Economy: Sinks, as only EVE can do them

Posted on January 28, 2014 by SynCaine

So this happened.

3 TRILLION ISK. Edit: Make that 11 trillion.

I’m sure in a few hours/days you will see fully detailed reports, not to mention wildly inaccurate crap from the now-reliable sources, but yea, only EVE with this kind of stuff.

Posted in EVE Online | 17 Comments

So McQuaid it hurts

Posted on January 26, 2014 by SynCaine

I have a feeling SOE shutting down a bunch of “F2P ALL TEH WAY!” titles is going to lead to a lot of blogging gold, especially things like this nugget: Brad MqcQuaid, who made the now dead Vanguard and is really proud of it, is asking people for money to make soon-to-be-dead Vanguard. At the same time, said-guy-asking-for-money was wondering if he could buy dead Vanguard from SOE.

Brad, were you going to open another Kickstarter to buy dead Vanguard, or use soon-to-be-dead Vanguard kickstater money to buy dead Vanguard? Or do you have enough money for dead Vanguard personally, but like Lord British, you figured you might as well collect some dummy cash off dead Vanguard fans for soon-to-be-dead Vanguard because hey, if making one embarrassing video is all it takes to (try to) get 800k, you might as well right?

Posted in Perma-death, Rant, Vanguard | 7 Comments

This is what I’m working with…

Posted on January 26, 2014 by SynCaine

Per ForumFall:

EVE online is a hybrid theme park game with the biggest safe zone of any pvp mmo ever in existence. EVE has sandbox elements that are manifested in 0.0 space where alliances can drop permanent stations that can then be taken by warring alliances. This is very sandboxy but in truth every single member of any alliance in eve is able to utilize the massive safe zone(empire) to make as much money as they want in safety. As a player you can become rich solo, with a corp, or with an alliance in relative safety, much more so than in DFUW in its early days or now. Eve is truly only a sandbox in terms of its market, and its developers have never fucked with that, they have only ever added content. DFUW can learn from that last bit.

How can that much dumb be squeezed into one paragraph?

Edit: Above quote is from someone who played on a PvP server in EQ1 and considers that ‘real PvP’. Totally makes sense now. (And yes, this too is SOE’s fault).

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online | 14 Comments

SOE: Still a one-hit wonder

Posted on January 25, 2014 by SynCaine

Shocking.

SOE continuing to show that if you get one MMO right (EQ1), you can basically screw up everything for the next decade and still be ok.

But don’t worry SWG fans, SOE is working on a title just for you! No chance they screw it up. Zero. That would only be possible from a studio that pulled off something like the NGE, which totally isn’t SOE…. oh wait.

 

Posted in FreeRealms, RMT, Vanguard | 9 Comments

The basics of RUST, and it’s lessons for the MMO genre

Posted on January 22, 2014 by SynCaine

If many recent MMOs are 3-month titles, a game like RUST is a one-monther. Now, before you start raging, that’s not an outright ‘bad’ thing; many games aren’t design for prolonged play, and that’s perfectly fine. Unless, you know, your business model is based around keeping people long-term, but more on that in a bit.

What’s great about RUST is it gives you that sandbox feel without the usual buildup to get into a sandbox. The only character progression is finding and learning blueprints for crafting, and even that is somewhat optional since you can get and use everything in the game from other players; blueprints just allow you to craft the stuff yourself should you want to.

The other ‘core’ aspect of RUST is collecting stuff, and building a base/home to store said stuff in, yet again RUST is short-term here; there is only so much stuff you can collect that you need, and once you have built a few bases, that novelty wears off as well. At the same time, you don’t need to spend weeks/months playing before you can get into this aspect; you will likely build something in the first day.

What’s left is hunting zombies, fighting other players, or raiding an enemy base. Hunting zombies is an alternate path to collecting/crafting stuff, and zombies shortly stop being a threat once you have a firearm. Fighting other players is crude fun, but if you are really interested in FPS action, you can certainly find much better in other titles. Raiding a base is generally simple; bring some C4, blow through some walls or doors, and loot some crates. If you don’t really need more stuff (and if you have plenty of C4, you likely don’t), taking the stuff is more about the other guy losing it than you needing it. Again, you get a rush the first few times you do it, but beyond the novelty and the grief aspect, there isn’t a lot of meat here.

