Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart reckons MMORPGs could negatively impact the popularity of the RPG genre if the design of games like Neverwinter Nights doesn't take MMORPGs into account.
"For instance," Urquhart explained in an interview to be published on CVG shortly, "it used to be fine to make an RPG that was just wandering around and hacking things up with the player having very little effect on the world around them. Why play that game now if you could just play a MMO?"
He believes it's key that developers of non-MMO RPGs look closely at what the genre offers over MMORPGs to ensure the RPG genre doesn't lose out to the increasingly popular massively multiplayer online world.
"I think those of us that make non-MMO RPGs need to look at what a single-player/small multiplayer RPG can do that MMOs can't and spend our time and effort on those things", Urquhart said.
"For example, in Mask of the Betrayer, we can make the world react more to your personal decisions than any MMO could hope to. We can let you impact your companions and the game's NPCs - and the entire story outcome - in ways that MMOs cannot."
Looking at the future of the RPG genre, he added that he'd "like to see RPG focus more on the world that they take place in with particular focus on making the player a real part of that world."
"Many RPGs, including some that I've made, allow the player to just stomp around and not really have to worry about the world that they are playing in. I think that really limits the feeling of you being in that world, which is what I certainly want when I'm playing a great RPG."
"I want that escape from reality and the more we can do to give that to players the better", Urquhart explained.
Keep eyes peeled for our full interview with Feargus Urquhart hitting soon.
I think that this could only make games change for the better. Even though we are now in a world with super speed broadband, not everybody has it, like myself, as I am still stuck with 56k (mainly because of parents being stubborn) so I buy games based on how they play and what I think of the singleplayer game. So if RPGs are just going to get better to compete with MMORPGs then I say its about time really, but then again, its still a whole different style of game imo. Although it would be good to see them affect one another and up the quality of the games in general.
I agree completely with the article. Designers of RPGs should look to Deus Ex for inspiration. Focus on the game world and the player's influence on it!
I stay away from LOTRO because I don't like the idea of thousands of adventurers in Tolkien's world. It would probably be much better if you felt a bit lonely in Midgewater for instance. There are probably more adventurers than midges there.
Pitty they didn't come round to this way of thinking before starting work on NWN2, which is combat heavy and loot-infested. Still, if the expansion does pull off half of these claims it'll be better than any RPG made since the death of Troika.
Designers of RPGs should look to Deus Ex for inspiration. Focus on the game world and the player's influence on it!
But the player has next to no influence on the world of Deus Ex?? You plod through in the style of you choice, granted, but none of the faux-decisions you're asked to make through the course of the game have a noticable impact on the gameworld. Or am I remembering wrong? It has been a while.
But the player has next to no influence on the world of Deus Ex?? You plod through in the style of you choice, granted, but none of the faux-decisions you're asked to make through the course of the game have a noticable impact on the gameworld. Or am I remembering wrong? It has been a while.
No, that's the way I remember it too. Despite enjoying the game immensely when I played it all those years ago, the story was pretty much linear all the way through, and the small choices you did make (usually along the lines of "shall I sneak this bit or go in guns blazing?" didn't seem to have much effect on the game world at all.
"it used to be fine to make an RPG that was just wandering around and hacking things up with the player having very little effect on the world around them. Why play that game now if you could just play a MMO?"
I think he's got that question backwards - why bother paying a fee for a game which is essentially just a single-player RPG with strangers running around in it.
But the player has next to no influence on the world of Deus Ex?? You plod through in the style of you choice, granted, but none of the faux-decisions you're asked to make through the course of the game have a noticable impact on the gameworld. Or am I remembering wrong? It has been a while.
Well, all computer games with a start and a finish (RPGs) have to be linear to some extent. They have to create the illusion that the player can influence the course of the game. I think Deus Ex did that better than any other game. Compare to HL2 for instance. All you can do is to listen to other people and kill your enemies. It almost becomes interesting when you have to flick switch every now and then. Admittedly it's not supposed to be an RPG.
Honestly, I think that the biggest problem with single player RPGs is the profit model. MMOs have one that works - meanwhile RPG developers probably see a fraction of what they would in a world without piracy and retail resellers.
