Brad McQuaid: I want to make worlds, not games; http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-09-28-brad-mcquaid-i-want-to-make-worlds-not-games #PRF #Communitymatters
While I enjoyed the article very much, I do somewhat have a differen take on the "flashy" 30 sec ads. Ads of that natue do exactly what they're supposed to, get people interested. Plenty of examples of games that got people through the door, and then fell flat cause the game sucked. It's a bit of a misnomer to think that just because a game is action based that you can communicate the depth of the game with a 30s action packed ad. Though I do get his point that it's easy enough to tell the game is action based from an ad of that sort. To that point, I thought the Warcraft ads with famous people saying what class they were sort of tongue-in-cheek was very effective and communicated the basic idea of the game very well.
However, I think the biggest hill VR is up against is the stigma surrounding the genre... "Oh, another MMO. Yeah been there done that, played WoW and all it's sad wannabe's." So in my mind it's having a good enough game and enough capital to last long enough for word of mouth/streaming to spread the word that this is something different, something more. In that, I whole heartedly agree with Brad.
Very interesting.
The part that really struck a chord with me is the matchmaking of Pantheon.
"Basically [Pantheon's] the opposite of World of Warcraft, where when you do an instance it teleports in a bunch of randoms, everybody runs through and disappears and you probably didn't even say anything... We're going to do everything we can to facilitate you finding online people who are really your friends."
He (Mr. McQuaid) jokingly refers to the system as 'pHarmony', pointing to the similarities between how Pantheon's matchmaking works and the premise of a certain popular dating website. We can't help but resist asking if there's more developers should be learning from online dating."
I can say without a doubt that if I quit playing a game, whether console or PC, it's usually due to the lack of interaction with other people. I really like coop games and get bored if I'm constantly left to myself. Granted, some of this is my fault for not being as outgoing and friendly as I was 15+ years ago (the good ol' EQ days), but I think that's normal for most adults. So when I read that there will be options for matchmaking (pHarmony), that REALLY appeals to me. I need all the help I can get :)
fazool said:Brad's comments about immersion encapsulate everything that's important to me.
I didn't play Everquest. I lived in Norrath.
Like he said, I am one of the orphans, looking for a home.
Exactly!
I remember once when my boss asked me if I was going anyplace on my vacation... "yes I'm going to spend the week in Norrath" was my reply.
Immersion, live it, love it. That is what is missing from today's games. Remember the original Star Wars Empire MMO, I could spend hours just camping listening to the music and watching the skies change from day to night while my harvesters rumbled in the distance. I wasn't worried about rotations or if my dps was optimal or what mob gave the best exp. Go back further to EQ1. I got a kick out of just running my monk down a tall hill to tumble and improve my safe fall skill with a feign death at the end to bump it one skill level more. I remember creeping through OASIS always on guard against an errant wraith or the wonderful Sand giants that would quickly kill my lowbie self. I was not staring at my action bars, I was in first person and scanning the horizon for danger and opportunites. I was in no rush to hit max level to reach some definition of end game. I was living in Norrath and loving every moment of it. I'm so happy Brad is sticking with his vision. It's been a long time coming! I can't wait to spend my evenings exploring and living in Pantheon.
fazool said:Brad's comments about immersion encapsulate everything that's important to me.
I didn't play Everquest. I lived in Norrath.
Like he said, I am one of the orphans, looking for a home
Well said :)
This article is pretty much dead center on what MMO's are lacking.
I also lived in EQ1. I have friends even now that I talk to occasionally from EQ. I get emails and txt msgs from them and even send some on occasion. These are people that you had experiences with, you loved as an extended family. Sure there were the hard core's back then, but even those were nothing like the people in MMO's now days.
I have been waiting for a game like this since EQ went to. ....... chose your phrase ........
Now if only we could get Firefly going agian, and Fairy Tail continued my life would be relatavistically on Cloud9.
Archaen said:While I enjoyed the article very much, I do somewhat have a differen take on the "flashy" 30 sec ads. Ads of that natue do exactly what they're supposed to, get people interested. Plenty of examples of games that got people through the door, and then fell flat cause the game sucked. It's a bit of a misnomer to think that just because a game is action based that you can communicate the depth of the game with a 30s action packed ad. Though I do get his point that it's easy enough to tell the game is action based from an ad of that sort. To that point, I thought the Warcraft ads with famous people saying what class they were sort of tongue-in-cheek was very effective and communicated the basic idea of the game very well.
However, I think the biggest hill VR is up against is the stigma surrounding the genre... "Oh, another MMO. Yeah been there done that, played WoW and all it's sad wannabe's." So in my mind it's having a good enough game and enough capital to last long enough for word of mouth/streaming to spread the word that this is something different, something more. In that, I whole heartedly agree with Brad.
This is where I have to respectfully disagree with you. World Of Warcraft was an EQ1 wanna-be. It destroyed the genre, in that it took earning and enjoying the "world" that was built around it, (like EQ1, SWG pre-CU/NGE) and made it insta-gratification. Those that are looking forward to Pantheon understand and hope it will NOT be what WoW was. I dont want o be able to hit the cap level in less then 2 months, it should take me a year. I dont want that to be what defines the game, it should be only 1 aspect of MANY aspects. THis is what Brad did with EQ1/Vanguard, and with hopes here with Pantheon. The root problem trhat ended up destroying EQ1, and SWG, was the companies he ended up dealing with had control overall once they had a controlling share of the product. Here with Pantheon, if it remains within Brad's control, and is backed outside of those corporate fools (AKA SOE/Daybreak), this game will flourish to the likes of EQ1, with a player base that has been hoping for something like this for some time now. We don't want it to be anything related to Wow in anyway shape or form, we want it to be related in deep story lines and communities that was the precursor to WoW, and the "ME, NOW" people that played WOW, I.E. Original EQ1.
@Mortalim He wasn't stating his own opinion. There isn't anything to disagree with. He was stating that "VR is up against the stigma surrounding the genre." WoW is simply the game most people have played. They don't know any better. Most people didn't play MMO's prior to 2004 so they didn't have a chance to experience the genre before WoW changed it. He never stated the stigma was accurate, just that it is the stigma.