MMORPGs: Open-ended structure versus storytelling technique |
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What appeals most to you in your MMORPG? Is it the experience of knowing that it's a world and you can do anything you want in it or is it the appeal of structure, of story? NCSoft director Thomas Bidaux discusses the appeal - and importance - of both for MMORPGs.In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Bidaux explains that an MMORPG needs a certain mix of two concepts: the Sandbox, where the game is a lot more open-ended and you are immersed in the world more than the activities, and the Theme Park, where the appeal lies with the objectives the game gives you and is more like going through a story.
The two concepts appeal to two different types of gamers and are used by developers for different things. The Theme Park model, for example, attracts more people. The Sandbox, on the other hand, makes the people stay. Bidaux explains that MMORPGs need a good combination of both, but ultimately both attract their own kind of gamers:
Ultimately you need a bit of both in all the games if you want to be sustainable in the long term. A sandbox is the ultimate time drain, people will spend years playing a game if they can do anything in it. On the other hand, if you want them to start a game, you need to have that theme park element too.
Some people will always be drawn by theme parks, and some people will always be drawn by virtual worlds. The one kind of game won't kill off the other, it would be naïve to think that, there's an audience for both.
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