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Captn Norrington
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#1 The community
#2 The level of endgame fun
#3 How much the people running the game care about the game, like fixing things and doing frequent updates
#2 The level of endgame fun
#3 How much the people running the game care about the game, like fixing things and doing frequent updates
Community, first and foremost.
What systems are employed to help all player types to enjoy their "playstyle"?
A strong responsive Community Management Team from either/both the developer and publisher...with heads-up responses and true caring about the players. Not the usual "form-feedback" emailed weeks later and then ignored.
Events hosted by the developer/publisher that bring everyone together and NOT the developer/publisher HOPING that some player-guilds will hold events but never providing them any tools to help them execute-on-ideas. (The anti- of what Turbine did to Codemasters and player group events with LOTRO)
TQQdles™
What systems are employed to help all player types to enjoy their "playstyle"?
A strong responsive Community Management Team from either/both the developer and publisher...with heads-up responses and true caring about the players. Not the usual "form-feedback" emailed weeks later and then ignored.
Events hosted by the developer/publisher that bring everyone together and NOT the developer/publisher HOPING that some player-guilds will hold events but never providing them any tools to help them execute-on-ideas. (The anti- of what Turbine did to Codemasters and player group events with LOTRO)
TQQdles™
Captn Norrington
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Not sure what Noldor meant, but when I say community I mean the percentage of "friendly, helpful, normal" people vs. the percentage of "scammers, griefers, mean hearted" people who play the game.
A great game isn't as great as it should be if everyone playing it is trying to harass others, and if the games developers allow the harassment and griefing to get out of control then that is their fault and I would not rate it as highly as other games where the developers have a zero tolerance policy for harassing other players. I know it's an extremely hard thing to judge, but is still very important.
Are you aware that some games contain Scamming, Griefing and mean hearted people as supported by game mechanics and developers?
Most do draw the line at personal attacks though.
But some sand box games that support pvp for instance, allow for baiting as a social interaction. to provoke a fight that might otherwise not have been initiated.
Which also doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of helpful people around....
Most do draw the line at personal attacks though.
But some sand box games that support pvp for instance, allow for baiting as a social interaction. to provoke a fight that might otherwise not have been initiated.
Which also doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of helpful people around....
Captn Norrington
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Pvp baiting and things like that are fine with me as long as it's for pvp, but if your just trying to mind your own business and a group of people follow you around harassing you endlessly for no reason even after realizing they aren't getting a pvp fight....not the most fun experience. The only sandbox game I've played for long periods of time is Ultima Online, so not sure what other games are like lately.
I completely understand that all games have nice people, and not so nice people. If 1 out of 20 people you meet in a game turns out to be not so nice, that's fine, still a great game. On the other hand if 1 out of every 2 people you meet is trying to harass others....not as great.
UO has a lot of people who only play to harass others, and I have genuinely never seen or heard of most of them doing a single thing to positively contribute to the game, ever. They just kill other people's fun.
I have no idea how a game developer could support scamming though, I don't see any way to work scamming in as a part of the game. Stealing with an actual thief character is a playstyle, however scamming is just greed and not caring about other people at all. In my opinion of course.
I completely understand that all games have nice people, and not so nice people. If 1 out of 20 people you meet in a game turns out to be not so nice, that's fine, still a great game. On the other hand if 1 out of every 2 people you meet is trying to harass others....not as great.
UO has a lot of people who only play to harass others, and I have genuinely never seen or heard of most of them doing a single thing to positively contribute to the game, ever. They just kill other people's fun.
I have no idea how a game developer could support scamming though, I don't see any way to work scamming in as a part of the game. Stealing with an actual thief character is a playstyle, however scamming is just greed and not caring about other people at all. In my opinion of course.
Well there are plenty of ways to scam really. Like saying that an item you sell is something, and then putting something else in the bag to trade with that really looks like it but is a cheaper knock-off version (depending on trade-system).
Sometimes people are too trustworthy.
With EVE Online, you have a contract system that allows you to name the contract to something else, but then you also have stuff like blueprints ("build recipies" instead of items) that complicates things. Also the market is open to market speculation or even manipulation (if there is a low supply/demand). Having a flexible trade system (ie. market) also means that you actually have a free market economy and millions of items are changing hands everyday. Yes its not "perfect" but it teaches you to not be gullible of what you are doing.
And then there is stealing, which is done by gaining access to corp funds and assets and transfering to yourself. Of course you can usually only do this by proving that you are trustworthy. Social mechanics. You propably have to sacrifice your character to do it though, there is a list of corp thieves available among recruiters.
Many PVP games has been influenced greatly by UO - this also includes EVE as well as the now closed SWG (Star Wars: Galaxies). Open world pvp allows for great variety, but also for great frustration (imagine a flock of pvpers "accidentally" your entire party), or incredible graphics/network or server lag. Not all games are capable of handling open world pvp properly. SWG was absolutely horrible in that regard, but again - they closed 4-5 years ago and the tech to solve some of the frustrations were within the last 1-3 years. Without this you wouldn't have heard of the battle where over 3000 players were killed.
