds in EQ, and not in CoH, it turns out that it was because of EQ's failings. EQ is harsh and brutal to its players, and it forces players into annoying downtime after each fight, in each "camp", and on many other occasions like boat travel. That gives people both a motive ("lets beat this game together") to band together, and the opportunity to chat, thus you end up with guilds that are strongly bonded. City of Heroes is rightfully praised for practically eliminating downtime, and for allowing players to be heroes instead of underdogs. But thus CoH players don't need other players all that much, and they have less opportunity to chat, and we end up with the community being a lot less coherent. And it seems impossible to combine these two approaches in a way that gives us the best of both worlds.

Similar incompatibilities exist in the field of tradeskills and economics. A crafter wants both a fun system to craft things which is not too tedious, and he wants customers from which to earn a healthy profit. But the more fun the crafting system is, the more people craft, and the more supply drives down profits. And the same is true for items that are looted and not crafted: If getting the loot item is not tedious, it will not be valuable, because more people will prefer to get it for themselves instead of paying others to do it.

The earlier games like Everquest had it easier to keep customers. The people who played it hadn't experienced anything better yet. Games like SWG or CoH succeed by drawing in totally new players to the genre, who come because they want to play a Wookie, or a comic book hero, not because they already played other MMORPG and are looking for the ideal game. It is only we veterans in which the experience of many different highlights has damaged our ability to see a new game on its own merits, without comparison to previous games. And if we go back to the old games, we compare them unfavorably with the new ones. This is our loss. It echoes on every message board of every MMORPG.

I wish I could turn it off in my head, this comparing, and just enjoy every game as new and fresh experience. But of course I can't. So I am seriously beginning to doubt whether any of the future games will make me so addicted as the original Everquest did. Fortunately I'm being saved by the large number of MMORPG games coming out: They might not keep me for as long as they did, but a shorter time in many different games still means I have a packed schedule.
- posted by Tobold @ 2:17 PM Permanent Link