Basically, RUST is shallow, but thanks to being shallow you can get right to the good stuff quickly and enjoy yourself for a few weeks or so. If RUST was an MMO, it would be a disaster. As a standalone game, it’s great, especially as it and the mods around it develop more, making revisiting it at a future date appealing.

At the same time, I think it’s a perfect example of what’s really needed to make an MMO work. Just being a ‘sandbox’ isn’t the key, because RUST is most certainly a sandbox. For your MMO to work, you need long-term progression. You need some form of a working economy where players see value in things longer than a few weeks. Basically, you not only need variety in content, but that variety has to be a sustainable cycle. I do A to build up for B. Doing B gets me to C. C is the ‘fun stuff’, but doing it causes me to need to go back to a version of A (different not due to the content itself, but the player change and approach). Rinse repeat, add in D and E to provide additional options for the players as dev time allows.

Far too many MMOs today allow you to finish A and move on to B, never returning to A. Once you finish B, the ‘real game’ starts with C, which often is highly grindy, repeat as needed stuff. Because C is ultimately unsustainable, you ‘soft reset’ (expansion) everyone and put them in at the start of a newly developed version of the A->B->C cycle. That’s very hard to sustain, and each cycle you run the risk of alienating people who really enjoyed the previous version, or hate the new one, or simply don’t want to restart the chain yet again.

If your content is sustainable, you don’t force these resets on your players. Rather, you allow them to keep doing what they are doing if that works for them, but you also expand the appeal and options with D and E.

Sustainability, it saves the planet, and MMOs.

 

Posted in MMO design, Random | 9 Comments

iPhone time: Clash of Clans

Posted on January 21, 2014 by SynCaine

If you watch TV I’m guessing you have seen the ad for Clash of Clans. I’ll admit I think the ad is pretty clever/cute, enough so that I decided to download the game on my iPhone (and also because CoC has been the top-selling game in the app store forever, and I wanted to see why).

I went into CoC expecting Farmville, and while it does have some click-and-wait aspects, it also has a lot of ‘game’ to it. Certainly a lot more than I expected. I’m also surprised how unobtrusive the P2W aspect is, in that you can play normally and fully enjoy the game, or you can play+pay and compete at the highest level (or just progress faster). Sure, whenever you hit a lack of resources or a timer, the game will let you know you can pay to hurry it up, but it doesn’t spam you with shop deals, isn’t full of ad loading screens, and (as far as I’ve seen) doesn’t include exclusive shop-only items of power that make it very obvious you are fighting against something who is going to beat you down with their wallet.

I’ve said before that I’m not fully against P2W games; there is a place for them and when done right can be enjoyable. What I certainly don’t like is when a game lies about its P2W aspect or downplays it; just be upfront about it and let me decide if I want to jump in, don’t insult me by trying to convince me the power in your shop isn’t power. I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing something like CoC and seeing how far I can get without paying (much: I did spent $5 after a few hours to ‘wallet vote’).

The core of CoC is building your base/city. You have resource gathering buildings (mines and extractors), resource holding buildings (that determine your resource cap), specialty buildings (unit training, your town hall, research buildings, etc), and city defenses (cannons, mortars, archer towers, walls, etc).

A huge part of the game is determining where to place everything to best thwart attacks from other players. If a player successfully raids you, they can take some of your resources and you lose some ranking points (they can’t actually destroy your buildings or seriously set you back, and after you have been raided successfully you can a protective shield for a certain number of hours to prevent chain-raiding). Depending on how many resources you have stored, and how successful the raid was, that can be a bit costly, so base defense is very important, as is knowing how best to raid other bases with your units.

Speaking of units, as your ‘level up’ your city hall, more units open up, and things are not as simple as “every new unit is stronger than the previous”. Instead, different units excel in different situations, and finding the right mix against the right base setup is a fun game within the game. The only thing you control while raiding is where you deploy your units, in what order, and when. Once a unit is on the field, the AI controls them based on behavior (giant go for defenses, goblins target resources, most other units attack whatever is closest).

What’s great about CoC is that it lets you replace your entire base whenever you want for free, so if you go with a certain setup but find it lacking, or as new defenses open up, you can redo it through a very friendly and helpful UI. Additionally, you can view (visit) the base of any player, so you can see what others are doing and get some tips. On top of that, anytime you attack or get attacked, you can view a replay of the battle to see how it went, and also share this reply with your clan, who can comment and give you tips as well. All of the above really makes for a social and fun experience, and all of it is included in the free game.

