10 Reasons To Make An MMOPG

After listening to the presentation about why NOT to make an MMOPG, one would feel depressed I guess, but then being a marketer, one of the earlier lessons we learned was how it turn weakness or threats into strength and opportunities, as is the case with this situation. Though these sound like serious disadvantages, hidden gems and silver linings are concealed within!

Q1) Too many are being built?
A1) True, so the trick is to build an MMOPG that provides a unique, different experience, yet still provide he fun factor. I.e Lord of the Ring has been "complimented" as being a good copy of World of War Craft, due to similar gameplay mechanics, plus there is a whole slew of fantasy based MMOPGs like runescape, Everquest, Ultima Online etc. yet we see games like Second Life (a litertal virtual life in the modern world), The sims online, Hellsgate ( An FPS/action based MMORPG compared to the more "stats" based MMORPGs", Guild Wars, which uses a unique payment model (buy the game, play for free for life), and Maple Story (bucking the trend by going back to 2D, using cute sprites), who have all gathered millions of players despite the alleged crowded market, and you see the solution.

No matter how crowded it gets, if you stand out and people like it, its not a problem.

Q2) Mastery of many disciplines
A2) Again it is not a problem, but as it helps identify what the priorities are. Yes needing so many resource can be a money pit, but it forces companies to identify really where they should really spend their resource, and make an effort to put the most manpower/money/resources in that direction. Other than backend which is really the most important to ensure a smooth experience for the players, do you want to focus on graphics? sound? cutscenes? physics? Are all of these REALLY necessary to make the game good? i.e. Maple Story has NO cutscenes, simple music and sound effects, no physics, and apparently not much is spent on story writing based don what I played so far, yet it allegedly has 20 million players playing it world wide..... all because they chose to focus on making their graphics cute.

Even if making a game requires many disciplines, knowing what to actually spend the cash on makes it more attainable.

Q3) Huge team required
A3) This is not necessarily true. For example, according to a recent article in PCG about why Star Craft II is taking so long to come out, the core team behind Blizzard's Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft consists of 39 key people ONLY. The rest of the resources are really hired hands, contracted staff or maybe even interns, carefully directed by the core team to accomplish their brilliant games.

Huge teams MAY be required, but it is not compulsory, and even when it is, as long as one can control it properly, is not a problem as long as the group dynamics are good.

Q4) Getting Credit Cards from customers is hard
A4) This is easily accomplished by providing customers an easy form of alternate payments. I.e. if they do not want their bank account directly linked to the game company, get them to use 3rd party payment solutions like paypal which also offers re-curing transactions. Making payments very simple or easy can make renewals almost as hassle free as having their credit card details directly, i.e. sending messages (email or ingame) to remind them their subscription is coming up, and give them some slight bonuses for renewal. Or even if "top up cards" are used, ensure that distribution is wide enough. Maple cards in Singapore for example are sold in all 7-eleven outlets, comic connection stores, and lan shops, and even various hobby stores islandwide, making the task of getting the card simple.

Even without credit cards, one can still make money off gamers.

Q5) Counter productive to Packaged goods mentality
A5) One may say that its so troublesome to provide frequent content compared to retail standalone games, but then reversely, you only get ONE instance of income, when the game is initially sold! With online games, one keeps paying for monthly subscriptions, or even micro transactions to enhance game play. And it works. In fact standalone games via XboxLive are starting to offer new content for their games via microtransactions, the most well-known being Oblivion with new game quests and features, and even sportsgames with more teams and play fields.

If your game is good, and the content is worth paying for, people will pay. Again and again and again!

Q6) Everything you know about the online game is wrong, RPGs are the worst way to make online games
A6) Theoratically it sounds fair, since RPGs are meant to provide players with a sense of importance and the internet removes any true sense of discovery.... but people LIKE to play it that way! Look at war craft, which seemingly breaks every rule (homogeneous characters at high levels, no true secrets due to active forums, hard to make an impact among millions of players worldwide) yet people are STILL playing.

Maybe this IS the correct world to roleplay. After all, roleplaying is to act out a role. Just as in real life when the player is but a cog in the big scheme of things and may not be very significant, it might be brought into the game as well, yet in the game we are able to accomplish MUCH more. So what if we are not the sole saviours of the world? we are happy with what we are doing.

