Feeling Strangely Fine...usually

Why so serious?

2012-01-31T14:31:00.000+01:00

One of my fellow Twitterverse denizens, Giuseppe Nelva from Dualshockers, wrote a good piece last week on the odd trend amongst MMO fans, to be more than a little negative towards the games in the genre.

It is an interesting subject, and I have touched on it before. For me there are really three elements that come into play here, the first two are much more of a cultural observation, and the other much more MMO specific.

The first part is all too familiar to anyone who takes a passing interest in understanding what motivates our modern media culture. People like hearing bad news. It is more dramatic, and generally tends to draw in more of an audience. Social commentators have offered all kinds of explanations down the years, but most tend to be some form of Schadenfreude. There is a reason that the uplifting 'human interest' stories tend to be the rare exceptions in modern news coverage. Online conversations of games, and MMOs, are really no different, and the press and fans are probably equally guilty on having a slightly greater interest in the potential problems of any given title than they are of it's successes.

Recent stories on Star Wars: The Old Republic just bring that into focus again with an almost predictable clarity. From the launch exploit with their dancing emotes, through exaggeration and conspiracy theories revolving around the users that couldn't see the unsubscribe button all the way up to everyone worrying that the game was going to crash and burn on the strength of one analysts stock advice. You can quickly see the trend (although the dancing exploit was admittedly amusing). The press also want to maximize their readership, and that means most can't resist a little bit of controversy, or using inventive or exaggerated headlines to solicit clicks on their stories. (This one amused me yesterday...it's not really a comment on the content, it's about getting people to read on and click the link)

The Hype factor...

Then we have the fact that it is easy for people to get caught in the hype around an upcoming game. I have spoken before about the challenges of that communication, and it is certainly not an easy balance. This is an area where developers can rarely win...and one I think we can all agree that players and marketers often don't see eye to eye. It is however a self-perpetuating circle, as without the attention, games don't sell, which means they wouldn't get made, which means that talking about their best features is a necessity. The issue is that in doing so we expose our players to their own imaginations...the game they can imagine can often be far, far, more compelling than any game we could actually build...

It happens to all games to some extent, but MMOs are particularly susceptible for some very specific reasons that other genres can much more easily sidestep.

The worlds of our imaginations issue...

Most other genres are pretty well defined. The rules by which they are judged are rarely arbitrary, and are, by and large, pretty well defined. There may be the occasional cross-over, but what constitutes a 'good' or 'bad' implementation is rarely disagreed upon. (at least on a structural level, of course subjective opnions rate different titles flavor according to preference)...MMOs however are faced with the challenge that even their audience often struggles to define what makes for a 'good' MMO in terms of design approach...

The genre almost inherently makes us dream about what is possible with the idea of these virtual worlds. Ever since the genre moved into 3D the possibilities that it has suggested to us have been inspiring. The experiences that we have had, shared with real people, have formed bonds, built relationships, and even formed rivalries. These were living breathing worlds, tangible things we could believe in.

In the beginning we accepted the limits of the technology, however as we have progressed and start to move through the genres second decade, we, as players, start to yearn for more. The technology must have moved on right? We want more interaction, new innovations, progression within the genre.

That is why people latch onto those elements in a game that are 'new', whether it was Age of Conan's combat, Warhammer Online's public quests, Rift's eponymous rift system and multi-classing, SWTOR's full voice acting and single player storylines, Guild Wars 2 and it's dynamic outdoor quests, or the Secret World's lack of classes., those things that are different about a game are what fire our imagination.

The problem of course is that those elements are just part of a wider design, and the template for that wider design hasn't changed much in the last decade. That is where the tension is created amongst MMO fans. Despite the arrival of new twists to the game-play, and the raising of the bar for general quality (which should in itself not be dismissed!), we have essentially been playing refinements of the same formula set out in Everquest over a decade ago.

The true excitement for the genre is this conflict between our desires for these potentially dynamic worlds that we could, as players, influence, against our actual play habits and need for some direction, mixed in with some of the serious technical limitations that still stand between us developers and providing the kind of experiences that our imaginations can imagine possible.

I am sure that it will come one day, and that the genre will continue to develop towards that goal, because as I have said before...the appeal of that kind of a game is just too strong...someone will always be trying, and someone, someday, will get it to work in a way that starts to satisfy these motivations...but for now it does mean that we will have this challenge of expectation against reality, and the challenge of the world's our imagination creates...

Wrapping up...

Personally I tend to label myself as a pragmatically cynical optimist (as opposed to an optimistically pragmatic cynic). I understand that there are downsides to the genre, and indeed some of them might significantly impact my enjoyment of any given title. However I rarely let myself dwell on any of the negatives. As a designer, developer and publisher, I definitely try and understand why a title failed to engage me so that I can learn from it, and yes, not everyone has that professional excuse, but I don't tend to hold any grudges....so I may not be the right person to comment on why people feel the need to attack the parts of a game they don't like...

..so what about you? Do you fall prey to the urge to be negative rather than supportive of the MMOs you play?

World Book Night 2012

2012-01-25T21:08:00.001+01:00

World Book Night is a cause well worth supporting....I shouldn't need to tell you why encouraging people to share and read books is a great thing right? The list of the books for this year is also full of great works, whether you are going by the UK list or the US list. Some of my favorite books are on the list this year, including Good Omens, A Player of Games, and The Lovely Bones, so this is a cause well worth your support. Check out the official site for all the details of how to take part!

Conquest versus Competition

2012-01-24T20:51:00.003+01:00

Player versus Player conflict is probably one of the most debated subjects in the MMO space. I've talked a lot about it myself here on the blog before. It can usually be relied upon to generate passionate opinions and discussions. Discussions that can quickly deviate from a civil conversation about the merits of various implementations into all out forum wars where you best be equipped with your best tin-foil hat for protection and come armed with a fair amount of troll-repellent.

That passion though often masks a fairly fundamental issue with PVP discussions, and that is what exactly people mean by 'PVP', and in particular in an MMO context. You see, the answer, while possibly deceptively simple, is often overlooked and is at the root cause of a lot of those impassioned verbal conflicts. So this time out we're going to take a step back from the frontlines and look at some of the core concepts that are driving, and dividing, the PVP communities in modern MMOs.

Another intriguing indie...

2012-01-23T20:47:00.001+01:00

Spotted a preview for the indie game Vessel by Strange loop Games over on Rock, Paper Shotgun this morning. I am a sucker for concept platformers, let alone one with a cool vaguely steampunk aesthetic. You can check out a developer video courtesy of IGN below

I have the feeling that I'll be giving this one a spin come March 1st...

The Art Debate...

2012-01-19T16:04:00.001+01:00

The folks over at Eurogamer published a great little editorial on the whole 'games as art' debate yesterday. I've written about this on the blog before, it's an interesting topic, and the post pretty much nails it, so it's worth a read!

Streets of New York

2012-01-17T04:06:00.001+01:00

The weekend trip to New York also allowed for some time wandering the streets with the camera. Always some interesting pictures to be found on the streets of Manhattan.

Streets of New York, a set on Flickr.

We also got to visit MOMA, which is a cool museum because it allows non-flash photography. Which means I got to take pictures of people taking pictures of people...

...this was my favorite image of the weekend...

Sleep no more...

2012-01-17T03:09:00.002+01:00

As part of the weekend escape to the Big Apple we went to see the acclaimed show Sleep No More that has been running for the last few months on the west side on Manhattan. I have to admit I'm not usually an avid theatre follower, but an article over on io9 last year caught my attention. The show just sounded outright weird...and I am a sucker for outright weird...

Sleep no More defies easy categorization. It's loosely Macbeth, It's part performance, part installation, part dance. It allows, nay encourages, the audience to make their own experience out of it, and is, as advertised, just outright weird. It was also an amazing experience, and one I'm not likely to forget in a hurry.

The event is played out across six floors of a fictional hotel, although it's a hotel only in name as you soon discover its halls are now home to a myriad of strange sets. You discover a graveyard, a hedge maze, a sanitarium, a bar, a street, a banquet hall and various royal quarters, all loosely inspired by a 1920's aesthetic. Each carefully constructed, and brilliantly lit, all with a bizarre feel to them as if you are navigating a strange, presumably psychotic dreamscape...and I do mean navigate, because here the audience is part of the performance.

There are two rules, the audience are all masked in identical white masks, and you aren't allowed to speak. The silence is the golden rule.

Other than that you are generally free to wander as you please. You can rifle through desks, read notes, even eat some of the candy found behind a store counter, should you dare...you can get as close to the action as you care to, regardless of the violence or passion of the scene, and there is plenty of passion and violence on the menu...

The events of the play continue simultaneously regardless of what or where you are. The performers move around playing out the scenes, and act as if the masked audience do not exist. They just carry on regardless.

With its Hitchcock references and art-deco splendor, brilliantly atmospheric lighting, wonderfully period soundtrack (which is piped into each location and creates a soundtrack that impressively seems to move with you), it offers an amazing level of immersion that is hard to compare.

If you were continually in the wrong place at the wrong time you could, in theory, miss everything, although the meticulous choreography and movement of the cast is clearly designed to draw the audience in to key events, you just won't see all of them in a single performance.

It was almost like being a silent side character in an adventure game, where the plot barrels along, with pivotal moments often happening simultaneously, whether you are paying attention or not. You are not going to change the fate of any of the characters here...

The Wired review talked a lot about that element, but for me, while there clearly was some similarity to gaming, you do after all get to interact with the surroundings in a way not usually found in theater (and atmosphere wise think of a live action Amnesia, just without the eventual monsters, and the concept is reminiscent of The Last Express), for me, this was a very different type of experience.

Mainly because it was an oddly voyeuristic experience. The combination of the masks and the required silence on behalf of the audience combine to allow a strange form of role play - that of an observer, almost like a spirit who has some inherent, but undefined, interest in the outcome of the machinations of these characters. The experience is in the not knowing, the lack of context makes the events all the more compelling because you know they are part of something (although a working knowledge of the play clearly helps), and for me that all added to the sense of mystery.

It did however make me think about the storytelling, and how they were stringing the experience together as they went. It was particularly interesting to see how the actors functioned as anchors for the audience, superbly drawing attention to themselves when required, and at other times dispersing crowds almost without you realizing.

The show has been extended through March 10th so there is still a chance to catch it if you are in New York. It's well worth it...you certainly won't forget it in a hurry...

I think...

2012-01-15T18:09:00.000+01:00

...only had had a few hours so far with the HD remakes of Ico and Shadows of the Colossus, but it is fun to see them again after so long. It's not often I revisit games, as I usually fear they will suffer compared to what I thought I remembered...but these may be exceptions...

...The Old Republic is pretty much what I think I was expecting. It's a cross between the old KoTR games and an MMO, and I've enjoyed most of the main story-line I've played through. I also kind of like the way they wrapped their tradeskills into the companion system. Not entirely sure how much it will grab me long term, but I'm also prone to over analysing, the ever present professional curiosity gets in the way of thinking about the game as a player might. It definitely nails the Stars Wars aesthitic though, and there will always be something about getting to take a light saber to gunfight for someone of my generation...

...falling a bit behind on the TV, but iTunes and travel let's me catch up somewhat. Also glad I stuck with Persons of Interest as it is starting to hit a stride and I'm looking forward to see where it's going now that it's opening up the larger storyline...

...also looking forward to next show from Mister Abrams when Alcatraz starts next week...

...the tech behind the new Tintin movie was impressive, and I enjoyed the film. The technology is fast approaching he day when its starting to avoid the 'uncanny valley' issue. It was also quite interesting to see how much of an homage they were to the old cartoons I used to watch as a kid...

A new turn based X-Com?

2012-01-05T19:35:00.001+01:00

A nice surprise in the gaming news today, as Game Informer had the exclusive on the news that Firaxis (of Civilization fame) are hard at work on a new X-Com game, and a traditional turn based one no less! Count me amongst those very...very...excited about this news.

Can't wait to see some more about it! You can find all the details over at Games Informer here.

Into 2012...

2012-01-05T19:31:00.004+01:00

2011 was a hectic, busy, crazy, year full of crazy challenges, and some awesome experiences (small stuff like getting married ya'know) and lots of stuff I'm pretty proud of all round. It's always a good year when things come together and you deliver what you were asked to (and more in some cases) and those you work with make your life enjoyable on most days. The various launches on Age of Conan went well, with the Unchained Free to play conversion and the adventure pack coming together so nicely (and I am so proud of the team for that one! I still can't get over how well those areas worked, and how stunning they look). I have a feeling that 2012 won't be any different, and is going to keep me on my toes.

A huge thanks to everyone who made all that possible, including you folk here who frequent the blog (which has grown way more than I ever expected this year) and all those who enjoy the games, or the talks, or the articles. It's huge fun to get to share this with a wider community and hopefully 2012 will also present some opportunities to talk more about games.

I have also resolved to write much more than I managed last year, going as far as to join a secret cadre of like minded souls (i.e. a writers club of sorts) in order to further some authorial ambitions. More on that later hopefully.

I'll hopefully keep the interesting blog posts coming at semi-regular intervals. This could be a very interesting year ahead for MMOs, with Guild Wars 2 inbound, another WoW expansion on the cards, the development of The Old Republic to track, and the potential of other games like our own Secret World, and imports like ArcheAge to make a mark...and that's before you consider the games that will come that many would argue share much with the genre like Diablo III and Planetside 2. I am sure there will be plenty to talk about.

I still have a back-log of games from the end of 2011 to catch up on as well, but my in-laws provided a wonderful Christmas gift of the new HD remasters of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus as a Christmas gift...so I fear that Uncharted 3 and the latest Assassins Creed may well end up waiting a little longer!

Here is to an exciting 2012!

2011...the best bits...games

2011-12-28T18:35:00.001+01:00

For most of the latter half of the year I was certain that I knew my two favorite games of the year, but a late arrival landed and screwed up my neatly arranged thoughts, so as with my round-up of movies there are three very different games atop my thoughts this year, and again, I can't really pick them apart, as I like them for very different reasons...

First up comes Portal 2. This pick is a beautiful collision of top quality storytelling, and brilliantly intuitive game-play. When Valve described what they were adding to the original I was more than a little skeptical. Multiplayer? New mechanics? All those gels and light bridges seems superfluous given the simple genius of the first game. Even when we got treated to a first hand demo by Gabe Newell when he visited the studio in Oslo, I was still more than a little cautious. Shame on me for doubting Valve (although I don't think I was alone in that!). What we got of course was a wonderfully paced puzzler with more character than almost anything that has gone before it. They took the central strengths of the first game and somehow found a way to make them not simply great, but magnificent...and what's more they did it with equal part game-play and storytelling. Not only did they improve the puzzling (and anyone who complains about it being easier than the first game I would wager didn't venture into multi-player, where the puzzling truly shines), but they managed to take the same premise and inject even more character...oh, and anything is better with a liberal sprinkling of JK Simmons...

Then we have the end of year Behemoth that is Skyrim. Now, I was actually prepared to dislike this latest offering from Bethesda. I have struggled to like any of the Elder Scrolls games since Daggerfall, and was unimpressed by their adaptation of Fallout, so I wasn't expecting much from this installment. However, once I found myself wandering the lands of Skyrim I was hooked...completely and utterly hooked. Not since Final Fantasy VII have I put so much time into a single player game. I have struggled to put my finger on exactly why I like it so much, given it isn't that different from Obilvion or Morrowind. Maybe it is the Nordic setting appealing to my love for that part of the world, and the great voice acting that fits with that setting. Maybe it was because I didn't like Oblivion and was about due a game I could lose myself in on a console. Not quite sure, but when I play a game as much as I did Skyrim, then I can't deny it.

Lastly we have the wonderful indie hit, Bastion. Sure, it might only be six-ish hours long, (which didn't stop the original Portal from being on many 'Game of the Year' lists) and it might not innovate at all (but turning in a solid Diablo style performance with aplomb), but where it shines is in setting, style and storytelling. Yes, the narration is it's 'thing', and it honestly does add a whole level of immersion that you wouldn't think was possible by just adding a voice track, but the whole thing is just so lovingly crafted that it all comes together perfectly, and draws you into a world you only get glimpses at. For me that was part of the charm, too much exposition can kill the imagination as much as too little. Bastion does a great job of giving you just enough insight into what this world might have been like, without ever burying you in it. It's also brilliantly refined around the edges as it were, and things that many won't even notice just add to the quality level. What might have been a simple menu system in other games is turned into an interactive base-camp in Bastion where you literally choose the order you build your access to power-ups, stores and difficulty settings. For me, much of the enjoyment of the game was simply in how much thought had gone into every little part of the game...and having the best soundtrack of the year didn't hurt either. Games like this are why we have indie development platforms and should be cast as shining examples of how to execute on a vision. Of course it helps if your vision is as wonderfully imaginative as this one...I swear that narrator was in my head for days after finishing the game!

If I absolutely, on penalty of death, only had one vote for game of the year it would probably go to Bastion...

Honorable mentions this year go out to the new Arkham City, the return of Deus-Ex (which would have been on the above list if it were not for a poor final chapter), the surreal Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP on the iPad (and Aquaria, World of Goo and Machinarium appearing on iOS for those who don't play PC games and don't know what they are missing).

Although it was still a decent game, and clearly ambitious, I was most disappointed by LA Noire, while it had some great moments, the performance capture was just a little short of what I had hoped for. As with Heavy Rain the year before, I still enjoyed it but had hoped for so much more from it.

2011 also added some fine additions to the MMO genre, and I enjoyed time in Rift and DC Universe. Indie efforts Earthrise and Perpetuum were a little disappointing and again demonstrated the difficulty in launching an MMO into crowded waters (and whose struggles were also disappointing because I would love more non-fantasy additions to the genre)...and I still spent a good deal of time in Everquest 2, EVE and now free to play Fallen Earth. Of course the end of the year brings with it the truly massive Star Wars: The Old Republic and how it performs in 2012 will almost certainly have a lasting impact on the genre.

I also still log time in both Bloodline Champions and Starcraft 2, with a little League of Legends on the side. Even though I am truly bad at the competitive games, for some reason I still enjoy taking part and improving little by little. My rankings are up, and bit by bit I learn a little more from every game.

It's been a great year for gaming...

...2012 has a lot to live up to...

2011...the best bits...movies

2011-12-28T18:31:00.003+01:00

It's been a good year for movies, partly because I've been going to the cinema a lot more, so have actually seen many of them 'as intended' but also because some of the films that impressed me the most were those that surprised me.

There were some good pickings from the summer blockbuster season. While we did get a fair share of decidedly average action fair in the likes of Captain America, Thor, Green Lantern, Transformers and the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel no-one other than the accountants at Disney really seemed to want, we did also get the rather excellent X-Men: First Class, which showed you can still make an interesting super hero movie, and a suitably epic conclusion to the Harry Potter series with the second installment of the Deathly Hallows. Wedged in between good and average was Cowboys and Aliens, which was just some good popcorn fun, if more than a little ridiculous...

