MMO Gamer Demographics

I was finishing up a post on who Aion was specifically marketing for when, after reviewing it, I realized that mmo gamer demographics is not really a topic often discussed enough to provide meaningful commentary. I began dividing up the communities in my mind and realized there is a possibility for a very in-depth discussion which I thought might be fun to tap. That and the original post really wasn’t written as well as it could have been (maybe I’ll get to it later).

The way I see it there are 5 distinct mmo gamer communities spread across three generations off mmo’s. Lets first look at the generations I outlined in a previous post.

Generation
 - 1st Gen (1995 -> late 2001) MUD to pre-EQ:Shadows of Luclin

 The granddaddy mmo’s are included here as they layed the foundation for a number of play styles still in use today. These mmo’s were rough and unpolished but had a worldly cohesion to them since they were based highly on table top D&D worlds. Everything was dangerous and unruly, even rats. In EQ for example, even the UI could kill if mishandled when talking to a “friendly” guard. This is sometimes refered to as the golden age.

Gamers from this generation have two distinct qualities. Much like an old man who compares everything to the “good old days”, this generation is never satisfiedwith the current crop of mmo’s. Each game released is either too grindy, not grindy enough, not hardcore enough (what does that even mean anymore), not difficult enough or when they run out of options on a message board they say (one of my favorites) “the game lacks the magic that made EQ what it was”.

Their other trait is they are mmo vagabonds. They never stick with an mmo for long and most have already given up on the genre. If they are still playing, expect to find them in an early thrid generation mmo like EQ2 or WoW, or still playing their original first love. (note they are the first ones to jump in on a legacy server conversation)

 

- 2nd Gen (2002->late 2004) Post EQ:Kunark to WoW Beta

This includes those people who started their career with DaoC, Shadowbane, Lineage 2, SWG, FFXI and Ragnarok. Probably the most interesting of all the generations of mmos due to the great variation in play styles. A lot of great experimentation and enhancements to the genre occurred during this time period as little was still known about what the large scale market was looking for.

Generally these mmo’s were still “hardcore”, if you want to use that term, yet slowly explored new ways providing things to do for the gamer outside of grinding for levels. DoAC and Shadowbane had deep world pvp systems, FFXI was storyline and a case could be made as it being the originator of instanced combat (though at the time was barely used), and SWG had an immense amount of world building and RP elements. Heck you could be a dancer… in a bar… that was about it for that class at release. Still many call this the renaissance age of sorts.

Gamers from this generation, much like the generation they represent, are very progressive and have a “show me something new” attitude. By in large this group of gamers are always looking for the next great mmo to be different from the norm; ussually they find a new mmo and stick with it to endgame before moving on.

They are your bloggers, your reporters and your reviewers. They’re  experienced enough to see the makings of a good game when it comes along, but are blind enough in hype, fandom or even just hope that they don’t see the problems as clearly as they should.Many of these gamers are playing two mmo’s – their original mmo along with a flavor of the month mmo that promises to be “different”.

 

- 3rd Gen (2005 -> now)  WoW through the present

Though some contend this should be divided yet again into smaller, more focused groups, really since WoW’s release (with the exception of a successful few outliers, EvE I’m pretty much only looking at you) each game since has taken a template from a previous game and tried to overlay it with the WoW model for success. The mantra for this generation is “easy to play, hard to master”which, at it’s root, what all gamer’s are looking for though oppinions differ as to if it applies to mmorpgs.

The problem as I see it with this generation is that originality was lost along the way, and I don’t even blame Blizzard for this. Games became too expensive to fail, and gamer expectations became too high. Oddly though this generation has the highest failure rate of any of the three which as we discuss the different player bases, reasons should become crystal clear.

It’s my belief that gamers from this generation are the most interesting. I’m personally from the 2nd generation as I came into EQ right in the middle of SoL before jumping to FFXI and DAoC, but to me this generation is the purest and in a way the most consistent of all three.

Gamers from the 3rd generation by in large know nothing different then the WoW, EQ2, LotRO, or free Koren mmo they started on, and as such have certain levels of expectations for each release there after. They are the first to enter a flame war but are equally likely to valiantly defend that same mmo minutes later. They are usually the first to leave a new mmo but that said, are very very loyal to their original (though they won’t openly state it).

Many call this the “instant gratification” generation, and while to an extent I agree, I think it has more to do with the developers then the gamers. If your thirsty and people around only ever give you beer – you’ll be happy but never satisfied and you won’t know the difference.

Next time I’ll examine the player bases.

Changes to the MMO landscape

Well, after a long hiatus due to an emense amount of work I’m back in the fray of MMO blogging, and with enough furious vengeance of revelations, proclamations and provocative questions to last quite a while. The mmo landscape looks quite differently then it did when I last post, so lets recap.