Q7) Internet sucks as a content provider
A7) If that is the case, as mentioned in Q3, it is important to prioritize the efforts of the game development, in this case making sure the game runs as smoothly as possible on ANY connection, and to have a good customer support and PR in case of the still inevitable hiccups.

Technical wise, Guild Wars is fully 3D, with many graphical eye candy and can still support a relatively lag-free experience through a 56K modem through instanced events. The game development considered this issue big enough to build the the gameplay around it, and I feel they made the right decision. Also by trying to proactively help players when problems STILL occur lets your other services stand out as well.

Q8) Customer service is hard
A8) Police the environment, keep track of customer feedback, integrate new features where possible to keep customers happy. Just like in any service industry, these concepts can be similarly applied to keep customers happy. Of course with millions of potential customers worldwide it is impossible to keep EVERYONE happy, but with active participation in the forums and engaging players in dialogue, one knows a good general direction to go to make most people happy. And happy customers are paying customers.

Q9) Legal issues abound
A9) This is the same with every game and in fact product, but sometimes bad publicity is still publicity. Look at GTA/Rockstar studios. In fact even though they get used/complained by watch groups frequently (In fact Manhunt 2 faces a ban or at least an adult rating in most countries), they are still going strong, and this increased publicity makes people stand up and take note of them! When Jack Thompson raises a furor in the media about those violent games, he might as well have given them a free advertisement slot in all the news networks at the same time!

Q10) Too much money to launch and build:
A10) Thats where publishers are for. To bankroll the initial costs. In fact publishers (for now) still seem to think MMORPOGs are the holy grail, so getting them to bankroll an MMORPG could be easier if they like your idea, compared if you pitched the same concept as a single player game. Thats why the pitch to the publishers is so important. The resources to launch and build ARE available, if you have a good, feasible, attractive idea to back it up with.

There are many more possible points, like wanting to build a totally new different world because I know it CAN be done, and wanting to really re-vitalize the MMOPG scene in a new direction, but these 10 counterpoints to the supposed pitfalls show that getting an MMOPG in the market is not as bad ass it sounds. In fact, it looks rosy, IF you play the cards right.

Return To Maple Story Part Deux

In my last trip to Victoria Island, I already made the choice to become a warrior by heading to the warrior town of perion to confirm my choice as a warrior. Basically you just need to be level 10 and have a minimum of 35 in the strength attribute (since I pumped all stats points upon leveling into Strength, I have more than enough), and talk to the chief, and voila! you're a warrior!

After that, I basically spent 3 days in Maple trying to recreate my previous feat, getting to level 30 within 24 hours. Its not as easy as I remembered. Either because the maps are now more crowded (The server I joined is no longer the latest server, as it was when I joined, 2 more have been added on top of it, s0 its actually a "mid-age" server. Either that, or I'm not longer as enthusiastic as I was in the past. The thing is, a majority of Maple's quests are basically "fetch" quests, or "kill X number of monsters" type quests.... which already bored me the 1st time round, and is worst now as I am simply not as used to being so depowered. It IS a fresh experience using a new character and starting afresh, but seriously, these types of quests have no replayability....

Another fault which I strongly felt this time round, is the serious lack of a back story to drive one forward. Unlike the other MMORPGs I played like Guild Wars and even Granado Espada, there really IS no story to Maple..... beyond the small stories tieing all the fetch quests together (I need to feed my dog, fetch me 800 fishes.......) Maybe in trying to make Maple a light affair playable by all ages, they have in fact made it TOO light......

Anyways, 2 nights ago, I finally saw the dreaded scene again.... empty maps with no monsters, until I saw one zooming past me towards the sky. Hackers are loose again.... Apparently this one is using a hack to warp himself/herself to a nigh location unreachable with normal means, and then "vacuuming" all the monsters in the map towards his location. I guess Maple being a 2-d game with so many variables hosted on the client side makes such hacks easier to accomplish. I took a screenshot and pasted it in the official forums, but with no way to identify the hacker (he/she is REALLY in an unreachable/unseeable location), it was merely a futile gesture, just informing any moderators who swing by to take special note of that map....

I initially wanted to make it to level 30 by my own new efforts, but by level 25, serious boredom set in.....I really hate fetch quests now, and getting enough loot to finance my character's equipment upgrades is getting taxing for me, even though that amount would be peanuts with my old high level character. In the end, I gave up and twinked my new character, transferring a small part of my fortune (1 million mesos) from my level 119 to my level 25. With this, I immediately went on a major shopping spree in the player marketplace, and became a force to be reckoned with, breezing to level 29 in 1 quarter of the time I needed if I had done so on my own efforts.

