MMOGology: A link to the future

After a discouraging bout of the level 70 blues I took the advice offered by a few of my readers and took a break from World of Warcraft. I think my break lasted a whole two days. However, during the brief hiatus from Azeroth I returned to another world I love, the world of Hyrule. I had progressed a little over halfway through the latest Zelda game, Twilight Princess, before other distractions pulled my attention elsewhere. Playing Twilight Princess was exactly what the doctor ordered. It only took a few moments until the Wii controls felt natural again and I was working my way through a dungeon in the Gerudo Desert known as the Arbiter's Grounds.

One thing I've always loved about the Zelda series is the ingenious environmental puzzles. Nothing makes me feel smarter than successfully navigating a dungeon full of traps. A defining aspect of most Zelda dungeons is that you receive a new tool in almost every dungeon that aids in solving puzzles. When the new tool is introduced you get a great "aha!" moment and soon you're employing that new tool in clever, inventive ways. These tools, like Link's boomerang, bow, hookshot, or in the case of the Abiter's Grounds, the spinner (which you ride on), allow you to either manipulate or navigate the environment, often in unexpected ways. For example, in the Goron Mines dungeon you use Link's iron boots in conjunction with giant magnets to walk up walls or on the ceiling. This type of inventive gameplay is something you typically don't experience in an MMOG and as I played through Twilight Princess I couldn't help but think, why isn't this game an MMOG? Now, let me say that I would never want The Legend of Zelda to disappear as a single player game; but the world of Hyrule and the aspects that make Zelda a great single player game could make a really interesting massively multiplayer game. There is an intriguing mythical world, fun and useful items, real-time combat, the joy of discovering new lands, and those clever environmental puzzles. Most of these gameplay elements could be easily integrated with standard, current generation MMOGs, and then expanded upon to bring the unique, interactive Zelda experience to the MMOG community.

It seems that most massively multilayer games have a very formulaic approach to game design and mechanics. They create a stage filled with fairly static objects and NPCs and they allow players to walk through the stage killing the "bad" NPCs and looting them. There's really no level of interaction with the environment, no opportunity for puzzle solving or platforming. Every once in a blue moon there's an object to interact with, but essentially this amounts to clicking the object and, perhaps, receiving an item or initiating a scripted event. Adam Schumacher wrote a great article describing some of the frustrating clichés that often present themselves in MMOGs and how, as gamers, we've been conditioned to accept them as inherent to the MMOG genre.

There are, of course, the occasional exceptions to otherwise static content. The dungeon instance of Uldaman in WoW has a few neat moments. For example, there's that fun moment in The Map Room where you combine the Shaft of Tsol and the Medallion of Gni'kiv to form the Staff of Prehistoria which, in a moment inspired by Indiana Jones, casts a beam of light on two huge doors through which the giant Ironaya charges. The first time you witness that moment, it's impossible not to smile and, for a second, feel panicked. There's also an exciting moment in Lord of the Rings Online when the starting human town of Archet is attacked by the Blackwold Brigands and half of it burns to the ground. As a player character you act in Archet's defense and save it from complete destruction. Moments like those really involve players and make them feel like they're either making a difference in the game world or experiencing content in a truly interactive way. But these fun and unique moments are more the exception than the rule to the bulk of content in most MMOGs I've played.

So imagine a massively multilayer gameworld where we throw out the conventions of standard MMOG game mechanics and let our imaginations run wild. Imagine Grand Theft Auto Online where you can form your own gang, customize your own car, drive it around, rob a bank, and then get busted by a guild of player cops. Imagine Massively Mario, a game where you can create your own Mushroom Kingdom resident and play through a combination of platforming and goomba stomping elements of the Super Mario series combined with the simple and fun quest structure of Paper Mario or Super Mario RPG, and throw in a dash of Smash Brothers style PvP. Or if those two ideas aren't your style, how about Raccoon City Nights where you create your own zombie slayer and engage in a series of mysterious, story-driven quests in first person shooter style.

I'm ready for something new and innovative that defies the standard, static MMOG conventions and I know I'm not alone. I also know that developers are currently trying to do this and have tried in the past. Despite their efforts, though, the tried and true gameplay elements pioneered by games like Ultama Online and Everquest are still the games that have been the most successful. Auto Assault was an interesting concept. Create your own vehicle, customize it, drive around the world and blow up other players Mad Max style. So why did it fail? Was marketing the problem? Was the game too shallow for extended playtime in a persistent online world? What about the shiny, new Hellgate London? It combines first person shooter elements with RPG elements. How many of you have tried or are playing Hellgate?

If you could create your own MMOG, would you use a favorite existing franchise or create your own unique franchise? More importantly, what gameplay elements would you like to see appear in future MMOGs? Do you enjoy the environmental puzzles of a Zelda game, the platforming elements of a Mario game, or the the vehicular elements of a Grand Theft Auto? Do you think these traditionally single player game elements would work in an MMOG?