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5003 Posts
Not pvp as in protoss vs protoss, but pvp as in player vs player. Just clearing up that first! Furthermore, this blog post will be very disorganized, since it's late and I can't really spend that much time re-organizing this after I write it. I'll basically be asking a lot of questions that I want to study in the future, so it'll be a reminder post for myself.
Basically, I'm doing some thinking at the moment regarding player interactions in MMORPGs. I basically remembered why I enjoyed playing certain MMORPGs playing so much. To explain why, let's talk about why I enjoy features like New Game + first.
New Game+ is now a standard feature in every series available. While I believe its original intent was to allow for players to play through the game faster the second time around so they can unlock different kinds of endings or play through the alternative scenarios(sup Chrono Trigger), I'm wondering how many of us are actually "addicted" to these kinds of imbalances that lets us sadistically crush, torture, enemies.
The game I've admittedly had the most fun with this feature is Super Robot Wars OG2, where I could simply send in one unit with full upgrades, best weapons, and equipment, 999 PP on the pilot going into maxing all of the super cool abilities, and simply crushing the computer AI as you play through. In the same vein, I enjoyed games like Disgaea and Phantom Brave, where you could simply power up forever and ever and try to deal as much damage as possible. Power up forever and ever, and just crush everything that gets in your way.
Now, the question is, how many people play MMORPGs because of this? If so, should such a "imba" ness be a feature?
There's at least one MMORPG that believes that this should be a feature. I'm sure many of you guys watching the progamer streams noticed the advertisement for IRIS online, where they have claymotion like swordsman and elf mage take on some boss monsters, interrupted by korean phrases. The Korean phrases actually say the following
"THE TIME FOR DIFFICULT RPGS ARE OVER"
"EASIER"
"FASTER"
"STRONGER"
Basically, the game advertises itself on the fact that the PvM is ridiculously broken (I haven't played the game, so I don't quite know). Meaning that, they're advertising themselves to the players who want to join a game and be ridiculously powerful beating up monsters, and get the sense of "growth" really quickly.
Does this kind of game appeal to you? It's quite an extreme example, but how much appeal do you think these "imba" feature has in games, and how many people actually replay the games for these features? Or even better, how many people play MMORPGs simply because they like beating shit up, even if they don't care for MMO?
Furthermore, will this "imba" appeal if everyone could beat up on those powerful monsters, or does the effect only come from a relative view point? Will that "imba" pleasure still be there? (ie, does your pleasure in beating shit up in NewGame+ without breaking a sweat come from the fact that you have played through it before and know how difficult it is, or is it simply because you enjoy doing large amounts of damage?)
Note that this effect doesn't even have to be a game! It could simply be an economic thing, where people enjoy getting "rich" relatively faster than everyone else. Is there a "pleasure" in this, or are people simply doing certain tasks because they want to be well off, or because "they're getting more money than everyone else"?
What would happen in the ideal environment where all the rewards from differing actions are equal? What would happen then?
Any opinions and answers would be appreciated! More questions would also be appreciated!
 
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Slower is better.
I'll use wow the one i have spent the most time on.
As it is now its to fast to get to 80 that you don't even need to explore every zone so why are they even there?
I played ( play, on and off all the time ) for like 5-6 years now and have multiple 80's so the whole boring thing isn't right, but then i am a perfectionist and i like stuff like quests done chronologically and in the fastest way possible, hmm nvm just blabbering now, gonna go cry bbs.
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I don't think I ever heard Korean Game and Easy in the same sentence ever. Things are using imba when people find out ways to take it down easier sometimes in ways the developers didn't intend. Some games can be way to easy like WoW its no longer a difficult game. If all things were equal I would see that people would tend to take the easiest short cut in and already easy road. It honestly doesn't isn't that appealing you really get no sense of accomplishment and you only get instant gratification which in the end doesn't feel as good as if you took the time.
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
It seems like an MMO that had a short road to power wouldn't make very much money. An MMO ideally should always have a goal towards which the players can strive, because that goal is what keeps the players subscribing to the service.
In a game like EVE, there is no endgame. There are only more and more goals. You feel terrible and small in the beginning, but as you get better and better at the game, you really feel the improvement. Players that have been playing since the game started still haven't reached the "final stage" of the endgame -- because there is none. That's the ideal model for encouraging loyalty and long-term subscriptions.
That said, the developers of IRIS online may be pursuing a different route towards $$$. They may be banking on the initial purchase of the game to create most of their profit. They may not care at all about loyalty.
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Canada8036 Posts
The best part about games that feature New Game+ is the fact that enemies that once gave you a lot of trouble are now a walk in the park. It's like getting revenge on the computer for beating you to a pulp earlier. However, a game that begins as a cakewalk is not fun since part of the enjoyment I get from beating a game stems from its difficulty. For instance, some of the puzzles in Braid are pretty difficult to solve. Grinding through the level itself trying to find the solution isn't very fun, but when you finally solve it, you feel like a friggin' genius. In short, the "imba" feature is nice to have, but is only really acceptable as a reward for doing something hard such as completing the game.
I don't really think this theory translates well to real life. Given a choice, I think most people would take the easy path if the outcome is guaranteed to be the same regardless of their decision. When gaming, the aim is to be entertained, and while there is some fun in easily beating the crap out of every enemy you meet, it's going to get old really fast. In addition, this doesn't exactly inspire any sense of achievement in the player. Thus, most people will want some sort of difficulty in the long term.
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I agree motbob I found EVE to be quite fun but way to much time to invest for what I could do. Game had a lot of stuff to do with a small amount of time in the day to get it all done. It becomes quite a drag though when you have to spend weeks to learn one thing but so worth it in the end. I want to know why people want to follow WoW when it only brings down MMOs and not follow the way EVE does thing instead.
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