I also thoroughly enjoyed Super 8, which was everything a summer movie should be, and paid suitable homage to those that had gone before it, invoking a neat mix between ET, the Goonies, and a monster movie...although Mister Abrams could do with toning down the lens flare a little..really we get it, you like lens flare, does it need to be in every other shot? (or at least feel that way) I mean we indulge Spike Lee with his 'once per movie' walking tracking shots, and Martin Scorsese is allowed his ultra long steady cam sequences...but you really do not need to put your signature 'thing' in every other scene...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes also deserves a mention for being far better than I had feared. The technology behind it was mightily impressive. Likewise Woody Allen is proving that he is still aging well and added another good entry to his list of later movies with Midnight in Paris.

Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam documentary was also excellent if you are a fan of the band.(Or just want to watch a really well made music documentary)

The 'He who could soon be huge' award goes to Ryan Gosling who showed some range and had a break out year with terrific performances in Drive and The Ides of March, as well as showing a lighter touch in Crazy, Stupid, Love. His dramatic turn in the Ides of March was particularly impressive given he was sharing the screen with George Clooney, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and more than holding his own. I will look forward to seeing more from him in years to come...

My three favorite movies of the year though were very different. In fact I can't really split them, since they are all very, very different types of film.

The first is Joe Wright's Hanna. With an amazing performance by it's young lead, Saoirse Ronan, the tale of the young assassin trained to avenge her mothers death, was brilliantly paced, tight, and well played. It didn't have much hype, and came early in the year, which is never good for getting end of year mentions, but it stuck with me throughout the year regardless.

Next up was the animated tale of a lost lizard in the Johnny Depp voiced Rango. This was the best of kid's movies in that it wasn't really a kid's movie at all. Wonderfully surreal, and packed with adult references, it also had some superb animation and visuals. It works primarily due to Depp's presence (although the supporting cast provide almost uniformly excellent voice work) and his comic timing here is virtually flawless. It also benefits from the best appearance by a Mariachi band in any film this year...

Lastly comes Martin Scorsese's love letter to cinema itself in the end of year Hugo. It is a wonderful pageant to the magic of cinema, and of the importance of imagination and storytelling itself. It wasn't anything like I had been expecting, and shows that a great director can approach something truly different to anything he has done before and pull it off superbly. Just go and see it and let it carry you away. In an ever more cynical and commercialized world I love that movies like this can still be made.

2011...the best bits...Photographs

2011-12-28T18:26:00.000+01:00

It's been another great year with the camera in tow...here are some of the highlights of the year through the lens.

The economics of a AAA MMO...

2011-12-15T21:35:00.001+01:00

A very good article over on Eurogamer today about the risk, reward and future ahead of the launch of The Old Republic this week, that will be of interest to anyone who is interested in that type of thing...and judging from the posts that are generally popular here, that's most of you reading the blog!

As I have talked about before, where The Old Republic ends up numbers wise, will definitely have an influence on the industry one way or another.

So again, it kind of comes back to those numbers. I firmly believe that the drop after the first month isn't indicative of a failure, it might just be the natural trend that most AAA MMOs will all experience* as their appeal hits a wider demographic than will naturally play a subscription based title...with the caveat, that of course, we are always subject to the off chance that there will be a next surprise hit, the next World of Warcraft, it will most likely happen, and probably when we least expect it! Some of you could even argue that League of Legends has quietly already done so...and the Old Republic may yet do so...interesting times ahead!

Some indie game goodness...

2011-12-09T17:02:00.001+01:00

...two very different games to mention today...

As a huge fan of games like Exit, this one looks really cool, and has a certain stylish look to it. Well worth a quick look if you fancy getting excited about some open ended puzzling. I like games that try and provide more open puzzling solutions that don't just have one single answer.

A promising one that might be worth keeping your eyes out for. You can find out more at their site here.

In a very different vein, with more of a personal connection, those of you with children could do a lot worse than check out Hogworld: Gnart's Adventure.

It's been made a small Norwegian studio, Snow Castle Interactive, a couple of whom I've had the pleasure of meeting quite a few times, when they covered Age of Conan as journalists. The game is brilliantly executed storytelling for children, and you don't have to take my word for it...the folks over at Wired agree...you can check out their review here.

For those who enjoy the writing in Age of Conan...

2011-11-30T17:08:00.001+01:00

...our lead scribe, and generally awesome storyteller Mr Joshua Doetsch, has a new novel out called Strangeness in the Proportion. It's well worth picking up if you are inclined to enjoy weird and slightly macabre tales from a wonderfully vivid imagination.

You can find all the information needed to get your hands on a copy (and a preview) here.

How to feed your trolls and influence people...

2011-11-27T23:21:00.000+01:00

This post is an adapted version of the presentation I gave at the Montreal International Game Summit this year. So if you want to learn a little of what we talked about, grab a seat and let's get down to the subject of player feedback and how to intepret it.

I think...

2011-11-25T22:45:00.001+01:00

...Skyrim might actually be too big for my tastes! It is a fantastically crafted world, and it is a compliment that it is seriously eating into my MMO time. It isn't without it's technical issues (I can't seem to play much beyond an hour and a half on the PS3 version without a stall), but the sheer splendor of it all is a great achievement. I just hope I actually have the stamina (and the time) to get through the main storyline...

...so I have a feeling that the new Assassins Creed and Uncharted 3 will have to wait for the new year...

...an incredibly busy month in games. Not just due to the wealth of AAA titles that have landed, but there are big patches / updates / conversions in the MMO space competing for my time and attention. I can't recall any time period in the past that has been anything like the crazy stream of gaming goodness that we have right now...

...looking forward to seeing the Muppets on the big screen again! Roll on childhood nostalgia!

...about given up on Terranova, for some reason the avatar comparison just won;t go away for me, and it feels like its retreading a theme that has been explored to death, and has so far lacked the character depth that usually compensates on the show I really like...but Persons of Interest is still oddly holding my attention, even if it's looking more and more like a pure procedural...

...finally getting around to reading Murakami's latest opus IQ84 and already marveling at how well his prose translates into English again...

...some more actual blogging coming up soon! Too many ideas at the same time have resulted in three or four unfinished posts, so the mission is definitely to get round to tidying them up and posting them up!

Must Play: Batman Arkham City

2011-11-18T21:25:00.001+01:00

I had the chance to wrap up the main story-line on Arkham City this week. So what did I think? Short answer: Great game, worthy sequel, play it, but it prompted some interesting questions for me as a designer...

For the longer answer however, this one will be impossible to write about without spoiling major elements of the plot, and we all hate spoilers...

...so only read on after the cut if you don't mind some pretty hefty story spoilers.

Ethics and Digital Citizenship panel...

2011-11-04T19:12:00.001+01:00

As part of Media Literacy Week I will be taking part in a panel discussion here in Montreal next Tuesday. Organised in conjunction with the Entertainment Software Association of Canada and IGDA Montreal, the panel will 'explore the role that the video game industry has in shaping cyber-ethics and fostering a true sense of digital citizenship.' The session ('Cyber-ethics – Does the video game industry have a role to play in fostering a better digital citizenship?' to give you the full title!) takes place at 7PM on the 8th of November and you can find all the details and register free for entry here

If you are interested in game development and online communities it should be a really interesting session so it's worth dropping by and taking part. The panel will be open for questions so it's a fantastic opportunity to explore some fascinating aspects of our online existence, and the part that games play in that.

MIGS 2011 - Another good year!

2011-11-04T19:05:00.000+01:00

The Montreal International Game Summit is now done and dusted, and it was once again a really cool event. There were a lot of interesting sessions, and I always appreciate the opportunity to meet with so many enthusiastic and passionate people from the industry.

My own session went pretty well. You are usually pretty happy to have filled the room and not had people leave before you finish, so I always take that as a good starting point :) Hopefully people found the session interesting and engaging, and I enjoyed meeting folk and chatting afterwards. The subjects of the session will be the basis for a couple of posts that will be coming up here on the blog once I have had the chance to sit down and reformat it into something digestible in nice little blog sized bites!

In terms of the other sessions people seemed very happy with the overall quality. I heard a lot of very positive chatter from the attendees and the sessions I got to sit in on were well worth the time. I thoroughly enjoyed the session by Manveer Heir from Bioware on the potential of a systemic approach to storytelling. As someone who firmly believes that you don't necessarily need to rely on traditional content design to build story, I found myself nodding a lot during his presentation. I'm pretty sure it will inspire another missive on storytelling and MMOs at some stage in the near future!

I love to observe how those working in and around the industry consider our own work, and that there are so many areas where we already know we can push things even further, whether that is in terms of technology, or in terms of design, and how we can provide even more immersion and emotionally engaging games.

So overall events like this always serve to motivate and inspire in one way or another. A huge thanks to everyone who took part, and everyone who said hello and took part in the session. Looking forward to MIGS 2012 already!

MIGS Tomorrow...

2011-10-31T13:34:00.003+01:00

I'll be speaking at the Montreal International Game Summit tomorrow, you can find all the details of my session here over at the official site. It's an interesting and fun topic and I am looking forward to presenting again at the Summit. Met lots of smart, enthusiastic and nice people at the event last year, so hopefully this year's event will follow suit. I am sure that the content of the session might make for a post or two afterwards as well!

A nasty cold last week had deprived me of my voice last week, and it's only just getting back to normal today, so hopefully I won't be sounding too Tom Waits-ish when speaking tomorrow. Although rather bizarrely, in my own head I sounded more like Scooby Doo when I tried to talk on Friday, if that had persisted I am pretty sure I would not have been able to keep a straight face while doing the presentation!

If you are attending the show make sure you drop by and say hello!

I think...

2011-10-28T18:08:00.005+02:00

...it's been a busy month, lots of work, and not so much time to catch up on various forms of entertainment...

...have been able to spend some time with Batman: Arkham City and have not been disappointed. Not all that far in so far, but a hugely enjoyable sequel to the previous game, and the wider scope and stage serves to amplify the fun tremendously. Fantastic voice work as well from a great cast...alas not sure I will finish it in time to get to play Uncharted 3 when it appears, so Drake's latest adventure may have to wait...

...I seem to be one of the few not excited by the arrival of Battlefield 3. Professional curiosity will dictate I give it a whirl at some stage, but strangely not compelled to dive right in...

...I am going to miss Doctor Who now that the season is done and dusted. I am also more than a little disappointed to hear that there might be truth to the rumors that next season will be Matt Smith's last as the Doctor, as I have really enjoyed his interpretation of the Timelord...

...none of the new fall shows have grabbed my attention. Terra Nova simply isn't doing anything for me, and I had hopes that Persons of Interest might go somewhere interesting, but it hasn't yet...at least there is new Fringe to enjoy, although the new season also hasn't hit the heights of previous runs, at least not yet, but hoping things take some more interesting turns there...

...I am more and more intrigued by the stories that HBO are definitely going to make a Dark Tower show, if they show it the same respect they have to Game of Thrones, then I am in!

...Brains...Brains...

2011-10-23T01:36:00.002+02:00

The zombies invaded Montreal today, so what better to do then follow them around with a camera? I swear that if we ever actually do experience the zombie apocalypse, the first victims will definitely be photographers!

You can find the entire set here on Flickr as always

Podcasted...

2011-10-15T20:45:00.000+02:00

Simon Ludgate, with whom I had the pleasure of doing a presentation with at the Canadian Games Conference earlier in the year, grabbed me this week to talk all things MMO on his Soulrift MMO podcast. Following up from his session with the ever interesting Scott Hartsman from Trion, we sat down and chatted about the changing shape of the MMO space, from business models to community. You can catch the whole podcast here over on Soulrift.com.

All in a good cause...

2011-10-15T20:34:00.000+02:00

This weekend sees the Extra-Life charity event in full swing, with an intrepid team of our players joining thousands of other gamers around the world in raising money for a great charity. As we push on the team are currently sitting in the list of the top ten contributors. I always maintain that community is one of the things that has always drawn me to MMOs and online games, and seeing that power put to good use like this is fantastic. It also presents a great opportunity to check in on both games!

Multi-tasking, chilling at the docks in Ardashir and hanging out in Borelais (always one of my favorite spots on Rubi-Ka!).

You can check out all the details of the campaign here, and track the progress of the Funcom team here.

Good luck to all taking part in the event!

So you want to be a producer...

2011-10-08T19:08:00.001+02:00

...the latest video from the wonderful folks at Extra Credits explores the world of management, and what exactly it means to be a producer. It's an excellent summary of the challenges of working in management in the games industry. Well worth checking out if you are intrigued by the idea of pursuing the life of a producer in this industry.

The one where Ergo plays cards with the Yuttos...

2011-10-04T23:31:00.003+02:00

Yes, you will definitely need to have been an Anarchy Online player to get the reference there, but I just had to go with that title after seeing this awesome fan art from SirIce over on Deviant Art..

Ergo's Last isle by ~SirIce on deviantART

...most excellent stuff!

As Kevin Smith once said...

2011-10-04T23:29:00.001+02:00

...it's not for critics...

...Massively's Soapbox post today is on one of the topic's that always fascinates me...how people sometimes just can't get the notion that something, anything, wasn't made just for them....and that...Shock! Horror! There are other opinions out there...well worth a read and checking out the discussion.

Photographic Time Travel...

2011-09-30T04:27:00.000+02:00

...sometimes the simplest ideas make for the best projects...

Behind The Scenes And 'Back To The Future' With Photographer Irina Werning from NPR on Vimeo.

The Success Anomaly

2011-09-25T21:25:00.004+02:00

So the big news of the weekend for MMOs was that Star Wars: The Old Republic has an official release date, and will launch over the Christmas holidays this year.

The game will most likely sell extremely well out of the gate, almost certainly the most successful first month sales of any MMO ever, and probably by a wide margin...it will then possibly even retain over a million subscription customers (something it should be remembered no game other than World of Warcraft has managed)...truly massive numbers...unless the game somehow collapses it is going to post seriously impressive numbers...yet...you can already read many comments across the net which indicate that there is a sizable number of people who are referring to that as a potential 'failure'.

Suddenly being the second most successful MMO of all time, would not be enough for some folk to a call a game a success. For some it seems to boil down to a simple formula, where they believe the only success factor is ongoing and consistent growth, and any significant drop after your launch month is banded about as a sign of failure

Put simply we have an issue at the moment with the perception of what constitutes a successful game...jump past the break as I take a deeper look at the challenge of defining success in the current market...

So what is the root of this disconnect? To me it seems to stem from the fact that many fans of the genre base their opinions on assumptions that are quite simply well out of date.

We're not in Azeroth anymore...

The cornerstone that drives a lot of the definitions that fans fall back on is of course World of Warcraft...and there is nothing inherently wrong with that. It is natural that people will compare other games to the indutsry leader. What they often fail to acknowledge however is that even World of Warcraft launched in a very different gaming environment.

2004 was a very different time...

The world has changed since the launch of World of Warcraft...for example do you remember the internet before You Tube? Blizzard's Behemoth launched some four months before You Tube was founded, that's a lot of change. Sometimes it is hard to remember exactly how much things have changed since then.

Five or more years ago these games did not have as wide a market available to them. You can now sell through over a million copies or more right out of the gate. (and I fully expect TOR and GW2 to do even more than that). That was only a pipe dream when many of us started making these games. I recall the early estimates for first month sales on Age of Conan back in 2005 were as low as 50,000 units yet the game ended up shipping over a million copies in the end, and other games have been in the same ballpark.Games like Rift and Aion are probably holding quite healthy subscription numbers over two hundred thousand users. Prior to the launch of World of Warcraft no game in the west had come close to reaching a million subscribers (the last reported numbers for a game like Everquest were 430,000 players).

So games launching now benefit from the fact that there are many millions of more players that know what an MMO is an might want to try a new one.

Games that launched five or more years ago simply didn't have the profile to attract that kind of a starting audience, and neither did they have to deal with an ever more crowded market with dozens of competing games. This growth was much easier to achieve since your starting numbers were not as large, and most of the games grew organically as word of mouth spread.

Now, it is much more likely that a high profile game in the genre will start out strongly as more people try the game, but not everyone will find it to their tastes.

There are tens of millions of users now that play online, that simply were not there as an addressable audience five years ago. The success of games like World of Warcraft did change the game, and significantly so, they didn't just move the proverbial goalposts, they changed the rules of the game itself.

Different tastes...

With a growing user base for MMOs as a genre, and with more varied games appearing, it is only natural that there will also be a wider set of preferences out there.

This means that a title that gets mass market attention, and a game like The Old Republic definitely falls into that category, it won't necessarily appeal to everyone's tastes. That doesn't mean it won't appeal to more than enough players to be firmly considered a success.

The Variety Show...

The next twelve months or so present an intriguing time for the genre, with some big games on the horizon. Between The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, and our own The Secret World on the way, and titles like Carbine's Wildstar, Trion's next two MMO projects, End of Nations and Defiance, and some interesting imports like Tera and ArcheAge on the way via Korea, the market is going to get ever more crowded

Then throw in the host of titles following the Freemium path, with DC Universe, Star Trek Online, City of Heroes, and Fallen Earth all switching business models to try and attract more players, and mix in all the F2P eastern imports, and you have a virtual stockpile of game vying for your attention even before you consider all the major titles still trucking along nicely years after they launched.

...and that is without even mentioning a little game called Diablo or something that might just steal some time form the MMO playing public...

The veterans view...

The other notable factor playing heavily into comments amongst the MMO communities is that veteran players, many of whom have been playing these games for over a decade now, and yearning for the next advance in technology at a time when the industry itself is still refining the experience offered by the first generation of games.

The 'formula' for an MMO is still pretty much the same, in terms of structure, as it was a decade ago...and that frustration at a perceived lack of 'progress' is what fuels a deal of the complaints.

The idea of an MMO brings with it so many dreams and potential in terms of interactivity and community based gaming that many of those veteran users would rather that developers were more experimental rather than concentrating on making more efficient and more polished version of these online worlds.

You could argue that while those veterans yearn for more complex communal experience, developers have been refining how we can succeed at pleasing the individual in a multi-player world. It wouldn't be an unfair accusation either. These games are expensive, in particular with the requirements of today's production standards, which makes it less likely the bigger budget games will take risky game-play choices.

Not about excuses...

Now one clarification here, this is not about any situation where a game clearly fails to live up to their early expectations,or get over-hyped. There you can very easily understand that gamers will have a negative impression, that isn't where I am going with this. So let's park those games, this isn't intended as any kind of apologists lament at being misunderstood. I talked about this last year, and the further along we go, the more I am convinced that we need to keep asking the question so that we can try and find a way to change people's perceptions about what constitutes success.

This also isn't just about huge one hundred million dollar games like The Old Republic...it filters down to other studios and titles as well. The same lack of acknowledgement that things have changed significantly over the last five years means that many titles have been tarnished with the same

This is about hearing people consider games like Aion, or Rift, as 'failures', simply because they didn't grow after their launch. It is exactly the same forces at play, the same perceptions that are doing an injustice to good, solid games that many people enjoy spending time playing.

