Massively

As the genre has matured so have the parameters of what defines an MMOG. One of my biggest gripes with them has always been that the worlds we play in are too often static and unchanging. You feel as though your character and his actions never have any real or lasting effect on the world around him.

Thankfully that has begun to change with the recent advent of a technology dubbed as "phasing". For those of you that haven't played Blizard's Wrath of the Lich King, phasing allows players to view a changed version of their world based on triggering events like the completion of quests. It's amazing that it isn't more talked about because phasing has and will continue to change the way we experience dynamic storytelling in MMOGs.

In a post-World of Warcraft world the concept of grouping while leveling has changed. Where grouping was once essential to survival in MMOGs, today it's an optional extra. As a result, leveling up can feel pretty lonely. In most MMOGs it's no longer necessary to group unless you're running an instanced dungeon or the rare quest geared toward a specific number of players. While I love the fact that I can play WoW on my own terms and my own schedule I feel like I'm missing out on the whole "massively multiplayer" thing. Isn't that the reason we play MMOGs to begin with? Why should we wait until end-game raid content to play together?

Most people don't group while leveling because there's no real incentive to group. Soloing nets you more XP than grouping and most of the content is easy to take on by yourself. There's no waiting around for others, no sharing of loot, and no arguing about what to do when. So why bother? I'd like to see developers provide players with more incentive to level up together. In my opinion, MMOGs should always work to increase entertainment value when players work together. Read on to explore ways to achieve that objective.

Who's afraid of the big, bad microtransaction? Me. Count me with the skeptics when it comes to a microtransaction-based business model for Star Wars: The Old Republic. In case you missed the flurry of news surrounding the announcement, Shacknews reported that Star Wars: The Old Republic would use a microtransaction payment model in place of or in addition to a subscription model. After the article's release EA issued a brief response that, "no [official] statements have been made about the Star Wars business model." It's a story that's been covered and critiqued several times already on Massively, but I just can't leave this dead horse unbeaten. I've got to get a few licks in myself.

My World of Warcraft guild is fairly casual - so why do we already have level 80s? Pre-Wrath of the Lich King we farmed Karazhan. Gruul's Lair and Zul'Aman were regular runs, but we never tackled Black Temple or Sunwell as a guild. We leveled alts, crafted, PvP'd and told bad jokes in guild chat. Despite our relatively casual nature, five of our members hit 80 just two weeks after Wrath of the Lich King's release. There's already talk of running Naxxramas in the not too distant future (perhaps next Sunday A.D.).

I know that's not record speed, but holy crap! If my guild of casual players is quickly level capping, a good percentage of WoW players must also be nearing the end game. There were at least forty of them on my server late last night. It took Blizzard nearly two years to release Wrath and it seems like a lot of people are already prepping for end-game raids. How in the world will this expansion hold players' attentions past Christmas, much less until the next expansion? How long before we hear cries of, "There's nothing to do!"?

You tiredly trudge up the cliff-side path, the rhythmic squish of your soaked boots beating a slow dirge. Cresting the ridge of the trail you see the full moon shining over Bloodstone's harbor where several galleons rot in their moorings. It almost looks like a peaceful town from up above the sweat and fish-soaked stench of the city. You sigh. It's been an exhausting trip dodging banshees and hollow men through the slime of Wraithmarsh. All you can think about is a mug of ale, a warm bed in the inn and perhaps a little company to take your mind off things. Bloodstone is known for its "hospitable" women after all. With a renewed sense of purpose you pat your faithful dog on the head and take the sloping trail down into town.

As you reach the outskirts of Bloodstone the rancid smell of a fish merchant's stall nearly slaps your nose off your face. You vainly wave your hand to clear the air.

"Wot's a matta gov?" the merchant asks, sneering. "Can't 'andle a little fresh fish?"

"That fish is as fresh as my feet," you reply. The short tempered merchant draws a rusty cutlass and grimaces. Several ruffians milling about sense an impending fight and begin to circle you.

"If ya don't like it, you and that mangy dog can bugger off!" he responds, kicking your dog in his hinder. Your dog whimpers and sits next to you, tail between his legs. The bolder members of the encircling crowd brandish knives and mock you and your dog. They see a tired traveler and easy pickings. As tired as you are, you can't help but laugh to yourself and shake your head. Your eyes begin to glow a soft white hue. The humid air of Bloodstone begins to crackle. Time to teach these lowlifes a lesson.

October 20th marked the 30th anniversary of the very first Multi-User Dungeon (MUD). For those that don't remember MUDs, these text based multiplayer computer games were the precursors of modern MMOGs. I think it's safe to say that multiplayer computer gaming was the exclusive domain of hardcore gamers and geeks back then. People playing MUD1, Elendor MUSH or Pern MUSH were nerds, like myself, that knew computers, knew gaming, and loved roleplaying online. With the advent of online games with graphics, MMOGs like Everquest and Ultima Online began to attract a wider variety of gamers. The gaming demographic began to shift.

