Post by numbuheightbitstar on Nov 6, 2006 7:31:36 GMT
Figured I'd type this while its still fresh on my mind.
Now, I have nothing against video game RPGs. I mean, Final Fantasy 6 was my first real RPG experience and it still remains a favorite. Limitations don't bother me.
But MMORPGs are just pointless. They're little more than cooperative RPGs.
A friend of mine introduced me to Runescape recently. I went through a thirty-minute tutorial then joined him for a bit. He gave me some stuff then left me to kill some cows (in order to become better at fighting). Now, no way was I gonna spend thirty minutes killing cows, so I walked around.
Then I got to this town where I saw this guy building a bunch of fires in front of this bank. Now, the first thought that ran through my mind was "He's trying to burn the bank down!" Then I remembered that an MMORPG would not be that cool. So I walked on the fires to see if they'd hurt me. They didn't. So I was like, "What's the point then?" And I walked up to the guy who was setting all the fires and asked him what all the fires were for.
He said, "Raising my firebuilding skill."
I responded, "Oh," put all my best stuff in the bank, and promptly logged off.
That's what sucks about MMORPGs: They're no different than single-player RPGs except that you have to be online to play them.
Now, I know that in electronic RPGs, there are limits, you can't do everything. In most RPGs I generally accept this, mostly because there is a definite goal that you are working towards. Sure, going around killing things to learn spells in FF6 could be boring, but it has a purpose--if everyone knows Cure3 and Ultima then Kefka will be a LOT easier to beat.
I can even accept that some of the most freeform games out there, such as Daggerfall and Nethack, have limits on your abilities and advancement. I accept this because in those games, there is a goal, something you are ultimately working towards, and all the minor stuff you do in the meantime can and will ultimately help you towards that goal.
But MMORPGs are different. I expect something better from a game where I could play potentially forever. I want a game where I can get totally immersed in the world, and where my character can actually impact it in some way. Instead most MMORPGs only allow you to go on quests and raise your skills and experience, so that the only real goal is to max your character out and make him good at everything.
I once came up with the idea for what I think would be the ultimate MMORPG: It would be a game where everything is totally player-controlled. All the kingdoms in the game would be ones the players built and ran via virtual societies, all the items would be something the players actually made and sell in player-run shops, and all the quests would be decided on and given out by players to other players (for example, a merchant needs a certain mineral to make a potion, but its in an area full of dragons and he doesn't have any fighting skills, so he gets another player--a strong fighter--to get it for him for a hefty reward). Even the inevitable evil Mordor-like Kingdom that everyone hates would be run totally by players who have their own virtual society. It would be immersive, helping you feel as if you're in a virtual world instead of just some computer land of number-crunching.
Now, already I know the apologists are saying this game would be impossible to program, that it would take years and require impossible resources, but... I honestly don't believe so. In fact, I think such an MMORPG would be very easy to create. In fact, since most of the complexities of game societies, townbuilding, etc. would all the programmers would have to program is game logistics--the programmers would only have to program ways for the players to interact with their environment and each other, and the players could provide the rest.
I mean, just imagine the following: Your character digs a hole, puts a hatchet in the hole, covers the hole, then leaves. Another character comes along and notices the ground has been freshly dug, so he digs up the hole and finds the hatchet.
Or for another, possibly more extreme example: Your player decides to be a Chef, and opens his own restaurant, and gets several friends to help him. Your specialty is Red Dragon meat, which is good because there are plenty of red dragons around (all of whom are, in fact, player characters). Then one day an army of red dragon-hating morons come into town and they kill all the RDs. Suddenly players no longer want to be RDs (at least, not in the same part of the world as you). Suddenly the RD meat is very scarce. But this is player-controlled, so the chef could either get a new specialty and sell off the RD meat for millions, or he could hire a full-time staff of adventurers to go to the far regions and hunt RDs... which they would do, and enjoy....
Yea, that's really gonna blow your Pentium Centrinos, all right. Actually, I could imagine a game of this calibur being done on the SNES. It would not really take that much power. The only thing keeping this from being made is that nobody WANTS to make it. For some reason, people are complacent to play MMORPGs where "player interaction" is limited to talking and co-opping on quests, where said quests are computer-generated and handed out by NPCs, and where the entire game world is automated, where your only role is to improve your character until he's maxed out. The idea of a game where you are literally in a virtual world where every person is a real player and where the detective who solves your murder is going to have to actually find clues just scares the wusspuppy crybabies who want nothing but to make some all-powerful superman and then cry when their character gets killed. Just imagine how boring Lord of the Rings would be if he could get the Ringwraiths off his tail by PMing the mods and claiming the RW's are playerkiller, and you have your typical MMORPG.
I think I'll stick to Starcraft for my online gaming. That, at least, allows you to kill people, burn down buildings, and upset the balance of power. And it isn't even an RPG.