Setting expectations...

So all of these factors clearly show that times have indeed changed. Of course there is little you can do to change a perception on the internet outside of talking about it. That is really where we can do better as an industry. Just as I talked about wishing we could have a ratings system of some kind before, I feel that this is an area that we can influence more in our communication.

Can we market our games without the need to claim we will be the be all and end all to all people? I think we can. Can we set the expectation that yes, the first month might be the highest user number we ever reach, without being seen as a 'negative' message to the marketing folk? I think it might not be as scary as the marketing folks might tell you.

Can customers handle an open approach to ambition, or are we too far down a partisan road of instant judgement that even admitting you would be satisfied with a certain level of success would be seen as a lack of confidence, that would then be reported as such, and would then potentially affect your sales, a genuine fear for a business that many will tell you should simply be avoided.

Could we be more open about our numbers, so that we then could start to educate our customers on what constitutes a success, and what they should, and should not, worry about? Part of the issue there is that we have a fairly fundamental fear about how customers will react to trends. Would they understand seasonal fluctuations? Would they tolerate short term dips, or would any such instance be amplified, because players could see it, and react to it? More valid concerns for any business.

The problem, as always, is that people don't like being held to estimates and projections, even if we have to do them, we don't necessarily have to share them. Neither can people use budgets to help gauge, as they do with movies, since the costs of these games is rarely revealed outside of financial reporting.

Personally I think a more open approach could work, much in the same way a movie can influence expectations by it's budget, its cast, scope or even it's release date. We need to find ways in which we can talk more about levels of ambitions without harming a games marketing...

Wrapping up...

I also think that those advances the veterans yearn for will come, and the genre will become more dynamic and community focused again, but maybe not in the near future (and almost certainly not with the upcoming generation of games), and maybe not in the way we think it will...but in the mean time, we are in these changing times, and games will be successful despite not reaching World of Warcraft numbers. We should embrace and applaud the successful games, because in the big picture, they will all contribute to the growth of the genre. If theses games become too risky to make, then you won't be able to blame the investors and publishers from being afraid of the investment.

I hope we continue to see the potential, through successful games, so that we continue to get the opportunities to push the boundaries...but that is another subject entirely, so lets wrap this one up.

So what do you think?

As always, ending with a question for you all - do you think that The Old Republic will be a success, a huge hit? A modest earner? A genre defining moment? What are your expectations for the largest MMO launch since World of Warcraft started to change our worlds?

I think...

2011-09-25T20:25:00.001+02:00

...I was pleasantly surprised by the OnLive service. With such a busy year I hadn't really had the chance to sit down and try it out up until now. So I signed up, and sat down to play through Space Marine (which on a side note was well worth the effort if you like that type of game) and I must admit that the service was better than I expected. It played well and responsively. Not sure I prefer it to Steam overall, but if I didn't have a machine capable of playing at higher specs, I can imagine it being very appealing...

...the current slate of games going Free to Play might mean I have to go back and check them out again. I only got the briefest of sessions with games like DC Universe when they launched, so it's a good opportunity to revisit them and try them out again...

...the current episodes of Doctor Who might just be the best written arc of episodes the show has ever strung together. Matt Smith is playing the part brilliantly and I can't wait to see what twists and turns Mr Moffat has planned for the season finale...

...Persons of Interest, will get a second episode out of me, even if the pilot felt a little flat to me. Given Jonathon Nolan is doing the writing I have hopes it will go to some interesting places, and the concept has potential if all isn't quite as it seems...

...that Real Steel might have been genetically engineered by movie executives to try and appeal to every single demographic possible. Heart-warming story of personal redemption? Check. Cute kid and family drama? Check. Hugh Jackman takes his shirt off at least once? Well, I haven't seen the movie yet, but I will guess we might tick that one off too...sounds like a recipe for a reasonably successful romantic drama...now how do we get the men to agree to go? Giant fighting robots! genius! Did they miss anyone...?

You will always live on Mr Henson...

2011-09-25T00:44:00.001+02:00

Today would have been Jim Henson's 75th birthday and today's Google Doodle paid fitting tribute. I can't imagine how drab and boring a version of my childhood that wasn't influenced by Jim Henson and his creations would have been. I don't usually appreciate being in front of the camera rather than behind it, but today it felt like a fitting tribute...

...animal was always my favorite! (and he does a mean Fredie Mercury impression if you need another reason to watch the most awesome video on You Tube)...

Much better than just banning them...

2011-09-22T02:30:00.003+02:00

Think the sequel to the notoriously difficult Demon Souls might be hard enough as it is? Developers From Software came up with an ingenious way with dealing with players who managed to break the game's street date in Japan. Rather than just close down the online elements, or attempt to ban the users, the developers did this instead... genius!

A good week...

2011-09-16T20:34:00.001+02:00

...incredibly busy, but very satisfying. The period after you launch a major update (or in this case an expansion pack to your game) is usually a short respite for the developers. In my case however it actually usually amps things up a little, as it is the period when the 'what next' plans are revisited, reviewed and put into action. I have also been out visiting the North Carolina office, where our Customer Service staff are based, so the iPad has been getting good use while out on the road.

Lots of planning getting done, and prep work for the next set of content additions, and beyond, being done. Each milestone leads to the next one, so this period just after one finishes gets very busy higher up the chain, as you have to try and take as many learning away from the previous project as you can, so that you are always doing things at least a little better next time out. What worked, what didn't, what you will definitely do again, and what you will definitely try to avoid. So in weeks like these I see far more time-lines, spreadsheets and budget documents than I might like, but it is almost always worth it...

It has also been satisfying to see some of the recognition the game has been getting of late, with a nomination for this years Golden Joysticks awards, and a great re-review over at Dualshockers. I really like to see reviews like that one because it was in-depth and detailed. The reviewer clearly spent a good few weeks playing the game, played through to max level, and took the time to properly assess the game, as an MMO, something that we don't always see happen when the press review an MMO. It was nice that the score was great, and he had positive impressions, but I most appreciated the fact that they took the time to give the game such a fair shake! A great example of how to do an MMO review properly. Far too many times an MMO review falls foul of the fans because they can tell the reviewer didn't really play the game too deeply, so when you get a lengthy, detailed review like that one, you can't really knock them for that. You might disagree with some of their conclusions, but it is great to see them take such a detailed approach.

So all in all, the kind of week that I happy to be tired at the end of!

Must Play: Deus-Ex Human Revolution

2011-09-03T23:55:00.001+02:00

Finished the new Deus-Ex from Eidos Montreal today. As someone who was a huge fan of the original game I had high expectations. Even accounting for some of the proverbial rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia, I was hoping that they had captured the open ended nature of the original title.

Thankfully, I was very happy to find that the spirit of the original game was very much alive and well. For me, one of the strongest elements that games can add to their storytelling is allowing players to craft a story that is unique to them. Deus-Ex Human Revolution has not only realized this, but treasured and nurtured it. The game has a great narrative drive, and even though events are pretty much linear, and while we will all go through the same story roughly speaking, where the game excels is in supporting so many different approaches and tactics so that it genuinely feels like your story. It is a fantastic example of where you can still have a relatively linear narrative, but also allow the player to craft their own version of it.

The game will play very differently depending on your progression choices, not just in terms of the key dialog sections, that you fully expect to dictate the narrative, but also in terms of game-play. The team at Eidos have done a tremendous job at making all of the available augmentations useful and powerful..indeed some of them can almost totally neutralize the threat in certain sections of game-play, but the beauty is that you can can't choose them all. This means that you will find the game feels different for you, depending on your choices. What is a difficult section for some, will be a walk in the park for others. Essentially each player has the power to craft their own version of what is a very linear narrative. It is a great example of how you need not feel 'restricted' by a linear narrative as a game designer...and I just hope we don't have to wait another ten years for a triple-A title to do it this well...

How to feed your Trolls and Influence people...

2011-08-31T15:10:00.005+02:00

...cryptic messages on a Wednesday morning?

No, that's the title for the lecture session I will be giving at the MIGS 2011 conference here in Montreal in November. The full schedule for the conference is now out, so if you are in the industry and interested, or want to be in the industry and are looking for insight, make sure you check out the details. Lots of great sessions this year!

My talk will be taking a deeper look at how community feedback influences game design and game design influences community. Hopefully in an interesting, possibly amusing, but most importantly educational way. It is an ever more important dynamic given our ever more connected and online world, that brings in a lot of interesting aspects. Community is where I started out in the industry and is an important factor that often influences designers far more than they are usually willing to admit. So this session will explore the implications for that, and share some anecdotes and maybe offer some advice for how best to deal with your own versions of trolls and fanboys (and fangirls!), whether you are working on a major title, an online game, or an indie project, everyone has an audience, and how you interact with them can create some very interesting dynamics! I think it will be a fun session!

Really looking forward to the session so hopefully I will see some of you there. It will probably make a good post or two over here as well, once the conference is done and dusted.

Must Play: Bastion

2011-08-21T21:28:00.000+02:00

If I had my way you wouldn't be reading this post, you would be playing through the rather excellent Bastion that has been released recently on the X-Box Arcade and PC via Steam. An isometric action RPG that borrows it's game-play straight from Diablo, Torchlight et al has been put together by Supergiant Games, and is simply one of the most enjoyable game experiences of recent memory.

If anything I wished I had played more of it before the article last week about storytelling, as Bastion is a fantastic example of what I was talking about. Everything about it shows how having a great back-story, and creating a character for your world, then finding the right way to execute it alongside your game-play, can make the difference between a good game and a great game.

Bastion is a great game. It might not have anything you haven't seen before it terms of game-play, or as an action RPG, but it plays extremely smoothly and has more atmosphere and character than the vast majority of its peers. On one hand the story itself isn't even particularly original, but it is so well executed that you can't help but be drawn in. Everything just feels right, if I was being ultra cyncial I might say the basic mode plays a touch too easy, but that's a minor quibble (and one the game acknowledges as it also has a system that allows you to 'power up' the enemies if you wish to) because at just $15 I would unreservedly recommend the purchase.

Watch the trailer...then go check it out...

You won't regret it!

Another potentially interesting Kickstarter campaign

2011-08-21T21:14:00.000+02:00

This time it is some of the writers who worked on Perplex City coming together to try another project. While not quite a full on ARG it shares enough elements that those who enjoyed Perplex City might want to consider backing the project. As always with Kickstarter there is a video from the team explaining their idea.

..so if that sounds like your thing, check out the details and help them out.

The Back-story Alternative...

2011-08-09T10:57:00.002+02:00

...or why that quest text you ignore actually matters...

...but maybe not for the reason you think. So what are we talking about this time out? We have the 'Storytelling in Games' hat on again today, but with a slightly different perspective to some of my previous missives on the subject...however it is a long one, so buckle those seat belts, and as always there will be a question for you all at then end!

Let's get started...

In a manner of speaking this is an article about storytelling that doesn't actually relate to any of the traditional narrative elements of telling a story. This is not going to be about narrative structure, characters, plot, or delve into things like pacing or antagonists, rather I want to explore the actual worlds that we create when we make these games. We are going to be looking into what forms the background for our games, and why they matter far more than you might think.

Think of the games that usually trot off people's list when it comes time to tally the 'best games of all time'...we have covered before the fact that almost all of them have a great story, but there is another element that many of them share that I think is often overlooked. That is the amount of effort and time that developers put into creating the worlds themselves. The very places that these games exist within. Sure, a game can be good on it's own mechanical merits, and first and foremost a game must be a compelling game-play experience...but those truly great games? Those are the games that also create a sense of place for the player. A world they can believe in.

A Sense of place...

The background and setting for a game is one of those things, that if executed correctly, almost shouldn't be noticed, but should be an integral part of what makes a player feel compelled to explore your world, regardless of the mechanics of your game. Players will get that oddly hollow feeling in a game where the world isn't as well established.

Now many games do amazingly well in one element of this, and that is the creation of the world visually. Whether it is style, art direction or inspirations, modern technology now allows for the creation of some truly stunning locations. The visual coherence of a world is important, but here many developers are on pretty sound footings. We have many great artists and imaginations working in the industry, so the creation of these fantastic locations is rarely a problem. The visuals in and of themselves though are not enough to define a world.

I firmly believe that better games are made when the art team, writers and creative leads are working together from as early as possible on a project, as you need a unified vision of what your world will become. The back-story can drive the artists, and vice versa, it can also inspire designers in ways they might not have considered if working in isolation.

However even then, there is a very important element that many often overlook. The visual design and back-story are hard to miss, being integral elements to the creation of a world. A world though needs people, and it needs people other than the players...

The World is not enough...

...a world is nothing without the society that lives within it.

From the outside looking in, people sometimes try and separate the background for the world, and the back-story for the characters of a story, whether that is the player, or those around them. In some ways that is the wrong way to look at it, as both are vital, fuel each other, and are often flawed if they don't mutually co-exist. You can have a very well realized world, but without believable or compelling residents, even the most imaginative or well defined settings can fall flat. This is because it is the more often than not the communities within a world that create a sense of place or allegiance for the player.

Thus the success of the back-story and the lore behind the world can more often than not be decided by the characters through which the players experience that world. If you don't populate the world with characters that draw the player into your the story of your world, and make them care about that world, you may fail to engage them at all.

A good story needs conflict, jeopardy and for something to be at stake for someone. In the case of a game, that is usually the player, but may also be the NPCs. You need to establish a society that exists (or existed) within the game-world that you want players to believe in. Half-Life 2 did this pretty well with it's opening sections. A game like Bioshock (and it's predecessors) also did this superbly with it's use of recordings, old radio broadcasts, posters and propaganda material. You very easily got a sense of what it was like to have lived in Rapture. It created that all important sense of place, not just through the art deco art styling, but also, perhaps more importantly, through the society that existed within it. The Fallout series also excelled here, as did the original Deus Ex, you can even extend it to games like Left 4 Dead...

Consider the locations that Valve chose to set their zombie Apocalypse survival special in? They chose every day locations, that showed everyday events, abandoned in the wake of what had happened in their back-story. Since the game is set in our society, we are drawn in because the streets we are asked to navigate to safety, feel 'believable' (at least as believable as is possible in a game that features the zombie apocalypse!), because we can relate to the society that has been effected. So even in a game that features virtually no actual NPCs (at least none we see) that aren't out to eat your brains, it still manages to create that sense of place, and a sense of the society that was part of the world you are being shown. They didn't get tempted to go for typical military bases or 'epic' locations, rather they fashioned locations from a setting that we, as an audience, would find believable. It was all the more effective for it. 'Looking cool' is often not enough in itself.

If you don't have a way for the player to relate to the world you are going to thrust them into, then they may struggle to relate to the goals and ambitions you then present to them.

Characters in place...

Brink fell into this category for me lately. There was clearly a potentially interesting world there. The back-story was defined, and while a little bit of a science fiction cliche, it provided all the potential you needed for motivations, protagonists and antagonists, and the required drivers for the conflict. Likewise the world was visually interesting, it could have been fun to explore. However the players was thrown so roughly into the midst of the action, with no time to get a handle on any of the characters around them, there was no sense of place. Some might quickly shout 'but it's a shooter, it hardly needs characterization', and I will chuckle slightly and easily point to half a dozen great first person games that still managed to instill a sense of place through appealing characters and setting (Half Life obviously, games like Borderlands, and even the trailers and pre-release material for ID's Rage show a greater sense of place than you found in Brink, more on that shortly!). Hell, some might even shout '..but Craig, it's a team based first person shooter!' and I would instinctively point towards Team Fortress 2, and point out that it has more characterization, and creates a better sense of place, despite being a 'team based first person shooter'...sure...it might not have a story exactly, but in it's own ACME way, it has a terrific sense of place and character.

Let's go back to one of the examples above as a practical example. Let's look at that trailer for Rage that was released during Quake-con recently. I'd argue that it allows you to pretty clearly see the importance of the setting, and vitally, the characters, in the world that ID want you to be immersed in. Haven't seen the trailer yet? Take a watch first:

Even from less than three minutes, they have established a world, a sense of place, and more importantly characters, are your relationship to them. Post apocalyptic cliches they may be, and the player is clearly being set up as 'The One' Matrix style, but look at all that was accomplished just in that trailer from a world creation point of view

Backstory was explained - The world was blown to hell by a big chunk of space rock, and the player was in some kind of cryo storage and wakes up afterwards to a changed world. This also plays on all the 'traditions' of that type of story, that we as audience bring with us, but that will happen anyway, so developers can use that to their advantage. You don't need a long voiced over passage of exposition to explain the consequences of an asteroid hitting the earth (...although quite a few people still fall into the trap of feeling they have to do so...glad to see it avoided here)

Locations are shown - The wastelands are a bad place, technology is shown, establishes that it isn't a low tech setting.

Society is defined - We don't just get to see the world, we also learn a bit about it. We are told that some forces, the ominous sounding 'The Authority', are trying to restore order in some way. There are lawless areas, and there are some areas where man has re-established some for of society. Again, it relies somewhat on our preconceptions of the genre, but it very ably reveals the type of post-apocalyptic setting we can expect.

Jeopardy is firmly established - All good stories need a motivation, and difficulties to be overcome. Here it is explained that the players themselves are a commodity wanted by different factions in the world.

Characters are created. They are defined clearly, and designed to draw you into the world

The selfish and presumably previously self centered survivalist, who gets involved with the hero in order to impart knowledge of the world, and provide context that we would otherwise lack, presumably at the start of the game.
The Resistance as the potential sympathetic rebels, complete with multiple characters and roles
The authority as the Orwellian dictators of the piece
The Mad Max style anarchic elements of society are hinted at

..and all that from a three minute trailer. It sets the player up perfectly for entry into the world that the developers have created for their game.

Reap what you sow...

Going back to Brink then for a moment, in relation to this, a game like Brink also doesn't do itself any favors by highlighting the world, because it then fails to flush out the characters and story within it. I don't think I'd have felt so oddly unmotivated if the game had simply sold itself a competitive team based shooter, but they choose to place it in this possibly elaborate world, a world where I expected my motivations to be better established.

If you take that route, and aspire to create a great world, you better be sure you are going to use it to the best of your ability and use it generate actual motivations for the player.

((It is also why I think many games in a certain genre are doing themselves a disservice by moving away from meaningful single player campaigns, but that's a subject for another post entirely!))

Getting it right...

..as with those mentioned above, there are games that get it right.

Take the case of Borderlands when compared to Brink, and you can easily identify that difference in approach. In Borderlands you quickly find characters that actually draw your further into that setting. Their attitudes, dialog and behavior help to draw you in because they fit with the setting. They are not blank disposable character cliches. Even in the most ideological of conflicts you usually need to create some personal motivations, stakes, personalities, or character flaws , rather than just relying on a 'Black vs White' partisan separation of your characters into camps. That usually results in them seemingly being there 'just because', which all too often rings as hollow with gamers as it would in a movie or book, where you didn't learn anything of anyone's motivations.