Now, its the major decision time..... at level 30, all classes get to pick a 2nd level job to specialize in a more narrow field. In the case of the warrior, I can choose to be a fighter ((specializing in swords and axes, becoming a crusader in level 70, Hero in level 120), Page (specializing in swords and maces, becoming a knight in level 70 and paladin in level 120), or a spearman (specializing in polearms and spears, becoming a dragon knight in level 70 and dark knight in level 120). Having taken the spearman path the previous round, I decided to try the fighter-crusader-hero path, who specializes in 1-on-one combat (compared to the spearman path I took before). Then its yet another "kill x number of fireboars" quest to get enough special items to make myself eligible for the class upgrade..... man I hate these quests.

At least this time round, there are more "faqs" on the internet with better questing solutions and "character build" advice, so I am on my way to being a decent fighter.....though generic. Thats another thing about Maple. There are usually only a 2-3 ways to build a character and with only 10 end-game classes to go around, and everyone following the same advice given to all these tried and proven builds, every one ends up doing the same things.... just at different paces. ... and at the rate I am loosing enthusiasm I think I may just stop totally. Note: When there is nothing to hold your attention beyond "getting to the next level", few casual players will stick around long.

What is Fun?

What exactly is fun? Especially in the terms of gameplay? Instead of the typical approach of going to dictionary.com and looking at the usual definitions, I will instead do the opposite.

What is NOT fun? Apparently the opposite of "fun" is "boring". And what is "boring"? Its "dull, repetitive or tedious".

And so if we again reverse this, the opposite of "dull, repetitive and tedious" is "intelligent, dynamic and exciting". My definition of Fun.

A fun game is Intelligent, Dynamic and Exciting.

So what does that mean in games? In this case I will use one of my favorite games, an arcade fighting game called "Marvel Vs Capcom 2" as well as various examples.

Intelligent
For a game to be fun, the player must feel challenged. It does not matter whether the player is playing against another player or against the AI, he must use different ways to deal with the situation. One way this problem is dealt with is to use good AI. But AI is fixed (for now), so it is still possible to exploit predictable AI to win games. And once players stick with this method to win games, it gets dull very fast.

One way Capcom deals with this is to have damage scaling. Even if players find some way to repeatedly deal damage continuously in an unbreakable "combo", the system scales down the damage gradually until by the 20th combo hit, each move is probably doing 1 pixel of damage, whereas if a player mixes up his moves and varies his attacks, he ends up dealing more damage and winning the match faster.

Of course, since the game is a 2-player vs game as well, a human opponent can provide varied levels of challenges that normal AI cannot provide. Unless the opponent uses the same tactics again and again, or certain characters use game breaking moves that every player tends to copy, players usually play differently. In fact, another fighting game, Virtual Fighter 2, actually analyzed the play style of the participants in a few major championships and incorporated the playstyles as unique AI profiles, hence emulating the human vs human experience.
But even when human players vs human players are involved, the fact that the game itself is flexible enought allows the different players the ability to use different tactics tailored to different situations, shows that the game makers have taken intelligent gameplay by human opponents into account, via attempting to balance the different characters and skills. Games seldom feel onesided even when "top tier characters" are matched against" bottom tier characters", when the players' skill levels are comparable. That is why people keep coming back as well, trying one strategy after another, with different characters, regardless of whether it be against AI or human opponents. The game's intelligent design in turn allows the player's intelligence to shine through in the game play.

Another method to ensure that games remain intelligent is for programmers to "nerf" (remove/depower) certain overpowered/overexploited/unbalanced moves, though that is possible for only PC games (online and singpleplayer) via patches or online updates. Half-life2 supposedly analyzes the performances on different maps to allow programmers to adjust the maps for better gameplay. Even for cabinet arcade games like Marvel Vs Capcom 2, the original versions will undergo modifications after initial playtesting with actual players, to tweak some gameplay elements for a more challenging experience.

With better AI, and in the future perhaps ones that can learn from their mistakes, it may soon be possible for intelligent games to remain challenging by themselves without human intervention.

Dynamic
How does one make sure an arcade game remains dynamic? Marvel vs capcom does it in the old proven way, by giving players an over-abundant number of options to play with. The game has 56 characters, and players have to pick teams composed of 3 different characters to use, while during actual gameplay the players are able to call the "sidelined" characters to "assist" them with one of 3 unique attacks.

