DCUO Source Presents, The Dungeon:

Information Society

"Where is the life we have lost in living?

Where is the Wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

~T.S. Eliot

Information. 

It is quite possibly our most precious commodity... our most valuable resource.

Nations have risen and fallen due to it.

Wars have been won and lost because of it.

Lives are lost and saved as a result of it.

For  all that we do in life, all that we accomplish and achieve and gain....more information can always be known. 

So how does information relate to Video Games, and specifically  the MMO genre?

In the world of Gaming, information about games is an integral part of the Industry. Entire corporations and empires are built on this foundation. Gaming Magazines and Websites are all based around the premise of information about Gaming. In general, most of the outlets do not allow Gamers to play the games, but rather provide information about the game. This usually falls into 4 major categories: Previews, Reviews, Strategies/Cheats and Community. Brands like IGN, Gamespot and Game Informer have thousands of gamers that visit their sites or read their content for these purposes.

In many cases, information about a game prior to  it's release is a game unto itself. 

Game publishers walk the tightrope between setting fan's expectations and building hype about their future product, and giving away too much information by either discussing elements of the game that may change which can alienate fans or even by revealing content to their competitors causing theft or copying of ideas. For example, famed Nintendo designer and Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto famously spoke about his regret of showing his demo for 128 Marios at Spaceworld in 2000. His game mechanic was copied by other developers who rushed their product to the market, causing Miyamoto to scrap the project so that it did not appear to be a clone of the other titles. Another example of information being released that can cause detriment to the game's release is Warhammer Online. This game was Mythic's proposed WoW-killer, said to launch with all the bells and whistles one would expect to take on the 800 lb. Gorilla that is World of Warcraft. The game was originally promoted to Fans with 6 total Capitol Cities and 4 Classes for Each of the 6 Races in the Game. Shortly before launch, Mythic cut 4 Capitol Cities and 4 Classes from the game, causing much dissension among fans.

 So how are some current MMO developers handling Information about their upcoming games?

First we'll take a look at the aforementioned gorilla, in Blizzard. The studio is nearly infamous for their complete control over information regarding their games. They release info when they see fit, and are adept at keeping leaks from springing. In general, Blizzard tends to announce a title at a major event, such as their own Convention, Blizzcon, with some concept art or a CG cinematic. Then fans won't hear anything about said project for sometimes years, when Blizzard does a minor preview. Then prior to launch, Blizzard tends to invite journalists to undo all of their hardwork at keeping secrets, by effectively releasing almost all of the information they held so close to their vests during development.

 Next, take a look at Bioware. These newcomers to the MMO scene have console and non-massive PC Game development down to a science. They churn out hit after hit and are are positioned even better by their partnership with EA. With their endeavor into the MMO market, Star Wars The Old Republic, Bioware has chosen to unveil much information about the game, from the Classes, to the Planetary Locations, Gameplay elements, Plotlines, etc. since the game's official announcement less than a year ago. Of course, astute gamers were aware of the presence of a KoToR themed MMO for years, but Bioware recently proved their rather naive approach to MMO information as the game's release window has been announced for Spring of 2011, nearly 6 to 10 months later than gamers were expecting.

Lastly, SOE has taken a median approach between these two extremes. While the game was announced in 2005, the first public showing of the game was at E3 2008. Since that point, a fairly good flow of information was made available...from what criteria make a character (i.e. Origin, Superpower, Weapon, Movement Mode) to the locations players will be playing in and so on. However, certain points of interest have been held closely to their vest...information such as Release Date, Beta Testing and Subscriptions are all highly sought after, coveted topics with very few clues. SOE has also been regularly featuring characters that will inhabit their virtual world for the fans, with Wallpapers, Concept Art and In-game renders. This is something uniquely applicable to DCUO, since Blizzard doesn't have established Icons outside of their games and Bioware is creating a game the takes place thousands of years prior to the events in the Star Wars movies.

The balance between unveiling information about a publisher's upcoming game and not revealing too much, too soon can be a challenging situation. By revealing too much, the publisher runs many risks, the most important being alienation or anger of their fanbase. If they don't allow enough information, they risk losing hype and player interest. In either scenario, the importance of information about these games in development cannot be denied.