You don't have to do it with expensive cut scenes, it is about all those little things coming together to create that sense of place that allows players to be immersed in your game world.

MMO games generally have good and bad elements here, as developers get to do much more world building, over a longer period, but the current generation are hamstring to a certain extent by the static nature of the NPCs and events in the world. So they often have brilliantly realized worlds, but struggle to overcome that artificial feeling generated by quest givers with glowing question marks over their heads, and farmers who never leave their fields to eat, shit, drink or sleep.

So in some ways, when we make MMOs, we compensate for that lack of dynamic behavior by trying to put as much 'life' and background into the games as possible, so that they feel as believable as they can in a world where that NPC lets his daughter get kidnapped every five minutes so the next hero to stumble along can also conveniently go ona quest to rescue her. MMO worlds are often chock full of back-story and 'life' - its just shown in a different way. I used to love that element of working on Anarchy Online, and even in a mechanics heavy game like EVE Online there is a wealth of background for those who want to be immersed...and that is the power of that kind of background, it just makes a world more believable, more compelling, and increases immersion. In the case of EVE I am in the camp of liking their direction with Incarna, as when my avatar is now sat on his sofa watching those screens before a mission, trade run, or corporate encounter, I feel like the EVE universe is a little closer to feeling like a real world than it was before.

Wrapping up...

..so in many ways I would argue that even when you don't think it is relevant, or don't instinctively think it would matter, the setting and the world in which your game is based has a deep rooted fundamental effect on whether your audience will find the world you want them to believe in to be compelling or not.

So to end on the question for you all, which is your favorite game world and why? What is it that the developers managed to achieve in their creation that drew you in and immersed you in everything it offered?

I think...

2011-08-09T09:38:00.000+02:00

...that despite there being quite a bit of apathy towards it, I really enjoyed the first season of Falling Skies. Most of the characters clicked, and I felt the story moved along at a good pace. I am not entirely sure that the 'they stole our children' angle is enough to drive another full season, so when it does return (it got renewed for season two last week) I hope we move forward with a different central storyline...

...the new run of Torchwood hasn't disappointed me so far. It is however undeniably different, with the obvious increase in budget and the decision to have the entire ten episode run be one long story effecting the pacing. Personally I haven't seen either of those things as being negative. Jack might be lacking a little of his swagger, but I get the feeling that's the point, and Bill Pullman is suitably unnerving in a role that is as intriguing as any I can remember in recent times...not entirely sure what role he will end up playing as the story concludes...

...I am looking forward to playing Bastion when it launches on the PC this week (pending actually having the time to play some games that is!. I got some time with the XBox version at Comic-con recently, and I was almost instantly hooked. It's a great looking old fashioned RPG that just fits together really neatly. maybe it is nostalgia for 'when they used to make games like that'...but one of the beauties of XBox arcade and the thriving indie and small studio scene, is that the time when they used to make games like that, might just be now...

...re-reading the Game of Thrones series again off the back of the HBO run. It is amazing how much more certain characters 'work' for me, after having seen the TV adaptation. When I first read the books for example, Tyrion's character never really resonated with me in any way, but after watching Peter Dinklage's excellent portrayal of 'the imp', his character in the book suddenly shines out a lot more...

...MMO wise I have actually been spending a good chunk of my free MMO time in our own game. With so many new players, and the new server to keep tabs on, it's been great to spend some extra time on the live servers and just play alongside the masses. You get such a good insight from that kind of incognito play that it really is invaluable as a developer...

Posts incoming...

2011-08-09T05:00:00.001+02:00

...been a little quiet with all the travels this summer, but usual service will be resumed shortly as I catch up on the mails and get round to finishing up some of the longer articles I've been procrastinating over while hoping around this summer. Travel, and copious amounts of time in airports usually gives my mind time to wander and come up with the genesis of some good discussions, so I'll be getting to them very shortly :)

Thoughts from the end of Comic-con...

2011-07-25T09:13:00.002+02:00

To be honest it was a little tough to be at work this week. With the tragic events unfolding in Norway, somewhere I had come to think of as home, and where I have so many friends, it made for a very weird few days. You have a tendency to feel a little unnecessarily guilty when you are doing something that is undeniably fun, while there is such sadness and pain being experienced by a country you care deeply for.

It was hard to reconcile.

As I sat at the side of the show floor, catching up with friends, hoping no-one I knew was affected, and following the updates from Oslo on the internet, it struck me that all the people milling around where there for the type of escape that entertainment provides. The world can be a fairly crappy, nasty place some days, and whether it is ignorance or hate, poverty, stress, discrimination or war, the darkness always threatens to creep into our lives and tear at us. So as I sat there, noticing the smiles on children's faces, and witnessing the passion of fans and producers alike, I was reminded why what we do is at least a little worthwhile...

Events like those we witnessed this week, should only serve to remind us to laugh, to smile, to celebrate what we enjoy, and to share it with each other. Some might dismiss it as escapism, but sometimes, a little bit of escapism is just what the soul needs to deflect some of the darkness in the world. We should never just let that darkness swallow us whole and encompass us.

...and on a final note, despite the incredible tragedy, and the mix of sadness and anger at events in Oslo. I am so immensely proud of Norway, and how it has reacted so far to this horrible tragedy. I can't really say it any better than this...

Sights from Comic-con...

2011-07-25T08:56:00.000+02:00

The convention invariably overflows with photo opportunities, and this year was no different. Walking around the show floor with the camera was good fun, despite the craziness of the crowds...

Click past the jump to see more pictures!

...Red Five come in...

...there were lots of strange interviews to be seen...

...this guy had found just the right spot to hang out!...

...the busts that Slideshow Collectibles had on show were impressive...

...a Castle Crashers arcade machine!! I want one!...

...the most impressive thing about these guys was that the suits actually made the sound effects as well!...

...photographing the photographer photographing the photographers...but what are they all shooting...

...of course...I should have known...

For those looking for the pictures from the Conan movie signings, those will appear on the game's website on Monday, so check those out as well...but it was quite cool to get to meet the cast and crew of the movie. It is always great to get to meet the other creative folk that are working on the license...including Conan himself!

You can find the rest of the pictures here on Flickr.

The madness that is comic-con...

2011-07-21T17:39:00.004+02:00

It has been a few years (2006 as I recall) since I last got to visit San Diego for the annual geek invasion that is Comic-con and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the trip. Lovely city, and despite the masses of people that make navigating the convention center something akin to how I imagine passing an asteroid field in the Millennium Falcon felt like (albeit much, much, slower), it is such a fun environment.

Mostly business stuff on the Agenda this time rather than straight promotional activity. Doings lots of work with Paradox here this week in relation to the Conan movie and getting to meet up again with many of Conan partner's group like Dark Horse Comics, and the folks behind the movie at Lionsgate. There will be some cool pictures and updates I'll send from the convention over on the games website later in the week, so keep an eye out...

...but one of the reasons I actually like the organised chaos of a show like this, is getting to meet people...

...so I was delighted to get to be a complete fanboy last night at the preview evening, in meeting the artists behind the wonderful Flight comic anthologies, and the artists were all gracious enough to doddle some illustrated autographs in my copy of the latest edition that they are selling at the convention. No matter how long I am lucky enough to get work in such a creative industry, I still can't help but be a little excited when I get to meet people whose work I really admire.

Anyway, I'll chat a bit more about the show as I explore the other days and hopefully get to report back on some more interesting people...

There is also a real live goldfish bowl in my hotel room, which is awfully trusting of them, but kind of cool. A plaque by his bowl declares his name to be Felix.For some reason having a goldfish in my hotel room makes me smile...

I think...

2011-07-06T00:56:00.003+02:00

...I thoroughly enjoyed all of HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones. As mentioned before I was more than a little skeptical going in that they would do it justice, and how they would pace it given the sheer scope and story-line of the books...but I think they pulled it off better than could have been expected. It was given the care and attention that prior to the Lord of the Rings movies was reserved for period dramas. A good cast (including the soon to appear as Conan himself, Jason Momoa) and a good treatment of the original book..can't wait for the next season...

...Falling Skies is off to a promising start. I like that they skipped any preamble and dropped us into the thick of things post alien invasion. That is something that usually bugs me about the average, run of the mill, alien invasion story-line is any lengthy period of build up...it's an alien invasion movie..we know they are going to start blowing stuff up and generally trying to take our stuff...so I was glad we were sparred that and instead seem to be getting a decent alternative take on the genre...even if many of the bit parts are perilously close to cliche, it's been worth the watch so far...

...I can't wait for the new Torchwood run...roll on Friday night...some previews have whispered that the new episodes might even be better than the brilliant Children of Earth, with just makes the wait all the more anxious...

...not so much gaming time over the last few weeks, with the honeymoon and all, but I did get some mobile gaming done, in the form of the rather splendid Super Brothers: Sword and Sorcery EP for the iPad. Yes, it is undeniably 'arty', so if a little experimentation rubs you the wrong way it probably isn't for you...but if you are in the mood for something different you will be treated to an amusing, often enchanting, retro gaming adventure that is as nice to listen to as it is to play...plenty of preview videos here on their site that will both give you an impression about what it is like, and also not prepare you in the slightest for how cool it can be in places...

...China Mieville's latest - Embassytown - was a fantastic read. The type of science fiction that I really adore. It was a little dense at the start, as the author makes no effort to provide lengthy exposition and relies on their reader to be able to keep up, but once you catch up with the characters and come to understand the setting it is a wonderfully told story with a very different concept underpinning the usual space opera shenanigans...

Alaskan Adventures

2011-07-02T00:38:00.001+02:00

The trip to Alaska for the honeymoon provided a great opportunity for some fantastic photographs. It is a truly stunning part of the world...the type of wilderness I love. Just as with the coast and north of Norway this type of scenery never fails to inspire me...want to see some of the results? Let's take a look at some of the pictures.

Back...

2011-07-01T22:43:00.000+02:00

...and returning to all kinds of busy. Our new Age of Conan: Unchained version launched overnight, and seems to be going down really well with players, which is always nice to return to. As always there are far better places to learn about the work stuff rather than here on the blog, so you can check out all of the details over on the new website, and have a gander at the new launch trailer.

Next up some backlogged blog posts, some mail answers, and maybe a picture or two from the Alaskan adventure!

Away for a few weeks...

2011-06-09T21:25:00.000+02:00

Heading off to the airport shortly to fly to Alaska for our honeymoon, so activity will be a little light for the next few weeks...but it should provide the opportunity for some cool pictures!

See you all at the end of the month!

E3 2011 and all that...

2011-06-09T20:31:00.002+02:00

Managed to dodge the crazy that is E3 again this year. On one hand you do miss being there, but on the other hand you quickly recall that when working E3 you rarely get to actually see a lot of the cool stuff that comes out of E3...so in many ways sitting here and watching the new trailers, previews, and information flow out just like everyone else means you get a much better chance to digest it all.

So what did I think? Let's take a look after the jump...

The 'I love you guys' edition...

2011-06-08T05:02:00.001+02:00

Been a very busy few weeks, not just because work is hectic (which it is, lots happening at the moment, that's well covered elsewhere), but also because I have a couple of really interesting side projects on the go. One of which is helping to prepare a special publication we will be putting out later in the summer to celebrate the community around Anarchy Online, since the game is soon to be ten years old.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we have been getting players to contribute some of the own memories about the game, and to explain why they enjoy it...or indeed why they might have a special affection for all things Rubi-Ka. The community elements is what most appeals to me about working on MMO titles, always has done, and getting to do a project like this reminds me of all the wonderful ways people contribute to each others lives, virtual or otherwise, because of these worlds that are created...and Rubi-Ka is a very special world in that regard for many of us (it is undoubtedly the reason I have this job!). The project is coming together nicely and I think the AO community will enjoy the results. In the meantime it's filling a good few evenings with some extra smiles, as I read through and edit together all these memories.

I have spoken before about the special feeling that creating and looking after these worlds can generate for developers...so working through all the wonderful feedback at the moment, and getting a fantastic impression of just how much of a bond people have with the game, just re-enforces that feeling. The communities really are what make these games.

Hearing the stories from players, and getting that sense of their genuine enjoyment and appreciation for what we do, always makes it worthwhile. We might argue now and again about what is best for our relationship, but at a fundamental level we always share that passion for these worlds and the people we meet within them.

The community around Anarchy Online and Age of Conan alike, are why this job doesn't really 'get old' for me. In fact I hope I get the chance to work on something similar for the tenth anniversary of AoC...and who knows? Maybe even the twentieth birthday celebrations for Rubi-Ka!

...in the shadows

2011-06-01T04:48:00.000+02:00

I was intrigued by the concept behind Shadow Cities when I heard about it...I just love the idea of using reality and the world around us in more interactive ways. I am a sucker for community driven concepts. The game uses your real life location and surrounding to build a game world where you choose a faction and then play against others 'mages' wandering the city. You use the touch screen to 'draw runes' on the screen that can damage your foes or heal yourself...then it opens up and asks you to conquer opposing bases and spots around your city...the twist being you have to be in range to find them all, and it encourages you to explore your vicinity on foot to look for targets. Think of it like 4Square crossed with some actual gameplay. A game that encourages you to get out and about in your city or town to find some gameplay?...I was both interested and a touch skeptical about how it would hang together. (You can also apparently use 'beacons' to help friends even if you are stuck at home, but I haven't gotten that far yet)

The game is now available on the app store so I downloaded it and have found myself very quickly compelled. I have already had a random stranger talk to me on the street about it (presumably he saw me busily casting my runes as I wandered home from the office this evening)...I am not sure yet about the long term appeal, it definitely has that 'gimmick' hook to it early on..but it definitely has some potential...

Well worth checking out if you are curious or find this kind of ARG activity a little fun...and can cope with the odd occasion where a stranger might say hello on the street...

I think...

2011-05-26T01:55:00.001+02:00

...haven't had nearly enough time with new games this month. Got a little time in with Brink, but have to admit to being a little disappointed. Maybe is that a pretty perfect team based shooter for me already exists (in the form of Team Fortress 2), but something about Brink just didn't click, which is a shame as I have been a fan of some of their previous shooters. I like to see people trying something different and ambitious, and I liked some of the elements (the GUI, the movement among them) but overall the team dynamics were too disjointed to really enjoy the team play...it might grow on me though...so I probably will check it out again as the community matures...

...no chance to try either LA Noire or The Witcher 2 yet, despite really wanting to...

...the start of the summer movie season has been a bit hit and miss for me. I enjoyed Thor as a light super-hero romp that was nicely paced and cast well. I was eager to see what a director like Kenneth Branagh would make of a license like that, and it worked for me...alas can't quite say the same about the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, while Depp is still worth watching, even Captain Jack seemed a little jaded this time out. Ian McShane wasn't given the same opportunity to shine as the previous villains, and the script was a little disjointed. I guess at the end of the day I still enjoyed it as mind candy, but it didn't have the same fun factor as the previous entries in the series...

...I was always going to love an episode of Doctor Who penned by Neil Gaiman, and I wasn't disappointed, his episode was brilliantly written with great dialog and a brilliant concept. I am enjoying the new season, and while I can understand why some people feel it might be a touch darker this year than it's target audience usually tolerate, for me it's pretty much exactly what I like most in my timelords...

Sights of Vancouver...

2011-05-22T08:25:00.001+02:00

The other good part about having some time in Vancouver was the opportunity to wander with the camera again. My previous visits to this city had been very whistle stop, mainly just for business meetings, so I was really looking forward to getting some good shots...so how did it work out? Let's take a look...
Read more »

Canadian Games Conference...

2011-05-22T03:01:00.000+02:00

Just wrapped up a great few days at the Canadian Games Conference in Vancouver. The session I was giving with Simon Ludgate (who writes at Soulrift.com and Gamasutra.) covered our thoughts on how business models are being incorporated in MMOs. It was great to have a partner for the talk, and having a more academic opinion to provide background to my more practical insight made for a great session. It went tremendously well, and seemed to go down well..it was also fun to get to meet so many people afterwards. You can also read what Simon though over on his site here. It definitely gives you a little bit of a personal lift as well when people appreciate what you are sharing. We idled behind and chatted with folks for an hour or so after the session.

It was an interesting show, and there are a lot of passionate people looking to get into the industry. The growth of the indie scene was evident, and it's great to see people trying to learn how to build, market and publish their own games. The industry is once again in a state of flux, with both casual gaming and the indie scene changing what it means to be a game designer these days. Some of that might indeed be out of necessity, due to the number of jobs lost in the industry over the last two years, but it's also because games are also getting smaller and nimbler while the blockbusters get bigger and bigger, both in budget and team size. That makes for an interesting mix of people and projects, with very different needs, desires and ambitions.

I also really enjoyed getting to go and sit in on many of the other sessions. All too often things like GDC are full of business meeting and press engagements, so I end up not getting to actually attend sessions, so it was nice to not have anything other to do this time than attend those other sessions.

Great few days!

Storytelling in Games panel podcast

2011-05-14T02:11:00.000+02:00

The audio podcast for the Storytelling in games panel that Alex Epstein organised at McGill University is now available over on iTunes. It was fun to sit on the panel with Mary DeMarle (the lead writer for Eidos’s new RPG, Deus Ex: Human Revolution), Richard Rouse III (The Narrative Director at Ubisoft Montreal and creator of The Suffering), our own Nina L. Sund (who worked with me on AO and Conan) and Stephen Wark (game designer at Ludia, who make a range of games from casual puzzles to online education RPGs).

It was a fun and interesting panel, so drop by and check it out if you get a chance. It's long, but worth a listen!

EDIT: The Swedish browser based game that I couldn't remember the name of during the session was The Dream Machine, and can be found here.

A very important date...

2011-05-07T21:46:00.000+02:00

...Anarchy Online is ten years old this year. It is a game that means a lot to me personally, as it is the reason that I got into the industry. So really I have the world of Rubi-Ka to thank for what is a pretty damn cool job. I am not the only one here at Funcom that feels the same way too...AO is very special to many of us. To that end we started putting together a special publication to honor the momentous milestone of a decade online.

AO is a game with a very special community, and really, it is the community that serves as the heart of any MMO. Therefore we would also like your feedback...if you have ever played AO and liked exploring the world of Rubi-Ka we want to hear from you!

Please see the details here (or here on the AO forums) and follow the instructions if you would like to take part in this special project to mark the anniversary!

The contradictions of class balance...part 2

2011-05-03T14:39:00.000+02:00

"Rock is overpowered, Paper is balanced, Scissors is underpowered - signed: Scissors"

The above quote can indeed sum up a good deal of the feedback that developers receive (and can probably summarize all those pretty words used in part one of this post down to an annoyingly accurate sound-bite!) but it does provide the perfect introduction to the next part of these musings about balance...why is it that players and developers often have a very different idea of what balance should be?