Do MMOs have a deathgrip on a player's time? Sure they do. I study addiction (Don't kill me too painfully) though addiction isn't what's keeping most of the people on there. It's other people. And the people who've been forced to force other people to play might not always play that which they've had forced on them.
MMO games are relatively new, after all.
As are RPGs.
They each offer players a unique form of immersion. An MMO can pull you in because you know it's real -- why, there's your best friend John the Blood Elf Lawladin. You had beers with him last night. Great (non-MMO) RPGs can pull you in because they take hold of your imagination. They pull you into a real world, but a real world that exists only because the mind of the experiencer has chosen to enter. Think JRR Tolkien's "on faerie stories."
There are a few other kinds of immersion that work in both - but you'll have to buy the book of this babbling man to get the whole story. Not too likely I'd wager, but I might as well throw it out there.
"Why play that game now if you could just play a MMO"...why? because I don't feel like paying monthly fees for forced grouping grind fests, that's why.
Well, all computer games with a start and a finish (RPGs) have to be linear to some extent. They have to create the illusion that the player can influence the course of the game. I think Deus Ex did that better than any other game. Compare to HL2 for instance. All you can do is to listen to other people and kill your enemies. It almost becomes interesting when you have to flick switch every now and then. Admittedly it's not supposed to be an RPG.
Baldur's Gate is another favourite...
Well that's two seperate issues there really, one being non-linearity and the other being the choices you make having an impact on the world.
In terms of non-linearity I'd say Deus Ex falls somewhere closer to the linear end of the spectrum to be honest. There are set points on the plot that you must go through A -> B -> C -> D etc., though getting from A to B may be done in a veriety of ways (killing, stealth, etc). Contrast this with Daggerfall, for example, where there are various different threads which may lead to the end. Even Daggerfall isn't the premier example of non-linearity either (though it is furthur up the spectrum that Deus Ex), as all alternatives converge back into one thread, with the player making a simple choice before the end determining the game outcome. True non-linearity would be almost impossible really, at least practically so anyway.
Regarding choices impacting the game world, there are better examples out there (though to be fair to Deus Ex I wouldn't say it was ever attempting much of this). Whether or not you decide to shoot that female agent in the plane has no bearing on future events, for instance. Fallout is a fairly major example of this kind of thing - kill certain folk and you'll close of doors to other quests. Kill Gizmo and his Casino shuts down, p**s people off and they won't forget it.
"Why play that game now if you could just play a MMO."
Offline play, No monthly fee, Mods, Player maps, Can play when ISP goes down, Ownership.
I agree that MMO games are lacking in some respects to other single player games. In MMO's today you pretty much have no impact on the game world. There are some MMO's in the works that are starting to address this problem.
Even if MMO's gain some of the qualities of single player games, there are still reasons for single player games (see above).
Oblivion is an awesome game and has game world impact.
Personally I would like a multiplayer game where I can play in a large impact able world, like Oblivion, with just a handful of friends.
i agree that RPG's need to focus more on conseqences of actions, however i can never see myself playing a MMORPG, ever.
The whole point of an RPG is to emerse urself in realistic world. I think oblivion does this extremly well, and for me if the future of RPG's. Free-roam is the most important aspect for me and the abilty to play a game for days or even weeks without touching the main story and still have a feeling of acomplishment.
I think if you wnat an example of a game with in game consequences then you should all be looking forward to mass effect. Not sure if its out on PC but i will definetly be getting it on the 360, looks amazing.
With regards to Deus ex i wouldn't consider it to be a game with in game conseqeunces considering what uve done for the enitre game has no effect on which of the 3 endings you get. you can ahve cosyed up to one side all game then switch at the end (as far as i can remember) however it is one of the ebst games ever and i cnat wait for the next installment.
I enjoy most of the single player ones. My wife and I really got into Dungeon Siege and Baldur's GAte as well as Sacred. I love playing games like that where i have people around i can trust. I hate paying fees. I tried FFXi and Loved it but really wanted a small version that me and a few freinds could do. I reallly dislike farmers and bots in these types of games. I do on occasion play Tales of Pirates a free 3d MMO but i would rather play with only a few people.
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didn't seem to have much effect on the game world at all.
