MMORPGs - Ruined By Non Role-Players? 100
Thanks to RPGDot for their new editorial discussing why actual in-character roleplaying in MMORPGs is dying out, as more and more 'action fans' are being attracted to RPGs. The article suggests: "When you take an MMORPG apart to analyze what it is, you discover pretty quickly that it's mostly a huge graphical chat room... the role-playing aspect of an MMORPG is nowhere in the [priority] list, which leaves the few poor souls who are willing to do so in the dust, grinding their teeth at the l337 speech they are subjected to." But it seems in-game bugs and glitches make it difficult for even the most hardcore role-player to keep in-character: "It's hard to sustain a willingness to role-play when the mindless android in front of you swallows your shuttle ticket without so much as an apology."
Quality of Games (Score:2, Interesting)
Hopefully Blizzard's World of Warcraft will be of much higher quality and they will take steps to encourage role playing. This will most likely be the first MMORPG I play, and I look forward to some real role playing. I hope they deliver.
Moderated MMO's? (Score:4, Interesting)
MMORPG or MMOFPS?? (Score:2, Interesting)
Not many people are ardent enough gamers that they would be willing to put up with those who didn't want to role-play when they did. It is a lot easier not to role-play than to stay in character. I think that there should be be games which take more traditional role-playing elements such as GM's, open ended situation and missions and the like. Dues Ex 2 is promising to maybe such a game, although this is of course not an MMORPG by any means but it does show that FPS lovers and RPG lovers can find a game which they can both play.
I suppose in the long run it's a bit of a pipe dream to have a proper RPG based MMORPG or is it? I guess as always it should be the case of if see something you want done, do it. I think it'll be cool if proper role-players took even GURPS [sjgames.com] system and using the mod-happy Half Life 2 engine made a free, open ended RPG world. It could work... maybe... ok probably not. I can dream though.
We don't serve their kind here! (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to play a lot on a MUD where they had both an age requirement (18 or over, or no go), and roleplaying was required. If you didn't roleplay, the other players simply started to ignore you, and sooner or later the admin would give you the "start acting your role or look for another MUD" deal.
It did have a chat channel for out of game-talk, though. I pity the soul who used it for metagaming talk...
I think I'll start playing there again. I miss it.
I foresee a future... (Score:3, Interesting)
where someone will be paid minimum wage to play an in game "Non-Player" character. Much cheaper then inventing AI. Give them a script for some events and have them wing it on other occasions. Of course, if you have too many people playing NPCs it could get prohibitively expensive.
Or you could offer someone free in game time or items if they spent a certain amount of time playing a character. It would be kind of funny if teenagers could earn minimum wage sitting behind the counter in a virtual shop, just like they can IRL.The persistent world is a slight problem (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to play Dark Age of Camelot. Excellent MMORPG, as well designed as they come. But I've long since stopped playing, because the experience was just too artificial.
In a pen and paper or even a computer RPG, the world changes in epic ways as you advance through the story. But because the world of an MMORPG has to be consistent for players, the world cannot change too much. For example, the king of the fairies will have to always be there, you can't guide empires to ruin, buildings stand forever-- the sense of changeability that is otherwise present in RPGs is lost. So is mortality, because you respawn. You might be penalised, but your character can't be dead and gone. Where then is the comradeship? Can you really feel for an immortal character as you would for a real companion (well, RPG companion)? There's a good reason D&D players become very attached to their characters, and spend a lot of time mourning their deaths, but it is partly that mortality that makes their journey perilous and exciting.
I think some of the MMORPGs out there really are very good, but they lack a certain je ne sais quoi that story- driven RPGs have. And that is a problem with the melding of genres, rather than who's playing them. I recognise that there are many more issues to consider, but i feel that this is one of the major ones.
Just my 2 cents.
Alternatives Exist (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm one of 50 or so DM's in a NWN collaborative world project that spans several computers (come check out A Land Far Away [alandfaraway.net] if you're interested). All players are screened and the servers are all 100% roleplay oriented. There are numerous projects out for NWN and many of them offer some great alternatives to the pay-to-play big boys.
No Action players in our game (Score:4, Interesting)
We are working hard to achieve that goal, and we have some guidelines and ideas that hopefully will aid us to get rid of l33t people.
First of all, our targeted audience is people in the Spanish Tolkien Society. That give us a strongly motivated public, which will surely enjoy themselves more from a good role-playing than from a killing session.
Second, it will be quite a bad idea to go out there carelessly hunting orcs... because the damage/healing system is intended to be reallistic. It means that if you get hurt it won't be just some Life Points down, you'll have a broken leg or a poisoned injury, and you'll have to be in bed for in-game months to be healthfull again. And only if you don't get killed. No magic potions (remember Frodo?). So, only warrior characters will go to battle, and it will be dangerous.