The contradictions of class balance...part 1

2011-04-25T02:15:00.000+02:00

Class balance...

...this will be a two parter, as there are two very different aspects of this subject that I wanted to talk about, and each looks at the challenges surrounding it from a different point of view, firstly from how players approach it (and what that means for developers) and then what it means to developers (and what that means for players!)...this will be one of those with a question for you all at the end as well...

Class balance is the one subject guaranteed to raise the ire of players, who feel that developers always fail to deliver, and is the source of more letters, words, paragraphs, posts, threads, disagreements, arguments, moderator interventions, flaring tempers, and all out forum warfare than any other subject you care to think of...

I think...

2011-04-24T01:12:00.001+02:00

...Portal 2 was a great experience. Those characters could really have come across as a bit one-note after the first game, but the cracking script kept things rolling along brilliantly. The additions of Stephen Merchant and JK Simmons to the cast were both inspired choices. I have heard some complain the game was too easy, and that might be ever so slightly true of the single player campaign (if you were being ultra harsh), but the co-op compensates there. For me the single player campaign was probably just about right in terms of difficulty...

...saw Hanna at the cinema today and thoroughly enjoyed it. I like films that don't feel the need to treat their audience like children and throw bucket loads of exposition in your face. It's beautifully shot with some fantastic cinematography, a great soundtrack courtesy of the Chemical Brothers, and young lead Saoirse Ronan is just about perfect. Well worth checking out...

...also been playing some Revenge of the Titans after picking it up on Steam a few weeks ago. The retro style is charming, but the game is deceptively deep in all the right ways. It is still a tower defense game, but the massive branching tech tree and the more open maps add elements that take it above and beyond your average tower defense offering...

...new season of Doctor Who kicking off today...more excited about this one than I have been about the show since it's reboot. I think Steven Moffat and co have done a great job with the latest incarnation of the Doctor, and I'm looking forward to what they have come up with for the new season...

A Wonderful Steampunk adventure

2011-04-18T03:47:00.000+02:00

I don't always mention the personal stuff quite so much here on the blog, but when you have the most amazing and meaningful days of your life, and it all comes together so well, it's worth a mention. The wedding yesterday was an absolutely unforgettable day. We had a Steampunk theme to the whole affair, and everyone really got into it so there were loads of cool costumes to be spotted.

It was a cool day all around...

I think...

2011-04-06T22:14:00.000+02:00

...that I might just have finished reading one of the best comic endeavors in recent times. Fresh out in trade paperback is Daytripper by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. The Brazilian pair have fashioned one of the most touching and thought provoking studies on life, material that you usually don't see the medium tackle. I had read that it was good, and it showed well in many 'best of' listings for last year, but all of that barely even started to do it justice. If you read no other comic this year, or even if you shudder at the idea of reading a comic in general, you should read this one...

...the final season DVD set for Friday Night Lights is now on it's way to my door courtesy of Amazon. I can't wait to catch up with the final act for all the good folks of Dillon, Texas...

...doesn't seem to be much new catching my attention on TV these days, but maybe the fact that I'm just not getting the chance to watch it might be the root cause...

...part of me really wants to watch Your Highness in the hope it might be another potential cult classic, in the same vein as The Princess Bride, but the other parts are warning me that might be aiming high...

Ten years...really?

2011-04-06T21:55:00.000+02:00

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, is one of my favorite books. I am somewhat of a Gaiman fanboy in general, but I think he outdid himself with the sprawling modern take on old stories. Apparently it will soon be ten years old...that just makes me feel decidedly older! (Although I am also happier, and, I am lead to believe, a touch wiser, so I guess this aging thing has it's upsides) This coming Monday SFX.co.uk are offering their audience the chance to ask the author some questions. The best questions will apparently be included in a new tenth anniversary edition of the book, so if you are a fan and don't already take part in the whole Twitter thing, now may be a good time...

An Unexpectedly brilliant monster movie...

2011-04-01T04:16:00.003+02:00

...except it wasn't a movie at all, at least not really.

Just saw Danny Boyle's stage adaptation of Frankenstein, that was being played in the cinema here as part of the UK National Theater's 'Live' events program. I was a little skeptical going in, as I wasn't sure how a stage performance would translate so directly onto the cinema screen. These events had received some good press though, and as a fan of Danny Boyle, and the actors involved, we picked up tickets and went along.

We didn't regret it!

Canadian Games Conference

2011-03-31T22:57:00.001+02:00

Just a quick word on the upcoming Canadian Games Conference in Vancouver. I'll be speaking as part of a session on MMO production and some of the realities of what goes on behind the scenes and how you balance business and creative concerns on MMO projects. The conference runs through the 19th and the 20th of May, and I'm looking forward to another visit to Vancouver. If you are interested in learning more, or thinking of attending, the schedule and line-up for the sessions can be found here.

Political correctness and storytelling mechanics...

2011-03-29T22:23:00.019+02:00

Questions...questions...questions...

Are we our own worst enemies?

Does our behavior, and our desire for stuff, our seeming inherent need to progress in some arbitrarily defined way, outweigh what we would claim to be our ideals?

Is that our fault as gamers, or is the fault of the designers who put them there?

Do either have a choice in this modern day and age when set up against the ingrained desire for instant gratification?

Those are some of the questions that sprung to mind again this week when reading about the internet frothing on all sides surrounding the political correctness, or otherwise, of the romance options in Bioware's Dragon Age II. It also ties into two elements about current game design and storytelling that are uniquely interesting (and subjects that made for some interesting discussion when I took part in the Storytelling in Games panel back in January) and worth talking about a little more.

Potential geeky TV Overload!

2011-03-26T03:07:00.005+01:00

It wasn't enough that there was an announcement that someone was making a TV show based on Terry Pratchett's Diskworld books...which to be honest would have been a perfectly acceptable amount of good potential TV news...

...then it also transpires that Pratchett and Gaiman's Good Omens, one of my favorite books of all time, is also being given the TV treatment, with Terry Jones of Monty Python fame on board to help with the script...

...then I saw that one of my favorite, but ever so slightly surreal comics, Chew, has also been optioned for a TV treatment, which is all kinds of awesome I simply never expected to see.

Throw in the fact that Fringe was officially renewed for a fourth season and it makes for a very, very good news week...

...I even had to double check that it wasn't a cruel April fools joke...cannot wait to see what might come out of those adaptations!

I think...

2011-03-20T03:38:00.007+01:00

...I had a good week for movies. Last week it was the excellent, Rango, which was so much more than I was expecting. I would have been happy if it was a 'watchable by adults' kids movie with a few good one-liners thrown in. What you get is an amazingly fun adventure, with great characters, and an ever so slightly subversive and surreal tilt (seriously, a kids movie that name-checks Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...all kinds of awesome) all rendered in some of the best animation I have seen. Definitely an early candidate for my movie of the year. This week it was catching Paul, which was simply good fun with more geek in-jokes than you can shake a stick at. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost work so well together, and the supporting cast all chip in well. It's all very ridiculous, but it's good cinema brain candy...

...Anna Torv channeling Leonard Nimoy on Fringe this week was actually a little creepy. I can't have imagined asking someone to try and play 'as if possessed by Leonard Nimoy'...but if I had, that was pretty much as well as you could do...complete with eyebrows...

...finally bit the bullet and switched to playing on a US account for Starcraft 2, so had to leave behind my (admittedly modest) rankings and start again from scratch. Not sure I will fair any better, but time shall tell...

...MMO time has been squeezed a bit by the travelling and workload, but been trying to check out both Rift and the new EQ2 expansion. As a huge fan of the original Velious expansion back in EQ1 it has been kind of fun, if only for nostalgia reasons, to return to the icy continent...it does make me miss the insane, but hugely enjoyable, quests like the Shawl and ring quests. Scars of Velious was released over a decade ago, but it still might be my favorite MMO expansion...

From ideas to implementation...

2011-03-13T08:06:00.004+01:00

This post is an answer of sorts to a request on Twitter and one of the more common questions I get on mail, and see on the forums.

What exactly is the process that is used to decide on what features, content or changes you add to game updates for an MMO?

Hollywood Baby!

2011-03-12T18:09:00.007+01:00

The last week saw me in Los Angeles, thanks to the short hop from San Francisco after GDC. The trip was to take part in a Conan partners summit with the folks at Paradox (who own and operate the Conan License) and Lionsgate Films, who are publishing the new Conan movie the US, as well as folks from other partners like Dark Horse comics. We got to see the current cut of the movie at a closed screening thanks to the kind folks at Lionsgate. While I can't say too much there due to all the usual NDA terms and such, I will say that I really liked what we saw, and I think Jason Momoa makes for a very convincing Conan.

...for those who haven't seen it yet, the first teaser trailer for the Conan movie is now up on Yahoo Movies, and is also being shown before certain films this weekend, so you might get to see it on the big screen, if you are on your way to a movie...

...so it should be a good year for the everything barbarian. It will definitely keep us busy...

The trip also gave me the chance to wander around the streets of Hollywood with the camera, and capture some of the sights...

There is always something eccentric, interesting or unusual to see when wandering around Hollywood, and I couldn't resist giving them the black and white treatment.

You can find the entire set here on Flickr.

GDC itself was pretty productive. The TSW team did an awesome job with their presentations, coverage of which is all over the web now that the embargo has lifted, and the release of a shiny new website. So check those out if you get the chance.

I also actually got to attend more sessions at GDC than every before, and even got the chance to sneak into a couple that I wanted to see as much for personal interest as professional necessity, which was a first for me. There seemed to be more developers than ever before, and clearly the explosion of app gaming and social gaming is expanding the numbers of people who are 'working in the gaming industry'. The industry is fast expanding it's scope with a far greater range of platforms, genres, budgets and targets. Personally I find it a very interesting time, with lots of potential, even if both companies and individuals alike are still getting to grips with where exactly we are headed...

Now back in Montreal and looking forward to a few days downtime this weekend, and maybe work on a proper blog article, or do some writing...although I do want to find the time for some pure escapism and go to see Rango at the cinema...

A worthy Kickstarter mention

2011-03-10T00:12:00.003+01:00

I really like the idea of Kickstarter. If you haven't heard of it before it is a website that allows independent or personal projects the opportunity to ask for support from the community in exchange for different things depending on how much they contribute. It might be a copy of the finished work, a mention in credits, a ticket to a premier if it's a movie or anything in between. The cool part is that the project sets a target, and only gets the funds released to them if they make their target. So you will only pay your contribution once it is certain they have enough to go ahead.

It's a neat concept and there are often some cool projects on there.

Right now there is a campaign for one of the projects I have mentioned on the blog before - The Wormworld Saga by Daniel Lieske, who is looking to make an app version of the comic. I think this is a cool way for users to get involved, and get themselves some decent rewards for their contributions (personally, loving his art, I'd have equally bought the prints anyway!).

It also let's the creators create video messages to explain what they are up...

So if it looks like something you are interested in you should drop by and check out the campaign.

Battleheart rocks the RPG...

2011-03-07T03:58:00.007+01:00

If you haven't heard of it yet, Battleheart is a new iOS RPG for the iPhone and iPad courtesy of the folks at Mika Mobile. You can find a good review of the game here.

It has a definite retro charm, with a charming graphics style that is both modern yet nods firmly in the direction of Zelda and the like. The really cool thing about the game for me is the control scheme. It is a fantastic example of how to use the interface for a specific platform to your advantage. The entire affair uses the touch and draw controls on Apple's devices. Even when the action gets frantic, the controls mostly stand up, and even work on the iPhone. I first saw the game played on an iPad and I worried that the controls wouldn't translate as well on the smaller device, but they do. I have been thoroughly addicted to the game while travelling on this current trip to California.

It is a great example of a simple concept, very well executed. It ramps up the difficulty at a decent pace, is rarely frustrating, and the development of your cast of characters is pleasantly varied, with lots of different possible tactics. If you are looking for a light and interesting diversion from your more serious gaming endeavorers you could do a lot worse than check this one out!

I wish I was still a kid...

2011-03-04T04:44:00.009+01:00

Ragnar and the team on the Secret World were doing press sessions this week, revealing some more details on the game to the assembled media here at GDC this week. The marketing folk found an unusual location for the sessions this year in the shape of a really rather cool circular room at the ZEUM Children's museum, virtually next door to the Moscone center where the GDC convention is held.

I wanted to mention it because it's a really neat children's museum, the type of place I would have absolutely loved to have access to as a child...hell...I wanted to play with some of their projects and displays myself...they even had a clay-mation studio! Focused on what they call the '3Cs of 21st-century literacy' - Creativity, Collaboration and Communication, the available interactive activities offered a pretty engaging range of creative outlets for kids.

Well worth a visit if you have kids and live in the bay area....great hosts as well, the staff were great, made us all feel very welcome, and helped make the presentations go smoothly.

Those eagerly awaiting the latest scoop on TSW will have to keep their eyes out for in the media next week when the embargo on the information lifts...

I think...

2011-02-24T04:55:00.003+01:00

...this year is going far too fast. Barely seems to have started and already time for the annual pilgrimage to San Francisco for GDC. Hopefully this year I actually get a chance to go to some of the sessions. In previous years the marketing folks have kept us busy with press sessions, but this year looks like I might get to improve on my record of averaging one session a year!

...the first trade paperback of The Sixth Gun lived up to it's billing. Definitely one of the more interesting new comics of last year. The first story arc is a nice compact story, told at a good pace, but still serves to wet your appetite for more, and hints at a potentially cool mythology they can explore. Will look forward to future installments. Also really enjoying catching up with Chew, I love the slightly surreal setting and characters, and it keeps getting better.

...I had a blast with the first episodes of Telltale's Back to the Future game. While it definitely doesn't represent the most challenging game-play experience you will ever have, it is delivered with such style and reverence for the source material, that you can't help but get all nostalgic and nod knowingly at the in-jokes and references. If you didn't like the movies there probably isn't much of interest here, but if you have any fondness for the adventures of Marty and Doc Brown then you should check them out.

...I really, really, hope Fringe comes back for another season.

Some high lights from Montreal

2011-02-20T04:34:00.006+01:00

This week has seen the 'Montreal High Lights' festival taking place around the old town and downtown Montreal. Part of the festival involved a series of light and art installations, so we set off with the cameras on the lookout for some cool, light themed, street shots.

You can find the entire set here over on Flickr.

The Anecdote of the Darwin Fence

2011-02-18T20:01:00.005+01:00

I was speaking to some interested students recently about what exactly it was game designers do, and in particular what it entails for any developer working on an MMO. One of the subjects we got onto was how much work was involved in actually making the content. One one hand there is the common internet assumption that 'it can't be that hard', but by the same account, they noted there must be some complexity involved because, from the outside looking in, most content takes some time to produce.

One of the reasons is the players themselves...players are smart. I mean some of the them are really smart...and some of them have proven time and time again that they are smarter than us...

The students asked why that would be an issue.

I had the perfect story to illustrate why it might be...

Listening to player feedback...

2011-02-09T18:53:00.007+01:00

I couldn't help myself today when reading this thread over on Massively and had to jump into the resulting thread with an answer or two on the subject of how much developers listen to player feedback. Those of you who read regularly know that it is a subject close to my heart, and I can rarely resist an opportunity to discuss this subject with people.

Back to World's End...

2011-02-06T00:28:00.003+01:00

The latest trip back to Oslo, and my good friend's wedding, also provided the chance to head back to Verdens Ende near Tønsberg. 'Verdens Ende' means 'World's End' as it was as far as the locals could travel in days of old (well until they reached Denmark at least, if they happened to have a boat), and is a wonderfully picturesque spot complete with a traditional older form of lighthouse...makes for some good pictures.

You can find the entire set here.

What qualifies as a great game?

2011-02-06T00:17:00.005+01:00

I love Angry Birds, it's a great game. It's based on a simple concept that is well executed and instilled with a sense of humor and a specific style that sets it apart (after all, it was hardly the first 'fling things at stationary objects' game), so I read this article over on Kotaku with interest.

Should a 'game like that' be considered for game of the year awards? In my humble opinion, of course it should. It does make me wonder again about what people expect in games these days. To me, a good game is a good game, regardless of it's genre or styling. So I find it curious that there might be people out there that don't think a game like Angry Birds would be worthy of consideration for Game of the Year gongs.

There are of course those games that have huge budgets, elaborate storylines, and the good ones also deserve the credit they get and all those award nominations...but for me it is important that we also continue to appreciate the best games that are, well, you know...really good games.

...I could also go on about why I think Angry Birds actually deserves more credit than it gets (personally I think those damned birds and pigs have more character than some of the voice acted high rez characters I might mention), but really, the sheer amount of time many of us have spent playing the game should probably speak for itself.

So what about you guys? Do you consider a game like Angry Birds in the same context as Mass Effect or Red Dead Redemption? Or does a game have to meet some other standard for you to consider it worthy of award nominations?

I think...

2011-01-25T11:31:00.004+01:00

...Fringe really hit the mark for me this week. I enjoyed Christopher Lloyd's turn as Walter's musical hero, he is usually worth watching and didn't disappoint. (On a side note I also couldn't help but presume that naming the episode 'Firefly' was a veiled reference to Fox shifting the show to a Friday time-slot that has seen the demise of shows like Firefly). I tend to enjoy the episodes where the writers play with the Observers ability to interfere with time, and the consequences that come with it, even if it results in some 'I saw that coming' moments. The Twin Peaks reference to Doctor Jacoby and his blue and red glasses was fun for those of us old enough to remember Twin Peaks. Lastly, I had to smile at Peter verbalizing what many of us think when watching any show from Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman - "All we ever seem to get is more questions rather than any answers"...first show in a long time that I get the unavoidable urge to be very fanboy about...

...it's nice to be back in Oslo for the week. Slightly warmer (or should that be slightly less cold??) than Montreal, and good to catch up with folks at the studio here as well...

...I needed a change of pace for my reading schedule, which has been lots of science fiction of late, so I picked up a couple of the Murakami books that I haven't read yet. One of the benefits of being introduced to an author many years after they were first published, is that there is a good back catalog to work through!

...I have been going through my semi-occasional gaming habit of flicking between all the MMOs I haven't played in a while to catch up on what they done over the last year. So logged some time on Star Trek Online for the first time since it launched, tried a bit of EQ2 ahead of their next expansion, poked into Darkfall a little, and explored the new EVE expansion, if only to play with the pretty cool new character creation options that came with the latest release. Also picked up a copy of DC Universe for the Playstation (curious to try the console version so went for that!), but haven't had the time to give it a good play-through yet.

Talking story...

2011-01-20T14:25:00.003+01:00

Had a great time last night taking part in the Storytelling in Games panel at McGill University, that was organised by Alex Epstein. It was a really interesting evening and a fun panel. I always like to hear the opinions of other designers and writers, and we touched on a lot of interesting subjects. I believe the plan is to podcast the panel, so I'll drop a link here as and when it appears online.

Dealing with that aggression...

