MMO Weekly Page 2

14 Jul 2009 at 10:49:02 by Jeff Hollis

• All MMOs are based on the gameplay model - a model I call the 'dungeon crawl' - that was invented by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in Dungeons and Dragons: create a character, form a group, explore a dungeon, kill a boss, and get some super-neato cool loot along the way. It's all about having a couple of hours of fun, geeky adventure.
• Virtually all MMORPGs (including WoW) follow this model. Players can log in, run an instance, play for a couple of hours (or all night long if they want to run several instances), and they literally fall in love with the game as they level up.
• At the endgame, MMO designers inexplicably decide that players no longer want to do what they love: form groups, kill bosses, and get super-neato loot. Instead, say the designers, players now all of a sudden want Difficult and Increasingly time-Consuming Content (which, in my startlingly immature mind, I refer to as DICC). WoW's developers have also gone down this road.
• DICC breaks from the Gygax-Arneson dungeon crawl model, in that it does not consist of a discrete, enjoyable, compact adventure. In fact, DICC consumes a LOT more time. Some DICC, like many raids, takes between four and eight hours per game session to complete. Other DICC, like the current WoW Arena system, goes on for months and requires hours of gameplay per week.
• Compared to any well-crafted dungeon encounter, DICC doesn't require any additional cleverness, insight, or advanced play skills. It simply requires an ever-greater commitment of time and labour.
• However, because DICC is considered 'hardcore' or 'elite' content, players willing to put in the time to participate in DICC get disproportionately great rewards. Players who continue to do dungeon crawls are rewarded with second-rate loot throughout the game system, and there are virtually no exceptions.
• Since getting cool loot is one of the pillars of gameplay, DICC basically hijacks the whole system and sends it out of whack. The average player senses this on some level, and becomes vulnerable (consciously or not) to the temptations of new MMOs.
• There are no work-arounds or shortcuts. Any type of intensely time-consuming content in WoW is glorified and yields great loot, and normal content does not. Any time the developers morph a game system into DICC, the loot is upgraded. Any time they normalise a game system and it becomes less time consuming, the loot is downgraded or otherwise limited.
• The Gygax-Arneson dungeon crawl model is all about fun. DICC is all about work.

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