Lecture About MMO Success Strategy

Pandagnome

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#2
An example in college there was no real group to go to everyone just went with whom ever and hanged out with whom ever.

Not everyone keeps in contact unless ofc your into drinking and falling on your face the majority of the time which was not really my scene as much as i thought it was funny from seeing that not for them though after the next day!

Anyways with regards to gaming you could have had an experience that was not so great and it may have happened several times. In games you could be helpful to the point that some just take advantage of your help and then think well i cant be bothered with all this crap i am doing this alone.

Guess it depends on the person's circumstance and what there is to bring people and appeal to them.

There are games only focused on getting kills and being top dog and kills which is fine and dandy for mindless killing still there has to be more than that.


As the guy said in the video mmo is a tough one i feel it is like the ultimate game, social experience in one pack and to get that right and you got yourself not only a place to pass time and socialize with others like some virtual worlds you also have a place to game together and form bonds.

I have not really connected with many ingame but that is mostly my fault because of my distrust.
Not that i am a secret agent or anything, just that even introverts do have some extroverted side inside too depends on the day.

Hoping that Em8er is going to be that game changer we keep hearing about which i do believe is possible with the good discussions occurring here and even in discord.

The Action is going to speak volumes when they see the kickstarter that is when more people will start to pay attention. My cousin for example would be put off by the whitebox, and keep saying just you wait and wait shall my cousin and then will see when it happens and that wait was worth it!
 
Nov 24, 2019
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#3
The video resonates with me a lot. I am that loner guy. I have played as part of a group (in regular multplayer games), once just a small, less organised group, once in a clan, but that's the exception to the rule. I like to play for myself in multiplayer games, be it MMO or non-MMO.
I prefer to learn the game by myself, and doing my own thing when possible, only occasionally joining with others.

Playing in a clan can be a lot of fun, and in some games it is necessary to have fun (and is rewarding), but if possible I would have the option to play alone or in a group, just like I feel at the time.
 
#4
The video resonates with me a lot. I am that loner guy. I have played as part of a group (in regular multplayer games), once just a small, less organised group, once in a clan, but that's the exception to the rule. I like to play for myself in multiplayer games, be it MMO or non-MMO.
I prefer to learn the game by myself, and doing my own thing when possible, only occasionally joining with others.

Playing in a clan can be a lot of fun, and in some games it is necessary to have fun (and is rewarding), but if possible I would have the option to play alone or in a group, just like I feel at the time.
Well...my original character is a "lone-wolf" with an OP-AI that projects itself as a giant wold, so...

But, through my Em-8er fanfics I try to emphasize that even lone-wolf players, like myself, should get used to some minimal amount of socializing if they want to survive in the world of the game, at least, when it comes to bigger fights and larger-scale events that will obviously require them to be "assisted" by others.

Even when I was well-into playing Firefall, facing down a nado, the first one to get there, I still couldn't help my asshole-side thinking "Okay, hope no one shows up, I got this.", but then I remembered, "Uh, no...no I haven't. This isn't a one-person job. Some pros with broken/OP gear and ridiculously unbalanced builds could probably solo it, like they do raid-bosses, but I'm not one of those schmucks who revels in that." Or I'd get annoyed if someone butted in on a mission and "took my kills." I'd nearly kill a bigger beast battling it alone, and when I could almost finish it, someone would just bust in and take the last few shots at it and I'd be just standing there, rolling my eyes and sighing in annoyance. Sometimes I'd even be rude enough to tell them to piss off. Then they'd tell me it's an MMO.

It's not necessarily the design of the game that has to find a balance for those two sides of a person, first. It's the person themselves, who has to adapt a bit, mentally, before even diving into the game. And a brand new game, having learned from seeing experiences and play-styles and preferences could still do its own new thing...and innovate but still accommodate by striking such a balance with its gameplay and mechanics, so that lone wolves and people persons (people people), introverts with a bit of "extro" in them (and a bit of extra - mentally) and extrovert with a bit of understanding of said mild cases of sociopaths (like myself), can all find their niche in the game.
 
