Innovation Is a Moving Target
Tobold made a post pointing out the cruel irony of gamers: they clamor for innovative new games even as they spend most of their money buying franchise titles and sequel after sequel. From a big studio perspective, where there are thousands of people on the payroll and big fancy offices to justify, it’s hard for them to take risks like small indie studios can. So what players really want to see is for indie studios to make games that go mainstream, even though they will end up despising the indie studios for their success.
The music industry worked much the same way (when there was a viable music industry, I mean). Hair metal bands dominated the charts in the late 1980s. When Nirvana released Nevermind in 1991, it was hardly the first record of its kind; the band built upon the foundations laid by the Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, and dozens of other indie bands that toiled in commercial obscurity. Yet Nevermind signaled a paradigm shift in popular music, and suddenly alternative and grunge overthrew hair metal. Labels raced to sign every Nirvana clone they could as what had been seen as innovative became mainstream. Of course there was nerd rage backlash against Nirvana for selling out, but that comes with the territory for any indie darling that hits the big time.
The same thing will happen with MMOGs. Some small studio will eventually release a product that is seen as a breath of fresh air from what has gone before and will be accessible enough to strike commercial gold. Dozens of companies will attempt to duplicate its success by releasing similar games. And the nerd rage will target the original game as being mainstream corporate blandness while the masses demand something else new and innovative.
So to sum up this analogy:
- Ultima Online is the Meat Puppets
- EverQuest is Sonic Youth
- World of Warcraft is Nirvana’s Nevermind
- Warhammer Online is Bush
Okay, WAR doesn’t merit such cruelty, but you get the idea. (Sorry, Paul.)
From a consumer perspective, innovation comes with a price tag: slogging through many near-misses before something surfaces that is both innovative and appealing to a mass audience. And almost as soon as it happens, that once-innovative product gets passed over by those looking for the next big thing.
Could that game be Hordes Of Orcs? Probably not, but I’ve spent more time playing that than Spore and Force Unleashed combined
In seriousness, I think we’ve been stuck in the rut for a while – recall how people swooned at the prospect of City of Heroes.
The current financial market situation means cash is not going to be so easy for someone with a risky (innovative) concept, and the comparison with the music industry fails at the competence level. A good tune doesn’t crash, there’s no concept of waiting in a queue for a song to play and when a DJ wants to play your song on the radio he doesn’t have to wait around while he tries to register an account to get it to play.
The small software team you’re looking for has to develop a good software platform, a good gameplay design and a good infrastructure – even if by “develop” we’re assuming a fair amount of 3rd party middleware usage. Not an easy combination. Many of the failed MMOs that could have proven innovative failed to make an impact because their software was lousy or their infrastructure failed them, while other teams have pulled off extremely polished products at the cost of creativity and innovation.
What it’s going to take is a smallish software team who brings excellent programming discipline to bear without losing the “garage” mentality that makes for good game development. Right now, the smallish teams developing potentially innovative products tend to die before or during release, or shortly after they fail to find purchase in the hype-domain.
You still see a lot of faces showing signs of revelation when guys like Larry Melon, Darius Kazemi and Scotty Rigby present at GDCs, but on the positive side, you see a lot of faces showing signs of revelation when these guys present
Software Development for Gaming is still a discipline of Software Development; in the 6 years since I moved from Software Development to Game Development, I’ve watched the industry turn from primarily garage hacks who looked down their nose at the standard tennets of software development to the new high priests of “the discipline”. Unfortunately, I think they missed some of the message and the stagnation we see is partly the result of obeying the letter of the discipline rather than absorbing the spirit. As much as I’ve been impressed by Scott Rigby, I have to admit I have a nagging fear that suites may perceive what he is offering as a magic formula for directing design rather than a safety net for creativity.
This is a very interesting analogy and it certainly has merit. I think it ultimately comes to the fickle nature of players. My biggest complaint about Age of Conan was the lack of support for basic features. The innovation was great but it was very much like Funcom skipped the foundation that is necessary to succeed.
Ultimately I think I want the same thing out of every MMO with a fresh package and an occasional new toy. Its sad to admit that but at least I’m honest! I’m not big on hating for something going mainstream though. Look at the nerd life for example. Nobody used to play MMOs, program for fun, and sling cards. Now that is pretty much the norm. I’m no longer cutting edge but I can handle that!
From a business perspective you almost have to copy some WoW features. It is, after all, a type of measuring stick by which all new games will be measured (both financially and from the player level). Would it be awesome to see something going a totally different direction? Of course. If you fail to put in the basics though I’d be commentating on it frequently and the mainstream player base will likely be frustrated. I think it is safe to say the traditional MMO aristocracy is gone. We are a minority and not where all the money is. Sure we’re loyal but a part time player uses less resources and pays the same monthly fee.