2011-01-15T23:47:00.003+01:00

I have talked a few times here about the nature of forum rage, and the hostile environment that it can sometimes create. What about in game though? Personally I find the majority of MMO game communities to be quite welcoming and friendly. Over the last two years or so however I have been playing more games that can be considered 'competitive', whether it is partaking in PvP in my current MMO, or playing a game like Starcraft 2, League of Legends or Bloodline Champions.

In some of those titles you can't but help notice a certain degree of hostility, often directed at new players, or born out of a frustration that something isn't going exactly the way someone would like it too.

Some games manage to maintain a reasonably civil, or even supportive, community...while some do not, and thus you add a 'thick skin' to the list of personal skills required to really enjoy being part of those communities.

Personally I have never really understood the mentality, much in the same way I can't vouch for the motivations of a bully, or those that just like to put people down. I play games to have fun, test my skills. Thus I really struggle to really relate to those who seem to get their satisfaction out of annoying others, or are simply completely incapable of controlling any kind of frustration at encountering a less experienced player.

Perhaps it is tied to the way in which games make progression, in some form or other, the most important factor for many players. Has it reached such a point that even the slightest delay to the 'optimal gain' provokes the most aggressive of reactions? As those games (or parts of games in terms of an MMO) become more and more akin to a sport, has the competitive elements begun to overtaken the entertaining elements?

To me, I can still enjoy playing a game, even one I am not skilled at, in the same way I could still enjoy playing soccer, golf or any other sport I enjoy without worrying that my team mates, partner or even myself, are not up to professional standards.

That type of player also doesn't always seem to appreciate the difference between playing an organised clan match, with some kind of status being played for, and a 'pick-up' game with random strangers on the internet.

It is probably fair to say that it isn't even restricted to PvP scenarios. I have both observed and played with raiders who also suffer from that rage at inexperienced or newer players.

'Does it really matter that much?' I have heard some say, they argue that there are always some anti-social types out there, and they are simply loud and easy to notice, and not necessarily representative of a community. While there is something to that, it is also important to consider that we, as developers, will always be trying to find ways to mitigate negative elements to our games, and that includes negative aspects of our community...it could even influence the design of a game (A developer might, for example, consider making sure the accessibility of the game is paramount, in order to limit the skill gap between new players and veterans, possibly at the expense of depth)

So when I read about the novel approach that Riot are taking to try and battle this major issue in League of Legends, it reminded me of one of the comments in reply to my last post where sveisvei suggested that you can take a similar approach to forum management. That prompted a couple of questions for you all...

...so I thought I'd ask you out there what you think about this subject. Do you find yourselves tempted to rage at people? What motivates it? Is it the frustration of wasted time, or do you not take it seriously enough to actually consider it a really negative thing? Or are you as white as snow and immune to gaming rage?

...does all this aggression effect what you play and how you play it?

Talking to your community...

2011-01-10T23:41:00.011+01:00

Been reading a few threads and articles during the last week that combined to inspire this latest musing on the subject of our communities. In fact it could probably spawn more than one, let's see how it goes. First up, the folks over on the Age of Conan US forums linked an interesting post from indie developer Jeff Vogel, which sparked some discussion about how we interact with our communities. Mainly about how much developers should talk to their players.

It's not for everyone

One of the things about interacting with your communities is that there seems to be a (mis) conception that it is somehow part of a developers job to be obliged to be part of a community, and also to have to listen to criticism, because that is the customers right. Let's take those two separately shall we?

Talking externally, where things you say will be taken, read, misread, quoted, misquoted, potentially twisted or mis-understood actually takes a certain amount of skill...and not everyone working on a game has that skill set. A development studio is pretty much like any other office, there are people that have good communication skills and those that don't. Contrary to the oft quoted perception talking to their players is not a part of the job description for a vast majority of staff on a game. Here I agree with the relevant parts of Mr Vogel's post. If a developer isn't able to distance themselves from the nature of internet discussion it really wouldn't be helpful for them to be a part of it. Some people just aren't built for it, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, and I am afraid to burst some bubbles here, the individual player is not always right. In particular in a genre, like MMOs, where there are so many different opinions and preferences out there. A developer over-reacting to a specific opinion could be just as harmful as a developer completely ignoring an opinion, depending on the circumstances. It is important to keep track of players opinions, and have people on the team doing that. Personally I consider it very important, but it is also important that those doing so know how to 'read' forum interactions, and have enough experience to be able to weigh the possible opinions appropriately. Simple put, that isn't something that everyone can do.

Then you have the fact that, let's not kid ourselves, the internet forum can be a proverbially dangerous jungle, and some people aren't suited to keeping their temper when faced with a polarized and often confrontational debate. Now personally, having done that kind of work for over a decade now, you kind of get used to it, some people won't however, and then you have the fact that simply put, an average developer shouldn't have to put up with some of the more colorful vitriol that you see being put forward on occasion. With my project lead hat on for example, I am not going to expose people to that unless I am very confident they can handle it, and not let it adversely effect them.

lastly, there are usually people on a project who are tasked with taking part in that communication, or who are suited to being able to take part in public discussion. Whether it is someone like me, chosen developers, or a community team (or a combination of those people), these people are there to collect feedback and provide updates from the project. These are the people who are paid for it (or at least have it as part of their responsibilities), and how many of them there are will vary based on the size and scope of the project. I think the point of the original post is that on those smaller indie teams, where you don't have that kind of a support structure available, there is a good argument for not necessarily being as involved as all your fans might like.

So that is one reason why you don't always see developers interacting publicly. The other main reason links into some of the above, but is really a separate discussion.

Should a developer have to put up with what often passes for 'criticism' on internet forums?

An important distinction...

This is an area that has always intrigued me because it is always as if people prefer a polarized, confrontational argument to an actual discussion. Really, some days it does amaze me. The very people who often call developers out for not being communicative are the very same people who often go out of there way to make sure that the developers are unlikely to wish to do so.

It is also quite often misrepresented as developers being too afraid of criticism, too precious about their game, or too egotistical to listen. Personally, while I am sure there is the odd exception (there have indeed been the odd creative types with an ego down the years for sure), by and large that is something that doesn't gel with most developers I meet. One quote from the thread on our own forums that symbolized that kind of a problem:

"if a developer gets angry because a person WHO PAID THEM for their product finds a bug or fault in it THEY SHOULD care and SHOULD read about it."

Developers never, ever, ever, get angry at that. Honestly we don't, at least I have never met one who did.

Good honest, objective, and constructive feedback is rarely ever dismissed. The fact that it is often very hard, dare I say impossible, to convince some people that this is the case, is often one of the most confounding elements of online feedback cycles.

We probably read our forums and monitor feedback more than most...

Where developers do tend to get angry, or upset, is when the person who is reporting said bug / fault, then questions their genetic lineage, or generally insults them in a disproportional manner. Developers are people too, and they can generally take genuine criticism of mistakes, but it is only human to also get upset when faced masses of negativity. As we looked at above not everyone can learn to shake it off and communicate with those who half the time sound like they want to lynch you...

Too much negativity?

Lynch you...that's mighty strong isn't it?

Even if they don't really mean that, they often sound like they do.

So perhaps most interestingly, there are often more people who see that form of interaction as 'the way it is', than those who think it shouldn't be acceptable.

Now this is one of my personal bugbears.

I love our communities, and I love debating games, game design, what we like and dislike, with fellow gamers with a view to equipping ourselves to make better games. In order to do that in this day and age however I also have to be able to stomach an awful lot of abuse. Objective criticism is always fine with me, you can tell me why you dislike our game, or why you think any decision we make is stupid...but more often than it should be, the current internet moral code seems to allow for these anonymous entities to go beyond that, and start to insult the actual people involved.

On one level, lets say the old 'sticks and stones' approach comes into play, and for me it probably does. I was taught that at a very young age. So I prefer to focus on those who do want to improve things rather than those that just rant. Sometimes though you do find yourself having to address or answer some of those ranting trolls. When that happens I often wonder if I, and others like me who openly operate in such forum environments, am in some small way, actually giving a form of tacit approval to such behavior by continuing to have a presence there.

On one hand that kind of behavior is often just accepted because 'that is the way it is'. Many do bemoan that it is allowed, and simply dismiss forums as nonconstructive and pointless homes to trolls. While at the same time, companies have to be careful against too firm an action against it, for fear of being seen as draconian, or being cast as some Orwellian villain, out to deny the ordinary man of their freedom of speech.

We seem to really struggle in this modern world of ours to allow a debate to actually be in the middle ground, it is almost as if we prefer it just be about shouting at each other than actually talking, and I think that is a shame.

That is because personally I do see the good side of interacting with the communities. If having to deal with the odd troll is part of that, then I can live with it, I've been at it long enough. There is a lot of very passionate, constructive and caring fans out there, and I don't want the actions of those who would rather destroy then build to come between them and me hearing their opinions.

I do however wonder if (and maybe worry that) we are going down a road that will make it harder and harder to do so in the future...

I think...

2011-01-05T20:59:00.007+01:00

...it is going to be a busy year. The first week in the office always tends to involve a lot of spreadsheets containing plans, to-do lists and the stack of things that need doing for 2011. It always seems a lot when listed like that, but the fun is always in the challenge :)

....I totally forgot to mention how much I enjoyed Amnesia: The Dark Descent when I was listing the games of the year thing. A stunner of an indie title and one of the most atmospheric game in years. Glad to see them well represented in the IGF nominations.

...I have resolved to write more this year, at least in terms of my creative writing. Partly fueled by new year resolution type thinking and partly be discovering the joys of using Scrivener, now that it is available for windows. I think I write enough here on the blog already, some would say too much I am sure, so hopefully I manage to keep that up as well.

...this made my day yesterday when I got the link while browsing Kotaku. Comic fans should check it out, some amazing work there from artist Daniel Lieske, who creates a really nice atmosphere. I will look forward to reading more of it.

The Random Pathos of Keanu Reeves...

2011-01-03T21:37:00.006+01:00

The what?

Figured I had to kick the year off with a wonderfully random post title...but bear with me...

Just had to share one of the stranger thought processes that a gaming session triggered over the weekend. I had resolved to spend the last day of the holiday break climbing my 2v2 ladder in Starcraft 2. I had been stuck at rank one or two in my bronze league since release, and I really wanted to try to climb up. So I sat down and started to play. After a couple of promising wins I started to lose. Then I lost some more, then some more. It wasn't always poor partners, and it wasn't always bad choices, there were some good games in there, but I kept losing. Soon, pretty much without realizing, I had racked up ten loses in a row...then I was determined to snap the streak, and tried harder...no good, another few losses...the harder I tried the worse it got...at which point my brain randomly started playing a word association in my head and made me think of this scene...sorry Keanu...I don't know what I was afraid of, but I don't think it was spiders...

...I did know the feeling though...

...I lost sixteen games in a row before I figured the best bet was to walk away and try again another day...

More possibilities for 2011 than you can shake a stick at...

2011-01-03T21:30:00.004+01:00

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has always been one of my favorite check-ins for gaming news, and lists like this one is one of the reasons why. I thought I knew my gaming pretty well, I consider myself pretty well informed on the coming and goings of the industry, but there were a couple of games on this list new to me, and a couple that had new trailers or info since last I had looked.

..and as a fan of stealth games I am now suitably intrigued by Depth...a stealth game with sharks? I'll be giving that a try!

2010 The Year in Pictures

2010-12-31T16:54:00.008+01:00

This one is just a collection of the pictures taken this year while out and about with the camera.

Catching a film crew turning downtown Vancouver into New York

Halloween in the Funcom offices

This wonderful device was being played at the annual Oslo firewalk.

Had dinner at this amazing location on the Oslo Fjord...

Went back to Edinburgh for the first time in many years, even climbed the Scott Monument...

Lightning over Oslo...

The Oslo Medieval festival...

A visit to Ronda in Spain...

May 17th celebrations in Oslo...

World record attempt for the worlds tallest Lego structure...

Random shot from a wander around Oslo with the cameras...I will miss those walks...

St Patricks Days spent in San Francisco...

A trip to St Louis, and a visit to the Arch...

Wandering Oslo on Valentines Day capturing pictures of hearts...

The New Year's fireworks in Oslo kicked off 2010....

2010...the best bits...movies

2010-12-31T00:21:00.002+01:00

So what caught my attention movie wise?

The best...

One movie was far out in front for me this year, and no surprises that it was Inception. I have liked all of Nolan's movies, but this time he outdid himself. Backed by almost perfect casting, his high tech and complex tale of thieves who steal information from inside dreams was fantastically realized. No better movie this year, and probably one of my all time favorites.

The best of the rest? Scott Pilgrim vs the World was an awesome ride. I had feared that they would struggle to transfer that kind of a comic to the big screen, but they pulled it off with style.

True Grit sneaked in at the end of the year and saw the Coen brothers on their usual fine form.

Toy Story 3 might just have been the best of the Trilogy...and that says something.

The silly popcorn movie...

Tron Legacy was everything I look for in a popcorn movie. I can happily switch my brain off and enjoy the show. No, it is not going to garner any awards for anything other than it's visual effects, but it is a fun ride while it lasts and was perfectly in keeping with it's predecessor.

The 'I am still not sure about' movie...

Darren Aronofsky may be the critical darling, and there is a lot I liked about Black Swan, but it also strangely lacked a connection with the characters for me. This is something the director usually manages with ease, so for it to be absent here confounded me a little. The performance, while riveting in the 'is she going mad?' kind of way, also strangely came across as a little clichéd for me, and the peripheral characters were all just a little too thin for my liking.

The much better than I expected movies...

Have to be The Social network (although I should have known better than to doubt David Fincher!) and Buried. The latter in particular came from nowhere, and is much, much better than it's premise might suggest. If ninety minutes of Ryan Reynolds trapped in a coffin (seriously, that is literally all you will see in this movie) doesn't sound appealing then you'll just have to take a chance on it, it is worth a watch.

2010..the best bits...games

2010-12-30T23:59:00.001+01:00

Been quite a year in games, with quite a few titles that I have a feeling will be remembered for many years to come.

Best of the year...

Two games really stood out above all others for me this year. Mass Effect 2 and Assassins Creed: Brotherhood. Both were sequels, and most importantly, both took the weaker elements of their previous incarnations and dramatically improved upon them.

Bioware's effort removed the banal driving sections, the tedious inventory management and polished up the controls. Mass Effect 2 decided what it wanted its core mechanics to be, and it wanted to be a cover based shooter, and it then focused on making that smooth, and more importantly, fun. They succeeded. Basically it took what didn't quite work in its first installment and fixed it. Something all sequels should aspire to.

The voice work and story went up a notch as well, which in itself was a tall order given that the first outing wasn't half bad in that respect. Roll on Mass effect 3...I want to help Sheppard and company save the earth...

I had somewhat of a lukewarm opinion of the Assassins Creed franchise heading into Brotherhood, but like Mass Effect 2, this time out the folks at Ubisoft had taken the elements that didn't work smoothly in the previous installments and crafted a proper, genuinely improved and refined, sequel out of what many assumed would simply be a multi-player cash-in.

Setting things in a single city, and tying the restorative elements into the city itself, really made it feel more involved for me. The added watchtower mechanic (and decoupling it from the story progression meaning you could approach it as you desired) also strengthened the feeling that this was a real place, and the actions of the player character could be felt.

More importantly though, also just like Mass Effect 2, they refined and improved the gameplay. It played much smoother, was just the right amount of forgiving and allowed you to focus on which means of destruction you would use, rather than which weapon you could actually pull the game actions off with.

..so both those games provided me with smooth, fun, compelling experiences that I enjoyed playing through, and enjoyed replaying...

The ones I wanted to be even better...

There are two games I wanted to mention here, because they were games that I was really looking forward to, enjoyed playing, and deserve much praise for what they achieved...but...they also let me down in their own ways. I wanted these two to be thee best games I played this year, I really did, and they just didn't quite get there. I held these two to high standards because of what they could have been to me. The culprits? Red Dead Redemption and Heavy Rain.

Just to be clear, both were good games, really good games, and deserve the acknowledgement they are finding in many other 'top 10 of 2010' listings. I just felt that I could have gotten more out of them, because the few rough edges in each effected my enjoyment of them.

Taking Rockstar's cowboy opus first, Red Dead Redemption, was neither high fantasy nor a modern day setting, so immediate bonus points from me. It has a well crafted, neatly written, and well voiced story, woven into a lovingly rendered depiction of the final days of the old west. What was not love?

The controls started it for me, it wasn't that they were bad, but they just lacked enough polish to mean that frustration sneaked into the gameplay. In the two games mentioned in the first section I never once felt the inclination to swear at my controller...this game made me do that, and much more often than I thought I would. (and don't get me started on the Horse breaking mechanic, I hated those sections). The cover mechanics were simply not as smooth as some of their contemporaries, and the horse riding controls suffered a similar fate (compare them, for example, to those in Assassins Creed). Not bad by any means, but just lacking that little bit of responsiveness and polish that makes control truly accessible.

Then there were the random events in the wilderness that, for me at least, were a touch too random and came upon you on occasion far too fast (damn cougars!). That meant, from a design perspective, I found myself avoiding the wilderness for fear of activating them, which I am pretty sure was not the designers intention.

I did love the game, I just wanted to love it more...personally I'm hoping for a sequel that improves upon the elements mentioned above.

...which pretty much sums up my final thoughts on Heavy Rain. I loved the fact that a game like this did well, sold copies, and made lots of people's best of year lists. Just like with Red Dead though there were enough rough edges that made me feel I wasn't quite getting what I could have gotten. There were a few things that were just plain disappointing to me once I had finished it.

I don't want to ruin any of the excellent story for any of you who haven't played it, but I will say that my dissatisfaction centered on some pretty arbitrary choices the designers made. I don't mind some good well thought out red-herrings, or bait and switch storytelling tricks, but I really dislike random arbitrary ones. My reaction was actually close to being angry during the big 'reveal' towards the end of the game, because I felt slightly cheated by the design choice there. By inserting something previously unseen into an earlier scene, that involved the actions of a character I had control of at the time, they made a very poor design choice in my eyes, because it undermined the relationship the player has to the characters, and the choices you make for them.

Also, for a game that did so well to not make the quick time style events seem pivotal, and made great efforts to be forgiving of the occasional failure on that front front, to then throw in a single event, right at the end, that completely and utterly changed the entire ending if you missed one single button press just seemed a little cheap. (but I guess it did promote replaying that chapter - which does allow me to mention the cool chapter mechanic that allowed you to replay from any chapter onwards so you could go back and see how differently things ended up if a major choice was changed, or a task failed)

All that said, if you haven't played it yet, then you should. It is a different kind of game and is, overall, a good experience. I am glad it was a good game...and I want more like it. I just so wished it could have been a truly great game...

On the PC...

It was a good year for my strategy fix, with both Starcraft 2 and Civilization 5 getting a lot of playtime. I found both to be worthy additions to the franchises, and pretty good evolutions rather than any kind of massively innovative revolution for their respective genres.

