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The Freedom of Solitude
By Cameron Sorden | July 28, 2008
I just read a post by Rob over at MMOCrunch where he complains about how MMOGs are becoming increasingly driven towards more single-player style games with multiplayer aspects.
[The players] want their MMORPGs to be, essentially, an RPG… but with people hanging around on the /occ and /guild channels - presumably so they can link to their lastest lame piece of loot and get kudos from other people.
It’s really sad, actually, that the promise of MMORPGs (which, to my mind, is the promise of living in a virtual world moreso than it is about hitting a level cap, raiding or PvP), is getting pissed up against the wall as consumers increasingly vote with their feet to play games that aren’t very different to the RPGs they could get just as much amusement from, without the US$15/month pricetag to boot!
He’s right, of course. MMOGs have grown increasingly solo-friendly and increasingly accessible over the years. The experience of spending an entire evening trying to find your way out of your starting city and then dying because you would presume to attack a level 3 rat at level 2 without a few friends backing you up just wouldn’t fly anymore these days.
As a function of becoming more “soloable” (I won’t say easier, because traveling with a posse isn’t hard) and user friendly, our MMOGs are starting to look and feel a lot like any other adventure game or RPG, with one notable exception: You don’t have as much freedom. You can’t mess with NPCs, be the star of the story, use skills like “pick pockets” or “pick locks,” bribe diplomats, or any of the other cool stuff you commonly see in classic games like Baldur’s Gate, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls.
That’s why I’m actually inclined to push the other way from what Rob is saying and advocate for MMOGs that are even more like single player games. Why the heck not? Players clearly like playing by themselves. They do it a lot, and if you try to force them to play with others when they don’t want to, they just stop playing your game.
Looking back on my last few years of gaming, playing most of the current-gen post-WoW titles on the market, I’ve spent far more time soloing than I have grouping. I tend to be a loner. I like playing by myself to the point where I cringe when people shoot me a tell asking if I want to group up or do some quests together. It just seems like such a hassle, since I can do it by myself, at my own pace, at my leisure, and keep all the treasure and XP. This is coming from a guy who cut his teeth on MUDs and EverQuest, mind you, so I’m no stranger to grouping. But the truth is that soloing is convenient and fun for all of the reasons I mentioned. You don’t have to match schedules. You don’t have to deal with bad or rude players. You don’t have to argue over loot. You can stop whenever you want without having to worry about letting someone down.
Grouping can be fun, but not all the time. Often, chat channels and ventrilo are all the company I want. Imagine how much fun it could be if you took the single-player aspects of an MMOG and pushed them to the level where you did have the freedom that’s available in a game like Fallout or Oblivion. You could meet up with other players in towns and have special “group challenge” dungeons, but otherwise you’d adventure solo in a game designed around exploration and treasure hunting, without having to worry about whether someone looted the hoard first because there would be no one else to loot it. There would be stuff to kill, treasure to find, people to talk to, stories to play through, and whatever you want to do. New quests and areas could be added monthly, since it is an MMOG. No class balancing necessary, and everyone can be a tank-mage if they want. Kind of like Guild Wars meets Morrowind.
It’s a pretty attractive idea for me. Not for the MMOG genre as a whole, of course, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a few games based on the general concept. Living in a virtual world is a lot more believable when you don’t have to share it with idiots and griefers, unless you want to. Think about the possibilities.
Topics: Random |
July 29th, 2008 at 12:12 am
[...] The Freedom of Solitude [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I think it more has to do with the fact that humans are fairly solo in real life. The majority of time is spent solo in real life, with the occasional get together.
I think it is a sign that online games are finally reflecting real life instead of trying to impose draconian “you must play with others or else!” attitudes on players.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
“The line between disorder and order lies in logistics…”
- Sun Tzu
July 30th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Solo content attracts the new breed of casual gamer that never heard of older MMO’s like EverQuest. These are the gamers essentially on the periphery of the famous Blizzard “donut” as coined by Rob Pardo. If WoW didn’t have the easy solo to level cap content I’d wager that WoW total subscriptions about be a third of what they are today instead of 10 million.
The problem is that MMO’s by nature are group games. What’s the point of playing a MMO if it isn’t for the immediacy of interacting with other players? Sure, soloing is very convenient but if you never bother to group then how on earth do you ever meet new people? For me, MMO’s are truly all about the people. Sadly, WoW has the worst community of any MMO I’ve ever played in. If grouping is not needed then why should the average player behave himself? To me this is just more evidence of the dark side of a solo-centric MMO. These days most random players are so bad that most people live in fear of the dreaded PUG.