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Pandagnome

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#5
It's not necessarily the design of the game that has to find a balance for those two sides of a person, first. It's the person themselves, who has to adapt a bit
This reminds me of when we ask people to play basketball with us some don't because they play in their own little groups / friends.

Some are ok with it because they start to know us better which is good and others tend to come and go as they please but they do know of us eventually.

Some do not like when you just get in the way hog all the fun because then where is the fun for them.
Especially when you take for example someone who is very skilled and can shoot shots at a higher % than someone who may not and rarely gets to have the ball or have lower shot %.

I am not great with my shots however i am not bad at lay ups and some jump shots time to time.
We probably lose our games some of the time especially in half court scenarios however in full court games this favors us better to counter and drive for fast breaks etc

We meet lots of players some play way more aggressive to the point you get hit in the face and it turns into a fight so we avoid those because that turns into street ball than just regular basketball.

I think in my experience we want to play with folks that are like us or similar to us or at least can accept how we do things.

Firefall, facing down a nado, the first one to get there, I still couldn't help my asshole-side thinking "Okay, hope no one shows up, I got this.", but then I remembered, "Uh, no...no I haven't.
I dont think your the only one there was one time i wanted to take it all by myself and by that time the nado would just vanish :O :D

Then i would think to myself if only i just stopped being a greedy pants and called out for help then we would all reap the rewards!

annoyed if someone butted in on a mission and "took my kills." I'd nearly kill a bigger beast battling it alone, and when I could almost finish it, someone would just bust in and take the last few shots at it and I'd be just standing there, rolling my eyes and sighing in annoyance
It is like all that work you have done and then pop comes someone plop and they are gone!

How can it be resolved if someone just popped along and got the reward you did most of the work that would be unfair some of the reward sure. Wonder how this would be calculated to be fairly distributed for those participating or arriving late?
 
#6
How can it be resolved if someone just popped along and got the reward you did most of the work that would be unfair some of the reward sure. Wonder how this would be calculated to be fairly distributed for those participating or arriving late?
THAT in particular is a crucial mechanic that has to be redesigned. An "Assist System", getting a few points/rewards, but certain not all, depending on how much one participated in a fight.

There's a perfect example in Elder Scrolls Online. When I leave the tutorial dungeon and step outside of Elsweyr, there is a Dragon nearby that high-level players are always fighting. I can get close, attack from a distance, with ranged attacks, even get killed a few times, respawn close by at the wayshrine, keep returning until the fight is done, and even though I probably barely scratched the Dragon I still get loot/gear from it, not high-level, close to my own, and a few hundred XP, which isn't even enough to level up, but I still can get some good starting gear, when I really shouldn't. It's a shameless exploits and I only did it once, just to see what I'd get. But, it feels wrong to reap any rewards when I wasn't really doing any damage to it. If I had been a healer and or could spam some crowd-control and group-heal, group buff spells, it's more participation, of course, but I'm still nowhere near the level I should be to even be there. I have no business being there. Of course, in Em-8er, we'll do away with vertical progression and the only vertical climb we'll be doing is rocketing into the sky with our boosters. :cool:
 

Sy

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Nov 16, 2018
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#7
I'll keep watching, but in the meantime..

Games can lower the bar so much that they turn the epicness of things that require groups into care bear cutscenes for individuals.

I remember when WoW first obliterated its world levelling experience in Catalysm, and how so many group quests got nerfed into soloable ones just so people can tick off a questline without interacting with people.

For an MMO to cater to soloers, it must encourage the notion of "I want to help" from them. Not by presenting opportunities but something else. However it is done, solo players must have others swoop in on "their space" and still be perceived as helping and as wanted.


As an aside, I'm so solo at times that I'll go against the very world and mechanics. I'm known to break things as part of my fun. This gets encouraged by complex interactions like Path of Exile's various interactions.
 
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