Creativity vs. Scope

Scott Jennings has new article up at MMORPG in which he writes about the common failures in MMOs. It’s actually part two of a two-part article – the first part being about the biggest MMO failures. In the article, he calls out four critical success factors for developing a new MMO:

• Scope
• Technology
• Service
• Design

For Scott, the biggest culprit appears to be scope. And with good reason. Scope is the definition of what a project is and everything it will include. In truth, the other three success factors he names (technology, service, design) are all included in the overall scope of a project.

As Scott points out, most scoping problems are either related to having unrealistic project goals or deviations from your scope (called scope creep). Realistic goal setting is really a function of experience, so ideally whoever is creating a project plan has the subject matter expertise to lay out achievable milestones.

In my experience as a project manager, scope creep has always been the bigger danger. Over the course of any long project, the scope of that project is likely to change or evolve.

When this happens, it’s important to clarify your scope and ensure your milestones are still achievable. You can’t be so inflexible as to never change your scope – but you also have to be cognizant that if you DO change your scope, it’s going to impact other areas.

Creativity
For MMO developers, I’ve always believed that part of the problem is creativity. Which is ironic, because creativity is REALLY important. But the problem with creativity is that it doesn’t want to stay within the confines of a scope.

The plan (including scope) is a box. Thinking of an idea outside of that box (creativity) is bad for the plan. It might even be a really great idea – but it’s still outside of your scope. So do you incorporate that idea, possibly letting your budget or timeline slip?

Devs, I think, are more inclined to overlook scope implications because they like a new idea. At least, until they run out of money and have to release an unfinished project. And then, at that point, it’s simply too late to decide whether that was really an important enough idea to cause your project to launch unfinished.

The Plan
I’m not an MMO developer, but I have worked as a Project Manager in my professional life. One thing that I can tell you for certain is that ideas are cheap. Much cheaper than implementing those ideas.

The point being that it’s better to create your vision and your plan prior to even starting the project. Set your eagerness to BEGIN aside for a minute and think through the entire project from start to finish. Develop a comprehensive outline on paper of how everything will function together.

Think it through as thoroughly as you possibly can and THEN work to a proof-of-concept phase.  If that works – THEN STICK WITH THE PLAN.

Animated films are pretty damn creative. And guess what, they have a plan too! That’s because they come up with the ideas first, then storyboard the ideas. Then when they develop the animation sequences, they use rough animations to test the concept.

What is Hardcore?

Playing EVE recently got me thinking about what exactly we mean when we call something or someone Hardcore in an MMO. A quick Wiktionary search returns a number of different definitions:

• Having an extreme dedication to a certain activity; diehard.
• Particularly intense; thrillingly dangerous or erratic
• Resistant to change.
• Obscene or explicit.

As you can probably guess from reading through those definitions, we use the term Hardcore in several ways. The central ones from an MMO perspective being a) extreme dedication and b) intensity.

The interesting part to me is that it is possible to be dedicated but not like intensity. Or conversely, like intensity but not be dedicated.

Syncaine's blog, Hardcore Casual, is a very clever play on words which, in addition to being an Oxymoron, strikes at the heart of our fundamental confusion about the definition of Hardcore. As his blog title implies, you can enjoy intensity in games and still remain casual (or less dedicated).

Rewarding the Hardcore
All MMOs (perhaps all games) reward us based on our success in the two areas. Either we are dedicated enough to finish, or we are skilled enough to survive the intensity. And most likely, it's some combination of both.

Players expect to 'work' for rewards in either of these two ways. They either expect a long ardous journey until completion, or they expect an extremely difficult challenge to overcome. One is a function of Time, the other the function of Challenge.

I think that's what people don't like about RMT and Microtransactions. RMT takes neither Time nor Challenge. You don't need to be dedicated or skilled to purchase something with RMT. It literally runs counter-clockwise to everything we have come to expect about earning rewards. It strikes anyone willing to invest the time or willing to take up the challenge as wrong.

Dedication
This is the area that really got me thinking about this whole topic. You can be Hardcore dedicated to anything. It's just a function of Time. There are people who play Mafia Wars on Facebook for 8 to 10 hours a day. Eight to ten hours a day is Hardcore dedicated even if it is an incredibly simple and shallow game.

Last January I leveled up a new Mage in WoW. I hit level 80 in a bit longer than a month. I 'think' that was around seven days played, which averages out to around 5 hours a day or 35 hours a week. This was all spent on an Alt, mind you, and I was still raiding with my Rogue at the time.

Point being, I was playing Hardcore dedicated. And I was rewarded for that effort by hitting 80 with a new character in a bit over a month. And shortly thereafter, doing very respectable 25-man Raid DPS.

Contrast this experience to my current experience with EVE. Investing my time is getting me certain things (like faction, ISK, combat experience) but it's not allowing me to get into a better ship any faster.

To get into a better ship, I need to learn more skills. The rate at which I learn these skills stays the same if I'm logged on or logged off. Spending 5 hours a day playing isn't going to change how fast I get into a specific ship.

This really strikes me as favoring the more casual player. Much more so than Warcraft. Which is REALLY REALLY ironic when you consider EVE's reputation for being Hardcore.

On a personal note, I'm all for getting rid of all silly 'leveling' and 'skilling' things that take time.  I'd rather just give everyone a pool of 100 pts and the ability to pick and choose things in a 'tree' that describes the character.

Let's just skip that whole "ramp up" thing in terms of skill progression and replace it with an inventory system where the economy and crafting is important because equipment can be upgraded, lost or even destroyed.

Intensity
The intensity of a game can come in a number of different forms. My blog entry the other day about impact and competition in many ways was just a descriptor for the intensity of a game.

