Twitchdoctor
twinhits
waltersthegreat
Broadpaw
aegisfang
Players don’t typically buy a game expecting to finish it in a couple of hours. That our involvement with various games is more in the nature of a hook-up than a shared toothbrush holder regrettably says more about the quality of the games we are presented with. Most players I know, after all, really want a game that has great replayability and to which they can return after being unfaithful with some other tawdry and momentarily attractive title and find that it welcomes you back without any questions asked.
Posts Tagged ‘Star Trek Online’
The Huddled Masses, Yearning to be Free?
Posted: September 19, 2010 by Twitchdoctor in Games and MarketingTags: EVE, game design, game development, games, Guild Wars 2, Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, MMORPG, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Star Trek Online, Video game
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The Artifice of Community
Posted: April 27, 2010 by Twitchdoctor in game design, Game ResearchTags: Bioware, CCP, community, EVE, Flying Lab Software, game design, game research, immersion, MMORPG, Pirates of the Burning Sea, RPG, Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, SWTOR
In most MMOs, all too often other players don’t matter, not really. Of course, if you are part of a guild, then your guildmates typically do matter. But to a large extent that “mattering” derives from associations and motivations that while linked with the game world are often external to it. There are many games out there that encourage players to group. But they do this chiefly by bribing players. They try to encourage Joe and Jane Gamer to break out of their entrenched solipsism by then encouraging them to see other players simply in a self-serving light, as props to their own prowess. So grouping with other players will give you an XP boost, or provide you with healer support, etc. This, however, is a long way from feeling that other players really matter. Because what matters to you is not the individual player but rather their class and/or level.
