Archive for January, 2004
The Nature of the Game
The Massively Multiplayer genre has, for the most part, been dominated by games. So much so, in fact, that the genre now has “game” as part of it’s name. Is Everquest really a game? When we log in to Norrath or Naboo, are we gaming? Today we’re talking about virtual spaces, what they are, and whether in the end we are actually “playing” anything. With apologies to Richard Bartle.
1 commentLet’s Start at the Very Beginning
Massively Multiplayer design is an extremely complex issue. So complex that I’m going to be up front with you: I have a very poor grasp of it. I’ve never worked as a designer on a game (though, obviously, I’d like to). However, I have been following MMOG design as an interest of mine since the early days of Ultima Online. I’m traditionally a pen and paper roleplayer, and the distinction of the tabletop setting and the Massively Multiplayer setting is somewhat thin. At the nitty-gritty level, choices you make a person running a tabletop game (”Do I hit them with the gnolls just after they enter the forest, or should I let them find the grave first?”) are very similar to ones you find in MMOG design (”Do I put the encounter here, or here?”). Now that I’ve insulted every game designer reading this, I’d like to state that there are some extraordinarily important distinctions. Budget, time, and manpower considerations, as well as a host of other issues both economic and technical mean that a table-top GM and a MMOG designer are very different animals. The thought process, though, seems to be very similar. So when UO first came out I was hooked.
No commentsWhat is Past is Prologue
With Hyrrix now off on his newest adventure, the Monday editorial will be my bailiwick from now on. As such, I’ve decided to rename it. “Random Dialogue” is an apt description of what I’d like to get across in these editorials. Namely, what is on my mind at the time when it comes to the genre we all enjoy a great deal. I’m going to generally speak from a crunchier perspective. My editorial on Questing from a while back is a good example of what I’m going for. Today I’m going to start off with some of my favorite snackable parts from MMOGs that were released in 2003.
1 comment
