May News/Discussions

[kandrathe]

May 2 News
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Cameron Sorden comes up with a very nice article...

The part that was most interesting was the concepts exploring group motivation, which is what I find most lacking in most MMORPG's. So, a better job of guaranteeing a payoff for dedicated work is one good idea, that "armor tokens" seem to address. Of course, dropping that super hard boss for a pseudo item seems a bit abstract and reality breaking. Then again, having the reward always be loot is another myopia of these games. The ultimate reward is actually character improvement, and subsequent experiences in increasingly difficult encounters should improve your character on their own merits and not depend on loot to supply progression alone. Hence, the "I can't do X until Y drops for me." problem. I think it would be worthwhile for game designers to go back to traditional RPG's and add in more concepts that made those games playable for decades.

I believe it comes down to building a game more heavily based on experience really, and building in a system that allows characters to choose talents, skills and improvements based on experience, rather than depending on the PRNG and finding loot to do it. I mean examine your WOW characters and see how much of even your base attributes are derived from gear, rather than innate talent. Strip anyone of our characters of their gear and they are common house mums, and gardeners.