The foundation of "impact" being in the consequences.  And the foundation of "competition" being player skill needed to win or achieve the objective.

Certainly an "impact" game which has a severe death penalty is going to make combat feel more intense. Likewise, a very equal and skilled match against another player (or NPC) will also feel more intense.

In my opinion, the "intensity" of a game is what really makes up the F-U-N factor. Increasing the "dedication" required in a game just makes it more boring. Increasing the "intensity" makes it more interesting. Provided, of course, that it's within your own personal threshold for performance.

And ultimately, that's the problem with intensity. What is not intense enough for ME, might be too intense for YOU. The poor dev is stuck in the middle trying to figure out how to create an intensity that is right for everyone.

The result is what we currently see in World of Warcraft. It's a 'fake' intensity. It's not really hard, it just appears hard unless you know the exact sequence of things you are supposed to do in a fight.

Memorize the proper order to do things and you will beat the encounter. Your actual 'skill' is measured by your ability to do these things in the prescribed order. The challenge is more about 'learning what to do' and not actually doing it.

EDIT: On the re-read after I published this entry, I realized that it might be construed that I don’t think there is any benefit to being Hardcore dedicated in EVE because of the skill system. That’s not true – it’s only a reflection of the skill system, not the entire game. As with any game, being more dedicated is going to be a much deeper and involved experience. That was really my point about Mafia Wars. Not complex or intense at all, but it’s still very possible to spend an irrational number of hours at it to make yourself better than the next guy. You really CAN be hardcore dedicated about anything.

The EVE Tourist :P

It’s been 7+ months since I played an MMO for any length of time and, for lack of anything better, I decided to join a few friends of mine who started playing EVE three or four months ago.

I actually tried the Trial when they started, said “Space sucks” to myself and quit after about a little more than hour of game time. Admittedly, not the fairest assessment of the game.

So I decided to give it a second chance and rolled up a couple of Trial accounts (one to mine/trade, one to be a combat pilot). I just upgraded the combat pilot to a full account on Monday for $20.

And yes, I appreciate the irony and hypocrisy that while I dislike Sc-Fi MMOs, I still started playing EVE. Truth be told, I was mere seconds away from trying Darkfall instead, but the lack of a Trial account swayed me. Again, ironic, because I didn’t even play out a full week of the Trial before buying the full version.

Then again, I do play on a laptop. And if I’m being honest about it, I think this is why Trials & Betas are so important to me. They give me a chance to test out how the game plays on my setup. That, and I’ve never trusted any dev to publish truthful system requirements. The single biggest reason why I never purchased or even tried Age of Conan is that I knew my old laptop couldn’t handle it.

Space is still boring
I have to say that Space is still boring. All the points I made in my other post about disliking Space as an environment still holds true. It’s big, it’s black and it’s mostly empty. Fights are still long-range and slightly disorienting.

It’s definitely not a game with in-your-face First Person style combat. The combat action mainly comes in the form of pushing buttons, reading HUDs, and positioning yourself tactically. Although, to be fair, some of it can certainly be frenetic and fast-paced.

I’m not judge and jury on this style of combat. It’s just never been ‘my thing’ and I do understand that lots of people like it. And well, the physics of space aren’t terrible conducive to other forms of combat.

The Upside
So far, I’ve enjoyed the negative sum PvE I have done in the Missions. I’ve already lost one ship because I was stupid. And you know what I did? I bought a new ship (GASP!).

For all the scariness that “impact” brings, it’s really mitigated by the fact the game is designed to allow you to recover from it. Also, as long as I follow the tenet, ‘don’t risk what you can’t afford to lose’ then I don’t really see how I can get screwed over too badly. Then again, maybe I’m naïve and I’ll have a QQ post for you in a few weeks.

That said, historically in the MMOs I have played in the past, I have had a real knack for making money. I’m focused on the combat pilot at the moment, but I fully intend to have another character who is the real earner.

My initial plan is to start him as a miner, then up to a transporter (blockade runner?) and ultimately (as I get enough ISK) a trader. But first and foremost, I need to understand what's valuable and useful in this game -- so hence, focusing on being a combat pilot and having the alt setup as a miner.

I’ve enjoyed the starter missions and I have to say that they are surprisingly helpful. If I recall, those weren't always in the game, so I can't imagine how overwhelmed new players used to feel.

Having followed EVE through the eyes of several other bloggers for years, I feel I’m about as knowledgeable about a game without having played it as you can get. And yet, the starter missions were a big jumpstart for me in understanding the mechanics of how to do things.

Combat, Mining, and even Crafting are things I’m sure I could have figured out just fine, but the whole ‘scanning’ and ‘probing’ would have been something I overlooked or not understood for a long time.

The Downside
If anything is a major disappointment, it’s the pacing. Things don’t happen quickly. You don’t gain skills quickly. You don’t travel quickly. Nothing happens quick.  You can't even 'grind through it' to make things happen more quickly.

The skill thing, in particular, is a de-motivator to play. Or as I wrote in the comments of Syncaine’s blog: “If what you want to do requires more skills than you currently have — then the motivation to log on is low. This is largely in-part to the fact that you don’t need to be ‘logged in’ to gain skills. I.E — if I don’t have the skill, and what I really want to do is THAT — why log on until you have the needed skill?”

That is very much opposed to the traditional MMO approach that benefits the guy who plays longer hours with faster character progression. In EVE, longer hours might earn you more ISK but it doesn't let you earn the skills any faster.

I can't help but think a mixed approach where you gain skills in this manner but could increase the rate at which you were learning the skill by using it.  Or in other words, gain it while logged off -- or gain it much quicker by using it while being logged in.