The ongoing premise of this
column is that strong
communities are the lifeblood of
MMORPGs. The more things
that game developers can do to
reinforce, strengthen and grow
their communities the better
their game will do over the long
term. I also believe that
communities are all about
building personal
relationships. Each
relationship that is formed is
like a strand of a
spiderweb. So for this
article I want to explore one
possible future of MMOs (i.e.
more casual gaming), and whether
that is a positive or a negative
for communities and for the
industry overall.
First, let’s look at the
question of whether or not the
industry seems to be moving more
casual? There is certainly
a fair amount of evidence
indicating a more casual gaming
experience is both what players
want and what the industry is
seeking to figure out how to
provide. The largest
example of a shift in an
existing game towards a more
casual play experience is in
WoW. There is a general
consensus among players that it
has become easier and more
casual in the past few
years. We've explored some
of those ways in past columns so
I won't rehash them here.
When the "Big Dog" is shifting
more casual that certainly makes
other people turn their
heads.
In the MMO Report on G4TV from
July 8th, Casey talks about the
recent revelation that project
Titan (the code name for
Blizzard's next MMO) is going to
be a casual MMO. Casey
isn't entirely accurate in that
report but Titan will not be
another WoW-like game and is
more casual although not quite
in the way people hearing that
report think it will be.
Blizzard is known for high
quality products and that in
turn means they cost a good deal
to make. So a company
sinking $100M or more into a
different and perhaps more
casual title means they must
feel there is a strong market
for that type of content even
among its existing customer
base. One could even
speculate that the trend in WoW
is as much about making the game
accessible as it is about
testing the market for a more
casual focus on MMOs.
Other news from the week of
July 8th was that KingsIsle's
game Wizard 101 had reached 20M
participants. While that
is still "small" by F2P
standards in China, it is
massive when it comes to the
Western Market. W101 is a
casual game that, although
originally targeted towards
kids, has attracted a large
number of adult players bringing
in a large number of new
consumers to the MMO space.
And finally, there was a recent
interview with Richard Garriott
(arguably the progenitor of the
modern MMO) over at Gamasutra
back on June 15th where he
argues that we are entering the
3rd "Grand Era" of gaming.
Specifically he said: "To me,
there have been three grand eras
of games thus far, and we're
just into the third one
now." He believes that the
3rd era is the rise of social,
casual and mobile gaming that
makes titles easily accessible
by removing the barriers of both
driving to the store and strong
up-front costs. Richard
believes the 2nd Age is the
MMORPG era as we know it
today. He espouses
that the 3rd Era is one that
attracts a much wider audience
from all walks of life and all
ages.
While no one is saying the
current style of MMORPG is dead
or that it doesn't have millions
of players who want to pay for
that kind of game, there does
seem to be a growing trend
towards accessibility of games
to a wider audience and an
understanding that the MMORPG
audience is aging and thus their
play styles are changing.
While there are still a large
number of "kids" who can play
for long hours at a time, there
is a very large and rapidly
growing segment of "working age"
gamers who play in shorter
spurts but who want the same
sense of achievement. That
same population (that many of us
fall into) is one of the hidden
driving forces towards a more
casual experience.
In summary, it does look as
though a growing segment of the
industry is shifting towards a
more casual focus and that such
a focus is at least partially
due to changing needs and
expectations of a large and
growing segment of the current
market coupled with a desire to
grow the overall consumer base
by appealing to people who
previously didn't consider
gaming as a hobby.
So the real question, for me, is
how does this move affect
communities? Without
community, there is no long term
game success. The answer
to that question probably
depends on what you feel the
"right" community is. If
the model of community that
appeals to you is a hard-core
raiding guild then there is
probably a future impact to
you. Your choice of titles
is likely to shrink. There
will be less triple-A products
geared towards you and that will
probably cause a number of
communities to fail. That
said, the stronger communities
will likely continue to exist
and thus is it really a bad
thing that the weaker
communities get culled
off? That is
probably a topic for another
day.
In the more hard-core MMO
community space change is
coming... but really, change is
already here. The amount
of complaining about WoW's
end-game content alone is a good
indicator of that. The
good news is that there are
still more hard-core titles in
the works. 38 Studios has
Project Copernicus and it’s well
known that Curt is a hard-core
raider so one can reason his
game will have a strong leaning
towards that end-game
focus. SOE is working on a
title in that game-space (other
than Planetside 2) and they too
have a history of that type of
end-game content. So
certainly the future MMO market
is not barren of that content
but what other
major/triple-A titles are coming
that will play in that
space?
SWTOR!
Err… they haven't billed themselves as that kind of game. It’s been billed as a heavily story-driven game with lots of reasons to try out all the classes, that also has PvP and some raid content.
What about Guildwars 2?
Yep it’s going to be epic fun for those who get involved but it is not a traditional MMO (although that model is hugely popular and very fun for the market segment it appeals to).
But if you think about the
history of gaming, the past five
or so years have usually had
quite a few titles we could
point to that were coming in the
next 1-4 years to play in the
more hardcore end-game
space. Right now there are
really two. There are
other major titles being
developed but they are slanted
more towards the casual side or
towards other markets (like
MMORTS and MMOFPS and more
action oriented titles) than has
historically been the case.
So again, is that a bad
thing? How does that
affect communities? Does
it kill communities? Is
the industry sealing its own
fate? I would argue the
answer is no, things are not
doom and gloom.
Communities will be
evolving. There will be
less need for hard-core,
completely focused on raiding
type of guilds. There will
be more need for groups
inclusive of a wider range of
play styles, play times and
gaming goals. In my view,
that actually strengthens
communities.
Inclusiveness, wider appeal and
a more diverse membership base
are all positive attributes of a
successful organization.
One doesn't hear "They failed
because they were inclusive!" or
"They suck because they have a
diverse membership!"
Those areas of focus are
positive attributes that promote
success of communities. It
certainly means less options for
those who prefer a more hardcore
focus but as that segment of the
gaming population will remain
large for years to come, there
will still be some titles for
it. In addition, it looks
like MMOs will get more
inclusive with a wider audience
appeal and thus become even more
main stream.
What are your thoughts? Is the
trend towards more casual future
titles? If so, what is the
impact on the community you
belong to? Is it going to
survive the change as it exists
today? Will it cease to
exist or evolve into something
new? How about you
personally... how would a trend
towards more casual titles
affect your gaming enjoyment and
thus your participation?
In the end, we all vote with our
pocketbook. What we pay
for drives change. It
seems the current belief is that
more people will pay for content
that is more accessible and more
casual. Will you be one of
them?