Multiplayer Sub-Genres I’d Like to Like (But Can’t Yet)

Tags

i wish i may i wish i might perhaps ill play these games awright, MMO, mmorpg, multiplayer, multiplayer strategy, new genre, pvp, pvp mmo, pvp mmorpg, sandbox, sandbox mmo, sandbox mmorpg, strategy, strategy game, survival, survival sandbox

A couple of years ago or so, I kind of made a promise to myself that I would investigate more sandbox MMORPGs in an effort to appreciate just what the hell it was made them perceptibly better than themepark MMORPGs. After some time achieving a bit of this by way of the Choose My Adventure column, I can kind of say that there are sandbox games that I genuinely enjoy even if I pretty much grew up in this genre with themeparks (I don’t think EQOA or FFXI count as “true” sandboxes here).

So with that idea in mind, it has me thinking… maybe there are other MMO and multiplayer sub-genres that I can dig in to? So that’s today’s topic: What other kinds of game types could I try to dive in to and find enjoyment in?

How Rend Changed My PvP Mind

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MMO, mmorpg, pvp, realm vs realm, rend, rvr, rvr mmo, sandbo, sandbox mmo, sandbox pvp

PvP and I have a weird relationship. When it comes to playing games solo or in a cooperative situation I can dance on the keybindings like a piano virtuoso, but put me in a combat situation in front of another live person and suddenly I end up being no better than if I rolled my face up and down the keyboard.

So with that in mind, my recent MMORPG curiosities seem to be going against type. I continue to be intrigued by developing games like Crowfall and Ashes of Creation and kind of leapt at the opportunity to give Rend’s alpha build a peek when I had the chance to. And though my time during said tests was a bit on the short side, it really did help build a small bridge between my brain and PvP.

Or to reference the game itself, let the PvP tree grow.

A Pirate’s Life for Some

Tags

beta test, closed beta test, MMO, multiplayer, online multiplayer, pve, pvp, pvpve, sandbox, sandbox gaming, sandbox mmo, sea of thieves, stress test, test

Over the past couple of weekends, Sea of Thieves has been running some stress tests. Granted, these are specifically meant to push the walls of their server capacity and are less about refining game systems or even adding new game systems entirely. With that said, my time in-game and in the forums has shown me that Rare Ltd. have a lot to do and a number of unanswered questions related to player griefing and its form of PvP.

Or what I’m referring to as “Ferry of the Damned Syndrome”.

Crucial, Complete Crafting

Tags

artcraft, crafter, crafting, crowfall, MMO, mmo crafting, mmorpg, mmorpg crafting, pve, pvp, sandbox

For the past couple of days, I’ve been granting a lot of my attention to Crowfall, the in-development “throne war MMO” by ArtCraft. It’s one of the two open sandbox PvP MMOs that have me actually anxious to play despite being an assumed gankbox hellscape, and most of that excitement is spawned from the way Crowfall approaches crafting.

Yes, I’m getting excited by a UI element. If that bores you, I can’t help that.

How Atlas Reactor Made Me Like PvP

Tags

arena, Atlas Reactor, MMO, pvp, shooter, tactics, Trion Worlds, turn-based

I don’t pretend to be very good at PvP. When it comes to dungeons or certain raids, I’ll become the linchpin or try like hell to refine my combat skills, but PvP has always completely eluded me. Rotations that I otherwise would have down complete are suddenly lost to me, and I turn in to a jittery mess.

So that’s why it’s such an amazing thing to me that Atlas Reactor has not only cleansed me a bit of those nerves, but also has made me actually want to engage in PvP.

Admittedly, controlling a pastel robot helps.

The Convenience Store MMO

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convenience, focus, game design, MMO, mmo design, pve, pvp

Convenience stores are kind of awesome, right? Where else can you get fuel for your car, band-aids, headache medicine, copious amounts of beef jerky, beer and cigarettes all at the same place? And within a reasonable amount of time to boot? They’re pretty fantastic. But the design model of a convenience store has its flaws, and those flaws are inherent in MMO’s that follow the same sort of model.

Make Me a MOBA

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combat, Gigantic, MOBA, overwatch, pvp, shooter, team based

MOBA’s, like most PvP-related games, are one of those things that I watch from the outside looking in with a mixture of curiosity, jealousy and concern.  I have a weird compulsion to try one out but worries about both the behavior of myself and others as well as my own performance bringing down everything.

See, PvP things are one of those styles of game where I try it out, get annoyed, hate myself, ragequit, then come back to after a while to try again.  It’s the same thing I feel with strategy and bullet hell shooters.  I love to hate them.  It’s masochism.

“WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF?!”