Another big issue is quest driven gameplay which has literally transformed MMO’s has been bad for grouping and the social nature of online gaming. The player focuses on his own needs instead of seeking out groups. The player has a virtual “to do list” (quest log) every time he logs on. This has the effect of making people you happen to group *disposable* as you run off to your next quest.
My concern with MMO’s like WoW, we see Blizzard making leveling easier by the week. Raiding and grouping keep getting watered down. New hero class starting at level 55. In a few years we probably won’t even recognize WoW due to the fact they are continually watering down the challenge and the social element in order to lure new customers.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:11 am
[...] content is not the ONLY content. Tobold, MMOCrunch and Random Battle are three blogs which have recently talked about solo vs group play in an MMO, and everyone brings [...]
July 30th, 2008 at 9:59 am
>What’s the point of playing a MMO if it isn’t for the immediacy of interacting with other players?
This sentiment has always sort of baffled me as an anti-solo argument. I played Diablo II on battle.net rather than in single player mode, even though I almost never entered a game with multiple players. I pretty much exclusively solo (or play with one other person who’s sitting in the same room as me) in WoW.
I have very little interest in playing with strangers, but I do have an interest in TRADING with them. I wanna be able to make potions instead of armor, and trade my good potions for somebody else’s good armor. I like the fact that if I get two Ancient Sword Hilts of the 1% Drop Rate, I can trade one of them with a guy who got 2 Ancient Sword Blades of Nigh-Ungettability and we can both have a new sword.
If I do group with strangers, it’s often because I’m failing to kill some big baddie, and I see somebody else also failing to kill them. We group up, do something quickly that we couldn’t have done solo at our current level, and move on. Having to spend the first hour and a half of my one hour play session looking for a group in order to even leave town, though? For the birds.
Multiplayer Forced Grouping, and boy am I glad.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Eh. That last sentence was supposed to say “Multiplayer != Forced Grouping.”
July 30th, 2008 at 11:03 am
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July 30th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I think the reason soloing has become empowered in MMOs is not because developers think more people want to solo, but because it’s easier to make both soloing and grouping viable option by beginning production with solo gameplay.
People love to group in Diablo 2, yet every class is capable of being a powerhouse on its own. What makes grouping attractive is mainly loot sharing and the ability to tailor one’s skills to match any partnership. Both grouping and soloing are fun because complimentary skillsets are an option, rather than the rule. A necromancer can focus on curses, thereby playing a support role, but necromancer is not essentially a support class.
Solo-based design is more versatile.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
“The problem is that MMO’s by nature are group games. What’s the point of playing a MMO if it isn’t for the immediacy of interacting with other players?”
You just contradicted yourself while making the point I always go for. MMO’s are *not* about grouping. They are about interaction. Those are *not* one in the same.
If you want to be forced into grouping, go play TF2 where you have no choice in the matter.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
“This sentiment has always sort of baffled me as an anti-solo argument. I played Diablo II on battle.net rather than in single player mode, even though I almost never entered a game with multiple players. I pretty much exclusively solo (or play with one other person who’s sitting in the same room as me) in WoW.”
You do realize that Diablo II is not a MMO and was never designed as such? I’m not trying to devalue or minimize your experiences and I definitely appreciate the need you had to interact with people.
It seems to me there are 2 kinds of people that play MMO’s:
Those that interacting with people as a means to an end
Those that see interacting with other people as a end in itself
“You just contradicted yourself while making the point I always go for. MMO’s are *not* about grouping. They are about interaction. Those are *not* one in the same.”
Granted your statement would be considered heretical a few years ago in EverQuest but in today’s MMO paradigm it has some validity as Blizzard has grown the demographic with WoW. But you must realize that according to Blizzard’s donut theory they want to convert the solo players into grouping/raiding players.
I contend that MMO’s are by nature group games because that is how they are designed. We have the tank, damage and healer paradigm. All of those classes have group utility as the basis for the core of their existence.
Also, you can not experience all of the content that a MMO has to offer if you play entirely solo. Blizzard has stated officially that the real game in WoW begins at the level cap. I discussed this in a recent blog article and have evidence from Blizzard:
http://www.wolfsheadonline.com/?p=119
So what does a solo player who just wants to “interact” do when they hit the level cap?