One issue with innovation is that everyone only uses the EQ1 model at this point. I would love to see the UO model return. I’m tired of the “players will gimp themselves” argument. There are numerous easy ways to avoid this issue. Hopefully one day we’ll see a return to a level-less system where you can truly build your character as you see fit. Until then it will always be the same skeleton with a new package and a few twists.
Hey! I happen to like Bush. On the other hand, while I found Nirvana to be interesting, if not for the tragic end of their front man, we wouldn’t have the Foo Fighters, a far better band.
Overall though, your example proves the point I try to make to people… Nirvana was the opening of the floodgates, and while many better bands existed before and came after, Nirvana and their well crafted and produced album holds a protected place in history, and people who hate on Nirvana are usually stoned in the street by angry mobs of girls wearing “Kurt died for our sins” shirts. So too is the gaming industry. WoW opened the flood gates with its well crafted and produced game, and while better games existed before and better games will come after, hating on WoW is likely to get you stoned in the street by angry mobs of gamers wearing “For The Horde!” shirts.
Awesome analogy, and dead on.
Traditional art and writting are others another that works the same way. One painting or novel starts a genre. The advantage they have is they are all more or less one man dev studios. I still think the interation of text, voice\sound, and 2d/3d visuals is just starting and there is much to be had. It is the only thing unique in the game industries. Hopefully they can solve the tech and people management on the team that does the integration.
Very good point.
People want innovation, but not at the expense of convenience. This is a huge challenge for newer DIKU-themed MMOGs, because they are competing against years of post-launch feature development in WoW and other games. So while folks may want innovation when it comes to gameplay, they chafe when it comes at the expense of a robust mail or auction system–things that are by no means trivial to build, yet are often taken for granted.
LARP would be Rush then, right? And how does REM play into this?
Innovation (or perceived innovation, go-go marketing team) is what has the best potential to draw people away from a game they have a lot of time invested into. Polish, gameplay, responsiveness to issues, fun, etc are what will keep people there. When you pull people away from an existing game and they stay with you, word of mouth will bring their friends along as well.
When you’re talking about the launch of a strong IP, it is a bit different, new players to the genre won’t know what innovation is. It still has to be there though if you’re wanting successfully pull people away from what they’re playing today.
Why stick with the DIKU lineage at all? Why base a business plan on subscriptions? Why finance with speculative loans instead of saving up with profits from smaller, solid projects? Why the focus on eye candy, when the gameplay is atrocious? Why aim for the bleeding edge of tech when the MMO lives or dies on its mass market appeal?
There are just so many choices that are taken from granted and never questioned. The genre is stuck in a rut, and as long as those assumptions aren’t challenged, MMO design will forever be chasing WoW, and losing out for it.
I think this sums up the situation very well actually. I can’t say that I, as a player, am not guilty of doing exactly this. In fact I’d say I’m a repeat offender as “the basics” and “how to make an mmo” comes up a lot in my commentary. I might just have to be a bit more forgiving going forwards.
There is a limit though. One of the examples I use now is the warhammer mail system. You can only mail a single item at a time and there is a 20 second delay per mail (I have no issue with the delay). The foundation of the feature is there so a healthy portion of the work is done. Extrapolating it to allow two, three or four items shouldn’t require as much effort as making the initial investment in thesystem. Then again I might live in Ivory Towers.
I believe that the core innovation of EverQuest has never been duplicated by anyone, and never will, because people simply would not tolerate it today.
The genious came from its group oriented gameplay. I have that gameplay to thank for many genuine friendships made along the way. Something lacking, as a whole, in games today. Thinking back, it is easy to see how it happened. EQ was hard and it had lots and lots of down time built in and what better to do in that down time but chat. Look at your book while you meditate and chat, wait for a rare spawn and chat, wait for a boat and chat, fight deep into a dungeon until you reach your camp and once again chat the night away. The friendships and sense of accomplishment that came from EQ will never be equaled in an MMO again. It was that rare lightning in a bottle that you just had to be lucky enough to be part of, even if you would hate it today.
I sent out a group email to many many friends that I was going to give Warhammer a try. Heldenhammer Server, Destruction side if anyone was thinking of playing. Sadly many of them bounced and that probably means I have lost contact with those people forever, but many more did not. I logged into the Warhammer this week and 15+ friends that I made from EQ, in the year 2000, logged on with me. It has been almost 9 years and I can still put together a group of people that I explored Kunark, Scars of Velious and the Planes of Power with. These were not RL friends before, but all of them are now and that is a truely amazing thing.
