Storms on Cloud Nine #13:
Creativity
by Scott Holliday
June 27, 2003
Behold! I'm about to reveal my amazing powers of deduction. Watch closely
and learn.
Imagine that your best friend has just bought you a computer game as a
present. Can you guess what it is? It's still wrapped up in pretty paper
and ribbons so you don't have much to work with. But what if your friend
gives you a hint? It's a single-player fantasy RPG. Never mind the
title... can you at least guess the plot? Take a second and think about
it. This should be pretty easy...
My guess? Regardless of the title, at some point, the plot will revolve
around how you save the world. Alternately, you will be saving yourself,
your buddies, or your pet. Or maybe rescue the princess? Don't forget the
princess! Along the way, you'll quite possibly become outrageously
powerful, rich, and famous. Probably you'll get to beat up some bad guys
too. Regardless, you'll be doing something that feels important. NPCs will
thank you profusely.
Occasionally, a game comes out that breaks the mold. Perhaps your job is
to destroy the world? Or maybe the goal is to cause as much murder and
mayhem as possible. In any case, both of these still fit into a larger
pattern. You're still doing something important. Your footsteps shake the
world. Your choices influence other's lives and livelihoods. NPCs tremble
at the sound of your name. Your actions are relevant.
Now, let's switch gears and look at MMORPGs. Recently, I took some time
and tried out one that I remember enjoying a long time ago. As might be
expected, there was zero learning curve. A few classes, skills, and
abilities had been buffed or nerfed - no biggie. There were some new
places to go if I had the tenacity to reach the levels necessary to
survive. Within a few hours of play, the verdict was clear. The world was
still in the same endless loop. In all of the years I had been absent,
nobody had saved the world. Nor had anyone destroyed it. Not even a single
pebble.
No big surprise, eh? You can't save the world. Despite all the back-story
and current troubles, it was never really in any danger. If it was saved,
what would the heroic player find to do afterwards? You can't destroy it
for the same reasons. Status quo ad infinitum. Each piece of the world
took a good deal of developer time to put together. Which means there is
no way it is going to be removed without a really good reason. Player
choice - the grand illusion.
Maybe the game I picked was a bad example. Newer games are giving players
more and more influence. Build, destroy, protect, pillage. Yet, is it
important? How often are players "the" hero? Do their actions really
matter on a larger scale? In most cases, this is still quite far from the
truth. Though, there are some games coming out that we should be keeping
an eye on. World simulations where the players must hunt down "the bad
guys" before they multiply, else they become an even worse problem.
Although no one player can truly be "the" hero, everyone has their chance
to be in the spotlight and maybe even save the day.
Is this the wave of the future? My guess is that it will be an important
step. I still want to see even greater risks. Clearly, developers aren't
going to like the idea of shutting down their servers. But what about a
world that wipes and resets if the heroes lose? That alone would give
people incentive to really play a hero. At the same time, it would give
the evil player exactly the tools they need to REALLY wreak some havoc.