While it’s great that we can have people that like to solo and get involved in various non-grouping interactions such as crafting, trading, socializing, etc. those people will never fully experience MMO content the way it’s supposed to be enjoyed — via grouping/raiding.
As far as soloing in particular I’m not saying it’s bad. In fact I do it myself. I grew tired of the hardcore raiding game and it’s nice to be able to log on when you have a few minutes of spare time and advance your character. However, I always try to reach out to people when I can via helping, giving advice and grouping. By doing that I hope I can meet new friends who I can trust to group with which is for me what I’m looking for in a MMO.
Given the chance I’d much rather be grouping then soloing.
The problem is when you have a game that is ultra-solo friendly like WoW you have a downside which nobody has really replied to in my original post:
Scenario A: In a solo MMO, people don’t need to group, therefor they can act like idiots, personal reputation means nothing.
Result: terrible community with zero social standards
Scenario B: In a MMO where grouping is required to advance people must develop social skills, behave themselves and treat others with respect if they fail to do so they are not invited into groups because they have a bad reputation.
Result: good community
It’s all well and good to advocate for a solo MMO where nobody needs anyone else. Just know that there is a negative side which we’ve seen with 4 years of WoW.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
“Granted your statement would be considered heretical a few years ago in EverQuest but in today’s MMO paradigm it has some validity”
Really? REALLY? Yes, EQ was designed to be group-focused (if not group-only) yet despite all the old vets who lament for the days they had to group up then walk barefoot in the snow, uphill (both ways!) to kill those ogres, all I ever read on EQ sites and forums is how much effort everyone put into figuring out how to equip/spec their characters to solo.
It’s 100% not a matter of “omg the devs just dumb things down and give us solo games.” It is, however, 100% experience over the past 10 years of players *demanding* solo-ability. Give the customers what they want.
Most EQ/UO players are in dire need of having their rose-colored memory lenses removed…
Scenario A: so you’re telling me EQ never had idiots? Yes, I understand it had a forum-community reputation but still… it’s the internet…
Scenario B: “grouping” is required in Real Life yet not everyone has developed social skills. Also consider: have you ever had *extremely* social, outgoing, fun people in your guild, people you are so glad you “met” and chat with, yet they refuse to actually group? Or, they only group with their spouse or specific people? I have. I don’t begrudge them that, they’re playing the game they want and I still have the enjoyment of social interaction with them. Have you ever been grouped with someone who says little or nothing, who, at most, performs only the bare minimum effort required by his class/role in the group?
Grouping is not inherently social. It’s often just a means to an end.
People don’t like being forced to do things. Force people to group, they’ll find a new game.
“It’s all well and good to advocate for a solo MMO where nobody needs anyone else.”
No, it isn’t. Hellgate: London is a perfect example of that. I got it because “ooh, cool, it plays like a shooter but it’s supposed to be a PvE MMO!” Sounded great. Turns out not only is it not an MMO but the whole thing is solo-able; there has been zero incentive to group with anyone other than I’ve been dying to just to see how the game plays that way because I’m bored solo. But no one will group. I hear the elite areas they patched in are group-only, but I’m not nowhere near that yet.
From there I’ll just end with this thought: don’t force us to group, don’t make us feel like we *need* others for everything. Personally, I’m ok with *needing* others for some stuff. (I think LOTRO does a great job balancing it’s solo/group-optional vs. group-required content) I feel the best solution would be to make us *want* others, rather than *need* others. See the difference? Provide some actual incentive other than the purely selfish “ends to a means” we have now. WAR seems to be taking steps towards this goal, but we’ll see if they take it far enough.
In fact my LOTRO comment made me realize: “solo” is merely “group-optional.” Problem is there have been so few incentives to actually take the step and group, and in WoW’s case their in-game community and PUG quality pretty much kills any desire the solo-ers have towards taking that step.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:27 am
Much, if not most, meeting of new people in the real world is forced. Most friends are made when we must work together with strangers… at work, in school, in sports, in lines, etc.
So it might be alright to force grouping in some scenarios. It’s certainly alright to encourage grouping in many cases. But there should almost always be a solo alternative available to players.
August 12th, 2008 at 2:01 am
[...] the blogosphere lamenting the erosion of one of the key facets of MMO’s: grouping. I made a few comments on some of those sites where I called into question the role that quest directed gameplay [...]