Tobold made a post today asking what should be rewarded in an MMO. Halfway through posting a comment I realized it was getting a bit lengthy, so instead we get this post.

Tobold is correct in his statement that an MMO needs to be somewhat easy to capture as great an audience as possible. Simply put, some players might quit if they are getting constantly beat down by the game. To avoid this most games are VERY forgiving and go out of their way to make things easier.

That said, even in an ‘easy’ MMO like WoW player skill can still be a factor, although highly diminished. If we have two identical characters at a give level, the player who is more comfortable with game mechanics and knows how to use them to his advantage will be able to tackle tougher quests/mobs than a player who is new to the game and does not know the ins and outs. Both will eventually reach the highest level, but the higher skilled player will do so faster.

MMO formula: faster = skill

In the raiding game, the most coveted prize is a ‘World First’ kill of a boss, again showing us that faster = skill. Yes you need to invest a great deal of time into a raiding guild to make ANY progress, but at some point the cream rises to the top and top tier guilds simply progress faster than others.

If we break it down further, inside any raiding guild you have players of varying skill. You have your top tier players, generally those that are the MT/MH/class captains, and then the ‘rest’. Aside from knowing the mechanics of a game, a player must also be able to take this information and use it effectively. Two tanks could be provided the exact same strategy for a boss, but when it comes down to it, the higher skilled tank will make the correct decisions on how to react and when long before the other tank does. Yes eventually both will succeed, given enough time, but by the time tank 2 completes the current boss, tank 1 and his guild will already be working on the next encounter.

My point is that even in the easiest MMOs, skill DOES factor in. The real problem is that you can get the same experience out of 99% of the game with or without skill, with time being the only factor on WHEN that happens. Whether that is a good thing or not is debatable.