Player-Made Content Is The Future 82
ZDNet reports from The Entertainment Gathering conference last week, giving out some perspective on the future of games as it's seen by Will Wright and J. Allard. From their points of view, player-made content will be king in the coming years. With the expense of making games primarily due to the cost of content, allowing players to build the game they want to play will be popular ... both with designers and players. From the article: "Players' eagerness to go beyond the conventional boundaries has been seen in almost every online game. In the first major massively multiplayer game, Ultima Online, developers saw their swords-and-sorcery stories expanded by players who opened taverns to host online friends and create theater groups to perform 'A Christmas Carol' inside the game. That behavior helps create new content for the game and gives players a stake in the game to keep their interest piqued longer--a critical thing for online games in which players pay a subscription fee every month. "
So in essence... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:So in essence... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:So in essence... (Score:1)
If RPGs are your game of choice, how about some of the user made content for Neverwinter Nights? that was spectacular!
There were more than a few games that started as mods. Those mods are what got people buying the games later into their life.
Re:So in essence... (Score:1)
Jaysyn
Re:So in essence... (Score:2)
Re:So in essence... (Score:1)
Athas Reborn [athasreborn.com]
Jaysyn
Re:So in essence... (Score:1)
Re:So in essence... (Score:1)
Re:So in essence... (Score:1)
Re:So in essence... (Score:2)
Anybody remember the Doom mod where the enemies were all Barney?
That was years later than many online, multi-player, user created worlds.
Re:So in essence... (Score:2)
Re:So in essence... (Score:3, Insightful)
As for PC games, I agree that they're becoming really very complex. (See Neverwinter Nights for example) Most gamers, with full-time jobs, just aren't going to have the time to dive into mods
Re:So in essence... (Score:1)
Or they're too expensive. The 3D packages that these studios use, like Max and Maya, can cost multiple thousands of dollars. The chances of studios writing custom modelling software or writing exporters for low-end packages like Milkshape and Blender are extremely slim. They seem to be content with having all of their user-created content built with pirated copies of Max.
Re:So in essence... (Score:2)
The primary example of this in fact is the MU??s like MUSHes and MUCKs, because you could do in-game programming... and object-oriented programming, no less. Hell, even when I was a teenager and totally clueless about programming I wrote enough code to have a vehicle which had a separate control module, and they each had "triggers" on them so they could communicate back and forth. A-yep, that's right, I build a little program (which itself was just a nested collection of objects) on top of an object-orient
Re:So in essence... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:So in essence... (Score:2)
Re:So in essence... (Score:2)
What makes games so much cooler than TV is the interactivity. This is just taking that to the next
Star Wars Galaxies (Score:2)
Re:So in essence... (Score:2)
Re:So in essence... (Score:3, Interesting)
You understate the situation as well. Non-trivial player-made content would require a lot more than a basic MMORPG framework to make workable (it'd require a user-visible scripting language), y
Just like the old MUDs (Score:1, Insightful)
better, cheaper, longer (Score:2)
I also like the idea of being able to set up a theatre group, and I'm reminded of when a Chineese girl died playi
Unsurprising (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Unsurprising (Score:2, Interesting)
The truth is that it's costly to develop a revolutionary idea in gaming, especially when this idea must be implemented in a MMORPG or something. Therefore, player-created-content is extremely valuable to a publisher, as this gets the more radical ideas/quests/items/etc. out there, without having to waste developer time on ideas that would no
Source (Score:2, Interesting)
SWG tried this (Score:1)
Re:SWG tried this (Score:1)
Meaning, if you want it in the game, you can make it in the game.
SWG limited the player-created-content, not expanded it. That's why there was such an uproar.
If they would have implemented this instead, I believe you would see many more players at SWG, because the players would have ownership in the
SWG didn't bother (Score:1)
Sadly, from what I know (I left the game a little over a year ago), none of these ideas ever got implemented.
Player-made contact back around 1980 (Score:2, Interesting)
At the time I lived in Canada and had a double-hyphenated last name - me and some Kiwis from New Zealand spent a lot of time creating civilizations, species, and bizarre things (like my Ford Corporation, run by Ford Prefect, which sold high-tech (level 15) robot-assisted spaceships, orbital spaceports, and plug-in robotic pilots/gunners/navigators/
Re:Player-made contact back around 1980 (Score:2)
Ummm... Melbourne is in Victoria. Canberra is in ACT (Australian Capital Territory).
