I think the short answer is, companies need to stop releasing MMOs that
are still in beta. Not stop beta tests -- stop selling the game as if
it's a complete world. Like most games, MMOs rely on hype and the 1st
month sales to get them into the red. Unfortunately, MMOs also require
a monthly commitment to stay afloat, to pay for things like electricity
to run the world servers. The problem is, a poorly released MMO will
not keep the excited fan base if there is nothing to intrest them, or if
the interface is buggy or if the client crashes frequently. I think
this kept decent MMOs such as Planetside and Anarchy Online from ever
really catching on, and will always be a problem regardless of newbies
or not.

Personally, while trying to force myself through the Saga of Ryzom demo,
I was crying in frustration as I tried to learn the complex and poorly
designed interface. I will never know what the advanced features of the
game were, because I immediately uninstalled the game and have become
disillusioned with it. Unless I were to really see some glowing reviews
over a new and updated interface, the rest of the game and all it's
features can rot for all I care.

On the other hand, FFXI was an amazingly simple game to get into. It
was clean, had a short learning curve, and a ton of things to do and
explore. Perhaps it was because it was already released in Japan for a
while, but I think it was more than that: I think that by keeping things
simple at first, then making the game more complex as you advance
(instead of dumping everything on you at once) Square was able to keep
the players who were testing the water and turn them into fans.
Blizzard will be taking a very similar tactic towards World of Warcraft,
so I hear -- the game will be designed from the bottom up to be as
user-friendly as possible. This is not to say that there won't be
unpopular features or the dreaded "Blizzard Nerf" patch around the
corner to piss everyone off. But by having a clear design philosophy up
front and not throwing the newbies to the wolves (THE biggest reason
Lineage will never become mainstream) it stands a chance to survive.

It's really a damn shame about Earth: Above and Beyond -- the demo I
tried out seemed really cool, but I guess they learned an important
lesson: players don't like exploring empty space and repetitive fetch
quests. Give us some scenery and something interesting to do, and we'll
forgive the occasional unpopular decision.

Just keep away from the "Permanent Death" idea. In a persistent world,
the worst thing that could happen is to lose a carefully constructed and
much cared for avatar. I didn't spend 1000 hours and a hundred bucks to
watch my guy go down in flames because I entered the wrong area at too
low a level.

--Frank

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Pinal [danp--massmedia.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 8:51 PM
To: <Address Masked>
Subject: Why Virtual Worlds are Designed By Newbies - No, Really!



http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20041103/bartle_pfv.htm


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