Disguising the grind
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Age of Conan, EverQuest II, Culture, Game mechanics, Lore, MMO industry, Quests, PvE, Opinion, Hands-on, Virtual worlds
Believe it or not, grind is an essential part of an MMO and we might be pretty lost without it. Repetitive content is the cornerstone of the MMO genre but it’s not all just smacking monsters over the head for hours on end or completing yet another “kill ten rats” quest. The repetitive elements in an MMO give us predictable gameplay in a form we can digest. We don’t feel lost when we pick up a quest because it uses similar mechanics to previous quests we’ve done. From a development standpoint, the amount of time it takes to create new and unique gameplay for an MMO is quite large and it’s just not feasible to churn out unique gameplay with every new piece of content. Instead, developers are forced to re-use the same gameplay mechanics over and over again. So if we genuinely appreciate predictable, repetitive gameplay and it’s not feasible to do otherwise, why are we always so up-in-arms about the evils of grinding?
In this probative opinion piece, I look at why we need repetitive gameplay in MMOs and the various ways developers disguise grind to keep the game entertaining.
Update: Link to page 2 fixed. Thanks Brian!
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Disguising the grind originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Building MMO landscape scenes
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, Age of Conan, EverQuest II, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, Hands-on, Academic, Virtual worlds
Landscapes have been a staple component of almost every MMO in recent memory. With the exception of some sci-fi titles, most MMOs take place on the land of some imagined island or continent. Some use stylised fantasy landscapes that run smoothly on even low-end computers while others have managed almost photo-realistic visuals at the cost of performance. But have you ever thought about what’s going on behind the scenes in your favourite MMO? Most of us don’t think about how the computer is actually drawing the terrain we run around on. We don’t give much thought to the different ways each MMO renders the water in lakes, rivers and oceans. And just how does your computer render so many trees and plants without grinding to a halt? As part of my masters degree in computer science, I got to grips with a number of these techniques and found it a fascinating thing to learn about. Now when I play a new game or see MMO screenshots, I can’t help but think about what the computer is doing in the background and how particular visual effects could have been achieved.
In this technical article, I talk about some of the components of an MMO landscape scene and a few of the techniques used in creating the graphics behind them.
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Building MMO landscape scenes originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Thrice the Halloween update hath patch’d
Filed under: Age of Conan, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Guild Wars, Lineage, Lineage 2, Culture, Events, in-game, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, Runes of Magic, Legends of Norrath
We are well into that time of year - Halloween is almost here and a quick look into nearly any MMO out there will show it. We’ve been talking about quite a few games out there and how they’re celebrating, but they’re certainly not the only ones putting jack-o-lanterns in their windows. Follow after the jump for a look at how some of our other favorite MMOs are celebrating.
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Thrice the Halloween update hath patch’d originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The importance of good audio in an MMO
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Age of Conan, EVE Online, EverQuest II, Culture, MMO industry, Academic, Education, Virtual worlds, Black Prophecy
In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the development budgets of new MMOs. To stay ahead of the technological curve, a large portion of the budget invariably goes toward the graphics department. Studios produce impressive graphics engines and mountains of art assets in an effort to make their game one of the most visually impressive out there. Amidst all the fuss over graphics and gameplay, audio is often overlooked and underfunded. It’s been shown that good music and sound effects can have a significant impact on the perceived quality of a game. This is something that some development studios recognise and support but many continue to neglect this vital part of the gaming experience.
In this article, I examine the importance of good audio in an MMO and explain the underlying psychology involved.
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The importance of good audio in an MMO originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Urban exploration in MMOs
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Age of Conan, EverQuest II, Culture, Guides, Tips and tricks, PvE, Casual, Virtual worlds
Urban exploration and free running are activities normally associated with the real world. In recent years, however, MMOs such as Everquest 2, Age of Conan and World of Warcraft have become a digital stage for the arts. With entire new virtual worlds to explore, no risk of injury and no physical fitness required, it’s understandable that many would-be free runners are going digital.
In this article, I take a visual tour of the world of urban exploration and rooftop running in MMOs and explain how you can learn to clamber onto the rooftops in your favourite game.
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