DCUO Source Presents, The Dungeon:

Quality over Quantity?

Excelsior, Friends!

In this installment of the Dungeon i'd like to pose a hypothetical question to you, our loyal reader and fellow gamer: Which is more important to you? Quantity or Quality? Now the answer seems obvious...But let's look at the facts. In general, gaming is an immersive experience that engages us, draws us in, whether through a single player narrative, or multiplayer session. A single player game is judged by many of the same merits that a multiplayer game is, save one: length. The reason for this is simple: multiplayer games offer continuous, repeat visits, and while some players will attempt mastery of a single player campaign with second or third playthroughs, it's not as often. Many single player games of the past decade have been lauded by critics and consumers alike for their quality gameplay, amazing art direction, emotionally charged music, engaging story and tight controls; only to be ultimately judged harshly due to their perceived brevity. One major example is Microsoft's own Fable. The esteemed game director Peter Molyneux famously made many exaggerated claims about the game, prior to it's release, and to be sure, it was an amazing game (though maybe not as revolutionary as Molyneux thought) but gamer's collectively griped about one thing: How short it was.

An average gamer could complete the main story in 8 to 10 hours, extending it to 15 to 20 if one pursued extras and collectibles. I personally sought out most of the hidden items and still finished in under 20 hours. Is that acceptable? It's certainly more than I would have gotten out of watching a movie. Even if I went to the movies 5 times (nearly equalling the cost  of the game) I'd still be able to spend more time in Fable. The fact is, that gamers have been spoiled a bit, by these longwinding dramas that last for dozens of hours. Games like Suikoden, Final Fantasy, Knight of the Old Republic, etc. have encouraged us to come to expect long games. But is that necessarily a good thing?

How does this translate into multiplayer games, and specifically MMO's?

In many multiplayer games, the player is given areas, or maps in which the developers specifically built for repeat play over a period of time. How many times did you have to play through a map in Goldeneye, Halo or Team Fortress before learning all of their intricacies and using that advantage upon your opponents. In recent years, microtransactions or downloadable content have enhanced this, by giving players access to even more maps, extending the replay value of the game. Again though, these games are celebrated for how many maps, classes or weapons they have, over the quality of gameplay in many cases.

For Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) this is another issue entirely...or is it?

Take a look at the most popular game in terms of active subscribers globally, Blizzard's World of Warcraft (WoW). When it launched in November 2004, it had plenty of large areas, huge continents with sprawling environments, although it was severely lacking in terms of group instance content. Sure there were quest lines and such, but the real fun was getting a group together and taking on group dungeons or instances like the Scarlet Monastery! Sadly, many of the instances were spaced out too far for the player in terms of level appropriation. Once a player hit mid-level, and unearthed the secrets of Scarlet Monastery, players wouldn't experience that kind of fun again until nearly endgame. Certainly there were some interesting Dungeons littered throughout, such as Maradon, Uldman and Temple, but frankly the instance content in the middle levels of WoW were for forsook in lieu of extra world content. If Blizzard can create 4 open world areas in the time that they can create one instance, why not?

Well as my friend put it...would you rather be killing Boars in the Blasted Lands, or running Scarlet Monastery with your friends?

New MMO's face this challenge as well....the balance between Quality and Quantity. Obviously, we all want to play a Good Game. Yet we also want to experience something that doesn't get finished or run out of content quickly. An MMO has to ideally, launch with enough content to get their average player to the endgame, and then continue to steadily add more content, via patches and expansions, to insure emotional investment and attachment to their characters, their friends and the virtual world in which they inhabit. The worst thing that an MMO developer can do though, is promise content and then deliver a subpar quality experience...while lacking the content that had been promised. Warhammer Online suffered this fate when it debuted with half the capital cities and only Two Thirds of the Races/Classes that they had announced for launch.

SOE has been dedicated to this ideal of only showing us quality content that is in a near finished state, and putting it in the players hands at conventions, but not committing to content unless they know that It is definitely going into the game. DC Universe Online certainly appears to have the quality aspect down...from the tight controls, to beautiful cityscapes and exciting and detailed characters quality won't be an issue. We can only hope that the quantity of the content, is met the same approach.