Common MMO Myths

I’ve had quite a week when it comes to MMO design. It would be fair to say that I am involved in numerous polite and less than polite discussions on a variety of subjects ranging from grouping to PvP. Given the topics that are flying around I thought it might be fun to tackle a couple of inflammatory subjects and dispel the myths around them (or just outright call them myths). The worst possible case is angry readers with torches and pitch forks arriving at my door. On the up side, however, we might have some solid discussion and understanding on these subjects.

Myth One – Forced Grouping

The biggest myth that I have seen continuously perpetuated is forced grouping. I consider this a myth for two major reasons: it is based around EverQuest and a tiny minority of MMOs but expanded to include anything where someone forwards the development of group content and, more importantly, it wasn’t even true in EQ1. To ensure that there is no ambiguity and that we are all on the same page I would like to define my terms. When I hear “forced grouping” I read it as “there is no way to effectively level in an MMO without a group.” I do not read it as “soloing is not the most efficient and effective way to level and is possible on my (the player’s) terms.” If you choose to reply be sure you qualify on which definition (or give your own) that you’re working. It will save us all a lot of heart burn.

I’m certain a large portion of readers would check that first paragraph and think, “Ferrel, you’re on crack. EQ1 was all about grouping.” To those of you with that thought I would agree! EverQuest did focus on grouping! It, however, did not force you to group. Soloing was not only possible but highly effective! People just want to gloss that fact over, however, because some limits were imposed. You could solo quite effectively right out of the box with a necromancer or druid. Over time shaman, bards and beastlords were added to that list. Other classes could solo but admittedly not as well. I can also argue the fact that twinking further opened up soloing options to players who wanted a second character. Can every class solo at all times? No, they cannot. Was it possible to solo effectively in the game? Absolutely yes if you accepted the terms.

I would also like to point out that EverQuest was also extremely duo friendly. A lot of people write off the “small group” dynamic. There is a large degree of separation between six players and three. You could, quite effectively, level in pairs and in threes in EQ1. That was the way I generally did it. Thus, many of the arguments against grouping in general can be seen as slightly exaggerated. Finding only one or two more players is a lot easier than finding five or six. Even if you were “forced” to level in pairs (by my definition), that isn’t as big of a burden as “forced grouping” is made out to be.

When it comes right down to it I can’t think of any American originated MMO that actually forces you to group (by my definition). There just isn’t some historical precedence of forced grouping to speak of. I can think of a few that focused on grouping and made soloing seem less desirable, but that is a different issue. I maintain that this is an acceptable practice. We absolutely must be able to log on and achieve something alone. That doesn’t mean that needs to be the best way to achieve everything though. Others might disagree and I look forward to the discussion about it!

Myth Two – “Mad PvP Skillz”

Another myth that I see come up a lot is that defeating your opponent in PvP is based more on skill than mechanics. In all honesty this is one of those things that I absolutely do not believe. I say that not because I am a “PvE preferring care-bear” but because of the basic foundation by which MMOs are designed. Those are things you can’t explain away.

Once more I have to define terms to ensure we’re all on the same page. I am not, in any way, suggesting that no skill comes into the playing of MMOs (PvP or PvE). There are skilled players, average players, unskilled players and a million levels in between. When I am talking about skills I am talking about a player’s ability to to overcome another player when they are on equal or semi-equal footing by those skills alone. To make it abundantly clear I am saying that success via skill can only be measured when all things are as close to equal as possible.

It is important to make this distinction because human beings seem to believe that when something positive occurs it was generally due to their direct influence. We feel great when we hit a home run, land a job after a successful interview, or achieve anything else because we used our abilities and skills to make it happen. While in reality that can often be true that doesn’t always translate over to the MMO world. At the very foundation an MMO creates a situation where it is virtually impossible to ensure equal or semi-equal odds between two players. By design there are too many disparities for a fair fight and as such wins (or losses) cannot logically be attributed to skills as often as they are. Lets take a moment and look at some of the more obvious ones.

Level disparity is one of the biggest reasons why a PvP fight will never be fair or based on skill alone. It is also the poster child for what we call “griefing.” When two players go head to head their level has a massive hand in deciding who wins a match. This is especially true in MMOs that give substantial upgrades per level. Even in relatively “level flat” games, however, too much level disparity leads to an impossible to win situation. I am very confident that if you took the best PvP player in the entire world (PvP prime) and then grabbed an average Joe PvPer, put them in WoW as the same class, and then gave the average player an additional 20 levels, the winner would almost certainly be the average player in every occurrence. Some might argue that the skilled player could win and I would agree. That player could win but, despite their skill, they would consistently lose over and over again. Skill cannot over come this disparity consistently enough. If it could you would have a lot less griefers because they would run the risk of defeat.