Re:Player-made contact back around 1980 (Score:1)
It's been since the WorldCon there in the 1980's since I was there.
Still, uses of player-made content for games (admittedly play-by-mail computer-assisted games) has been going on since at least that time. My examples are just the ones I know of.
Two Truly Memorable Examples (Score:2)
That, I think, is the key. No one will want to play $50 for a game they'll
I doubt it (Score:4, Interesting)
Games can't allow you to violate copyrights, because the game companies will be the ones who get sued. By the same token it'll be next to impossible for any game with lots of player-made content to have an ESRB rating other than AO (adults only).
Re:I doubt it (Score:1)
With a well-worded and specific EULA, players will be bound to the idea that what they create for this world (or anything that goes over the servers) is therefore owned by the development company or the publishing company, and no longer you. You can take credit for it somehow (the proper way, IMHO), but you'd give up rights by releasing it into the game world.
You couldn't run the mod without using their sof
Re:Or more logical... (Score:2)
Or the more logical route, is that anything uploaded is the opinion or owned by the people who posted them so when the FBI or RIAA/MPAA show up the game company can go "Oh, but this isn't ours... The player did this and by our EULA (and hopefully common carrier status wh
Re:Or more logical... (Score:1)
What I would see as most likely, is again, in the EULA, some form of legal verbage that stated that you could not create illegal, copyrighted, or whatever. That way you avoid lightsabers in Everquest IX, or Elminster as an NPC in a SWG game.
THEN, the companies would
Re:I doubt it (Score:2)
It's already happened in City of Heroes.
Re:I doubt it (Score:2)
Still, making a huge guy, wearing only shorts, with green skin and purple shorts, well...you tell me if that's infringement or not. Shorts, giant superhero body size, and (almost) arbitrary colors are available in any decent system.
Re:I doubt it (Score:2)
What about Counter Strike model? Play content does have its bonuses.
Well there was that thing over the Trade Mark of the Colt Line of weaponry, but they resolved that.
Re:I doubt it (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, all online games come with a warning from the ESRB: "Experience may change during online play."
-Aaron
Re:I doubt it (Score:2)
Re:I doubt it (Score:1)
It seems that Neverwinter Nights is the same deal. There is so much existing official and player created Pen&Paper AD&D stu
Re:I doubt it (Score:2)
Games Workshop is surprisingly lenient regarding use of its creations in third-party computer games mods - scroll down to the 'Modifications, Total Conversions, and Games' section. An excerpt:
It's Natural (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's Natural (Score:2)
Just look at Neverwinter Nights (Score:3, Insightful)
These last few years I worked on a few campaigns [adamandjamie.com] that were well-received, and am working on a new a new campaign [adamandjamie.com] for Neverwinter Nights 2.
I think player created content works well for certain genres, and requires an almost mystical process to attract the right community. I got tons of value out of UT2004 and the original Half-Life. Other games like Doom 3 and Morrowind didn't quite pan out as much as I would have liked. I think it requires the game developer to actively encourage the community, as well as having a solid core game, wide install base, and easy-to-use tools. Tricky business.
Re:Just look at Neverwinter Nights (Score:1)
Re:Just look at Neverwinter Nights (Score:2)
Converging TV Reality Shows with games (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Converging TV Reality Shows with games (Score:1)
SimCity 4 learned this two years ago (Score:5, Interesting)
If the developers had tried to put a Starbuck's in the game, they'd have to license the logo and the trademarked architecture; if they tried to make all the thousands of obscure local landmarks in mid-sized American and Asian cities, the production costs would have tripled and the game would never have been released. As it is, Starbuck's gets free advertising and the game gets a realistic facelift.
There are also functional content upgrades, like Ground Light Rail (the original game only has subway, el train, and heavy rail) and retaining walls that block traffic noise from freeways. I wouldn't play the game without these upgrades, but I'd absolutely buy another SimCity title knowing that the mod community will polish it and make it shine.
Simtropolis' bandwidth isn't free, and I've PayPalled them donations to keep their server up; in this way, my donations have essentially turned user-created content (from which I can pick and choose) into a second, self-directed expansion pack for the game.