Now, I have nothing against video game RPGs. I mean, Final Fantasy 6 was my first real RPG experience and it still remains a favorite. Limitations don't bother me.
But MMORPGs are just pointless. They're little more than cooperative RPGs.
A friend of mine introduced me to Runescape recently. I went through a thirty-minute tutorial then joined him for a bit. He gave me some stuff then left me to kill some cows (in order to become better at fighting). Now, no way was I gonna spend thirty minutes killing cows, so I walked around.
Then I got to this town where I saw this guy building a bunch of fires in front of this bank. Now, the first thought that ran through my mind was "He's trying to burn the bank down!" Then I remembered that an MMORPG would not be that cool. So I walked on the fires to see if they'd hurt me. They didn't. So I was like, "What's the point then?" And I walked up to the guy who was setting all the fires and asked him what all the fires were for.
He said, "Raising my firebuilding skill."
I responded, "Oh," put all my best stuff in the bank, and promptly logged off.
That's what sucks about MMORPGs: They're no different than single-player RPGs except that you have to be online to play them.
Now, I know that in electronic RPGs, there are limits, you can't do everything. In most RPGs I generally accept this, mostly because there is a definite goal that you are working towards. Sure, going around killing things to learn spells in FF6 could be boring, but it has a purpose--if everyone knows Cure3 and Ultima then Kefka will be a LOT easier to beat.
I can even accept that some of the most freeform games out there, such as Daggerfall and Nethack, have limits on your abilities and advancement. I accept this because in those games, there is a goal, something you are ultimately working towards, and all the minor stuff you do in the meantime can and will ultimately help you towards that goal.
But MMORPGs are different. I expect something better from a game where I could play potentially forever. I want a game where I can get totally immersed in the world, and where my character can actually impact it in some way. Instead most MMORPGs only allow you to go on quests and raise your skills and experience, so that the only real goal is to max your character out and make him good at everything.
I once came up with the idea for what I think would be the ultimate MMORPG: It would be a game where everything is totally player-controlled. All the kingdoms in the game would be ones the players built and ran via virtual societies, all the items would be something the players actually made and sell in player-run shops, and all the quests would be decided on and given out by players to other players (for example, a merchant needs a certain mineral to make a potion, but its in an area full of dragons and he doesn't have any fighting skills, so he gets another player--a strong fighter--to get it for him for a hefty reward). Even the inevitable evil Mordor-like Kingdom that everyone hates would be run totally by players who have their own virtual society. It would be immersive, helping you feel as if you're in a virtual world instead of just some computer land of number-crunching.
Now, already I know the apologists are saying this game would be impossible to program, that it would take years and require impossible resources, but... I honestly don't believe so. In fact, I think such an MMORPG would be very easy to create. In fact, since most of the complexities of game societies, townbuilding, etc. would all the programmers would have to program is game logistics--the programmers would only have to program ways for the players to interact with their environment and each other, and the players could provide the rest.
I mean, just imagine the following: Your character digs a hole, puts a hatchet in the hole, covers the hole, then leaves. Another character comes along and notices the ground has been freshly dug, so he digs up the hole and finds the hatchet.
Or for another, possibly more extreme example: Your player decides to be a Chef, and opens his own restaurant, and gets several friends to help him. Your specialty is Red Dragon meat, which is good because there are plenty of red dragons around (all of whom are, in fact, player characters). Then one day an army of red dragon-hating morons come into town and they kill all the RDs. Suddenly players no longer want to be RDs (at least, not in the same part of the world as you). Suddenly the RD meat is very scarce. But this is player-controlled, so the chef could either get a new specialty and sell off the RD meat for millions, or he could hire a full-time staff of adventurers to go to the far regions and hunt RDs... which they would do, and enjoy....
Yea, that's really gonna blow your Pentium Centrinos, all right. Actually, I could imagine a game of this calibur being done on the SNES. It would not really take that much power. The only thing keeping this from being made is that nobody WANTS to make it. For some reason, people are complacent to play MMORPGs where "player interaction" is limited to talking and co-opping on quests, where said quests are computer-generated and handed out by NPCs, and where the entire game world is automated, where your only role is to improve your character until he's maxed out. The idea of a game where you are literally in a virtual world where every person is a real player and where the detective who solves your murder is going to have to actually find clues just scares the wusspuppy crybabies who want nothing but to make some all-powerful superman and then cry when their character gets killed. Just imagine how boring Lord of the Rings would be if he could get the Ringwraiths off his tail by PMing the mods and claiming the RW's are playerkiller, and you have your typical MMORPG.
I think I'll stick to Starcraft for my online gaming. That, at least, allows you to kill people, burn down buildings, and upset the balance of power. And it isn't even an RPG.
" MMORPG?