Modern MMOGs like World of Warcraft ushered in a new era of gaming and a very different demographic of gamer. WoW's colorful, friendly style, easy to use interface and simple gameplay concepts make it very easy to pick up and play. WoW appeals to almost everyone: parents, kids, men, women, and people that might not normally play video games. It's about as close to mainstream as you can get in a MMOG. While the Wii is often credited with finally capturing traditional non-gamers, I submit that MMOGs like WoW did it first and continue to do it well.

A key to WoW's success also lies is its low system requirements. Recent MMORPGs like Age of Conan and Warhammer may have more sophisticated graphics, but their higher system requirements work against their success in capturing a broad demographic of gamer. High system requirements are not just problematic for those particular games, but for the health and growth of PC gaming in general. Let's face it, when compared to console gaming, computer gaming isn't as cheap, accessible or simple. In order for MMOGs to continue to thrive, something needs to change at the hardware level. Without competitive pricing and standardization, PC gaming will continue to wither.

Last week I wrote about Blizzard's Recruit-a-Friend program and my experience leveling through World of Warcraft with triple XP. The Recruit-a-Friend program is a seemingly brilliant strategy on Blizzard's part. In addition to recruiting new players, it also serves as way of keeping existing players occupied while waiting for Wrath of the Lich King; players that might otherwise divert their attention to Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. Who can resist the allure of triple XP, right? My friend Rob couldn't and for a while we enjoyed the rush of leveling as fast as we could.

But the thrill of light-speed-leveling wasn't enough to hold his attention for long. It was still the same content we'd run through time after time. An astute reader of mine, Jeromai, left the following comment about my last article, "There's a sidelong danger to power-leveling fast. All the content you once enjoyed as content now becomes a means to an end. It's a headlong race right towards the burnout phase of a game." Jeromai couldn't have been more right.

I logged into WoW a few nights ago, ready to blast through another level or two with my friend. He never showed. A few days later I called him up and realized I'd lost him to WAR.

My buddy Rob and I play World of Warcraft frequently, but between the two of us he's got the most /played time. He's got a few 70s on a PvP server and a few 70s on the PvE server where we're spending most of our time. He's also an alt-a-holic and has tons of mid-level characters. He's played every class in the game; most of them thoroughly. After spending so much time leveling so many characters he recently resolved not to level another character until the release of Wrath of the Lich King.

His resolution didn't last long. When Blizzard announced their Recruit-a-Friend program a tiny seed was planted in the back of his mind. A seed that slowly germinated, wrapping its diminutive roots around his cerebral cortex until every thought in his head screamed, "MUST HAVE TRIPLE XP." And so, after a very small amount of convincing, I joined him to level up yet another alt. Our new goal was to level a couple of spacegoat shammies.

After about 12 hours of /played time we were level 26. I know that's not a record by any means, but for us it felt pretty amazing. In fact, it almost felt like we were cheating. In a way it was like paying for a power leveling service where you do all the work. Sure the XP flew by, but Rob had paid for the game and the expansion all over again, as well as paying for a second account. Still, watching a level 14 paladin run by us and knowing we were out pacing him so drastically, it made me wonder if the Recruit-a-Friend program had somehow cheapened the accomplishment of hitting 60. Remember when hitting 60 felt like it meant something?

I recently went through a burn-out period on MMOGs. In addition to a job change and lots of personal commitments that limited my time, I'd simply grown bored with the genre. I think we all go through those periods. Times when we're just done with the grind and we need to recharge our gaming batteries on something different. This seems especially true once we've reached end-game and we're grinding the same old dungeons and flailing away in the same old PvP battles. It seemed like the only thing I had to look forward to was an eight year old telling me how bad I got pwned or watching yet another piece of gear drop that I couldn't use.

My burnout period also coincided with the purchase of a brand new gaming rig. I think the last machine I purchased was back in 2004, and I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a new rig. If you're like me (and I know I am), the first thing you do when you get a new gaming computer is test it on the most graphically advanced game you have available; that special game that brought your old machine to its knees. For me, that game was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Although my old machine could run it with the settings on low, now I can finally play it at high resolution with all the bells and whistles turned on. I'm proud to say my new rig cuts through Oblivion like a hot knife through butter.

I played Oblivion a lot when it originally came out, but because my old rig struggled with it, I never played more than about a quarter of the way through the game. I decided to start over from scratch and as I progressed I remembered why I love single player RPGs: the story. A great story provides a level of immersion that's only possible to achieve when playing alone. It was really refreshing. And it made me wonder, why do MMOGs even bother with the pretense of a story at all?