Lum over at Brokentoys has an interesting post up about PvP, and his thoughts on how to do it right. It’s a great read, even if you don’t particularly care for PvP yourself. As with any very debatable topic, I don’t full agree with all his points.

His first point, that your game can’t focus entirely around PvP, uses some questionable examples, Planetside, WW2 Online, and Fury. Aside from PvP, those games also have something else in common, they are bad games. Not because they are PvP based, but because they are not well executed. You can Google reviews for any of them and find countless examples of each games shortcomings, most of which don’t address the PvP. Along with these games, we have games like Shadowbane which further cast a negative light on PvP-based MMOs. Even a game like DAOC, overall considered a success, has some serious flaws concerning its PvP implementation. All it would take is one successful PvP-based MMO to change this perception of PvP as a viable model for a big time MMO.

PvP has its barriers, but it’s also one of the big ‘hooks’ of an MMO. PvP content far exceeds questing and raiding, as the same castle or town can be raided over and over, each time the battle changing in meaningful ways. This would allow the developers to tune and tweak their game, instead of having to pump out a new zone or instance as soon as the old content has been conquered. PvP also brings out strong human emotions, things like pride and loyalty. If your guild gets smoked by another in a battle, that only fuels you to get back at them. If you wipe on a raid boss, does that really fuel you, do you feel personally insulted that he took you down? One look at EVE’s COAD board and it’s very clear people take Corp reputation very serious, and that each victory is a source of pride. You just don’t get that from downing the same raid boss that half the raiding guilds have already taken down.

What I really get out of Lum’s post is that PvP has yet to be implemented in a way that works on a large scale, because to do so is very difficult. UO had some great PvP, but it was flawed, same with DAOC, and now EVE. Each game is a source of great stories and memories, yet for every great story you have a group of players burned by that experience, forever bitter at PvP. Equally important is to send the right message about your game. Make it known to the players that you are PvP focused, and that they should expect some lows along with the highs. Too many people have been cuddled by WoW-like games, those games being their first and possibly only exposure to MMOs. They expect everything to be handed to them at little risk. With so many options, people are quick to jump ship at the first setback, never seeing or experiencing the upside of PvP. If a game was able to hook players early enough, they would be motivated to push through their first setback, and get into more situations that exemplify the highs of PvP, rather than the lows. Far too often you hear something along the lines of “well I play games for fun, so if something is not fun, I quit”. Fair enough, but at what point is a very fun experience worth a slightly less fun one before it? Would you rather go from highs to lows and back, or remain in purgatory forever?

But again, PvP is not for everyone; there is no magic formula that will get everyone into the game and loving it. That said there very likely is some formula that will allow PvP to be viable on a greater scale than it is now. Once out, that formula will show that PvP can be just as viable as questing or raiding as a base for an MMO; that you can design a game from the ground up to focus on PvP. When we will see that game is anyone’s guess, and while WAR looked like it might be that game, the recent rumors about it going WoW-like are troubling. Hopefully those are over-exaggerated, or that AoC will deliver the goods. As a long time fan of PvP, one can always hope.