+ WoW is still going strong with both of its new content patches. 3.2’s paces slowed as each raid boss is released one week at a time but this gives many a chance to level and gear alts with their updated badge system (preparing for the new expansion, Cataclysm).

+ EQ2 and LotRO started off so strong at the beginning of the year, but with slow content updates and the luster of the current expansion wearing thin, one has to wonder where the next adrenaline boost is coming from for both franchises. I have my own ideas but they are neither here nor there. Outside of a few free weekends, I worry more for the short term future of both of these titles as I believe inevitably they will lose a solid number of old timers to new mmos.

+ Tabula Rasa came and went. Yeah, that’s about it.

+ Eve still has no expected date for ambulation but they are releasing a FPS based on the Eve universe? I call shenanigans; something else is up over in Europe.

+ Warhammer still feels like a number of functioning parts instead of a game, no,  a world as a whole. The game and the problems may be the same but my perception of how and if Mythic is able to solve them has changed. As an outsider looking in, they are still too focused on the here and now, and not on the game as a whole. Additional entry points for keeps is nice but should have been in shortly after release; cohesion to quest hubs versus the progression of the storyline and zones should have been reworked long ago to retain the high volume of new players as were funneling in not more than 6 month ago. WAR is in desperate need of polish but so much is left to be done still. =(

+ AoC is still alive and kicking. A number of sweeping changes and the natural increase of technology has done wonders to the once critically broken mmo.

+ Aion is looking good on the horizon and will be a solid attempt to capture the once great L2 community. To that end I think it will succeed though ultimately still be a lack luster success in the U.S.

+ FFXIV is on the horizon finally after being a poorly kept secret. This to me seems the most interesting of all the recently announced mmos. If Square can deliver on its promice, we may have an endgame starting at level 1.  With more free time to do fun stuff, ie crafting, collecting, dungeons and boss, I don’t see a downside. For the time being I’ll drink this coolaid by SE.

+ The star wars mmo has great promise (it’s coming from BioWare, how can you really doubt them?) but I do worry that it will feel more like KOTOR but with a general chat. Time will tell as we learn more details but for the time being I’ll again bite and be optimistic.

+ Star Trek Online’s appeal on the ther hand, will vary greatly with the success of the next movie. Much like LotRO (which initially prospered from great movie marketing) STO will do well its first year.

+ DDO is now f2p with an item shop and/or payment plan option. This will be an interesting experiment for a great game plagued by funky design choices.

+ And finally, say what you will, but Hello Kitty Online does look like a fun game. It encompasses much of my earlier ideas of mmo theory wrapped in a cute container. My wife will be surely playing it this December so you’ll probably find me on it every once in a while as well. =)

-D^t

Sorry for my absence

Hey guys,

Life, as it usually does, has become incredibly busy between work, buying a house and getting married (one more month) so I’ve had little time to finish up my thoughts on mmo design or even critique the recent developments of certain games. For that I do apologize but understand nothing can be done to avoid it.

I look forward to getting back into the fray, and with my recent entry into the card gaming forum, maybe I’ll be able to bring a new perspective which I lacked before. Anyway, take care and I’ll be releasing some new stuff very soon. ^^

-D^t

Convenience vs. Realism (part 3)

<<Part 2

Assessing what to do

This is a peculiar section in a on line video game blog site. On one hand we’re talking about million dollar entities which sole purpose is to find ways to entertain us for hours, no, months on end. It seems the absolute logical step that these games should have massive amounts of content for the user to push through, but that’s not the issue – we’re interested in communicating with the gamer efficiently what there is to do. The hardest thing though is providing convenience (as to relaying what playstlyes there are) but keeping content hidden to give the world that added sense of mystery.

Now bare with me as there are a couple issues with the bolded statement as it relates to Directed Game Design. First I don’t believe in communicating what “needs” to be done. It should be left to the gamer to sort and  prioritize options, not the developer. This sounds easy but in practice giving the gamer short term goals but hiding the truly long term goals, or at least hiding the optimal route to arrive at a perceived long term goal, is in fact very difficult. The idea id to guide, not push.

Second, I assume that the developer treats each section of gameplay for the most part equal. Why you may ask? If they don’t then they risk pigeon holing their game into one particular style of gameplay, possibly alienating fans. Two contrasting examples would be Everquest 2 and EvE. In EQ2 there is really one true path to traverse in the game, one endgame if you will, and that is raiding. From social structure to gear tiers, all through the game party based instanced content carries more weight then any other play style. Ideally EvE takes all aspects of the the game serious – mining, pvp, pve, trade, nation building - and tries it’s hardest to develop meaningful endgames to each area. While EvE does have many other problems but it does excel at treating each part of it’s gameplay equal.