My Kind of PvP

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carebear, competition, MMO, player vs player, pvp, realm vs realm, rvr

As a self-described Professional Hug Ninja, I don’t often focus on the competitive nature of gaming.  I barely play fighting games, I have only succeeded in bringing my team down in online shooting matches, and I have had some marginal prowess in online battles in MechWarrior 3 and 4…and that was because of the handicap that was playing other people online over a 25k internet connection.

“CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!” *SKKEEEEERRRRRRSSHHHSHHHSKK!*

Frayed Fan Edges

Tags

fanrage, fans, gamers, haters, MMO, pve, pvp, trolls

Most of my blogs try to accentuate the positive, because there’s more than enough negativity fluttering around like butterflies made of fart out there.  That said, this sorta thing can be daunting as hell.  Whoever said that it takes more muscles to make a frown than to make a smile probably never worked in customer service.  Or never tried to adore a thing despite all the negativity.  Or was on some next-level medication that let you taste auras.  So, with that said, I’m gonna lay out why being a positive fan of gaming is probably the most exhausting thing since watching a reality show.

“This feels completely normal!!”

I suppose I should maybe elaborate on what I’m going on about and what prompted this whole blog post this week.  One of my favorite games, WildStar, has been beset by a whole slew of bad news, from layoffs to exit interviews blasting management to outright cancelling Christmas.  It’s been a trying time enjoying Nexus.  Even more trying when the majority of the circles one inhabits are giddily digging the title’s grave.

This is just a log on a whole bonfire of crap that I’ve been exposed to.  Excellent blog-fu’ist J3w3l made a great post a couple days ago about PvP and bad behaviour.  It prompted a series of generally civil but nonetheless heated opinions in the comments area, which then prompted a rather stern and stupendously snarly response in defense of PvP playstyle and its inner culture…which I can’t say isn’t uncalled for.  It might not have been an appropriate response, but I’ve been precisely there myself before.

Granted, this is all stuff that is easily, completely under my control to limit.  The problem is twofold.  One, the very point of MMOs, even if I find PUG’ing terrifying and horrible, is the sense of community.  Community that plays amongst as well as with each other.  Community that forms little groups and guilds and cliques and events.  Comment sections are that too–a microcosm of hobbyists.  So it’s hard not to want to engage and maybe make some connections there.

Two…I’m probably a complete idiot.

…possibly.

So when some people appear to conspire and rail against your chosen form of game or your chosen playstyle or even you fucking gaming platform of choice…it’s difficult to not be affected by that a little bit.  Even the most aloof and shoulder-shruggingly chill among us has a nerve that can be tapped.  Repeated exposure to the bullshit of others will get through.  We’re all porous in that regard.

It all seems to stem from this continual tribe-creating mentality that has been in gaming ever since the NES and Master System were things that people could buy.  What started as a matter of two companies vying for marketshare exploded into this camp-building clusterfuck where the value of people’s very lives depended on their choice of Plastic TV Gamer Box.  The Console Wars were birthed, and they have since spawned to further perpetuate more tribe creation.

So too is it with MMO games.

I can’t tell you how often I have very nearly felt like a sort of scumbag because I enjoy WildStar.  It’s absolutely insane, I know, believe me….but it’s happened.  On more than one occasion.  You start to think that there’s something fundamentally wrong with your synapses and that perhaps maybe the people who are tearing apart your favorite title are seeing something that you don’t.

Batshit, I know.  But replace “WildStar” with any other game you’ve loved, or gaming platform, or even playstyle…see if that doesn’t make your teeth grit just that little bit at the memory.

Pretty sure this image will meet my daily internet meme quota.

So when things start to get to that point where the completely subjective opinion of others affects my enjoyment, that’s when I tend to sever contact.  Not to run away from some horrible truth, but to just turn off the hissing staticy radio.

And that’s sorta what this is all about.  Signal to noise.

I’ve grown up watching this whole internet thing proliferate into the weird, wobbly-ass monster it is today, and overall I am stunned and amazed at where it’s headed.  I’ve also been exposed to enough people, digitally and literally, to know when someone is trying to yank my chain.  It’s significantly worse digitally, what with the cloak of invisibility we all hide behind…but through the horribly typed nonsense and unnecessary snark, the same tactics and same hissing static is there.

So that’s when you rise above the wriggling worms and head to the sunshine of your enjoyment.  That’s when you just…shut off that avenue that people speed along to run your ass over.  At least for a little while.  Get back in to that thing you love, really listen to the music and sound effects and clicking of your keystrokes or button presses and just…fuckin’ enjoy, man.

…or woman. Sorry.

Being a fan of a thing is hard as hell, and we have more ways than ever to connect to one another and call each other a shitweasel.  The point isn’t to shut out dissenting opinion or to even select only those who fit your personal narrative.  It’s to find the ones who can understand the solidarity of being a gamer or a fan of a thing.  We’re all just looking to have some fun.  It’s not that unheard of that different people can agree to that, right?