On handhelds and mobiles...

It was a good year for the PSP with Metal Gear Solid: Peacemaker and the latest installment of the Kingdom Hearts franchise coming out. Peacemaker was a great game, and one that was perfectly fashioned for it's platform. Like many others I have also ended up spending many hours on both Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, it is genuinely quite cool to see where mobile gaming is going, and I am looking forward to seeing what we get over the next 12 months!

2010...the best bits...books and comics

2010-12-30T23:04:00.002+01:00

Been a busy year, and haven't found as much time my usual amount of reading. That doesn't mean though that there hasn't been some highlights.

Best Books

This was the year I discovered Paolo Bacigalupi and the wonderfully realized dark future he describes. I know The Windup Girl came out in 2009 but I read it this year, and was blown away. It can be quite hard for an author to visit a well trodden path, in this case a bleak and pessimistic view of the world in the not too distant future. What Bacigalupi does so well is to play on many of the standard themes, like the fall of government and the power of corporations, corruption and decay but still manages to create a world quite unlike any you have heard described before, and one that sounds scarily plausible. Throw in interesting characters, some great writing, and a plot that twists and turns through the streets of a future Thailand at a good pace, and you have one of the best science fiction novels of the last decade, let alone the last year.

I also enjoyed William Gibson's Zero History, as I have done all three books that feature his wonderful anti-hero Hubertus Bigend.

Best Comics

One stands out for me this year, and that is American Vampire. Great art and wonderful characters from Rafael Albuquerque, Scott Snyder and Stephen King. Skinner Sweet is a perfect anti-hero, the villain who might or might not be truly evil, but you secretly hope will keep cropping up.

I could of course mention Fables every year, and I will again. Bill Willingham and co never cease to please, and the issues in 2010 were as strong as ever. I had feared that the end of the Dark Ages arc might take some of the steam out of the franchise, given how much it seemingly tied off, but thankfully that doesn't seem to be the case. It has now celebrated a hundred issues, and personally I would be happy for it to see another hundred!

2010..the best bits..MMOs

2010-12-30T22:41:00.004+01:00

2010 wasn't a particularly busy year for new MMO titles, so it was a quite a bit of 'more of the same' in terms of my MMO playing habits. My time was split between a fair few of my favorite MMOs. It is a little harder to judge here as I play a lot of the MMO titles out there, a lot of that time is purely out of professional curiosity rather than a personal desire to play. There were though a few that earned some of my true leisure hours as well. Apart from my virtually daily visits to our own games, I still invest time in EVE. I found myself back on Norrath quite a bit after I picked up on Everquest 2 again when they went free to play (and finally got a character up to the end game there), continued a little exploration of Fallen Earth, but less than before, and enjoyed a good few weeks hacking and slashing my way through Vindictus.

On the new MMO front, I did try Final Fantasy XIV, but like most, found the experience a little more frustrating than enjoyable. I have also started trying Perpetuum, the indie mech based game out of Hungry that feels a lot like a land based version of EVE so far. Too early to say if that one becomes a personal choice just yet, need to explore it some more!

With only a handful of games on the horizon for 2011, Rift and DC Universe Online both slated to come out early in 2011, and I'll be checking both out as they definitely seem to offer some good potentially fun mechanics. Even if I am not a huge fan of either setting, both seemed to have received some positive comments off the back of their beta, and it will be good to see some fresh titles on the market.

like many people the more interesting developments for me might well come in 2012 in the shape of Guild Wars 2 and The Old Republic. That is a lot of hype building up and it will be interesting to see how they are received when they arrive.

Still, there may yet be the room for some surprises in 2011, sure to be some interesting developments along the way!

Playing alone in a multi-player world

2010-12-21T20:45:00.021+01:00

Amid the holiday preparations, I read the recent comments from EA's Frank Gibreau about multi-player games being the future, and warning of a limited time left for single-player titles, with interest. It stirred up thoughts on a favorite subject of mine. It's just ripe for a little exploration of the very blurry lines between the single-player and the multi-player experience and how it impacts MMOs.

Why does it interest me?

Ok, let's start with the slightly contentious sound-bite that I'll spend the rest of this post dissecting, qualifying and explaining. (so if you read the paragraph, promise me you'll keep reading through to the end!)

Modern MMOs have become more successful as they have gotten better at learning the lessons of single-player games. Their success is often not because of their online elements, but in how well they manage to mitigate the necessity for interacting with others as an essential part of game-play.

It is important to say out front though I don't believe in the slightest that is a bad thing. Neither do I think it is 'dumbing down' the genre in any way. It is important to see this discussion as being about the rational middle-ground, about finding the best ways to mix the strengths of the single player experience with the all the benefits that come from the shared experience of a online experience, and not dismiss it.

Neither, as I am going to elaborate on, do I think MMO's shouldn't be about community and social interaction, this discussion is all about what we force and what we don't.

This shouldn't be a polarized debate about the proverbial 'us' and 'them', what I am going to be talking about here is how the MMO genre has been improved by this approach. In fact when you take a look at things with a critical eye, you can easily argue that modern MMOs are already adapting to this more than you would think...

The way back machine...

Ok, not all that 'way back', but let me take you back to the late part of 2003 and early 2004. Why is that time important? World of Warcraft hadn't launched yet, neither had Everquest 2 for that matter. In fact there were many tipping SOE's sequel to eclipse the MMO upstarts at Blizzard. I was working on Vaultnetwork and writing for IGN at the time, and one of the perks was being in the beta for both titles.

The 'which will be a bigger game?' question generated a lot of discussion, debate and arguments in the, then much smaller, MMO community. Blizzard had a strong license, but little experience, and the early mutterings from the self professed experts were of a 'dumbed down' game. Everquest 2 had an experienced team, was better looking (if you could find a machine to run it ) and was going to address the time investment inherent in it's predecessor but keep, and improve upon the great team dynamics found on occasion in the original.

Many believed that was the future of the MMO. You had to focus on the team mechanics...

They were wrong.

I remember chatting with some of my fellow Vaulters at E3 in 2004 and explaining why I thought World of Warcraft would end up 'winning out' over EQ2 (...but I have to stress that no-one, least of all me, predicted just how successful it would be! Not claiming that!)...because it let me play alone successfully. Now that sounded to many to be a bit strange for an MMO, and for many it was just counter-intuitive to what the genre was supposed to be about.

Personally I still believe, as I did back then, that those were the steps the genre needed to be taking. The games needed to be just as much fun to play alone as they were to play with friends or guildmates. That was something you couldn't really say about Everquest or the other early games in the genre. Technically you might be able to progress alone, but it was akin to pulling your own teeth compared to the benefits of grouping up with others. It was all but forced teaming by design. In fact it is pretty safe to say that usually it was by design.

Early discussion of this exciting new genre waxed lyrical about the enhanced experience offered by playing together and the excitement of team play...and on one hand it was true...these games offered something we had never experienced before, and in some ways it was cool to play with other people online, and it did offer something very different. It brought us into communities, it allowed us to make friends, enemies and compete with each other. It was something new, and it had so much potential...

The common thought was that the team-play and gameplay reliance on each other was one of the defining strengths of the genre. Personally I had always thought that the way that those early games forced the team aspect upon me was one of their more obvious flaws. It was fantastic to be able to team up and play with others, when I wanted to, but it was frustrating and annoying not to be able to achieve some things alone.

(and as an aside, lets not go down the well worn, 'if you want to solo go play a single player game', line. Those who roll that classic out every time this discussion comes up, are kind of missing the point. Many people love the social and community elements of an MMO, without wanting to play with others, all the time. There is a difference people...but I digress...)

For every memorable hour I spent in a great team in EQ, I spent two hours in bad teams, three hours waiting for a team at the gates of Karnor, or the entrance to Lower Guk before that, and four hours on painful corpse runs. I could see the parts that were fun, and those that were not.

So in World of Warcraft I saw an approach to MMO design that was at least a start in a better direction, and I felt it was why they would be successful...

Of course, the rest as they say, is history. The World of Warcraft you play today has also evolved even further along those lines. Their success has allowed them the license and the scope for improving and refining on these elements over the years. Others have too...

It's not just Azeroth...

Yes, many other titles have then tried to emulate the success of World of Warcraft. Aion, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings online, Warhammer Online, all the way up to the incoming Rift, and pretty much any other mainstream MMO you care to mention over the last few years have all placed accessibility pretty high up the priority of goals. There have been steps forward (like the public quests in WAR which have been evolved further into the Rift mechanics in Trion's upcoming effort) and more and more we are moving slowly away from the concept that in order to succeed as an MMO we must force group interplay. We are starting to realise that it can be an optional part of the game, and still retain all the social appeal of the MMO worlds.

Those that deviate and stray too close to the 'ways of old' and too much forced grouping, or where the designers try and force things upon players, have a much harder time of it, as you saw with the release of Final Fantasy XIV.

So where could we be taking it? That for me is the more interesting question.

On one hand I am saying that I firmly believe that you have to let players play alone, at the same time as being on record as saying that what makes the genre special is the social elements and the community aspect.

I have said this before, I dislike the terms 'Sandbox' and 'theme park' because by trying to make them effective sub-classifications of the genre, we are implying a game cant be both. It is true that we don;t yet have a game that could truly seek to satisfy fans of both types of game, but the influence of the single player drivers I mention above, don't have to live in isolation. Effort and accomplishment can also be exaggerated and amplified in an MMO setting. can also though be found in places you least expect...

...like in CCPs notoriously harsh, open universe, of EVE online...

I can see some of you raising your eyebrows...

EVE? Really?

Yes, EVE is possibly the most open of the games on the market, and ye, there are certainly many people who only survive due to their corp buddies, friends and contacts. Achieving anything in the brutal and dangerous world of 0.0 space in EVE definitely takes a lot of people to organize, sustain and enjoy. (for those who don't play EVE that is the parts of their universe where territory is player controlled and the only protection of any kind you have from other players is your friends and allies) So on the surface, EVE is a game that is known more for the player driven economy, diplomacy, battles, espionage and occasional scams. From the outside looking in, all the parts of the game that get spoken about a lot, are very much truly co-operative or confrontational multiplayer elements.

That isn't though how many EVE players actually approach the game. There are indeed thousands of players involved in the complexities of EVE politics and 0.0 space, but the game has hundreds of thousands of players. a good percentage, even a majority, never, ever, leave high sec space (the area of the games universe that offers some protection from other players). The part you hear all the stories about is driven by the dedicated minority that every MMO has. Then the rest of the players are taking part in other types of game-play.

Then within this larger group of players, some will be in player corporations, some will not, some will spend some of their time playing in gangs with friends or allies, but they will also spend a lot of their time playing on their own. Whether it is mining, running missions, new players learning the ropes, players playing the markets, couriers running materials from here to here, a game like EVE has a pretty large list of the things the player can do alone. CCP have carefully tweaked and poked their creation over the years to lower the learning curve and make the game more accessible, and more enjoyable for a lighter user, without really harming the appeal of the game for their dedicated hardcore audience in any way.

So while a minority of the players enjoy the massively complex political intrigues of 0.0 space, the majority are up to much more day to day tasks, and many, dare I suggest a majority of them, are doing it alone.

So in essence the activities in and off themselves are often mundane, but the context of the game-world makes them have a different appeal completely. The tasks themselves are often perfectly fitting solo player experiences, that offer different motivations or rewards because they are taking place in a community setting, often precisely because you can make progress on your own, but still feel part of something bigger (something EVE excels at) ...for me, that is the true beauty of what MMOs are capable of.

MMO design is best when the designers don't force me to involve myself with others as my only means of progression. Yes, some things require help, but if I want to be the reclusive type I can, and I can still enjoy the game, and feel part of something much bigger. This brings me neatly to the next important clarification...

You can't solo everything...sorry...

I am not for one second, not even a nano-second, suggesting that there should not be content in MMOs that requires you to group up, join a guild, or engage in the larger community in some way. You simply can't expect to want to solo 'everything'. Yes, we understand that some of you are busy, have kids, other commitments, and don't want to dedicate time to but we also have to provide some things to people that like to team up and engage in a social experience.

Wait a minute though, I hear you ask, doesn't that contradict what you just said about not forcing players to team in order to progress?

Not at all, but the question does bring up one of the challenges. The important part of what I said above was that I don't like to see designers force me to involve myself with others as my only means of progression.

The problem for more content driven games is that there comes a point when, due the way the current generation have been designed, players do get to a point where they find that the only progression left is that which requires multiplayer game-play.

Again it is not a 'Black and White' answer. Too often the debate gets over simplified into 'I want to solo everything' or 'All rewards should be available to solo players', which is as ridiculous as the debates those subjects end up devolving into. We should be seeking the balance. It is ok to acknowledge that some things need to, and should, be exclusive to team effort while at the same time acknowledging that we should be seeking to make the solo experience better and more involved as well. the idea is that we reach the point where the rewards for both make sense and satisfy people in the scope of the game world.

...which leads me to the last of the important clarifications...

We aren't there yet...

We are probably still some way off this. EVE does a decent job of making things meaningful, but the experience isn't as rich alone. Likewise the content driven games haven't quite figured out yet how to make their games more open. Most are definitely trying, and some succeeding better than others, but here is where we still have the challenge, where many players run into the proverbial 'road block' of not being able to enjoy an MMO.

Quest based content is often too linear to allow for a truly open world experience. Something enforced by the structure of the games to date (and their associated budgets) and by the original design thoughts that dictated to us that we should want to force the players to play together.

We haven't found the best balance for solo and group content yet, let alone taken it to the next level and figured out how to make them both work together in the context of an open and equal world, where both paths are productive, and more importantly, fun.

...wrapping up

The social aspects of the MMO experience are vitally important...but probably not in the way that early MMO designers thought they might be.

I completely believe in the power of the community, and the way in which the positive motivations for achievement in games is successfully amplified when it is part of a shared experience. You simply don't have to force social interactions on people in order for them to enjoy themselves in a social setting...so rather than expending our design energy trying to shoehorn players into certain co-operative behaviors as the norm, we are hopefully starting to realize that players might just enjoy their MMO experience even more if we give them something fun and interesting to do alone, as well as together, but also try to make sure it has more meaning and context in the wider world.

See, this is why I really dislike the terms 'sandbox' and 'theme-park'. While I'll happily admit that there will be lots of room for very good games that focus on just one of those styles, I can't help but think that the true potential of the genre might just lie in finding the right balance between them both...and when we find the potential, maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to sample it either alone, or as part of a group, as and when we choose...a man can dream...

Just something about getting to put pen to paper...

2010-12-18T20:56:00.004+01:00

I like technology. I really do, I love gadgets, and all the advances that power our imaginations and serve to frame our lives in this day and age. However, when it comes to writing, in particular my own notes, and random scrawling. There is just something satisfying about putting pen to paper and actually writing...on paper...

I know I will eventually transfer anything that works into an electronic form, and it will be filed digitally with the rest of my fast growing collection of unfinished 'stuff', but I have to admit I do just like to write sometimes. There is something about it that triggers some of the old imagination that I had as a kid, the action of writing taps into something there.

It also means I occasionally get to find some nice notebooks. I generally keep one at home, and one in the office, so tend to pick them up two at a time. I like shopping for them. I mean, if it is just for taking the odd random notes, then it's ok to have even just a cheap notepad from a stationary store, but when I am in the mood for some writing, I really like to have a nice solid journal to write in. It also means I am far less likely to misplace them!

...so for me, there are some things that can continue to live alongside all our cool technology, even if they are occasionally seen as a little old fashioned.

Teaser Trailer Overload...

2010-12-12T04:56:00.003+01:00

The annual VGA awards have turned into something of a teaser showcase. A whole bunch of new trailers premiered during the show this weekend. New Batman, Mass Effect 3, Uncharted 3, a new Forza Motorsport, Portal 2 and Prototype 2, Resistance 3 and a new Elder Scrolls...all in CGI showcases or teasers, so not much gameplay on show...well, actually, pretty much no gameplay on show...we also saw far too little of the Del Toro project called Insane, can't wait to see more on that one.

Also the theme for 2011 definitely appears to be dark and dangerous. When even SSX snowboarding is making it's trailers all broody and edgy you know it must be something currently 'in' with the marketing folk...

...at least Drake seems to have found his way to the desert, so Uncharted fans might at least be some of the few not spending their 2011 gaming time shrouded in shadow and grungy camera filters.

...and at least Portal 2 seems to have it's sense of humor intact.

You can find them all up over on sites like Gametrailers.

On Blizzard's Behemoth...

2010-12-12T03:13:00.003+01:00

With the launch of Catacylsm last week the folks over at Eurogamer asked a few of those involved in MMOs about whether we felt that Blizzard's game could ever be toppled from its pedestal. You can read the entire article here, with a lot of hopefully interesting comments in reply from both myself and others.

We knew they wouldn't use everything we wrote for the article, but since it was an interesting subject, I thought I'd share the rest with you here too. So...the question asked was as follows...

What can topple World of Warcraft?

Now there is a question. It's a wonderfully loaded, easily misinterpreted, but equally fascinating question. To be honest the first thing to do is question the question. Do you mean what can topple World of Warcraft, in terms of a traditional MMO, by gaining more subscribers? Or do you mean whether another game can topple Blizzard’s seminal title in terms of being a massively influential online gaming title?

In answer to the former interpretation of the question, I honestly think that it is unlikely at this stage. World of Warcraft was one of those rare games that hit a nerve at the right time, and became a kind of cultural phenomenon of sorts. It was a crossover hit that went beyond the genre’s usual audience. I would even go as far as to suggest that it is unhealthy for the industry to hold the statistical performance of World of Warcraft as a standard by which other titles should be fairly judged.

It is a great game, but it is also now a great game that is an embedded part of popular culture. That’s a very lofty goal to set yourself as a developer. I don’t think anyone sets out to be a cultural phenomenon, you simply can’t plan it, that kind of thing just happens. Likewise you don’t topple a cultural phenomenon. You can though join one. There will eventually be another title that manages to key in on one of those impossible to predict, positive, nerves of mass market appeal.

That brings us neatly to the second interpretation of that question. Do I think that there could be another online title that will capture the public’s imagination in the same way? Yes, and it’s an unequivocal yes. I have the feeling though that the next game to share the type of success that World of Warcraft enjoyed, will be nothing like World of Warcraft, and none of us know what ‘it’ is yet, otherwise everyone would already be working on it!

Of course the cool part about this is that someone, somewhere, might actually already be making it. Someone out there is likely working on something and is completely oblivious to the fact that their creation might just be taking over the world in the years to come. That’s the fascinating thing about a cultural phenomenon; you can rarely predict what form it will take.

Does any of that help us developers? Not especially, as I am effectively saying that an unpredictable mix of luck, timing, and the shifting nature of cultural preferences, all play a huge part in getting to that level.

