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| 04.10.2007Rethinking the MMO
My congratulations to Mr. Sorens on crystallizing most of the problems that plague so many games. However, I think one thing was under-emphasized in his article.
While he hinted to this throughout, it was never clearly stated. Nonetheless, I believe he would agree that “numerophilia” is the root of almost all of the problems PEGs experience. We are entirely obsessed with numbers; specifically, seeing numbers get bigger. This applies to stats, money, guild membership, etc. ad nauseam.
Mr. Sorens’ solutions all seem to be aimed at fixing this problem as well: focus on seeing new sights, adventuring, creating, and social interaction instead of gaining numeric stats, money, and items.
My other complaint is what seemed to be an off-handed dismissal of MUDs. I strongly suggest that he spend some time with at least a couple of Iron Realms Entertainment’s MUDs. These games, while certainly specified to a niche market, are far more than “scantily-clad stat-building exercises”.
In fact, I would venture to say that these games, and many of their contemporaries, are making more headway against numerophilia than any genre out there.
Imperion (one of the IRE MUDs), for example, is heavily dependant on entirely player-run governments, guilds, and religions, in addition to a mostly player-driven economy thanks to a decent crafting system.
These games also emphasize role-playing (the concept behind PEGs, if I’m not mistaken): In one, a player who uses “leetspeak” will be asked to speak (read: type) properly and, if they refuse, promptly ostracized (which, in a player-run world, is a death sentence).
In another, there is a help file describing “the Madness”, a disease of the mind which causes such delusions as believing the world is a game in something called the internet and thinking that health is quantified in numbers. In my humble opinion, role-playing can be a powerful force in defeating numerophilia, but a game must be built with that in mind.
Anyway, here’s hoping that some developers will take notice of an excellent article and hurry Mr. Sorens’ concluding prediction.-James Nicolas
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Letters to the Editor