Doing the maths, that means there are:

56 X 55 X 54 = 166,320 team combinations

and 56X3 x 55X3 x 54x3 = 4,490,640 possible "assisted" attacks!

Of course, realistically, not all characters and "assist" moves get used, as some are clearly more useful/powerful than others, but the options are still there. In fact 7 years after the initial release, this game is still being played in arcades, as players bored with using their usual teams experiment with new team combinations, and in gamefaqs.com, it remains the most heavily discussed game in the forums. 7 years after its initial release, people are STILL picking the game apart. If you can't change the game content, make sure it already has so much to begin with that it does not need new content to keep it fresh.

Exciting
Keeping a game exciting is a difficult balance. Players must have their skills challenged to get their adrenaline pumping, yet it must not be overpoweringly so that they lose immediately, or so easy that they breeze through the game TOO easily. But with millions of players around the world, all with varying skill levels, how does Marvel Vs Capcom keep the players coming back, regardless of their skill levels?

They use an old trick that computer computer games have been using since the days of packman. Progressive difficulty and challenges.

It may not be obvious, but the 1st stage of Marvel Vs Capcom is actually easier than the rest of the 6 stages. This allows expert players to get warmed up, while providing just sufficient challenge for even newbie players to make it past the 1st stage with normal attacks or even button mashing. But it is done very subtly, in fact few people will notice it, unless they leave their characters stationery during the beginning of the stages and notice that the AI opponents in the 1st stage attack less aggressively. (Most people never notice this because they attack right off the buzzer).

This way, even newbies want to give the game another try even though they lost at the end round, because they have already proven themselves capable of beating the 1st round AI opponents (not knowing that the AI threw the match). Whereas the seasoned players will get progressively challenged level after level up till the boss battle. This way, the game remains exciting for players of all skill ranges. The progressive difficulty trick is an art Capcom has mastered since the days of Street fighter 1....

So come again: what is Fun in a game? Basically the game has to be intelligent, dynamic, and and challenging. This will not only make the initial experience enjoyable, but also make subsequent experiences welcome. In fact, the replay factor in the game is very high. As a player, I think Marvel vs Capcom 2 has done a good job on this, as 7 years down the road, I still walk into the arcades for the occasional game.

PS: Initially, the XBox version of Marvel Vs Capcom 2 was slated for online gameplay, which would have made the game even more exciting, dynamic and "intelligent" by having ACTUAL players instead of console AI..... but that idea, though originally announced, was scrapped...

No news on Age of Conan, So I revisited Maple again.... And Its pretty much as I remembered it. Hackers still around, People fighting over maps.... but I digress.

Creating a Character basically starts with chosing a basic"look" (just hair and color of cloths), and "rolling" some stats to be distributed over 4 attributes: Strength (Raw damage dealth and ability to wear certain armor), Wisdom (mana recharge rate and maximum cap), Dexterity (accuracy and ability to dodge) and Luck (change of dealing maximum damage).


Starting Over:
I re-rolled a "Fighter" class character to start playing again, it being the character I am most familiar with. Actually "Rolling" a fighter is misleading. What I did instead was rolled a character with the highest Strength attribute possible. In Maple, each class performs best by maximizing one of the 4 attributes, "Strength" in the case of the fighter. After this, I am sent to the tutorial island of Maple Island, where I spend the 1st few levels completing 5 quests (ranging from delivery to collection to kill X number of a particular creature). Earning levels in the 1st 30 levels is quite fast, so I breeze through the tutorial section at level 10, and am given "permission" to get to the main island of Victoria Island.

The Story Begins...

I first started this blog last year when I first started playing Maple Story (hence the Knight, was playing a Dragonknight ZhanZha0 (thats me on the Left) on the Cassiopeia server up to level 119... having some company helps keep the momentum going).

First the Ego trip. A little info about my online gaming history. Personally, I like playing FPS and RPG games offline, and these have been reflected in my online gaming history.

Age Of Conan - Signed up as beta tester;)
My first steps into the online arena had been Counter-strike and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and even a game called Guns, where you basically run around with a melee sword and a firearm killing your opponents while performing Matrix worthy stunts like running up/along walls and fipping over fences.