Given that the foundation upon which most MMO progression is based is inherently “anti-skill,” it makes the argument hard to accept. I will concede that at “max level” that disparity goes away but I’m not done yet! We haven’t talked about number two of the “major disparity trinity!” I am talking about, of course, loot. Once again I have to point out that in a gear-centric MMO, either heavy or light, gear can lead to a huge swing of power. For this one I had to go to real game representation! Lets look at two pieces of loot for a comparison.

These items are of equivalent level but widely different in power (and I even compared a blue to a purple so nobody would cry foul, it could have been a green). Once more I have to go back to my example of PvP prime vs average Joe. If Joe had the superior weapon and prime had the weaker one, Joe is going to win far more often based simply on mechanics. We’re also just talking about a single item! The disparity can spread across multiple item slots and lead to huge swing in advantage. I know what you’re thinking, though. You’re thinking, “But Ferrel, we could both be max level and have gear of equal power! Then that would actually be a chance to show off our skillz!” Unfortunately, you’d still be wrong, which leads me to the last of the trinity: class disparity.

When it comes to class disparity we have to focus on two major parts: balance and paper-rock-scissors. Both are very important and illustrate how skills have less to do with an MMO PvP encounter than mechanics. Balance is always a sticky issue in an MMO. The more classes and specializations you have the harder it is to ensure a somewhat fair chance to all players during game play. It is inevitable that at all times you’ll have a few classes that are slightly too powerful, a few that are slightly too weak, some that are dead on and one that is so far outside the curve that it makes players balk. That alone will ensure that most classes will never offer a balanced challenge against each other. This is minor when you consider another MMO foundation that I have nicknamed “paper-rock-scissors (PRS).”

It isn’t true that every game uses the PRS model but lets face facts and accept that most of them do. What I mean by that is that each class pretty much has a clearly defined predator and prey. The lightly armored magic user destroys the heavy tank who, in turn, destroys the medium armored assassin who pokes a ton of holes in the original magic user. Many games use this model to differentiate their classes and give them a role. That leads me to why I think class disparity is part of the trinity. How much skill does it take for a player who is playing a predator class to destroy its prey class? You’re already given a huge advantage! Show me the prey that destroys the predator consistently and I will start to consider skill if all other things are equal.

Now that I’ve explained just the trinity, (and those aren’t the only disparities), the only true test of skill against skill would be in confrontations occurring between characters with the same gear and of the same class and level. Then, and only then, we would have a fair conflict that would truly show who had the most skillz, right? I am afraid the answer is no, we would not.

There is one final major consideration when it comes to how MMOs are designed that ensure we never truly have a comparison of skills alone. I am referring to the random number generator that makes up the very core of any role-playing game. Unlike a first person shooter where players are given a cross hair and a cone of fire with a finite spread, MMOs rely on “dice.” In a shooter you can aim at a target, factor in the spread, and generate numerous hits and near misses consistently. An MMO on the other hand can lead to truly divergent numbers. You could have a lucky streak of critical hits or an unlucky streak of misses. Nothing the player can actively do will influence those rolls. The best we can hope to do is limit the range of them. The final decision about who wins is ultimately up to random chance. PvP prime can be defeated by average Joe simply by luck alone that no amount of skill can avoid. No one escapes the streaks without exploiting.

Given the facts about how MMOs are designed I frequently find myself confused when a PvP player becomes hostile when you suggest that they don’t win by their skill alone. I imagine it is just the nature of being human that we want to believe that what we do has a disproportionate amount of influence in what occurs, even if it doesn’t. We can play perfectly and still lose in PvP or PvE. PvPers, no matter how much they want to suggest otherwise, aren’t any more skilled than PvE players. Does it take more effort to kill a player than an AI controlled mob? Sure! Is it so much more so that they can continually claim to be the only true MMO players? Absolutely not. After all, a player, much like a mob, has a class, certain statistics and only so many abilities. They might be brighter than a mob but the rules apply and the rules say “mad skillz” can only take you so far. After that it is all of the disparities and random luck because that is the fundamental design of the game.

I realize that this particular article is quite a wall of text and for that I apologize! I wanted to include more than one myth because forced grouping is awfully short even if PvP skills is awfully long. I’m interested in seeing what you think and the many rebuttals to my arguments!