Comments on: Player-Created Dungeons in MMOs

By: Quin

Quin — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:12:21 +0000

Like all players, I love new content. However, I have some problems with this concept. I fear that after voting on dungeons you will lose the genuine feel of being in the virtual world. I can picture myself walking through a new player-created zone and instead of believing my character is actually part of the world I would be thinking about how this is just a map created and voted on.

For example, lets vote on character models instead of zones and lets use Illidan as our character from WoW. Think of how less bad ass he would be if you knew his weapons were not ancient blades of destruction but instead were some popular graphic the MMO population chose. In my opinion it takes away the magic.

By: Galaji

Galaji — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:22:17 +0000

Just want to go back and say, what I tossed out was very similar to point #2 on Random-Battle. (just reading it now)
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The key difference is that my thinking was based more off a dynamic loot system (AC) vs. a static system (EQ, WoW).
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Static systems will lead to farming because people will know what they’re getting (or have a chance of getting) every time. Dynamic systems will most likely end up with varied dungeons since you’d have the same changes at something valuable dropping (in a new dungeon vice a replayed one) and prefer a new experience to go with it.
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But this all leads into a topic that I’ll be covering another time.
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~Galaji

By: Galaji

Galaji — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:16:13 +0000

The ideas mentioned all seem to be focused on giving the players COMPLETE control to make their creations.

Why not just use a little trick to allow the players to think they have control when they really don’t?

What do I mean by this? How about allowing players to make a dungeon out of template pieces. Maybe whole rooms that have already been designed and set aside. It could go so far as to say Room A comes premade with 5 goblins in it.

Take this a step further and you could allow new dungeon makers only X construction points, and associate costs with each template they want to place.

Requirements could be further placed on some larger rooms that contain “boss” type mobs. Perhaps requiring a set number of minion type rooms to be placed before the boss room can be put in.

This would implement what amounts to a new crafting system to the game where players are allowed a reasonable amount of control and customization options (textures/mob types) and will also provide for an alternate advancement option for them if they choose to pursue it. (dungeon maker level / points)

Of course, I’m no designer and this is just an idea made up on the fly. But my main point here is don’t think player made content means players should be let loose to do as they will with a toolset. Its all about giving them something they think is powerful, cool and fun.

~Galaji

By: Cameron Sorden

Cameron Sorden — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:35:20 +0000

I responded to your comment back on my blog.

Good post.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:18:07 +0000

Ty’s completely right — this is the kind of system (like most which have the potential to dramatically improve gameplay) that would have to be implemented from the very core of the design of a game.

Retrofitting a system like this to save a fading game would probably not end well.

By: Ty

Ty — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:39:24 +0000

I can see a great idea hidden in here somewhere, somewhere way down deep. Company X has me beta testing Game Y. Company X releases game Y. Company X has me still beta testing game Y. Company X has a working game Y 6 months and 23 patches later. Game Y has a broken end game. Company X has found a way to fix Game Y’s broken endgame…Let the players do it.

I can see a great idea hidden in here somewhere, but until it’s built in from the ground up, it’s just a user created patch for broken game.