But my real passion is from RPG and action/adventure games (ala Streets of Rage 2). But until they can port the action advernture experience into an MMORPG (the upcoming Conan online game on the left looks promising), RPGs are he way to go for me.

My online game experience has been limited to 4 games primarily: Feng Yun (Feng Wan) online was the 1st, followed by Maple Story, Guild Wars and JX2. Granado Espada is on the list..... provided I can squeeze time for it between my course and work. Still, Maple Story has been the game that I spent the most significant time on (leveling to level 119 legitimately, most of it alone, without assistance or "cash shop" items took me many months), and its a good game as any to start off with.

Maple Story stand out in a number of ways even now among the crowd of MMORPGs. Imagine a 2D world populated by cartoon style graphics and animations (with character designs reminiscent of the original SNES Tales of Phantasia).

No level cap (so far), no PK(player-killing), the ability to form guilds and played by gamers from as young as 6 to who knows..... and its FREE. Did I mention that it reportedly has more than 50 MILLION players worldwide...

I was originally introduced to the game by my best buddy, who played a warrior class (crusader). Thats him on the right. Who knews it could be so addictive just.

Back then, Cassiopeia was the newest server up, and one could really seee the results of improving one's "ranking with bouts of power leveling. I was actually in the top 12oth highest level DK (Dragonknight) in that world for a short period of time;)

So what it it was composed mainly of "fetch" quests and and "kill 300 of monster X and collect 500 of item Y? The carrot of just 1 more level, one more item to power up your character just so you can take on higher level "mobs" was surprisingly enticing.


The Cash Shop
Another interesting thing about the game as the ablity to spend real-world currency to buy game items (that cannot be bought in-game) to personalize the look of your character from the game's "cashshop". Sunglasses, lightsaber "skins", tatoos, hairstyles, even pets. All those tiny purchases add up, and the company must really be raking in the big bucks.

Also purchasable from the cashshops are limited period/usage items like ingame shopping stalls to peddle items you want to sell, charms that negate the penalties received upon death, the ability to teleport to different maps instantly, and even items that temporarily improve the grinding rate, by increasing experience, or miso (ingame currency) and item drop rate.


Epic Zakum Battle
But the experience was not without its pitfalls. Even with 3 (now 4) servers and 20 "channels" or instances per world, players used to hog the "good maps", asking "tresspassers" to CC(change channel). Some going as far as to attempt to annoy you from the map even if you were there first.

Even when you are willing to share, some people just want the whole "map" for themselves. It gets worse for maps with "legendary" monsters which spawn once every few hours....

Yes, even without the ability to "kill" someone in game, there are ways to annoy someone else. The main tactic is to KS (kill steal). By going after another character's mob, one can effectively stop that character from making any progress. Plus since the game assigns every character with a reputation score called "fame", "Fame Bombs", where a person calls up a whole game of players to mass "defame" someone else became a real threat.


No, There is no skill called "fly"
Unfortunately the worst thing to happen to the game literally went to the dogs, with blatant hacking which totally ruined the experience for me as well as most legitimate players. And one can see the weirdest hacks in Maple.... other than the expected "God-Mode" and Bots, there are hacks that literally pull all monsters within the map towards you, hacks that allow you to go to areas where one is not supposed to end up in, and in a related hack, ones that allow you to fly....

Legit community tries to help by reporting cases of hackers, but to no avail. When hackers can fly and hide in areas of the map where normal players cannot even reach, its an uphill task to spot, much less identify and report a hacker.

The fact that they use names meant to confuse also complicates matters (although its one of the indicators of a hacker as well). One hacker in Maple Sea, Cassiopeia used a name saintovvl, with 2 "v"s instead of a "w", so anyone who spots him only sees saintowl.... and when he was reported, he even framed the reporter for being the hacker instead.


Yet another hacker...I give up....
Its been an ongoing war between the hackers and the company to clamp down on hackers, but with so many maps "ruined" by hacks (imagine, as a combination of all the above hacks, having a map totally empty because every single mob has been repositioned to an unreachable area), one day, I just finally gave up.

One day, a hacker started arguing about the pros of hacking... and many players jumped to his defence. Thats when I realised that the cheating population in the game was so significant and/or that hacking is so widely accepted in Maple Story that many find nothing wrong with it...., and nothing can be done about it.

And so I'm done with Maple Story for now. ZhanZha0 is still languishing in th server though. Maybe I should just take it for a walk some day......