I believe the early versions of UO included corpse running. This is a feature in EVE. You lose your ship? Then the wreck will remain for 2 hours with 50% of the items inside for you (or someone else) to recover. Also anyone can be attacked at anytime. No place is safe. Of course there is consequenses, but its a calculated risk.
Sometimes people are too trustworthy.
With EVE Online, you have a contract system that allows you to name the contract to something else, but then you also have stuff like blueprints ("build recipies" instead of items) that complicates things. Also the market is open to market speculation or even manipulation (if there is a low supply/demand). Having a flexible trade system (ie. market) also means that you actually have a free market economy and millions of items are changing hands everyday. Yes its not "perfect" but it teaches you to not be gullible of what you are doing.
And then there is stealing, which is done by gaining access to corp funds and assets and transfering to yourself. Of course you can usually only do this by proving that you are trustworthy. Social mechanics. You propably have to sacrifice your character to do it though, there is a list of corp thieves available among recruiters.
Many PVP games has been influenced greatly by UO - this also includes EVE as well as the now closed SWG (Star Wars: Galaxies). Open world pvp allows for great variety, but also for great frustration (imagine a flock of pvpers "accidentally" your entire party), or incredible graphics/network or server lag. Not all games are capable of handling open world pvp properly. SWG was absolutely horrible in that regard, but again - they closed 4-5 years ago and the tech to solve some of the frustrations were within the last 1-3 years. Without this you wouldn't have heard of the battle where over 3000 players were killed.
I believe the early versions of UO included corpse running. This is a feature in EVE. You lose your ship? Then the wreck will remain for 2 hours with 50% of the items inside for you (or someone else) to recover. Also anyone can be attacked at anytime. No place is safe. Of course there is consequenses, but its a calculated risk.
the kind of mmo game that lets you go from one game to another without enslaving you and giving you lots of fun and good times is the best kind i think.... instant joy 
By community, I meant the coming together of the majority of players who encourage each other to WANT to continue playing in the game. Whether that is something simple like adventuring in PUGs (Pick Up Groups), offering hints & helpful info to new players, engaging in useful conversations, and generally supporting each other to maximize their enjoyment of the game in general. Community also includes involvement by the developers/publishers in-house community relations personnel. A good example of the in-house CSR would be Gaile Gray of ArenaNet and how just her sole interactivity with the game player base elevated the original Guild Wars way above it's designed modes of game-play...and it was a direct factor to the popularity of the game.
As for developers/publishers allowing/encouraging destructive play-styles, most do so to sell more subscriptions/game store purchases to make more revenue. For example, TRION encourages bad behavior in their westernized version of ArcheAge because many Bot Masters are using paid-subscriptions to control their Bots to gain game gold/assets to sell on the RTM marketplace....and this increases TRION's revenue stream. Same with the griefers in ArcheAge...most are subscribers so they are allowed to grief vs. losing revenue.
TQQdles™
As for developers/publishers allowing/encouraging destructive play-styles, most do so to sell more subscriptions/game store purchases to make more revenue. For example, TRION encourages bad behavior in their westernized version of ArcheAge because many Bot Masters are using paid-subscriptions to control their Bots to gain game gold/assets to sell on the RTM marketplace....and this increases TRION's revenue stream. Same with the griefers in ArcheAge...most are subscribers so they are allowed to grief vs. losing revenue.
TQQdles™
Its true that some game companies foster destruction as a means to encourage microtransactions - yet again, some do it to support production/industry/logistical gameplay.
Destruction of assets is a major component in EVE, and there is a complete playstyle to logistically challenge you. From "harvesting" resources, to producing items to selling/trading items, market speculation, niche production, escrow management, transportation of goods etc.
Bots/RTM users is a really problematic issue. When they pay for subscribtions, they often do so with a stolen credit card number. This will often be charged back by the credit card company, and with each chargeback the company gets a fine from the credit card company. It's usually at great cost to keep bots around as the cost outweighs the subscribtions. The chargeback fees for SOE exceeded 20 million USD for the first quarter a few years ago and this problem is a global billion dollar industry, so contrary to popular belief - botters/RMT'ers is a signal that the game company is bleeding revenue.
Destruction of assets is a major component in EVE, and there is a complete playstyle to logistically challenge you. From "harvesting" resources, to producing items to selling/trading items, market speculation, niche production, escrow management, transportation of goods etc.
Bots/RTM users is a really problematic issue. When they pay for subscribtions, they often do so with a stolen credit card number. This will often be charged back by the credit card company, and with each chargeback the company gets a fine from the credit card company. It's usually at great cost to keep bots around as the cost outweighs the subscribtions. The chargeback fees for SOE exceeded 20 million USD for the first quarter a few years ago and this problem is a global billion dollar industry, so contrary to popular belief - botters/RMT'ers is a signal that the game company is bleeding revenue.