Sci-Fi MMOs Make Players Play Generic, Boring Races

A similar problem occurs when it comes to the races/species that sci-fi games allow players to choose from.  In early Anarchy Online, those races were all human.  There were skinny humans and muscular humans, but that's where the differences ended.  In Tabula Rasa, the problem was actually worse.  Everyone played a human (hybrids were introduced as the game entered into its death spiral), and each human looked very similar to everyone else.  In Hellgate London, the situation was identical.  You could choose to play a human, a human, or a human.  

This is as boring as white bread.  The very idea of an RPG is that you can play something distinctly different from yourself.  While many players of traditional fantasy MMOs choose to play as a human, that is their preference, and no one forces it upon them.  Many more choose to play as a dwarf, an orc, or a cute little gnome.  More exotic options exist in many games: frogloks, centaurs, tauren, ogres.  The fun lies in choosing something distinct and different from everyone else.  

As with the previous problem, the player has no opportunity to feel unique and heroic.  Most sci-fi MMOs reduce or eliminate racial options completely, thus ensuring that players all feel the same.  


Sci-Fi MMOs Give Players Generic, Boring-Looking Gear

A similar problem rears its plain, generic, head when it comes to gear.  Consider WoW, a game most of the readers of this column are familiar with.  Your gear, especially in the endgame, is a set of exotic, outlandish, wearable trophies.  Players think nothing of an oversized hat with some bright orange whirligigs circling it.  A staff with moving parts and some light-emitting crystals is instantly recognisable and completely normal.  Shoulders are huge and distinct.  People frequently notice a player with good gear; it's obvious.

In the sci-fi games I've played, this is often not the case.  While a piece of endgame gear will have epic stats, it may not have a particularly epic look.  In fact, in my experience, it may look only slightly better than a piece of ordinary equipment.  Sci-Fi game designers have yet to embrace the over-the-top quality that the gear of fantasy MMOs have long possessed.  Again, I don't know why, but my epic, endgame blasters looks quite similar to the store-bought, run-of-the-mill blasters I had six levels ago.

The problem, of course, should by now be familiar: once again, this makes every player look the same.  The whole idea of character building and role-playing - playing a distinct, heroic character - is diminished by this.      


Sci-Fi MMOs Make Players Play in Boring, Generic Environments

Even though it's been years, I can recall, quite fondly, a number of the dungeons/instances that I cleared in EQ.  The same goes for DAoC.   It is certainly true, now, for WoW.

Of the sci-fi MMOs I've played - Star Wars Galaxies, Hellgate London, Anarchy Online, and Tabula Rasa - I cannot remember having a similar experience.  In fact, very few examples of an interesting instance, base, fortress, dungeon, or mission stand out in my mind.  I do remember feeling that most of the missions seemed very generic and similar to one another.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why game designers seem stuck on several standard designs, right out of the old Star Trek series.  There's the cave, the futuristic building interior, the internal rooms and halls of a starship, and the occasional outdoor adventure.  The variety is small.       

Again, this is related to the problems mentioned above.  Non-distinct classes, identical races, and missions that are all the same.  Compared to a solid fantasy MMO - one that makes an ongoing effort to keep variety in the game - this is all getting pretty dry.  


The Boring, Generic Trend

I need to clarify that each of the sci-fi MMOs I mentioned above had some of these problems, but not necessarily all of them in every case.  Hellgate allowed only one race, but did make the character classes at least somewhat different in appearance, and significantly different in abilities.  Pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies certainly allowed players to play a nice variety of different races; the classes, however, were a hodge-podge of confusing, generic abilities, and the missions were identical from level 1 to the endgame.  However, several of these trends can be identified in each of the previously mentioned games.  Clearly, no sci-fi MMO exists that combines the racial variety, the distinct classes, the varied environments, and the outlandishly unique gear that WoW (or any other successful fantasy MMO) does.  And that, my friends, is at least part of why they have not yet achieved noticeable success.  

Ok, you've listened to me opine on this topic enough, and I must bring this week's edition of MMO Weekly to its conclusion.  If you feel differently, or have different insights as to why sci-fi MMOs struggle to maintain their player-base, feel free to comment below.  For now, ciao!

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