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What is content?
katriell
Member UncommonPosts: 977
Every game under the sun has been accused of a lack of content, from Asian item-malls to niche sandboxes to World of Warcraft.
So what does "content" mean?
Apparently none of these things may be considered content:
- world, no matter how detailed / full of interesting locales / malleable
- quests, no matter how numerous and no matter how hard they try to resemble meaningfulness
- items and equipment, no matter how numerous and varied
- activities like fishing, diplomacy, mini-games, etc., no matter how useful or useless
- harvesting and crafting, no matter how broad or deep
- in-game tools for players to create their own missions
- in-game tools for players to create their own dungeons
- ability for players to create their own exploration areas, whether via an editor or via terraforming+etc.
- lore, in-game and/or out-of-game
- live events, whether pointless little contests and such or world-affecting storyline progression catalysts
- PvE combat, whatever the features, quirks, scale, and rewards involved
- PvP combat, whatever the features, quirks, scale, and rewards involved
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In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on August 13, 2008.
Comments
In all fairness, i believe they mean "Innovative content" or even better "Original content". You see the problems with current mmos ever since wow came out is that they are too 'copy and paste'.
Same item color scheme as wow, same leveling bar, same skill tree thing to go with the levels, same go kill x of y quests. I could go on if i wanted to but ill spare your eyes.
I mean seriously, how many times do we have to play the same leveling game with a different sprinkle before they start to innovate this genre (like swg pre-cu did) like they did back in the day?
I know a lot of people are going to say "well they just dont have that kind of money to take that risk." And to that i say Bull<bleep>. In fact many people in the developers corner have many doable ideas that has more originality than most of the mmorpg games out there combined.
Is it really about them taking a risk? They really are sitting on a goldmine if they did. A lot of people are sick of the same stuff being rehashed. Are they just rehashing to make a quick buck? Thats what i think.
I can only hope they choose to mix it up soon. I really don't even think WAR and AoC are going to cut it. I feel they too will be dumbed down and cruddy in no time.
Just my two cents, ill get off my soapbox for now.
"Do not fret! Your captain is about to enter Valhalla!" - General Beatrix of Alexandria
"The acquisition of knowledge is of use to the intellect, for nothing can be loved or hated without first being known." - Leo da Vinci
Content is essentially what you or your character can interact with in the game environment. If a game doesn't have the necessary fundamentals to allow basic elements such as combat, then there's no content in that department. The amount of content specific to an element is determined by its complexity.
<blockquote><i>Originally posted by katriell</i>
<br><b><p>Every game under the sun has been accused of a lack of content, from Asian item-malls to niche sandboxes to World of Warcraft.</p><p>So what does "content" mean?</p><p>Apparently none of these things may be considered content:<br>- world, no matter how detailed / full of interesting locales / malleable <br>- quests, no matter how numerous and no matter how hard they try to resemble meaningfulness<br>- items and equipment, no matter how numerous and varied<br>- activities like fishing, diplomacy, mini-games, etc., no matter how useful or useless<br>- harvesting and crafting, no matter how broad or deep<br>- in-game tools for players to create their own missions<br>- in-game tools for players to create their own dungeons<br>- ability for players to create their own exploration areas, whether via an editor or via terraforming+etc.<br>- lore, in-game and/or out-of-game<br>- live events, whether pointless little contests and such or world-affecting storyline progression catalysts<br>- PvE combat, whatever the features, quirks, scale, and rewards involved<br>- PvP combat, whatever the features, quirks, scale, and rewards involved</p></b></blockquote>
<br>
Well Kat, to me none of those examples can be considered content but features. Content would be the produce and scope of depth of the features.
But then again, the word content has been used and abused so much by many an ignorant mind or peeved kid to express their failings at grasping the basics of a game's gameplay that I'm even starting to doubt my own take on it.
In all fairness, i believe they mean "Innovative content" or even better "Original content". You see the problems with current mmos ever since wow came out is that they are too 'copy and paste'.
Same item color scheme as wow, same leveling bar, same skill tree thing to go with the levels, same go kill x of y quests. I could go on if i wanted to but ill spare your eyes.
I mean seriously, how many times do we have to play the same leveling game with a different sprinkle before they start to innovate this genre (like swg pre-cu did) like they did back in the day?
I know a lot of people are going to say "well they just dont have that kind of money to take that risk." And to that i say Bull<bleep>. In fact many people in the developers corner have many doable ideas that has more originality than most of the mmorpg games out there combined.
Is it really about them taking a risk? They really are sitting on a goldmine if they did. A lot of people are sick of the same stuff being rehashed. Are they just rehashing to make a quick buck? Thats what i think.
I can only hope they choose to mix it up soon. I really don't even think WAR and AoC are going to cut it. I feel they too will be dumbed down and cruddy in no time.
Just my two cents, ill get off my soapbox for now.
Great insight there. I would agree 100%. My main gripe was they don't provide innovative and original content. Like you said everything is copy paste now days for MMO developers.