MyMMORPG: The 3 Pillars

This is a post in my ongoing series MyMMORPG where I pontificate about the MMORPG I would create should I ever get the chance.  See all of my MyMMORPG tagged posts.

 My last post for MyMMORPG covered my "rule of 10" and how it is important to strike a balance between too few and too many decisions to put in front of a player at any given time.  That rule sets a good tone for systems, but it doesn't give us a framework for those systems.  That is where my idea of pillars come into play.

 Stealing from my real life knowledgebase: A pillar refers to a fundamental principle or concept that serves as a core element of a project or product. Design pillars help guide decision-making and maintain focus throughout the development process.  Effective design pillars are typically:

•     Limited in number (usually 3-5)
•     Simple and easy to understand
•     Distinct from one another
•     Fundamental to the project's identity

  So what are my pillars?

1. Combat
2. Economy
3. Content

 Combat is really about conflict: conflict amongst players and conflict between players and the world.  Combat is not always strictly in the form of hitting things with sticks.  Conflict arises anywhere a player is challenged by the game: "to kill 10 rats", racing to get a gathering node, or an objective to climb to the top of a mountain.

 Economy is best represented by it's definition: An area of the production, distribution, trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. Trading is the most easily understood (trade with players or NPCs).  Production not far behind trading (bang anvil, make sword).  Distribution is harder to understand, but is best boiled down to rich vs poor (which itself takes on a lot of variation).  Consumption is the most important aspect of an economy and without it you don't really have an economy. 

 Content is best stated as "things to do".  Content is the engine that provides context for combat and drives the consumption that makes the economy work.  After 30+ years of online games I've come to realize that content is king and as much as we want to think players, when left to do what they want, will make up content the reality is they don't.  They get bored and play other games.  We must deliver them "things to do".

 And there may be discussion worth having on a missing 4th pillar: social.  Social would represent how players interact with each other.  However, I didn't make it a pillar because I feel like it violates our rules for an effective pillar.  

 Is Social "Simple and easy to understand"?  At first glance but when you dig further what does it really mean?  

 Which takes us to "Distinct from one another" where I'd argue it is not distinct.  Trading is a form of players interacting, combat is a way of interacting, and doing content is a way of interacting.  Social isn't distinct. 

 But isn't social "Fundamental to the project's identity"?  Yes it is.  Without social interaction I'd argue the second M is missing in MM(multiplayer)ORPG.  However, its fundamental in all of the other pillars.  Social isn't a pillar; it is the foundation.  Each of the pillars stands on players interacting with each other.

 In follow up posts about MyMMORPG I will try to reference back to the pillars.  Any idea for the game should fit into the pillars; preferably offering something across all three to be considered as a system worth adding to the game.  

 So what do you think of my pillars?  Any pillars that I missed or that you would include?

Lessons Learned: MyMMORPG and the rule of 10

 In the spirit of "Lessons Learned" week for Blaugust 2024 I want to talk about a blogging lesson I've learned: ideas for serial posts are easier than writing the actual posts.  A prime example is the "MyMMORPG" series I started and, checks notes, wrote one post for.  The idea was to translate my experience playing games into pontificating about the MMORPG I would develop should I ever get the chance.  This should have been easy and I should have hundreds of posts already!  Yet I didn't post about it.  Let's give that single post a buddy using the lessons I've learned from playing MMORPGs for close to 30 years now.

 I've developed a rule in my head when playing games which I call "the rule of 10." The rule states: as a player, I can manage 10 available actions at any given time. Any more, and I get overwhelmed; any less, and I lose the feeling that I have meaningful choices or control over my outcome. This balance is crucial because it keeps the gameplay engaging without being stressful. When I have too many options, analysis paralysis sets in, making the experience feel chaotic rather than fun. On the flip side, if I have too few choices, the game starts to feel monotonous or overly simplistic, as if I'm just going through the motions without really influencing the world within the game.

This balance is crucial because it keeps the gameplay engaging without being stressful.

 Stress is a major factor for my enjoyment of gaming.  I can't do hardcore PvP or "dragon kill point" raid content anymore because the stress outweighs the possible fun.  Stress is also a compounding factor on players and every player's stress tolerance is different.  An area we can take stress away from a player is by keeping them feeling like they are in control. Limiting actions to 10 or less caps keeps the player in control.

When I have too many options, analysis paralysis sets in, making the experience feel chaotic rather than fun.

  Analysis paralysis is a real problem in games and life in general.   The paralysis quickly leads players to feel like they are losing control.  Even if the "good" options to choose are minimal the fact that there are many more choices to pick from defeats the minimal choice.  We also have to consider the game world itself and in the case of MMORPGs, other players, also are providing input to the player that drive additional choices. All of these contribute to the paralysis.  Limiting actions to 10 or less limits analysis.

On the flip side, if I have too few choices, the game starts to feel monotonous or overly simplistic, as if I'm just going through the motions without really influencing the world within the game.

  Going with too few options makes the game boring.  I can only left/right click so many times or press that same button so many times.  At some point as a player I need to feel like I am in control and just like too many options can cause me to feel like I'm losing control so can too few options.  Players end up feeling "helpless" without the choices to control what is going on around them.

 You may assume that this entire post is just about combat but that couldn't be further from the truth.  The rule of 10 applies to everything.  Crafting, exploration, navigation, traveling, gathering, any action you can think of taking in an MMORPG.  Any of them should have a goal of meeting the rule to strike the balance.  

 A complex crafting recipe with 20 materials and scroll bars to see everything is going to overwhelm players.  Breaking that crafting process into more manageable steps allows us to have more control of each step and reduces stress on the player increasing the chance they don't just give up.

