Tabula Rasa Goes Live 64
After a lengthy wait and a substantial retooling, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa has gone live. The New York Times is running a piece looking into the history of Garriott's interaction with MMOGs, while Wired had a chance to speak with the 'General' getting a better sense of what the game is about. "'It takes 30 minutes to an hour just to meet up with your friends to start playing' in most MMOs, says Richard Garriott, the new game's executive producer. In contrast, Tabula Rasa, a PC game that will be released Nov. 2, was designed to appeal to the average Joe who's probably not interested in learning what "gold farming" or "damage over time" means and just wants to amuse himself by saving the universe. It's a calculated shift designed to move beyond the hard-core gaming crowd and court the mainstream audience that has made Nintendo's Wii such a surprise success. And it isn't particularly remarkable, except that Garriott is the man largely responsible for inventing the MMO model in the first place. "
Look for me online (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, OK, maybe not me--but you can find a NPC with my name. What happened is, one of the game designers [stratics.com] is on another website I frequent, and as you can imagine, you have to name a LOT Of characters when you're writing an MMORPG. He asked for volunteers who were willing to donate their names to the cause. I stepped forward, and the result is that one Corporal Sager Weinstein can be found fighting for humanity, somewhere on the planet Areiki.
The best part: another friend of mine also has an NPC named after him, but he's a lowly Private. I outrank him.
I do not intend to let him forget this.
Re:Try before buy (Score:3, Interesting)
And while being able to make 'paint' to color your outfit, all armor of a given type has the same appearance and paints the same parts of it, so despite the individual color choices, everyone still looks pretty much the same in the same armor, and having to buy the components and craft the 'paint' can leave you with the option of wearing the better leg armor that you just got in a drop, and have it be a generic color because you're out of the color your old leg armor was painted, or keep wearing the old armor until you get a recipe to make the color you want and either get drops for the right pigments or buy them from a quartermaster. I guess I'm just spoiled by the variation and flexibility of the City of Heroes/Villains character designer,
Re:The problem with the idea of a casual MMO (Score:3, Interesting)
Video games are an in-between medium. The computer can handle all the stats for you. The play experience should be a balance between interacting with the play world and "rewards" for doing so. That's the CORE of even a pen and paper RPG. Action A x 2 = Prize A, Action B x 4 = Prize B, etc etc. Game makers tend to fall back on translating PnP straight to the video game realm. It's easier and helps you meet deadlines.
How do you make an MMO, with a premise that keeps people plunking their "quarter into the machine" in return for a base level amount of amusement? That's a tricky one, because everyone's "base level" varies. There is the casuals who just need to "take a break from the world" for a few and the "hardcores" who probably have no life outside their basement (jk).
The lure of the MMO for the casual can be summed up somewhat by "consistency". For a nominal fee per month, they can fall back on a reliable piece of entertainment that will usually offer a diverse enough experience to justify the expense. Sure there have been online games that have been free for decades that would satisfy that itch... but it can be a pain to find a good server, cool people to play with, yada yada, MMO's offer somewhat of a fix to those headaches by offering a "one stop shop".
You run the risk that casuals will get bored if you don't add enough things over time (which could be a few days, weeks, months, can't please everyone of them though. I'd stick with a weeks to months demographic, usually you can sprinkle a little in here and there to keep enough of them interested). WoW does this pretty well and I think it's what mainly attributes to it's success.
Hardcores (there's a couple obvious sub-divisions in hardcore too, the one's in it for bragging rights and the RP type) blow through the casual stuff and need new ways to feel they have a "place" in the game world. The problem with servicing hardcores is they also tend to be the segment of your game population that is hardest to please. If you introduce more "casual" play content they will bitch you're pandering to lamers with no dedication. If you give 'em what they want, they take it and bitch about it not being enough.
The only one who struck a balance that seems to work well "enough" is Blizzard. The "problem" with WoW is they are kind of a one-trick pony. Their strength is how they handled class advancement (and within that, the ability to have relatively diverse skill sets). The early missions get you enough levels to feel enough satisfaction to keep going (this is important to casual players). The pacing slows in the middle levels, but you have enough access to diverse areas, gear, activities to keep enough people interested.
The end game is where WoW turns into nothing but a matter of looting and bragging rights, basically an online penis flailing session. This can turn off casual players who get bored and those RP types who want more of a "world" to live and breath in. WoW's implementation of crafting and "social" activities specifically impacts, IMO, the RP type of players (at the base level, they pretty much want a graphical chat room + sandbox. I'm pretty sure that a lot of these people would like to escape reality as a whole, but i digress)
A combination of methods would be required to make an MMO that would dwarf WoW's numbers (not to mention huge adjustments in social trends, which strangely may be easier than some of the technical hurdles, based on today's methods anyway.) You need advancement to come fast enough (not just through leveling) for casuals to stay interested, but not too fast for hardcores to burn out without reaching the top echelon.
"End Game" content I think requires the next large paradigm shift in MMO's. It tends to not pay out enough and you'll get people that bail halfway up the ladder, or some that get to the top and go "That's it?" right before clicking the unsubscr
You mention some good points (Score:4, Interesting)
But you do seem to have an issue with people escaping reality. Sorry mate, but that is entertainment for you. 6 billion people can't be wrong. ALL entertainment is about escaping reality. It is why people read books, watch movies, even listen to music.
HOW you do it, well that is matter of taste, some people swoon for a romantic movie where people never have morning breath, some people thrill to action movies where people never are hold accountable for their actions. It varies and same with game players, some prefer to play roles different from what they are, other prefer to turn into a super soldier and win a war single handed.
Tastes differ.
The biggest problem MMO's face it the translation from SINGLE player to MULTI player. MMO's do not have savepoints or a pause.
Think a moment about this. When the phone rings and forces you to escape your break from reality, you can save any single player game. YOu can ever drop out of a simple multiplayer deathmatch, but do so while grouped with other people and you are wasting their time while they wait.
MS Flightsimulator is a game that allows you to fly all over the world, if you fancy it, you can do a transatlanctic crossing in realtime. Might be a bit boring, but who are we too judge. However the game does NOT dictate that you do those 8 hours in one sitting. You can save when you want, pause when you want so if you fly those 8 hours in a single day, a weekend or a year, the game does NOT care. It even provides speed increases so you can it in less time.
An MMO can't do that. By its nature it can't just stop the world to suit the schedule of a single player.
This really ain't all that odd, if you are taking part in a soccer match, the referee won't hold up the entire game because your phone is ringing. And sorry if you are running a marathon, leaving it to walk your dog will get you disqualified.
Ultimately gamers must themselves decide what time they are willing to commit, but then also accept the consequences. Do not expect to be taken on a raid if you can only spare 5 minutes. On the other hand accept that the number of people who can spare hours on end, are going to be a minority.
Again, this ain't odd, even in most real clubs, the amount of time invested in club activities varies widely. Yet in real life we accept that if you can only spare an hour a week for a club, you do NOT run for a leadership position.
Choices, make them but also learn to live by them.