Guild Wars -- interesting ideas

[Andos]

Hey folks,

I ran across this interesting article regarding plans for Guild Wars MMORPG, which has some ideas I'd be interested in getting feedback on.

First is the concept of the "global MMORPG network" for the game so that you are not restricted to a particular server:

If you've got a million people around the world playing your game, why put them into buckets? The way we've got around this is to have every server around the world talk to each other, rather than existing in a vacuum.

That sounds exciting in theory, but I've got a feeling it would be a huge task for a relatively minor payoff... got to think about that for a while.

The other idea is about their quests. Also sounds a good idea, but I'd need more info on how it would work (without being open to abuse).

Anyhow, I'd be interested if anyone has heard any more about this.

Cheers,

Andos

[Robc]

I think the 'one-world' concept is destiny for the MMO space. The 'bucket' comment is a great way to articulate the problem. It is intersting though that one of the folks in the group of MMO developers that I watched in a roundtable at the GDC said it was either a fad, or destined to fail... I can't recall exactly which... but they indicated no future for one world concepts. I would remark that none of the one-world development development teams were represented on this particular panel.

Anyway, one world with embedded instances... seems like a winning combo, for now. I believe that eventually the one-world concept without too many embedded instances can eventually succeed on its own.

I did find it fascinating the amount of technical effort they put into maintianing a matrix of NPC contacts in Guild Wars to create relevant instances for each player. I think this is unique and a good and necesary evolutionary step in the genre. But... eventually that computational power would be better spent allowing real dynamic, player specific, and unique content generation in the one world. There are only technical and manpower limitations to this now. The technical limitations will be overcome and when they are then I belive the manpower requirements will drop down to profitable levels. My 2 cents.

[Robc]

I think that this article will also contribute to ideas about Guild Wars in this thread:

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20...illen_01.shtml

[Darkov]

But GW treats a game world as a place to find a fight, not as a home.

In current mmo you become part of a larger community, in GW you become part of a larger war, a tournament with a spice of questing to build a few friendships and learn how to play.

[Robc]

Originally posted by Darkov
But GW treats a game world as a place to find a fight, not as a home.

Which I would argue is exactly what many existing MMO players actually want when they log in every night, many of the existing crop of players do not respect or care what an MMO 'could be' nor do they care what MUDs or tabletop gaming is like and role playing is not even in their vocabulary. They are in it for the fight... it is therefore probably not a bad formula from a sales and marketing perspective.