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"Being a Single Player in a MMO World"
nariusseldon
Member EpicPosts: 27,775
http://mmos.com/editorials/being-a-single-player-in-an-mmo-world
and i quote
"I’m not the only person who plays MMOs as a single player. In fact, I’m willing to bet most people jump into MMOs on their own at first. A lot of developers are taking note of this and creating systems to allow players to more easily play through their game with as little player interaction as possible."
"A lot of MMOs are also including portions of their games that are primarily meant to be enjoyed as single player experiences, like Albion Online’s inclusion of single player dungeons or The Elder Scrolls Online’s single player focused main storyline."
"They can also be incredibly enjoyable when played as a single player. Gamers shouldn’t be afraid to hop in with the full intention of never interacting directly with another human being. Many MMOs offer hundreds of hours of single player fun, a lot of which is 100% free."
and i quote
"I’m not the only person who plays MMOs as a single player. In fact, I’m willing to bet most people jump into MMOs on their own at first. A lot of developers are taking note of this and creating systems to allow players to more easily play through their game with as little player interaction as possible."
"A lot of MMOs are also including portions of their games that are primarily meant to be enjoyed as single player experiences, like Albion Online’s inclusion of single player dungeons or The Elder Scrolls Online’s single player focused main storyline."
"They can also be incredibly enjoyable when played as a single player. Gamers shouldn’t be afraid to hop in with the full intention of never interacting directly with another human being. Many MMOs offer hundreds of hours of single player fun, a lot of which is 100% free."
Comments
It's hard to argue with that, as including everything that comes within the typical MMO tends to have pretty big effects on the RPG/story aspect.
There are a number of story-element things you can't do in a MMO setting.
I mean, it's pretty safe to argue that you can attract more players and end up making more money with a really well done SPRPG with or without an optional MP component, and then charging for DLC/expansions.
There are countless examples.
Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Dying Light, Dragon Age: Inquisition to name a few - all single player RPGs, with varying degree of multiplayer, that have been wildly more successful than any new MMORPG to release in the last, what, 5 years?
Personally, of course, I play single player games. But hey, there are some MMOs with unique gameplay and IP i just can't find in a single player game (like Marvel Heroes .. tell me which PC game i can play with action RPG combat + 50 marvel characters I can play and I will be there). But that is just me.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Sort of like Warframe, and Marvel Heroes. Strictly speaking, do most of their players really care whether they are MMOs or not? I don't think so.
There are still others who purposefully shy away from and even vehemently oppose being labeled "MMOs" despite many similarities, like Destiny or the upcoming The Division.
Of course you don't HAVE to jump off a bridge but go ahead.
Of course you don't HAVE to play with other players but go ahead.
Square peg, round hole and all that!
It's much easier to break into a game, to learn it, to get comfortable with it at your own pace.
It's also paramount to have things you can do on your own when your friends/guildies aren't online or whatever.
Yet at the same time, you need forced-group content, be it with randoms (matchmaking, LFG whatever) or with a formed group, I think is 100% critical to not only calling it a MMO in the first place, but to the long term success of the game.
The whole "solo to the level cap and then X" thing is often very dramaticized. There are almost always group-focused activities along the way, even if you can skip them.
I think anything that encourages grouping is helpful, some content that forces grouping is essential, and some content that allows for meaningful solo play is also essential.
Division has always been talked about as a 4 player co op with betrayl system or 4 on 4 pvp, all set in a persistent world. Unless there is a bunch of players that you can see but cant interact with like APB or a game like NBA2k (which puts about 50+ players in a park with 8ish courts).
The massive in mmo comes from a massive amount of players being able to interact in one area, otherwise quake live and any other fps with multiplayer was a mmo too.
Then there are public spaces, both combat (patrols) and social (tower, reef) that hold up to 16 players in a single instance.
So yeah, not truly MMO but not "just" MO either.
And Destiny is one of those games where the devs, often very strongly, state that their game is NOT an MMO.
Maybe because MMORPG provides better NPC AI.
Joke aside, I would say everyone likes to have people around. But that dont' necessary mean they like to hang out of with people 100% of the time.
That's the thing. Every mmorpg have mix of solo and forced group content.
The problem is many people want "just" forced group content. Also the leveling phase in most game now is solo content, which some people hate wont' be able to bypass.
Point is - the game wouldn't be the same if it was just co-op and matchmaking, the random open world bits are just as important to my experience with the game, and I hoping for Destiny 2 on current-gen console (better not be last-gen!) they'll be able to expand on this area of the game considerably.
It should be about having different options, not limiting it to one play style or the other.
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
I'm all for having classes that are far better at soloing, and even built for it, than other classes. The problem i have is when every class can not only solo but soloing becomes the most efficient way to level. That i am opposed to.
Interdependence is the key feature taken away from current MMORPG's that i miss. Sure i could solo back in the day if i was not in the mood to group or had little time to commit to a group, but grouping was much faster and way more fun. That's the way i'd prefer it to be.
Personally, I think entirely too much focus and gameplay is on the leveling part to begin with, so if that were made secondary to actually playing the game and naturally enjoying the things you wanted to do, without the concern for leveling up, MMOs would be in a much better place.
Too much grind, not enough gameplay. Trying to reach endgame vs. everything is end-game.
So many so-called "sandbox" games screw this up by making there too much grind, really takes away from the sandbox nature. SWG was REALLY guilty of this.
Like, if I'm playing in a sandbox, I want to be able to pick up that shovel and dig around and enjoy myself, and yeah, progression is important - I want to get better at shoveling and such the more I do it...
But don't make me first dig with my hands for 30 hours before I have grinded enough skill to pick up the damn shovel.
This mentality is just perplexing.. A good MMORPG should have things to do when friends aren't around, or when you feel like doing your own thing (story-lines as one example work for that). NO part of MMO means you must do all things with people all of the time.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
mmorpg junkie since 1999
It appears to me that most skills can be raised in a way that is neither fun, but is fast.
A good example would be in Elder Scrolls Oblivion. You can go into a room and auto run into a wall while sneaking. If you leave your character they will max out the skill. This is poor implementation. There has to be a way to only reward the character when they are using the skill in the intended way.
Soloing has been in the majority of MMOs since their inception. It's been covered many times. Today's iteration is much different though. You can usually completely isolate you self from other people via instances.
Even when friends ask me to play with them, I usually say no lol.
I try to level as fast as possible also, I dislike waiting on people, typing, replying. And I have to afk a lot. Yeah, I'm weird I guess.
http://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-pc-five-things-mmos-could-learn/
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Destiny-Succeeds-An-MMO-Was-Judged-Too-Quickly-An-FPS-67664.html
To me, it matters little. I plan to try it out when the PC version is released.
My point was, people that ONLY want to play solo in am MMO are the ones with issues from my point of view.
Websites get paid for clickbait so mis-classification to attract wider audiences and lots of boobs...meh why have ethics when you have money!