Now that I’ve established two key ideas behind Directed Game Design, we return to the main issue at hand, assessing what to do, or rather the itemization of potential endgames for the gamer to digest. (The following examples Directed Game Design but are good examples for the points at hand)

Point one…

• Consistently remind the gamer of what to do using ingame mechanics.

World of Warcraft has recently done a great job of this with it’s dungeon design. Each endgame dungeon in Wrath is located in a leveling area, which the gamer first explores, then does a quest chain to understand the storyline behind. In many cases there is also an introductory dungeon at that lower level giving a taste of things to come.

The Eye of Eternity (endgame Malygos raid – big dragon) is located in one of the Wrath starting zones (level 68-72) and is actually part of one of the first major quest chains the gamer participates in upon entering the expansion. From there on, the gamer has an understanding he will come back here eventually to face off against the leader of the blue dragon flight, so once he hits 80 he is already anticipating that content. He doesn’t need to a third party website to figure out there is a dungeon at the nexus or a random quest sending him there, the knowledge is implicit.

Basically, get the seeds of your storylines out early and often! One part of FFXI I always hated was there is absolutely no mention of the great storylines until you are actually on that part of the mission chain. What do I have to look forward to except the thought of more missions, one after another? A varied experience which hinted to plot lines with different quests, or even ingame events would of served FFXI very well. Give gamers a taste of what is out there in live events, or even storyline snippets as rewards for those who explore. The main idea though is find creative ways ingame to relay content – or the opportunity for content – to the gamer without openly forcing him down a predefined path.

This concept is much harder when dealing with non story drive content like crafting or pvp. EvE is especially poor at communicating with the gamer what, other then pve missions, there is to do. In a game where the possibilities for game styles are limitless, most gamers prefer missions grinding because that is what is introduced to them early and  it is also the closest thing to what they are used to in traditional MMORPGs (questing).

That is a fundamental design flaw that EvE that it doesn’t push it’s other content as effectively in game; gamers must go to third party sources to “learn” of the other aspects of EvE once they get bored of pve. It’s my opinion EvE needs to change this design to be competitive in the future, but lord knows they are so bent on the “real gamers explore all possibilities” mantra that I don’t see it happening any time soon. I believe instead tutorials in general should include pvp, trade, manufacturing… ect for all games as showing the player is much better then telling.  This leads me to point two…

• Play styles don’t need to be explored, they need to be communicated – content needs to be explored.

If your game centers around world pvp (god bless you), then push world pvp early and often, even at level one to get the idea across this is what a gamer does in your mmo. Allow them to explore and find additional content, allow them to put two and two together, and allow them to decide on their own what is important to their gaming experience and what is not.

Going back to my WoW example from before, ideally there should of been a point where the gamer joins an “npc” raid which fails in defeating Malygos, giving him more incentive in the future to successfully overcome the dragon. This would serve two purposes, introduce new gamers to the idea of raids (as opposed to partying) and seed a hatred of failing (maybe even have the gamer fail the quest purposely) against an adversary. While you don’t force the gamer to eventually go defeat the dragon, the gamer instead seeks him willfully.  This is a core fundamental idea behind Directed Game Design, guiding instead of pushing.

Gamers don’t always have to succeed in pve to be happy, and tieing in plot / events to failure sometimes is the best way to guide a gamer genitally to what you would like him to do. This is exactly the idea behind pvp, and should work the same in pve. Failure forces the gamer to explore, find possible secondary routes, and instills the idea the game may not be as black and white as once perceived. While it’s inconvenient to fail, it does provide much needed incentive to continue, something many mmo’s currently lack, and allows you to provide a dose of realism.

Discussion

This has been a weird and hard section to write for some reason, I’ve rewritten two or three times so I hope my ideas were communicated effectively. The biggest thing I believe to come away with from “assessing what to do” is to be discrete and allow room for growth, but not to forget gamers have a patience level. Exploration is important to making a game livable, but don’t make it tedious exploration to uncover information they could easily find on a third party website. Keep the gamer local to the game as much as possible, and rely on websites as a last resort.

So my question to you this time… would you rather start off small and local, slowly being introduced to content, or would you rather jump into the game head first and be introduced to the major storyline (at least in a small way) early? Which breaks immersion and which do you think instills livability more?

-D^t

Part 4>>

(Next time, finding a group)

Quicky – Darkfall Online Review

The reviews are starting to slowly trickle out it seems and there appears to be a common thread between the non biased ones… the game needs polish and time. Amazing revolation there!

We’ll see what happens in the long term but yesterday I found an actual good review that is fairly straight and narrow. The Burial Ground: Darkfall review

I am in no way endorsing anyone play this game, but I do find it’s game mechanics interesting (much like EvE) and feel it’s worth following from a distance.

-D^t