What are we looking for?

As one who loves the MMO universe I often ask myself what do the game gods ask themselves before creating an MMO. Getting the obvious out of the way, genre, what do they look at next? We know there are a million things that go into making a decent MMO.

I wonder at the little things that we sometimes pass over like in-game dialog, quests or story line. The hours upon hours of written text, “Hi I am Boomba and I sell pickles” or the idle chatter of NPC's as you pass by. It's hard to fathom that at 70+ levels we have read a few novels worth of written hints direction and lore.

How about the textures, lighting, shading and colors that bring an MMO to life. How many games have we played that we have stopped at some overlook and it actually took our breath away. The sunsets, the clouds, the rain, is it just fluff? Is it really needed? One would have to think that the “powers that be” would ask themselves, what are gamers wanting, what are they looking for.

I have seen concerns across the boards covering, Combat, death, questing, instancing, class balance, PVP, PVE, RVR all the way to “Does this armor make me look fat?” All of these are important but of course it depends on ones point of view.

Perplexing isn't it.

How do you serve the masses? I am glad that's not a hurdle I have to clear, its a high standard we place on the industry.

My expectations are almost impossible to meet I suppose, after a dozen MMO's I can glean from each to make the perfect game. I love the open world concept, the “wherever I can see, I can get to”. No boxed in zones except the game world itself. The ability to travel, at my discretion, and traverse mountains, plains, the oceans and stumble across that “easter egg” some developer left for me to find. This open world actually gives me the feeling I could really get lost. Time sink for some but immersive for others.

What a conundrum.

How about aesthetics or cosmetics, the eye candy that some crave from a game. You know the ones. Those robust games that need a Quadracore Gigamoose with a multimondo threaded taxibus type of PC that draws enough juice to dim the lights in your neighborhood. New game, new computer scenario because the new graphic engine is two bytes short of a hologram.

Okay, I'm guilty.

I love detailed graphics. Spin my character around to see even his nose hairs kind of detail. But at what cost, stability, gameplay? Would I play a perfect balanced game with great mechanics if my avatar was a stick figure? That would be a no, but there are others though that would run their stick figure to the level cap.

They bring us all together like some social club with the hopes of finding that niche for the masses. Success in some areas and failing in others but they try, over and over again they try. No game may be perfect but I still love the experience and am glad they keep trying.

Have I found what I am looking for?

Sing it Bono, just sing it...

“I have climbed the highest mountains

I have run through the fields Only to be with you, only to be with you

I have run I have crawled I have scaled these city walls, these city walls Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for”