Third, it will be difficult and dangerous to travel. People will stay at home, and will have social intercourse with their neighbours. Of course there will be adventures, but mostly those that just delay dinner!
Fourth, we will not ban out-of-character speaking... but we will mean it to be rude! 8-D (This is an idea of mine). We hope to introduce a culture in which newcomers, that are not aware of this social rule, will talk about not Middle Earth subjects, and then everyone will get scandalized!
In summary: our game will not be a huge graphical chat room, because it will be socially designed to be a parallel reality not a videogame, and only people in character will enjoy it. Wish me luck!
When I think of roleplayers... (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know about RP'ing, when I play games it's to have fun - occasionally it may involve some RP'ing - but I'm not going to be 'forced' into playing a role all the time. I know the hardcore RP'ers always have to point out that an MMORPG is, in theory a ROLE PLAYING Game (usually typed just like that), but let's face it in computer-land an RPG means you have a character(s) with stats and upgradable weapons, armour, magic/psi powers etc. That is the 'vernacular' I believe for a CRPG.
The majority is out there playing and having fun, and sometimes I can't help but resent the roleplaying types - at least the 'aggressive' ones that feel you should play 'their way'.
Re:I foresee a future... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What's really ruining MMORPGs: (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Dynamic Content. When I bought Eq, I figured some of my monthly payment would go to create a continuously changing world. The changes don't have to be major, but it's pretty crazy how well nailed down things are in Eq. People know exactly where and how frequently important monsters appear, what they drop, and what level they are. When I started there were things called "GM events" in which the rules changed and actual people ran encounters. Sure there were problems, which have been solved by basically not having such events.
2. The Time Scale - realistically I can play about 2-3 hours per week. Past a certain level, there is really no way for me to advance because no group will accept you for only a couple hours. I don't blame them. These people play for many hours straight and its too difficult to find a replacement - it may literally take hours - so I would be wasting all their time. Further, people won't take you seriously if you can only play for a couple hours per week and, since joining their group may cause them to get killed and thus waste more of their time, they will not accept me. Again, I don't blame them it is not worth the risk to join with someone who is, potentially, going to waste your time.
3. The large death penalty - I can accept my own character's death and loss of experience. However, I cannot leave (potentially) five other people to suffer the penalty just because of me. It can take a great deal of time to get "rezzed" which restores some of the lost experience and getting a "rez" must be done immediately or it is not possible. My character is quite useful at gathering together our corpses after a spate of deaths so sometimes I find myself spending more time online than I can really afford. At lower levels this was not a big deal because the penalty was smaller and people are not as intense - often it is easy to get a rez from a high level just passing through or to call on a higher level friend. However, when you are rather high level, it is very dangerous for another high level to come and help you out. A single death may take hours of time to recover from in terms of getting a rez and regaining lost exp.
4. Camping - the safest and thus most accessable way to advance is to sit in one place and kill the same creatures over and over. I wish there would be some explicit reward for utilizing more of the game. Eq has a huge world, most of it unpopulated and some of it badly crowded. There are quests which access most of the game world, but there is really no benefit from most of these quests. If I spend about 10 hours camping in a certain place I will gain a level. If I run around and do quests for 10 hours, the experience I gain will be minimal and any gear I get will be rather poor - I could spend the time camping certain trivial mosters (called farming) and sell the loot to other players (mostly for tradeskills) and get far more than enough cash to buy better gear. Note: at extreme high levels there are good quests, but I'm not there yet.
5. Training - dungeons in Eq are great! However all those twisty corridors and narrow points become death traps if a single person - usually not in your own group - makes a mistake and leads a monster (or a few...) to you. Why not make a copy of the dungeon for each group which enters? I believe other games do this. It would certainly benefit Eq. This would go great with dynamic content. Why not make random changes in dungeons each time it is created - and why not have the computer judge the strength of the party as it enters to set up challenging battles?
6. Lack of alternative paths - currently there are three paths: gaining experience, money/gear, or t
Roleplaying/Immersion (Score:3, Interesting)
To me, a shining example of good roleplaying is when the character does something that the *player* knows will be really bad for them, but the character wouldn't have. I've almost never seen that happen in online games.
But to me, the biggest problem with nearly every online game I've tried is mentioned in the article, but I don't think it's a "roleplaying" thing. It's language.
One of the reasons I like games is... immersion. Escapism. I can come home after a bad day at work and go into a world where magic works, where the good are rewarded, and where I can slay great evil beasts.
That is almost *totally* destroyed when there is a continuous scroll of "lol!!!!! I 0wn3d j00r k177!!!!" type stuff. To me, it destroys the immersion and snaps me back into the real world I'm trying to escape when I meet an elven princess who immediately says "greetz!! grp me!!! grp me!!!"
That's one of the main reasons I abandoned EQ and DAoC (the other being time). Take away the immersability, and I find it hard to see why anyone would play any of the MMORPGs.
- Muggins the Mad