The Dumbing Down of MMO’s

      I’ve been an MMO player since 1998.  Before that I wrote code for a popular “MUD.”  In my first MMO, there were no “classes” of character, no defined advancement paths.  Even learning new magic was a matter of trial and error – spells required components, and those components consisted of certain special items, plants, and a spoken syllable.  The material components, and the order in which they appeared in the spell research tool determined the sound your character would speak.  So if you knew what elements produced a syllable, you could reverse engineer to discover the spell.  But the point was, everyone had to research and learn their spells.  You didn’t buy them from a vendor, or have a trainer add them to your skill list.  You worked for them.  Conversely, if you were an archer, you spent time making arrows and/or learning how to augment those arrows with fire, frost, poison, etc.  Sword jocks were exactly that.  “Me too dumb for words, hit things…”

     During my time there, this wonderful work of art, this magic system was “simplified.”  Spell research was done away with in favour of purchasing spell scrolls from vendors.  3 to 7 mouse clicks per arrow, and their resultant skill checks (including a chance of levelling that skill) was reduced to 1 or 2 clicks per bundle of 250.  All this was “to make the game more accessible…”

     World of Warcraft was perpetrated.  It borrowed heavily from some earlier games, most notably the failed Asheron’s Call 2, and the perennial Everquest – thinks like shining markers over quest NPC’s heads, and a compass to point you directly to the goal of your currently selected quest.  It was dead easy to level mindlessly to the cap without ever bothering to read quest instructions.  But because of it’s pre-existing fan base – all the Blizzard Kiddies from Battlenet – it outsold everything before it by an insane factor, and became the model for success in the MMO industry.

     It is *not* a good game.  There’s very little challenge, there’s no reason to continue to play past the level cap, it’s brainless, easy-mode gaming.  However it *is* “more accessible.”

      While I understand the reasoning behind things like a level cap – you can’t work yourself up to a point where all existing content becomes trivial – I can’t fathom *why* you would build a game that allows the player to hit that cap in less then a year, let alone the month or so that seems to be the preferred number of today’s game designers.  I personally thought that the goal of an MMO was long-term playability, player retention, and earnings-over-time.  New players become long term players when they have a goal to reach.  If they can reach that goal in a month, they turn into the people that cruise the forums everyday whining that there’s no content, no end game, nothing to do past cap, new content doesn’t arrive often or quickly enough, etc.

     My current game of choice is Lord of the Rings Online, for a couple of reasons – of course the first is that I’m a huge fan of the source literature.  Its not necessary to play the game, but if you are already a fan you’ll find yourself saying things like, “Go to Bree?  Hey!  I know how to get there from here…!” before you’ve even explored that far.  The second reason is that I’m also a huge fan of the company making the game, Turbine Games.  I’ve spent a lot of time in their games, and in some cases behind the scenes in their games, beta testing, testing patches, even writing some portions of strat guides, manuals, and magazine articles about them. 

     Like most current MMO’s LOTRO is not a difficult game.  There are no complex systems like the magic or crafting systems I’ve discussed above.  But there are a few features that require the use of some of the grey matter gathering dust in your skull.  One of these is questing.  There is no little arrow on the compass to show you the way to your next quest goal.  The game is based on a rich literary world, described in intricate detail by the author.  And the game continues that tradition – to quest successfully one must actually read, and act on, the text given you by the quest bestower.  If an npc tells you to head to a red tree due west of Celondim, your best bet to find said tree is to go to Celondim, and travel due west from the center of town, while looking for a red tree.  It’ll be there.  Honest.  If you *really* can’t find it  you can ask on the /advice channel.  “Hey!  I can’t find the red tree due west of Celondim.  Any hints?”

     “Yes!  Head due west from Celondim.  You’ll eventually find a red tree…”

     Okay, bad example, but honestly, what else would you expect, asking a silly question like that?  Usually the second or third respondent will tell you something more useful.

     The release notes for the next update of LOTRO are out, and low and behold … the answer to the question above is now, “go into Options and turn on Quest Guide…” and you’ll get a little arrow that points the way.

     The dumbing down continues.  Sad that even Turbine, the company that designed the wonderful magical research system in that game in 1998, feels the need to design games for play by the lowest common denominator.