 I also break the rule down further as not all 10 actions need equal weight at any given time.  This helps to further strike that balance we are striving for.  That breakdown is as follows:

• 5 immediate actions
• These are the bread and butter actions you take all the time.  In combat in most MMORPGs this would be your "rotation".  In crafting this is adding materials and setting variables.  
  
• 4 intermediate actions
• These are situational actions that are used when the conditions are right.  Too many of these skills and it increases stress and analysis paralysis chance. Four is a good number and gives enough variability to cover multiple situations.
  
• 1 limited use "fun" action
• Often called "ultimate" abilities.  These generally charge up over time and have some neat effect.  It always saddens me that this idea is often limited to combat, but it could be useful any other time.  For example; you are gathering away out in the wilderness and build up an ultimate gathering ability that lets you chop a giant tree down in one full swing.  The goal should be to answer YES to the question "is this fun to use?".

Two game examples where I feel like they get it right:

New World (combat)

5 immediate actions: Left click attack, right click block, 3 weapon abilities

4 intermediate actions: Four consumable slots (potions, etc)

1 fun action: heartrune ability 

Guild Wars 2 (combat)

5 immediate actions: 5 weapon abilities

4 intermediate actions: heal ability + three selected support abilities

1 fun action: the last ability on the hotbar (forget what its called)

 The ultimate goal of the "role of 10" is to make the game approachable for players and ensure that interacting with the game doesn't become a barrier to entry.  Not every game follows this path.  Some games, like Path of Exile, use complexity to target a specific type of player.  That is fine.  However, for MyMMORPG we're sticking with the "rule of 10".

MyMMORPG: Let's dream one up!

 Listening to various podcasts about Ashes of Creation and listening to folks overlay their hearts and dreams on the game has made me think about what I'd want out of an MMORPG.  Combined with my recent "a post a day" commitment to get back into blogging I figured it was time to start my long awaited series on "My MMORPG" and the game I'd make if I was Steven-rich.

The question is where do you start this quest?  Do you come up with a long list of things to do?  An outline of the entire thing?  Define the business model; is it free to play or a subscription?  Write the story first?  

Personally I have a saying I like to use in my career "If something is worth doing it is worth doing WRONG." What does that have to do with where to start?  Fair question. I bring this up here because I want this to be a start but not the only start.  We may be back here again in the near future.  Maybe feedback makes me change course.  Maybe a brilliant idea later down the road requires something earlier on changes.  Regardless I have a couple goals to get started here.

1. This first post has to set the framework
   
2. Keep it simple

So where do we start?  Simple: the world and setting for the game and to keep it simple and set the framework for future conversations this post would be better titled as "The Not-Star-Wars MMORPG". Follow along to find out why.

When I look back on any MMORPG I've played (or wish I could play) the first thing that always catches my attention is the world and setting.  Ultima Online?  Basically took every medieval text MUD I had ever played and put it on screen.  World of Warcraft? Warcraft where I get to play that orc on the battlfield!? Count me in!  Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning?  Duh (and sigh).  Star Wars Galaxies?  Ummm; duh x2!  New World? A cool setting that hooked me before I ever hit log in.

So why "Not-Star-Wars"?  Simple: Star Wars has everything in a setting that I'd want in my dream MMORPG, but I would never want to put my chips into a game that can be ended on the whim of an intellectual property owner.

Let's work through what "Not-Star-Wars" brings to us:

• Melee combat
• Ranged combat
• Magic 
• Not-magic
  
• Mounts
• Vehicles (aka multiplayer mounts)
• Houses
• Spaceships (aka space houses)
  
• Varied planets (i.e. zones and instanced content)
  
• Multiple races
• Multiple classes
• Crafting
  

Probably the biggest benefit of this setting that pays off the most is the "varied planets".  Planets and space travel between them is the ideal contextual reason for zones and instanced content to exist without turning the game into hub and spoke and thus losing the M for Massive.  While the world setting doesn't need to explain everything the more it is able to justify for mechanics to exist the better the game will feel.  It would make immediate sense to a player that they are jumping in a space ship, zooming through space, and ending up on a unique alien planet that only they and their group are present on.

This also allows this MMORPG to target the "mega server" model instead of "single server" and have it all make sense with the way the universe is set up.  All players need to be in one single universe with the chance at any time to interact with any other player.  This eliminates problems such as scaling up single servers to deal with population growths and eliminates the follow on problems of having to merge servers down.  The universe just exists and it makes sense when you jump in a space ship and fly off to a planet that you are off by yourself and then joining back on a busy core planet with thousands of other players.

Another benefit that some old school MMORPG players will welcome is that space travel, inside a fully customized player ship, can bring back the social aspect that has been missing due to the "get you directly into a group and into content" model of "group finders" in most MMORPGs.  Don't get me wrong; I want games to connect players via in game tools but what I also want to ensure it drops players into the opportunity to socialize and not just at the starting point a sprint.  Sitting around in a space ship, making preparations for the content, and socializing with your fellow players is huge.  Scale this concept up to core planets and ideas like space stations: the core of setting should be places for players to interact socially.

As my bulleted list shows there is a lot of pieces that fit with Not-Star-Wars and give context to game systems and mechanics MMORPG players are familiar with.  Again the most important aspect is that the setting gives context to many MMORPG staple systems such as zones, instanced content, socializing and more.

More to come on MyMMORPG!  Have thoughts?  Think I am starting in the wrong place or heading in the wrong direction?  Leave a comment.  I love to argue socialize.