What does help us however is being able to understand how World of Warcraft put itself into the position of being able to capture the imagination of the masses in the way that they did. They made a good, solid, well executed game with a strong sense of place. They focused on creating an almost flawless core game-play experience, which they then expanded upon after launch. What we need to do is keep those kinds of goals. Create great game-play; create great worlds with interesting stories. Invent new means to tell those stories, and new mechanics to push that game-play in directions we haven’t tried yet. That we can work towards. A perseverance with that kind of an attitude to game creation will almost certainly, eventually, lead to another of those treasured cultural phenomenon appearing, although probably when we least expect it. Those pesky cultural phenomenons can be tricky like that!

Missed this...

2010-12-09T14:49:00.004+01:00

The downside of living away from Britain is not always being able to keep up with what the BBC has in the works. Somehow I managed to miss news of the fact that they were adapting the late, great Douglas Adam's Dirk Gently books for TV. Spotted the trailer here. Now I can't wait, hopefully the BBC channel I get here in Canada are going to carry it. Perfect discovery to start the day...

On the subject of addiction...

2010-12-08T17:08:00.021+01:00

My own common sense told me yesterday that this is a subject I should stay away from. It can be very hard for someone inside the industry comment on a story like this without being accused of having a biased opinion. People are thinking 'of course he would say that' before they even start reading.

I'm going to risk it anyway...

In addition there have already been several well written, observant and insightful editorials written on this subject around the web. John Walker's piece over on RPS is probably the best, and most rational, response I have read. It is partly what I was going to say, just much better written, so you should go read that first and save me the time of repeating what he has already put across so eloquently.

Likewise Leigh Alexander covers the 'all things can be addictive, this isn't just a game issue, it's a people issue' angle nicely over on her blog.

So the important stuff to me is being said elsewhere, and very well covered. So I should have left it well enough alone. I can only guess that our PR guys are a little nervous reading on (don't stress guys, I don't think there is anything controversial coming up ;) ) but this is also an important subject for me personally. Both as a gamer and as a developer.

My take on this is of a little more of a personal nature...

Lets take the gamer part first...

If you are uncomfortable with people sharing their past life experiences to support one issue or another, you probably want to stop reading now, because that is what I am going to do.

This is a personal issue for me, because in some ways I identify and understand those people featured in the Panorama program. It is easy to call them 'losers', easy to stereotype them, easy to defensively dismiss their cases as the extremes of human behavior.

That's partly valid, they are certainly extreme examples, and representative of a very small, probably minuscule, percentage of how people experience and interact with video-games.

Ten years ago, for a relatively short period of time thankfully. I might have made a good subject for the Panorama team myself.

I didn't think I was 'addicted', I certainly wasn't in the scientific, chemical sense of the word. I was never in danger of any physical or medical withdrawal symptoms. Gaming, and in my case, the original Everquest, was an escapist crutch that allowed me to escape from a very difficult time in my own life. I was having other issues that were having a detrimental effect on my health, my relationships, and my work. I wasn't an 'obvious' addict in the way some of those profiled by Panorama are cast. I still went to work, I struggled on, I kept up appearances, in the same manner that many who suffer from either depression or actual addiction do (be it drugs, alcohol or something else).

I did however use gaming in an unhealthy way. Hindsight allows me the clarity to be unequivocal about that.

The game did not make me unhealthy, I made me unhealthy. I just didn't realize it at the time.

I can also readily acknowledge that from the outside looking in, the game would easily be seen by an observer as part of the problem.

I escaped into my gaming at every opportunity at the expense of the possible support offered by my friends and family. In many ways I was afraid of admitting that I wasn't coping. Immersing myself in the game allowed me to ignore the issues, it allowed me to leave all the stresses and problems of my real life at the log-in screen. It became the only thing important to me outside of those things I had to do, like earning money to pay bills.

I actually also worked too much at the time. In a weird way that was also an escape, if I kept myself immersed in either the stress of work or the relief of the game then I never really had time to work through the actual problems. It was in many ways a perfect storm of unhealthy behavior.

I played as soon as I got home from work until I slept, and most of the weekends. For a period of time I pretty much had to literally be forced to do other things. I also often refused to do other things unless I really felt I should, or wanted to, and usually only when it also offered an escape I enjoyed (like going to a movie)

My guild were a great virtual support structure precisely because they didn't know all the details of my personal problems. I am sure if I had revealed everything to them then they would have universally called me out for being an idiot, and also pushed me to get help. I could hide those things from my virtual friends very easily, or simply twist the truths just enough so that, to them, it would just sound like 'bad day' vibes, which we can all sympathize with. So they made me feel better about my life...it allowed me to justify it to myself as 'normal', we all bitched about our days in guild chat.

I was in effect deluding myself.

Admittedly I never got to the point where I also neglected the essential things, I never lost a home, or was in danger of being fired (at least not that I was aware of!)...but not before I had neglected or damaged many relationships. I allowed a virtual support structure to become more important to me than a real one. It is both easy to have happen, and a part of what, to normal, well adjusted people, makes playing an MMO such a fantastic experience.

To some extent I am sure many people recognize elements of this.

I firmly believe however that the extreme reactions, like those highlighted by the Panorama program, are more to do with the personal situation, well being, and condition of the individual involved rather than anything specific in any given game. In my case if it hadn't been EQ it would have been UO, or Civilization, or something else. I was able to play games in a perfectly healthy way before, and have been able to do so since.

I am no scientist, psychologist or chemist, but to me it wasn't any given element of the game that made me have to play. It was that I had to do something, anything, that effectively allowed me to shut out my problems. It was certainly a psychological crutch. That behavior contributed to making matters worse, as I refused to acknowledge my issues for far too long, and escaping into the game certainly didn't help anyone but me, and it only helped me in a short term manner.

My problems were with me, and my life.

I used gaming in the same way that many use alcohol too much, but are still not considered alcoholics. I still functioned on a day to day basis (albeit just about on occasion), and it caused issues of varying degrees of severity, slowly, over time, in my working life and relationships, rather than any kind of sudden catastrophic failure. The issue however was not a piece of software, it was my own psychological and physical well being. The game just allowed me to be stubborn and deny there was a problem because I could ignore it.

If I hadn't been escaping into games, I would have tried something else. I might have played golf too much, shopped too much, spent too much, drank too much or ate too much. I would have found another crutch. The answer actually lay in support, treatment and help from real life, flesh and blood, people. I was very lucky that I had some people in my life that were also stubborn enough to finally say 'enough is enough' and not let me keep ignoring it.

That process allowed me to see how I used things like gaming as a crutch, and the key, as it usually is, was about finding balance and happiness in your life. learning to cope with work stress better, placing more value on your relationships and your friends...appreciating life more! I understand that I was lucky, and many struggle to find the strength to pull themselves out of such situations. I was just as weak for some time. I wish I could pinpoint a turning point that would allow others to benefit from my experience, but it was a personal realization that is probably different and individual to each of those who suffer from things like this.

I can however vouch for the fact there is a way out, and you can be much better off for the experience if you are willing to acknowledge the issue and seek help.

I thought a lot over the last few days about whether to write this and publish it. A personal acknowledgment of something like can always be taken the wrong way. However it is also important that people hear from those who both sympathize, but don't offer an easy excuse. Hopefully hearing of someone who has come out as a healthier, and better adjusted, human being after going through a very similar experience. So if you recognize too much of this to be comfortable right now, then I have only one piece of advice, and that is to take that first step and think about whether this might actually be a problem you should talk to someone about.

My life is happy, I cope with stress better, and I know how to prioritize things to keep a balanced and reasonably healthy life. I didn't just magically do it on my own though.

That's why the subject is important. It is important that, as a society, we acknowledge that mental health issues are worthy of acknowledgement, and most definitely need study.

That has next to nothing to do with games.

There needs to be help available, and that is also likely with better understanding. (in particular in light of the 'over-diagnosing of American society' as Leigh Alexander mentioned in her piece)...and games are clearly a medium that lends itself to being this kind of psychological crutch. That is also worthy of study. Prevention is always better than cure. Who is to say we shouldn't have better methods of identifying this behavior. We should not have to spend time apologizing for the extreme examples of this behavior, and instead be willing to recognize them for what they are, as potential signs of a deeper issue. It doesn't have to be the games fault, and neither may there be any fault on behalf of developers, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be willing to understand that behavior, and be able to at least flag up that 'you know, that extreme behavior is probably not healthy'

I am not however sure that the cause is best served by exaggeration and sensationalizing a subject. That just puts people on the defensive and gets in the way of actual constructive discussion. It just distracts from progress on diagnosing and offering support for those who suffer from conditions which could be identified by this type of behavior.

Recovering from something like that is a tremendously insightful process. In many ways it can, if successful, make you very self-aware. That is the most important thing I took away from that entire period. It also means this subject is personal to me...

So that's the gamer covered, my past. What about the here and now, and the developers point of view?

We should talk about this...

Firstly, as hinted at above, we should not avoid or deny that these extreme examples exist. We should be able to acknowledge that they exist. be allowed to say that they are rare, and not representative, without being seen as being overly defensive.

...this is relevant for a very, very, important reason.

Actual addictive behavior really only has downsides for us as MMO developers.

No developer in their right mind actually wants to create something that could be technically and scientifically addictive. Sure, we all know that marketing folks, reviewers, and executive producers the world over, often like to use 'addictive' as an adjective when maybe they probably should be using the word 'compelling' instead. They don't actually mean addictive. Addiction to anything is bad, but it is one of those words that suffers from overuse and misinterpretation.

So why do I say that encouraging addictive behavior would actually be counter-productive?

Think about it for a second.

If we were actually designing to be addictive, then that would imply that we would be encouraging players to consume our products more and more. We genuinely don't want our players over-consuming our products. Certainly not as an MMO producer I don't. You couldn't possibly keep up with an actual addicts appetite for your content. I really don't want a player to want to play our game for more hours than is healthy per day.

Those players interviewed by Panorama are examples of the types of extreme of behavior that we actually don't want to see. Anyone capable of playing ten hours a day is burning through the same amount of content we might intend to last a week, a month, or more, in a much shorter period of time. That wouldn't be something we would want by design...ever...really. I would have hoped that wasn't as obtuse a concept as it seems to be for some people.

We do indeed talk a lot about things like player retention, incentives, average play time, and hours spent. Likewise we really strive to make compelling gameplay. That however, is a world away, from intentionally trying to craft something that is actually addictive. We want our games to be fun and diverting, we don't want them to be overwhelming and addictive...at least, I can vouch for that with our process, and somehow I really doubt other developers are any different.

Negative associations...

Then you also have the fact that the behavior of a true addict is rarely something you would want your game associated with (which underpins a lot of the defensive reactions you get from the industry on the subject). It would create a negative association for friends and family of the addict. You will rarely meet more vocal advocates of drug, gambling or alcohol control than those who have experienced living with, have cared for, or interacted with an actual addict. There would be no advantage for us having that kind of an association. Why on earth would we want our games associated with that type of behavior? I genuinely don't think any right minded person in the industry would want any of our games thought of in the same way as narcotics.

That kind of common sense doesn't make for a good sensationalist report though...

Wrapping up...my little soapbox edition...

This is actually an important, and worthwhile, discussion. Unbiased, objective research into things like addiction should be supported. Not just in how games can be an outlet for that behavior but how many different things in our modern lives can be.

As always a discussion like this is all about understanding and context. There are some very important associated points well worth actual scientific study and understanding. That is how we develop as a society. However, just as the exaggeration on one extreme doesn't help build our understanding, neither does the defensive reluctance to recognize that there are associated areas that can be furthered by being open to the discussion, without accusations of wrong-doing.

...alas in this day and age, such a rational approach tends not to make for quite as dramatic news and reporting. Thus it gets marginalized at the expense of point scoring, accusations and rhetoric. I would much rather see some constructive debate and a wish to seek an understanding of the issues on both sides. That is why it is always worth repeating this view, even if the rational or objective point of view rarely wins out these days, it is never a bad thing to remind people to actually stop and think about an issue instead of just jumping on one or more of the already rolling bandwagons.

I think....

2010-12-07T01:01:00.008+01:00

...Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is one of the best sequels I have played on a console, possibly even one of the best games. (If you haven't played the series don't worry about jumping in, it brings you up to speed pretty quick) I am really enjoying romping around ancient Rome and jumping from the rooftops, plotting the downfall of my rivals. Working in a single city improves things massively for me, and in general, they have addressed almost all the niggles that detracted from the series for me in the past...my only problem now, is that I have such fun running around Rome doing all the side stuff and empire building, that I almost feel reluctant to push the story along...

...The recent trailer for Telltale's Back to the Future game left all the nostalgia senses tingling with anticipation...and left me wondering what they did to earn the luck they had in finding someone that good at sounding like Michael J Fox...

...I am really looking forward to seeing Tron: Legacy, but the sheer amount of marketing for the movie is making it nigh on impossible to avoid the feeling like I have already seen it...

...mixed feeling about the first season of The Walking Dead. I didn't mind the deviations from the comics at all (regardless of how much I enjoyed them), but the writers seems unsure of how best to pace a show effectively about survival...still, a good strong cast makes me think there is some more potential there untapped...news is the writing staff will be different next time out, so I'll check back with the survivors to see how they are getting on come season two...

I'm crazy apparently...

2010-12-07T00:53:00.002+01:00

...and I can add Canadians to the nationalities that consider me such when to comes to reacting to my love of snow. The white stuff arrived in force today here in Montreal and the locals in the office, like the Norwegians before them, can't quite understand my childlike glee at seeing everything coated in white. I think it was probably all those years growing up in south western Ireland where we never saw snow (maybe once in twelve years, and that was like half a centimeter, but it was on Christmas day so it got points for effort) that makes me appreciate it now. Six years now and the smile it generates hasn't faded any...

Desires and Compromises - 2: How do we want to evolve?

2010-11-27T18:15:00.005+01:00

So let's move on to the here and now.

If we accept that there has been a kind of 'lag' between how gameplay has developed in gaming in general, and how far it has come in MMOs, we then have to ask how we approach that. Do we need to address it? Is it actually not a problem? If we do need to address it, then how do we tackle it?

..and do we currently have the technology to be able to do any of it?

The compromises of an online space.

Designing an MMO is, due to the limitations of current technology, often as much about compromise as it is anything else. We know we currently can't match those cinematic console experiences every time. Just consider the length of the average console hit these days, the playtime alone would constitute what players expect from their first week playing an MMO title. I have talked before about my hopes that the genre will diversify into more interesting and compelling forms of the genre. That isn't an easy task as we all bring expectations about what an MMORPG 'was' and what an MMO 'should be'...and we aren't all of the same opinions...

The desires of MMO gamers...

As developers we are of course always asking ourselves about what we think players want, and are looking for, and what we can do to provide a compelling experience with the tools we have available.

You see, I think there are two seemingly cohesive drivers at play here, that are actually not as compatible as players would like, given the limitations of our current technology.

The Gameplay desire: On one hand there is a real desire for gameplay to evolve and 'catch-up' with the single players experience and inject more fun, pace, interactivity and immediacy into the experience. We know how cinematic a game could be thanks to those single player games, and we yearn for our MMOs to follow suit.

The Massive Meaningful World desire: Then we have the thing that makes an MMO different - the fact that they offer a fully realised online world for us to explore, live in, and have adventures in. That, for many players, is the true appeal of the genre. It is a shared experience with other players, a real community, a world they can believe in. Furthermore, as we move towards a new generation of online gamers, they want an evolution here too. They want worlds that are truly intractable, where their individual choices and actions have a direct impact in the game world. To have a game world that genuinely changes.

These two things can actually end up being mutually exclusive with our current technology. The risk we run in designing MMOs is often that we want to please both these desires and we end up compromising both of them to some degree.

Desires of Designers

You then also have a shifting and emerging amongst those designing MMO titles, and that is a greater emphasis on story. Now I have spoken about this before at length, so won't go into it in too much detail again here, but at a top level the design of the genre has also evolved.

Many of the early titles were more about creating worlds than specifically guiding a player through them. Some will argue back and forth about whether the currents trends are a step forward or a step backwards (it largely depends on your subjective opinion on what an MMO should be), but it is hard to deny that a more structured approach to quests and setting have meant that designers focus a lot more on telling a story, or a set of stories, that they intend to be experienced in a more linear fashion than any of those earlier titles had.

This adds yet another desire into the mix.

So let's take go back to the practical example I mentioned in the first post.

Focusing...

Vindictus (or Mabinogi Heroes, as it is known in Korea) is a good example of a title that does really well focused on one of those desires at the expense of the other. The gameplay resonates well with some veteran MMO players (many of our designers included) because it is inherently more fun and immediate to play through due to it's use of the source engine and physics. It plays a little bit more like an action RPG than your average MMO, and the addition of physics gives it that more dynamic feel. Evolution of combat mechanics is a good thing for the genre, and for those who have 'been there and done that' experiencing anything new has an inherently greater effect.

It is fun to hack, slash and bash through your opponents, and with the physics system provided by the Source engine, it makes for a much more involved experience than you find in the more traditionally inspired games.

The side of effect of having that dynamic gameplay means that the gameplay is broken up into instanced episodes. The hubs operate more as a gaming lobby than as an explorable world.

Likewise, the 'combo system' nature and immediacy of the combat means that the palette of abilities you collect and use aren't quite as extensive as you might find in the more traditional model.

Then some players question those elements based on their subjective belief of what an MMO should be. Does it qualify as an 'MMO'? Some, who have both those desires listed above, will argue not. Given that it is effect a small team instanced co-op experience, if you share those desires it is easy to share that point of view. It doesn't have an open world to explore, it is heavily instanced, and doesn't let you fully customize your character (there are preset class / sex / appearance combos)...all of which are things that many would say are required for them to consider it as an MMO. That is where that second desire comes in, and is used to detract in some way from the game

Most of those things though are compromises that have to be found in order to bring that gameplay to the table. We simply don't have the technology yet to allow players that kind of interaction in a fully open-world, non-instanced, setting.

All that doesn't make it a bad game. In fact it is well designed game with a fun gameplay experience...which starts to lead us to the question behind this post.

Do you accept games that compromise in one area if they provide a good experience in another aspect?

We often seem to focus on what a game isn't rather than what it is, just because it is loosely categorized as an MMO title. For the genre to evolve though we will mostly likely need to embrace both of those key desires separately.

There will be games that will drive forward the gameplay desire, and make new and interesting combat mechanics in an online space, but maybe to achieve that they will have to be more heavily instanced, or not focus as much on an open world.

Likewise there might be games that strive for that open world, a huge game space for people to explore and discover. That might have to come at the expense of more innovative gameplay though.

The idea of having a more dynamic world might also require more compromise, it might mean you have to accept more simple mechanics so that the world can be more expansive or dynamic.

Personally I think there is space in the genre for titles that cater to all variety of those desires. A game that decides to focus on just one area can be just as good an MMO experience as one that tries to tackle all of them. It will just be different...and different isn't always bad...

So what is your preference?