Future MMOs – Dynamic Scalable Content?

Frequent readers of Epic Slant probably know my predilection for talking about design features that used to exist but are now lost to antiquity. Rarely, if ever, do I talk about future features that we may one day see in our games. That is exactly what I aim to do today.

Dynamic Scalable Content is what I see as a leading front runner for the way we’ll experience the MMOs of tomorrow. Imagine, if you can, a dungeon that will tailor itself in difficulty, reward and goals based on the number of characters in your group and possibly the classes of them.

This would destroy the ever present struggle of solo versus group and group versus raid as we know it. Developers, in essence, could use the same content to reward all player types. To discuss exactly what I mean it is best to use an example. So that I don’t totally break with tradition we’ll use a classical setting: Lower Guk.

For this we’ll compare the experiences of Nedserd, Lerrud and Nelleav in their Guk adventures. Nedserd is a casual raider and group aficionado. Lerrud likes to group on occasion but usually prefers to solo. Nelleav is quite hard core and always rolls out with the best players at his side. They all go to Lower Guk at the same time but no two players have the same story of what happened! Obviously Lower Guk is now an instance. Otherwise we couldn’t get any further in our narrative.

Nedserd shows up with five friends and they zone in together. The zone reads six characters, looks at present classes, and starts to generate the encounters they’ll face. The map itself will not change but the mob behavior, rewards and difficulty will. The first thing they see is that all the monsters are an equivalent level to the group average. This makes them difficult enough but rewarding for all as long as the level range stays similar. Another thing that becomes apparent is that Nedserd can’t pull just one froglok ghoul at a time. Usually two or three come! The challenge is on. When these dastardly ghouls do die they tend to drop loot of quality that a group of six would expect and for the classes in attendance! Everything culminates in a final boss that is difficult but not impossible because their group class make up isn’t “perfect.” With everything slain and all the loot handed out the dungeon is over and everyone is happy!

Meanwhile, Lerrud is gleefully making his way through Lower Guk as well. He decided he would go it alone today and found that the majority of froglok ghouls are his level or lower and come in single pulls. Occasionally he dies due to his inattentiveness while smoking but the difficulty is just enough to be fun. After a few boss fights he finishes up with some lower quality loot for his class and a feeling of accomplishment.

Nelleav, on the other hand, is quite upset. Tonight ,instead of the 24 players that signed up for his raid, only 22 showed up. Oh well, the loot will be slightly worse or in lower quantity but the raid goes on! Nelleav zones his team into Lower Guk and finds that the ghouls are much more powerful now! Many are of epic proportion and dangerous. Each boss requires tactics, strategy and time to best but the reward is quite good. A few hours later they’re done the would-be raiders leave satisfied.
Obviously, for the time being, this is science fiction instead of reality but the possibility is there. Computing power doubles almost twice a year it seems and developers get better and better. Dynamic Scalable Content just makes sense because it reduces the load on everyone while increasing the amount of content. We can only hope this comes sooner than later and I can point back to this blog post and says, “look here, I wasn’t crazy!”