Enjoying stuff isn’t tearing down someone else’s stuff or snatching away that person’s toys.  It’s being with others to heighten communal enjoyment, and maybe even discuss amongst ourselves the stuff we do and play and come to at least an understanding…or bare minimum an agreement to disagree.  I’m not gonna adore PvP, but…yanno what?  Reading that blog post made me realize that even my PvE-lovin’ ass can understand that loving a thing is hard.

That’s how you cross lines and clink beer steins, my friends.

The Shifting Paradigm

Tags

angry ferrets, crowdfunding, MMO, pvp, sandbox, themepark

As I stated before in my prior post, choices are wonderful, and what’s out now are wonderful choices.  That said, I have to take a small bit of agreement with those who believe that MMOs are stagnating, design-wise.  At least the current crop of releases.  I enjoy looking out the same window when it has pretty enough drapes hanging in front of it, but there is something to be said for replacing that window or changing up the actual view outside.

The only way this isn’t a trope is my screaming yellow armor.

So as much as I enjoy themeparks, their rides and even the stories they tell…it’s nice to see the winds of change beginning to blow across the MMO landscape.  And it’s not just sandboxes either.  We’re seeing sandbox and game designs that focus on a playstyle, a dynamic, or building a captivating world that you can live in.

I’ll admit that my expectations were tempered with cynicism.  The only other sandbox experience I’ve had is EVE Online, and that was just a level of horror and pain on a psychological front that was so jarring and so damaging that it has continued to steer my view of sandbox games and their designs to the realm of worst case scenario.  The interest of self-preservation has taken over my instincts to the point where it’s irrational.  I hated EVE.  I hate the way it made me feel.  I hate that the simple act of flying my chunky metal lunchbox from point A to point B carried the risk of someone blowing me to smithereens and the only protection against it was a money sink when I barely had any money.  It’s why I dislike any PvP-related game, be it an MMO or most modern shooters or a MOBA.  The idea of being wrecked and ridiculed isn’t my concept of a good time.  It’s akin to entering a small box full of angry ferrets.

“Manage your f**king lane, noob!”

So what is it that made me change my mind?  A personal New Year’s resolution, actually.

I realize how completely stupid that sounds, but allow me to explain.  By the time New Year’s came around I was up to my neck in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.  I was having a great time.  But I also felt that switching things up would be a good idea…so I promised myself that I would try to get in to one of these sandbox games that I’d read about coming down the pipe and find out what all the huge fuss was genuinely about. I would work to battle against my prior prejudices in the interest of getting my feet wet.  I usually say “You can’t hate it without knowing it”, so it was time to put my money where my mouth was.

The first of these games I backed was The Repopulation. My reasoning was that it was the closest to the game that a lot of people cite as “sandbox done right”: Star Wars Galaxies.  I completely missed the boat on SWG, but to hear some people opine for it you’d think that it actually issued a cloud of endorphins from your computer right into your nasal passages.  Reading about it has enticed me, too–here was an open world game that didn’t demand you PvP in order to play the way you wanted.  Sure, there were some mechanics that pretty much shoehorned one into that playstyle, and of course some managed to twist the game mechanics to their advantage…but by and large, this was a game that, apparently, was a progenitor for sandbox MMO design and did it far more correctly than the ones out currently.

So I tossed the project $25 in January during its second round of crowdfunding via Kickstarter.  Initially, it was a knee-jerk maneuver: the game was similar enough to SWG that it suited my resolution fulfillment needs, and I had the money to burn.  But as I read more and more about the game, and heard more and more about how this little project kept updating at such a steady and even pace, I found myself genuinely getting intrigued.

That got the ball rolling.

Repopulation bled in to Landmark.  Landmark in to Camelot Unchained.  Then Pumpkin Online.  MMOs that were once things I never would have dreamed of entering in to have now become places I desperately want to visit.  It hasn’t exactly cooled my love of the themepark model, but having read up about–and in some cases, explored actively–these titles has me slowly understanding what some of the genre doomsayers were on about.

“Freakin’ told you, jackass.”

Is my mind completely changed?  No, not really.  There’s a risk inherent in all of these titles: Repopulation could still end up with me entering the FFA PvP areas in order to get the best materials to craft with.  Pumpkin Online might not even make it.  But the point is, we’re seeing attempts.  We’re seeing things shuffle around and away from what’s safe or comfortable and now getting some genuine pushes against the envelope.  No matter what some of those angry ferrets above this sentence may say….this is an exciting time for the MMO genre, and I’m glad to have maybe helped usher some of that in.