This is something I was planning to write from at least two weeks so that it could fit as a premise for some ideas I got and that are a sharp swerve from my previous positions.
It’s about the use of the “quests” in these games. What they represent, their appeal. And if their potential is fully used or if there’s still space for something else.
On F13 I wrote a short summary of the functional role of the quests in World of Warcraft. Which is a direct innovation on the very poor implementation and lack of direction and purpose of the previous games:
In a mmorpg the “kill10rats” model is about an “excuse” to disguise the treadmill. The strict purpose of this quest is that you gain experience and get loot. These quests are excuses so that the process seems more varied (kill10 this, then move and kill10 of that, instead of just plain grinding in one spot). Once you killed those 10 rats, you are exactly in the same situation of before. The quest is no more availiable and you pass on something else. But the quest itself, has no purpose or actual sense in the world. It was there as a pretence, not as a strong, motivating element. An “extra” in the game, not the subject of the game.
I want to move away from those “functional” considerations to see what these “quests” can be. DAoC is a game that has a completely different approach to them.
Whoa! As you can see that’s a helluva lots of text. It’s crazy for those players that are used to the few lines of “context” (often humorous and lightweight) that come with a quest in WoW.
This is one of the newest quests in the game, added in the last patch with the purpose to give some Champion experience and fill some of the gap in that content. Their functional role is good, in fact they (very) partially addressed one problem I pointed. I also think that the writing is excellent, the same for the other 4/5 quests similar to that one. There’s really nothing to complain here, these quests are really well written and interesting.
But then I’m back to write, more or less, the same things I wrote about the graphic and content: a pretty surface, but, if you scratches below, there’s not much left.
The problem is the gameplay that is offered. While what happens “in the text” is rather good and appealing, what happens *for the player* isn’t really so breathtaking. I took this quest as the example because it actually takes advantage from the fact that “nothing happens” (see the last dialogue. when I did it I was really looking forward to a fight. It fooled me perfectly). But then we are still back at the essential. This is a fetch quests. A wonderfully written one, but still a fetch quest.
The gameplay here is:
– speak with “questgiver” (click, click, click through text till end) ->
– move to NPC1/checkpoint1 (click, click, click through text till end) ->
– move to NPC2/checkpoint2 (click, click, click through text till end) ->
– move to NPC3/checkpoint3 (click, click, click through text till end) ->
– return to questgiver (click, click, click through text till end) ->
– Got reward! Some coins and the Champion experience I needed.
I got the reward (reason to do all that) because I “endured” the process. 90% of the time I spent doing that quest was about reading, 10% was about running around (the directions were good, thankfully). All in all the quest was satisfactory and I liked the text. Still I was somewhat annoyed by having to read all that, and then read more, and then walk, and then read again. I had to repeat this for all the 4-5 quests and it was tiring. I’m also one of those players that just won’t do a quest without forcing myself to read everything and understand. I don’t want to leave anything out. And I think that, in exchange, I had to read something worthwhile.
Still it was a strain.
On Raph’s blog Amberyl (Lydia Leong) wrote a wonderful comment that also triggered my reasonings:
I’m not convinced that MMORPG players aren’t capable of reading, or don’t like reading. I don’t think they like reading the text that they’re presented in today’s MMORPG, in the context that it’s presented in.
You’re talking about a demographic that also devours 800-page Robert Jordan novels. Clearly they like reading *sometimes*.
That’s also what I’m convinced about. I have no problem reading and I like it. I do plenty of reading in front of the PC and I love reading in some old games (Ultima series, the two Ultima Underword, System Shock). But I have a problem with the “presentation” and the context. That’s exactly what doesn’t work and could be improved.
In the quest I brought as an example above the text seems to get in the way of the game, not part of it. Again, you are rewarded if you read it (well-written text) but it’s still felt as an intrusion. Something that doesn’t seem to belong there. An ‘extra’ text (once again) that in that case is getting a tad too much “inflated”.
Now the point is, Mythic seems to have some good writers, and then some wonderful artists. These are precious *resources* and they seem good. Isn’t there a better way to use them? Would it be possible to move the text there (without changing it) to a different context to make it more meaningful and with a more appropriate “presentation”? Is there a way to valorize that text?
I don’t mean changing the font and making it more readable. I mean transforming it in a *subject* (and value) of the game instead of just an ‘extra’ that most of the players would (and will) rather skip (the outcome is the same, your “duty” is to click till the end till you “ding” the reward. Nothing could go wrong).
The “solutions” to these problems will be the subject of another article. But I’ll anticipate that these ideas I have will be about recovering that functional purpose that made the text in those old games I quoted so relevant and… fun.
P.S.
A few notes to complete the observations about the “quests” but that don’t add to the points I wanted to address here.
There are some noteworthy differences between the fetch quests in DAoC and those in WoW:
1- The amount of text (with the amount of text in one DAoC quest you could probably make 10+ quests in WoW)
2- In WoW there aren’t many fetch quests. The great majority of the quests pivot around practical gameplay, like kill things, collect things, explore, reach a particular point, figure out something simple, etc… Often a mix of all these.
3- When there are “pure” fetch quests or fetch components, they are mostly to be serviceable (purposes). Like leading the players in a new zone where they’ll continue the journey, make them discover particular spots, point to them in a precise way. Summarizing: to direct the players.
Quoting Raph:
Many many MMO devs disagree with you. I have heard many MMO devs cite “story” as the principal reason and strength for MMOs, for example. I happen to disagree with that, but there’s little doubt that this rigid control is a major success factor for WoW.
These comparisons give a good idea about the weaknesses of DAoC’s questing system compared to WoW.
(/sad that Raph didn’t comment my remark…)