09-17-2009, 01:19 PM
Well, it depends on what you're going for.
If you wanted to do, say, a D&D simulator, it would make sense that you only play when all the players in your party are ready to go. If Bob can't make it, you probably just postpone the whole gaming session so he doesn't fall behind (although even there, any novice GM would probably run the campaign anyway and simply fit Bob back into it and quickly get him caught up in the next session).
But that, in a way, is "serious gaming". Having to make and meet a schedule is not really what online computer gaming has been aiming for, and rightfully so: most people can't do that.
Heck, The Purge as a concept is basically a group of people who can't or won't play games like that.
Should this mean that we simply can't play MMORPGs together?
I fault the game design because it's a problem that can be addressed.
The biggest part of the problem comes from "quest driven gameplay". As soon as you start a game design with that concept, you have probably ruined the ability for casual players to play your game together. It was true in WOW, it was true in Warhammer, it's true in Champions. (Or at any rate, the players have to go out of their way and make external arrangements in order to be able to play together.)
For an MMO to really work for a group like us, it cannot be quest driven gameplay.
If you wanted to do, say, a D&D simulator, it would make sense that you only play when all the players in your party are ready to go. If Bob can't make it, you probably just postpone the whole gaming session so he doesn't fall behind (although even there, any novice GM would probably run the campaign anyway and simply fit Bob back into it and quickly get him caught up in the next session).
But that, in a way, is "serious gaming". Having to make and meet a schedule is not really what online computer gaming has been aiming for, and rightfully so: most people can't do that.
Heck, The Purge as a concept is basically a group of people who can't or won't play games like that.
Should this mean that we simply can't play MMORPGs together?
I fault the game design because it's a problem that can be addressed.
The biggest part of the problem comes from "quest driven gameplay". As soon as you start a game design with that concept, you have probably ruined the ability for casual players to play your game together. It was true in WOW, it was true in Warhammer, it's true in Champions. (Or at any rate, the players have to go out of their way and make external arrangements in order to be able to play together.)
For an MMO to really work for a group like us, it cannot be quest driven gameplay.