WarHammer may not be innovative (Though I really like the PQ’s) but it came along at the right time, with the right amount of polish and buzz. and I am thankful that I get to play with so many friends again, no matter how long it last.
Because it’s a style of game that lots of players enjoy. This isn’t an opinion; it’s a proven fact. Just because some people say they don’t enjoy it anymore doesn’t make it an invalid style of game to make going forward.
I totally understand that some folks want to see non-DIKU MMOGs–I do as well. But that doesn’t mean designers can’t innovate within the boundaries of a DIKU-based game, any more than you can say it’s impossible to make an innovative chess or FPS or football game. To me it’s more about what you do within a given style of game than anything else, but other people can’t see beyond the broadest generalization.
And even more basic things like the billing system, the quality of the ISP carriers/coloc used by the potential game. The PvP sector has had a really bad time of it with products like WWII Online racing with PvP-like-bloodlust onto the market, +10 fiery sword of smiting firmly gripped in left hand while neglecting to equip the +1000 armor of quality.
There’s a long list of other products that had something to offer but chose to offer it on a table with one leg.
WWII Online is a good example because we’re still here: A launch worse than Anarchy online that should have killed these guys, and in the year after launch before I joined them, you might almost have thought it was some kind of deliberate suicide attempt by the company. There are some things that went wrong outside of Cornered Rat Software’s control, but a lot of it was just a failure to observe some fundamental good software development/design practices.
I think my addition to the team helped remind some of the guys that they are quality designers and software engineers and got them out of the “fire! fire! no time to discuss, just write the damn code!” mindset.
The point: Despite that hideous first year and the still not great second year, WWII Online kept new players coming in and managed to defeat either of the traditional MMO curves and has continued for going on 8 years now and remains in a healthy-stable state. Unfortunately, the team has expended just about all of its resources on achieving healthy-stable, so the possibility of growth is entirely dependent on investment coming to us.
EVE, by contrast, observed much better development practices and put a much higher value emphasis on basics of product delivery. Arguably, they almost blew it in the first place by focusing on software so much that they overlooked gameplay.
But most people will give a restaurant a second chance if their food wan’t great but the restaurant itself was pleasant. They generally won’t go back to a restaurant if the food was OK but there were roaches or the place is dirty. Similarly, gamer’s will come back and see if a game has changed its gameplay, they’re far less likely to return to see if bugs have been fixed unless the game is utterly compelling.
Moorguard, yes, innovations can come within the DIKU lineage. I don’t think it will ever disappear, nor am I calling for it to do so. You’re right, it’s a time-honored system that people like. My point is merely that designers are stuck in the DIKU rut, rather than trying out new things from different directions. It’s warping player expectations for what MMOs are “supposed to be”, creating a weird feedback loop that is stifling the genre.
Innovation (and Addiction for that matter) is creating a game that you can’t stop playing, one that you think about while not playing, one that you spend idle time creating lame songs for…
[Sung to the tune of Gin and Juice, blugrass version ]
There’s so much drama in this K.C.,
Its kinda hard bein’ a Ranger: L. F. G.,
This kind of sh** happens all the time,
You find yourself a group before I find mine.
Rollin out the Zone with the Agro, Castin’ that Snare & Root.
Need Crack, Cause I got my Mind on my Mana, and my Mana on my Mind.
There’s so much drama in this K.C.,
Its kinda hard bein’ a Ranger: L. F. G.,
Zoned in and I started a Fight,
VS is Camped but not VS-Light!
So Im sittin’ back listenin’ to you berate me,
Cause Ive trained the front door of this K.C..
This type of Sh** happens all the time,
I shout “Train Left”, you shout “Train Right!”
Rollin out the Zone with the Agro, Castin’ that Snare & Root.
Need Crack, Cause I got my Mind on my Mana, and my Mana on my Mind.
Later On that Da-ay, My Homegirl Nimiwe-eh,
Came by with a Gang of Clarita-ay, and a Windbla-ade,
Now that 2 Hand Slash, It aint no Joke,
Made the Windblade Smoke, so I backed Up off It,
I Set that Windblade Down,
A Windblade and Clarity, Now KC’s Messed Up Now!!!!
But dont get upset, because Ive got the Agro,
Here comes another Train, and Im a’Out That door.
Rollin out the Zone with the Agro, Castin’ that Snare & Root.
Need Crack, Cause I got my Mind on my Mana, and my Mana on my Mind.