Killing Noob

Michael Hartman just wrote up a fantastic blog about MMO elitism among communities. It was so good that a few rather "special" individuals showed up to trash him just for suggesting that the tired DikuMUD framework is, well... tired. I feel a bit of solidarity with him regarding this subject, since Epic Frontiers is trying to break out of the DikuMUD mold with features such as NPC conversation which requires a more delicate touch than just bashing an NPC or MOB over the head until gold and loot come flying out of its ass (oh come on, did you really think the bear had a coin purse it kept that money in?)...

So the subject of this blog, inspired by Muckbeast, is how Epic Frontiers may differ from other MMOs such as WoW and social features we're working on in order to further improve the signal-to-noise ratio in our community...

In brief, the problem with MMO elitism is that it's based on the fact that the design of the game segregates players from each other by level, in effect giving communities little choice but to reflect their gameplay in their social interactions. And because a high-level player is impacted by interacting with new players with stagnation, the communities of these games becomes stratified and negative towards players that attempt interacting with them and inducing "drag".

Starting at Level 1, a new player can never hope to accompany a veteran Level 80 player on an adventure. But isn't that the problem? Adventure means being in over your head...

The standard response is that those veteran Level 80 players don't bother playing with noobs because they're busy playing "End Game" content. But, why is there "End Game" content anyway? Could it be because the levelling system designed into present-day MMOs is insufficient to accurately represent a player over the intended lifespand of the game? These days, it takes a few weeks to level your character up to the max level in World of Warcraft, if you're inclined to read through the many leveling guides posted on teh interwebs.

But then, if that is part of the problem, then how can Epic Frontiers try to minimize it? Glad you asked. There's a few things we've done with the design to keep players interesting in the gameworld that will most likely help the community stay fresh (imagine sheets on a clothesline in a summer breeze):

1. Firstly, we have no classes or levels, and all skills are raised upon use. And while the skills themselves have levels, the granularity of "skills" is such that characters can be highly specialized and varied.
2. Owing to the skill-based nature of the game outlined above, we found that procedural content was a good tool to use in order to provide content that matches the kind of player you are. Or, put another way, it is simply impossible to handwrite quests for every combination of character you have, but we are putting technology in place that can deliver the same quality of questing across a broader spectrum of character types.
3. In addition, we've deepend the crafting features and added a fast and unique NPC conversation system that also lends itself to the quest generation technology in a way that not only gives the player vast amounts of fresh content, but also delivers a much broader spetrum of gameplay. Now we can have quests of a social nature that involve NPCs at a level you haven't seen before. This kind of thing naturally allows the player to slide into character and out of the temptation to act out (after all, the NPCs will remember your general personality at a more detailed level than just reputation).
4. We've improved AI for the NPCs and based it on personality traits. Extending that, the NPCs will also be looking at the players in like fashion, and if the player acts like a moron, he will likely be remembered and treated as such. The NPC will remember what you've talked about, how it made them feel, and that influences further help or hinderance you receive from them. The world is much more consequential than the usual MMO, and we think that the players will more naturally align their attitudes with that kind of gameplay (that said, we know it's not a perfect answer, because there is no perfect answer for the problem).
5. Beyond game features themselves, we're keen on integrating social features into the MMO that bring social networking tools into the hands of the players. This doesn't mean tweens with MySpace pages invading the game, but character pages with social functions that help the players to play together, bond, communicate, and have fun without taking the focus away from the gameworld. These features of course come with the standard reporting tools on both the web-facing part of the game and extending into the game world itself, to help curb inappropriate behavior (racial/sexual harrassment, etc).

Again, this design is not foolproof, and the "funness" of the game comes first, but the design as we have it should enable high-level and low-level players as well as social- and combat-oriented players to not only coexist, but mingle freely. Because crafters can concentrate on crafting rather than grinding combat quests to gain XP, they can more easily fulfill their role in the world while those who wish to be pure combat are not required to choose a profession or secondary class (or even primary class, for that matter). And likewise, the skill-based system supports the Jack Of All Trades types that will inevitably emerge.

Mixed parties of veteran/new players with combat, crafting, and mixed characters are encouraged by the varied gameplay requirements, making a more adventurous and tolerant environment, and less of a game where high-level players are impacted negatively by interacting with new players and thus act negatively (or neutrally) to them.

Hopefully, our feature set will result in a better community than has been exhibited by other games at certain times (and the asshats who have inspired these blogs are certainly not representative of everyone who plays MMOs, or else we wouldn't be bothering to develop them!), and I think that Mike is right on target with his blog. The subject of communities needs much more attention as more gamers migrate onto internet-based games, and frank exploration of the game designs that influence behavior is long overdue.