Tags
MMO, multiplayer, playstyle, preferences, progression, single player, solo, soloer, soloing
The delightful and probably fun to sit around with Syl of MMO Gypsy posed a rhetorical question to the Twitter ether today, asking why anyone would want to play an MMO solo and why they’d want a multiplayer game to design specifically around that playstyle. On the surface, sure, it sounds like pretty much anathema: the idea of an MMO is the “multi” part of that acronym. It’s literally designed to allow thousands of people to do things at once.
Of course, like almost anything else, it’s not quite that simple once you scratch the surface.
The first and most obvious point is that perhaps someone is shy. That’s not exactly a thing that’s new to me, Syl or a lot of others. Being sociable is tricky for some. Even trickier when you’re expected to be the one who helps in a dragon fight.
“Guys, I get nervous around people! AND giant lizards! NONE OF THIS IS OKAY, GUYS!”
I think the bigger thing is the way an MMO feels. The intangible of being in a living, shared world that you sort of grow in. It’s a sensation that no amount of Radian A.I. in an Elder Scrolls game can replicate–sure you’ve got other people milling about, but there’s still a little bit of internal knowledge that they’re there specifically to make you feel among them. They’re actors in your own Truman Show. In an MMO, the people milling about are actually people, and that gives a sense of kinetic energy that is difficult to replicate.
There’s also the matter of gameplay that MMO’s provide. Sure, a single-player RPG has levels and gear and other means of upward power, but there’s just something about having gotten an achievement in an MMO that feels more immediate. More personal. Yes, the NPC you’re talking to is literally having the same conversation with hundreds of other folks, but there’s still this idea that a character you are in this world of others did this thing and earned an item that strikes a more personal sense of achievement. It’s directly associated with you and your efforts. It’s like when you’re in one of those awful water levels in a Mario game and you suddenly get a fire flower. The feeling that you’ve suddenly gotten a LOT stronger and are ready to rip in to more things.
“You’re all-a gonna die now! Hoo-hoo!”
I also feel like MMO’s are more personal because you’ve crafted a character yourself. I mean, there’s RPG’s that have you smoosh your face before being dropped in to their world, but for some reason they all seem to maybe just miss that sense of personal craft.
I think it’s because MMO’s are populated by players granted godly powers, which means each god is an individual, where single-player RPG’s just have you as a god among mortals. It feels somehow more isolated. More lonesome. Sure, you’ve got NPC party members who also can take several sword strikes without having their innards spill out, but it still just is devoid of that personal touch somehow. The idea of individuality among a lot of others. And yes, even though that individuality isn’t guaranteed in build or loadout or stats or outfit, it still is more tangible a sensation than if you’re playing a character in a Fallout or Skyrim. City of Heroes understood this better than most MMO’s, allowing you a range of options to hand-mold your own god. Not only that, this sort of sensation was celebrated and rewarded in community things like costume contests.
A rainbow of solo potential and creativity.
Perhaps it’s all a bit overthought. Maybe it’s just as innocuous as people being shy or having hours that don’t cater to the play times of others or they just don’t have many real-life friends that share their love of game. Still….the solo MMO player isn’t really missing the entire point so much as enjoying the flavor a bit differently. Whatever the reasons are, solo MMO’ing is a playstyle that should be recognized and designed for as much as multiplayer.
Through Wolfy's Eyes 
I’ve been thinking about this topic lately, about to post on my own blog on a related topic. There’s what I think it the crux of the question: what does an MMO give you that a solo open-world RPG like Skyrim doesn’t?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I started a discussion on my own blog on this question. I’m curious to see what other people say: http://psychochild.org/?p=1334
LikeLiked by 1 person
I played City of Heroes back in the day. I remember the costume contests. I was shit at making costumes but people came up with such amazing ideas that I just liked looking around.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And yet, it is an issue if MMORPGs designed around coop are populated by solo players foremost. See FFXIV – there’s always those players complaining about the forced dungeons. I must ask: why? Why is it too much to ask from a coop-centric title with excellent sovial engineering that you group up ‘ONCE’ per dungeon? The game even lets you join pugs easily.
Now to clarify, I never said MMOs shouldn’t allow a degree of soloing – it would be tedious if they didn’t. But for me, the soul of the MMO experience has been and always will be cooperative play with other people. That’s what sets the genre apart from most others.
I agree with your points of course; they are explanations why someone might wanna solo in MMOs. However, that does not touch on the more fundamental question of whether it’s fair to ask MMOs to cater around ‘zero solo play’ and make design decisions around that. I don’t think it is. Playstyle variety is cool, pottering around by yourself is alright but complaining when an MMO asks you to group up is not. Not cool.
It becomes harder and harder these days to know what MMOs even are and it doesn’t help if all of them become more and more sameish. Diversity is near zero while nobody really finds the game anymore that truly suits them. =/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh and thank you for the kind shout-out by the way! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank YOU for the topic of tasty discussion. This is the sort of thing I love to chat and write about, and it’s wonderful to have it with a lovely and prolific individual such as yourself.
So I never really meant to infer that you said ALL solo play is bad, so apologies if that’s what came across. I also agree that making an MMO all solo play is missing the larger point. My point is that solo play is something that should be built and designed for on level with group and raid-tier content, and with the same level of care. Not necessarily the same level of reward, but at least with a satisfying sense of personal progression.
I think TOR is a prime example of how solo design is being done wrong. The stories themselves are, reportedly, some of the best the game has created….but then the only thing to do with other people is some hard-level group stuff a bunch of times. Not sustainable. If BioWare wanted to make a chapter-driven Star Wars game, they should have just “pulled a Telltale Games”.
I didn’t seek to say one is more right than the other. I merely sought to answer why solo play is appealing, and I also feel like they are both playstyles that should be balanced in design.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Solo Mode | Moonshine Mansion