Minor MMO design features

It is fair to say that I spend a lot of time on Epic Slant talking about very broad MMO design theories and systems. If anything, that type of article is somewhat like a “what if” comic book and is based on an ideal that is not easily achieved. They are, to be quite honest, a form of entertainment with the hopes that a designer somewhere will steal a piece of a very large idea and use it. In short they’re fun to write and, for a lot of people, fun to read. Today I want to shift from broad systems to very narrow ones.

How often do we take a moment and look at all the little things that we really appreciate in MMOs? Today I want to take the opportunity to talk about small changes that can be made to our games to make them better. I also want to invite everyone else to do the same. What are some features that don’t involve massively changing the status quo that you would like to see? They don’t need to be easy to implement but they do need to be small scale. Hopefully my examples will make it a bit more clear what I mean.

MMO Roads

Centuries ago, the Romans understood that it was important to build good roads throughout their empire to ensure swift troop movement and healthy trade. Most MMOs are crisscrossed by an elaborate set of paths, trails and roads in a very similar fashion. The main difference is that they’re entirely aesthetic. Instead of facilitating swift movement and collecting a community together, they do little more than point players in the appropriate direction. We’ve been trained to know that eventually a road will lead you somewhere and it is usually safe.

The important question to ask is why? Why don’t roads give some sort of movement bonus? If they did so, it would facilitate speedier travel and a new way to build a community. If one of the primary methods of “fast travel” was based around following highways, you would find numerous players using them. Instead of the occasional passerby, you would have a busy road where players would see each other and possibly chat, trade or both. You could even take this a step further and include a rest area with vendors ever so often to encourage more of these activities. Since most MMOs already have solid road systems, the only real trick is to add the speed buff.

The speed mechanic should be kept as simple as possible (in function, not design). Large paved roads could give players up to a 100% speed bonus that stacks with everything (so no cheating players on horses out of super fast travel). As the roads get narrower and less permanent the buff would scale down. In my eyes this would do a bit more to engage players than /afk flight paths. If the travel times were not excessive, players wouldn’t complain and you’d recreate the sense of scale. It isn’t a big feature but I think it would go a long way.

Guild Search

It seems to me that MMOs tend to be very hit or miss when it comes to their /who features. Some are quite robust while others are really sad. There have been numerous occasions when I’ve sought to find out information on a guild and ended up blocked or frustrated in some way. It is no secret that I think guilds are important to the health and success of an MMO so this particular feature will probably not come as a shock to anyone. I would like to see a slightly more detailed /who result for guilds.

When it comes to finding a guild, there is a lot of research to do and a lot of games have been building that ability in lately. Not everyone has, however, and some put too much information out there to be useful. To keep things simple, I think it would be really great if there was a special /who argument that would show you everyone online for a guild and somehow make it apparent who officers are. It could be something as easy as a different color name or a little icon. There should just be some really easy way for an outsider to know who is in charge.

If a developer would like to expand on that feature they could, of course, allow the guilds to set who receives the icon instead of making it generic to the officer flag. Ultimately that wouldn’t be necessary but it would be a great feature to hide raid leaders and highlight recruitment officers. Having multiple flags would be great. I’d even love to see something by their guild tag in the world. Anything to clue curious players in and help facilitate better relations.

I’d really enjoy reading about some other minor features that you guys would like. I am certain there are a ton of really small things that really urk you in a big way. Let me know what they are and you might end up seeing them in a game one day! You never know! Just remember to keep it simple and as low level as possible. We don’t need an essay on leveling curves and gear progression!