Massively multiplayer online role playing games have advanced substantially since their beginnings. They are now much easier to play for beginning players while retaining the depth required to attact experienced gamers. Unfortunately, this applies primarily when playing against computer controlled opponents.
Progress in player versus player combat in today's MMO RPG games has not kept up. Mechanics that are at the core of PvE MMO's, heterogeneous classes, crowd control, stealth, multiple factions, etc., turn out to be very hard to balance in a PvP game. This book surveys many of the PvE game mechanics that work so well when gamers play against the computer, but fail epically when players play against themselves.
From the book...
Design rules for player versus player games
Game design is as much an art as it is a science. Any list of “rules” will be subjective and the art of game design is not only in picking a reasonable set of rules, but knowing how to blend them into a complete game. The following rules aren’t rules so much as guidelines to be applied when they seem to fit and be ignored when they don’t.
1.Easy to learn, hard to master.
2.Between frustration and boredom lies fun.
3.Tedium is not a core game mechanic.
4.New classes, just a bad idea.
5.Stealth, an even worse idea.
6.MMO’s need to be fun on at least two levels, core mechanics and character progression.
7.PvP MMO’s need to be fun on three levels, core mechanics, character progression and while playing a single match.
8.Just because you can play with thousands of other people doesn’t mean you should require it.
9.It’s good to be king, but only for the king.
10.No one has ever built a game around middle management, there is a reason why.
11.The elite will always find a way to game the system, optimize play for the bulk of the players whose skill lie in the middle.
12.A random collection of game mechanics is unlikely to give reasonable results.
13.Communication and cooperation on only one side is game breaking, don’t let it happen.
14.Players always have a choice. If the choices presented are a) wait for more players and b) launch an unbalanced match, they’ll choose c) play a different game.
Pages: 63
Progress in player versus player combat in today's MMO RPG games has not kept up. Mechanics that are at the core of PvE MMO's, heterogeneous classes, crowd control, stealth, multiple factions, etc., turn out to be very hard to balance in a PvP game. This book surveys many of the PvE game mechanics that work so well when gamers play against the computer, but fail epically when players play against themselves.
From the book...
Design rules for player versus player games
Game design is as much an art as it is a science. Any list of “rules” will be subjective and the art of game design is not only in picking a reasonable set of rules, but knowing how to blend them into a complete game. The following rules aren’t rules so much as guidelines to be applied when they seem to fit and be ignored when they don’t.
1.Easy to learn, hard to master.
2.Between frustration and boredom lies fun.
3.Tedium is not a core game mechanic.
4.New classes, just a bad idea.
5.Stealth, an even worse idea.
6.MMO’s need to be fun on at least two levels, core mechanics and character progression.
7.PvP MMO’s need to be fun on three levels, core mechanics, character progression and while playing a single match.
8.Just because you can play with thousands of other people doesn’t mean you should require it.
9.It’s good to be king, but only for the king.
10.No one has ever built a game around middle management, there is a reason why.
11.The elite will always find a way to game the system, optimize play for the bulk of the players whose skill lie in the middle.
12.A random collection of game mechanics is unlikely to give reasonable results.
13.Communication and cooperation on only one side is game breaking, don’t let it happen.
14.Players always have a choice. If the choices presented are a) wait for more players and b) launch an unbalanced match, they’ll choose c) play a different game.
Pages: 63