So yes, I’m enjoying CoC as something to tap at causally every few hours, and also as something to also spend 30 minutes or so if I want (to go raiding). I’m most curious to see how the higher-end, P2W stuff goes. I’m guessing the whales spent a ton of money to instantly buy troops to go raiding, and through that raiding achieve the highest ranks, but what I don’t understand right now is why. Is it really just to be the top name on a leaderboard?

Either way, if you are looking for something to do on your iPhone, and enjoy a bit of strategic city building/raiding, I’d recommend trying CoC out. I’m Syncaine on there, but I don’t use Facebook so I’m unsure if we can be ‘friends’. Maybe we can start a clan if enough people are interested…

Posted in iPhone | 3 Comments

F2P All The WAY! doing it big again

Posted on January 20, 2014 by SynCaine

Whale Hunting!

Funny story, and yet again provides some nice insight into just who the F2P MMO business model is going after; it’s not about getting little Billy to spend a buck no matter how many times a hotbar salesmen tries to sell you that line, its about hooking that whale and bleeding him dry.

On top of that, if you are an L2 player, how excited are you that your devs are promoting something with the tag line “Earn rewards just for shopping!” Wait, am I playing an MMO or am a ‘competing’ on the Home Shopping Network?

“Oh Syn that’s just one example out of a thousand this year, what about all those MMOs that do F2P right?”

Which MMO?

Posted in RMT | 33 Comments

Rust is not an MMO

Posted on January 17, 2014 by SynCaine

Picked up Rust to play with some friends. So far (2 days in) it’s fun. Alright killed someone and had them rage in global, and yes, it’s ‘that type of game’.

I also think Rust is a perfect example of systems and mechanics that work great for a game you play for a short burst, NOT something you are intended to play month after month. If you are playing it now, while at the same time being a disgruntled MMO fan, keep that in mind and consider why. I’ll have more on that at a future date.

Edit: Just to be 100% clear, I was not expecting Rust to be an MMO.

Posted in MMO design, Random | 1 Comment

WoW is just trolling itself now

Posted on January 16, 2014 by SynCaine

Glad to see the A-team is back and hard at work on WoW.

Posted in World of Warcraft | 18 Comments

The “Premium Theater” MMO

Posted on January 16, 2014 by SynCaine

Story time.

A few years ago the local movie theater introduced the Premium Theater. It’s $20 a ticket, which includes popcorn and soda. The entrance to this area is separate from the general entrance, its 21+ due to the area having a bar, and you can order food to be brought to your seat. Its assigned seating (pick your spot when you buy the ticket), the seats are leather recliner-style, and you also have a pullout table to put drinks/food on.

Since its release it’s the only way I go to see a movie. No kids at the theater. No worries about getting a bad seat. Dinner and a movie in one. For the time and price it just works for me, and as most shows on popular nights sell out, almost everyone buys a drink and food, my guess is it’s working for the theater as well. It wouldn’t work if they converted all the screens to this format, but one works.

I want a Premium Theater MMO. Put the sub price at $50 a month. Limit the number of entries to a set number that the single server can handle. Zero tolerance ban system. Etc.

And for that $50 a don’t expect a game 3x ‘better’ than a $15 sub game in terms of content production or even overall product ‘value’. I fully understand these things don’t follow a linear scale. You don’t get 3x the car when you buy a BWM over a Kia.

That said I would expect a bit more. Since you have one server and a smaller overall community, GM events should be possible on more regular fashion. You should be able to more easily catch hackers or abusive players. If the game is doing well have a waiting list for new accounts, with people only getting in once a previous account is unsubbed. If the waiting list grows too long, increase the sub price on new accounts.

Point being I think the model could work, especially since we have seen more than a few titles peak serious interest from niche groups, and more than a few people in those niche groups have the money to throw around (if you can drop $1000 for a Kickstarter, I’m pretty sure you can pay $50 for an actual game that provides something you want). Gamers from the ‘early days’ have grown up, some successfully so. Someone needs to cater to them. Where is my Premium Theater MMO? Come take my money already.

Posted in MMO design, Rant | 24 Comments