The Good And the Bad (Score:2, Insightful)
Headline is a bit off (Score:2)
I have a new policy... (Score:3, Insightful)
Player made content is in the past (Late '70s, early '80s), in the present, and will be in the future. It's a niche. It will exist. Just because some guy can't figure out how to make content for a huge game in an economical way doen't mean it's the 'one true future'.
Yes, player made content is the future. Pre-made content, randomly generated content, and content free games are the future too. They'll all exist in the proportions they've always existed in, and people said the exact same crap about the first 3D consoles as they're saying about the latest thing to be called "next-gen".
Problem is... (Score:1)
The whole reason that content is getting more expensive to create is that our standards are getting higher. We want more detailed models and environments, AND we want better design. Gone are the days when id could stick a model that looked like a turd with red eyes into Doom and have it become a legendary game baddy
Re:Problem is...Open Source Game Content. (Score:1)
GURPS anyone? (Score:1)
At the height of the Myth II craze, there were tons of maps and game variants that you could play on Bungie.net. There were all of the WWII varients including some with tanks (definately NOT in the original Myth II game). I remember one that's not that old
Books in MMORPGs (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Books in MMORPGs (Score:2)
First off, there were no levels. Pretty much every other fantasy MMORPG follows the EQ "level" concept. I hated this... leveling up your character became the object of the game, rather than the immersion in the univers. UO used a skill system - no levels. If you used a skill, it tended to go up. If you d
Long term (Score:2)
It seems like something that would make a very interesting long term project, starting with the basic premise and theme and extending continuously to try and represent more and more of the nuance of the work...
The reference text is widely available and even the interpretations and criticism nescessary can be easily found.
I'm sure there are many similar sets of
Welcome to the '90s (Score:2)
Also, if you have a player base in the millions like MMORPGS it makes perfect sense to let players develope their own content. Even if only
Sheesh. (Score:2)
We hear this "user created content is the future" thing like every three months, and I think it's nonsense.
Sure, everyone would like to create a "Hello World!" MMOG and sit back and watch the players turn it into World of Warcraft.
Ha ha. Fat chance.
I'm still waiting for the glass I broke yesterday to reassemble itself spontaneously too.
Most players don't have that much imagination, most player created content will be crud (like 95% of everything), and e
It could work, but the successful will be very few (Score:2)
It really depends, imo, what type of MMO you are talking about.
Games like The Sims, Second Life, and other "social" MMOs can thrive easily on player made content. Those games are mostly about playing an alternate persona. At least in Second Life, fashion was everything. You were looked at by what outfit you wore more than your ability to actually have social skills. So, those that
WoW (Score:2)
I've been playing WoW for ahwile, after coming from a background of heaving MUSHing, and I can say that one of the things that I enjoyed about MUSHing was the ability to build my own domicile and business. I probably enjoyed it even more than the game playing itself. Not only was it "intro to coding logic", but once created I could show off the object or the building as a fruit of my own creativity to friends, which lead to a "sense of space." I would feel actually more comfortable talking to someone, ei
Re:WoW (Score:2)
This is why I refuse to get into WoW or most MMOs these days. In FFIX, without spending extra gil--and we know how much of a problem that can be in that game for those of us who didn't buy it--you couldn't get unique-looking armor.
Hell, _Quake_ had the ability to dynamically change certain colors of the skins--I don't know if it's hard to implement or what, but why do so many games not take advantage of this? This is a game that came
Morrowind - Ashes of the Apocalypse (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Morrowind - Ashes of the Apocalypse (Score:1)
Re:Morrowind - Ashes of the Apocalypse (Score:1)
Re:Morrowind - Ashes of the Apocalypse (Score:1)
It better happen in the timeline of the end of the Ghouls' lifecycle (so we can get one more helping of Harold). The WW2 mod for FOT:BOS can only tide me over so long.
The perfect niche for Blender (Score:2)
LetterRip
Ryzom (Score:1)
Content already is king (Score:2)
When given the opportunity, players already sink hundreds of thousands of manhours of development time into building game worlds. No company can afford to match that with paid hours, nor can any small group of developers match the sum of that creativity. The construction process creates a somewhat chaotic and hapazard world, sure, but if you structure it right even chaos will tend to flow smoothly.
In effect, the players will entertain each other with thei
check out rFactor (Score:1)
While rFactor hasn't yet taken the simracing world by storm, it's a very interesting contender, given the "moddability" and mod track record of previous ISI titl