JasonJ wrote:Can anyone describe what keeps ppl addicted to these games like WoW etc. I've never played it, (not my type of game tbh), but I am curious to know exactly what it is that keeps people wanting to play it 24/7. What's the goal? Once you 'complete it' are you compelled to keep playing? I've tried internet searches, but alot of the things I read are usually incomprehendible babble.
I am asking, 'cause some of the future CLC ideas are in development and I want to know if I can capture anything that is 'fun' in these types of games.
Thanks for any feedback.
I'll do my best.. (Long post inc)
First, You need to understand that there is now 3 different types of MMO's, Not overly different but the distinction needs to be made.
The first type, The first 3d MMORPG's on the market, Everquest was the leader. Massive world, No restrictions, No player help, No tutorial.. It would throw you into the world with a broken stick and it was upto you to seek everything out, Level up and what not.
In essence, Sounds terrible, Right? No. The community was fantastic, It was a great place to be.
Second type, The 'WoW' generation. World of Warcraft took the Everquest mould, and added a cuddly bear to hold your hand all the way through it. It gave you things like maps, Quick levelling and the biggest killer : Instanced Area's. Instanced area's are where you 'zone' into a place and it's unique to just you and your party. It was great for folks new to MMO's.. however it kills the community aspect in my opinion, Turns everyone into greedy loot *bad language reported*'s who are all me me me.. 'cause they are used to it.
The third type, The
WoW-Copy-Cats-mix-oldschool-and-fails. (Games like Vanguard: SoH | Age of Conan |Warhammer). They copy the interface, the instances and the general carebear of WoW, Then they go take some oldschool with longer levelling times. You'd think these would be good, Turns out they are not. People either go hardcore or carebear... The in-between always ends up in a horrible bland mess that can't figure out what it is.
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What makes them great, Makes people keep playing? It is 2 fold.
DIVERSITY <---|&|---> CHARACTER BUILDING
If I can get on the game and progress without being forced to do the same as everyone else, I will stay.
How can this be applied to CLC? Simple. Different 'rewards' of different 'kinds' for the same fee (The fee can be time/effort or cash)
Let's assume cash, Since it's easy.
You add in 3 or 4 rewards, All for the same amount, However they do different things and you can only have 1 of these rewards at a time. I don't know the ins and outs of what inSim can do.. So the rewards can be upto you.
Then, To make it even greater (and bring in character building).. You tier the reward system. 5 tiers, Each one with 4 rewards better than the last. 1 of each tier..
This way players can customize their character and make it different from others..
The rewards can be? Well I have no idea.. but the genius behind RPG's is that they can be pretty much nothing. A title, A fake bowl of cereal.. It really doesn't matter. It's
more about the achieving rather than the actual reward.