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E3’s crop of MMP titles shows a great deal of promise

By Michael Lafferty

 

Content will be key when it comes to which ones will survive a crowded market

 

In a dream there stood a warrior

Adventure-bound on glory’s road

Battle-weary yet ever eager

As new realms and stories unfold

 

Dragons abound, as benevolent rulers and architects of a land, or as deadly, mocking beasts which will take a company of adventurers to vanquish – if only for a while.

 

At E3 in Los Angeles, publishers and developers showed off the latest additions to the realms of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, each wonderfully crafted from an esoteric standpoint. But the real question is whether any of these games will hold what fans of the genre are seeking.

 

Here are a couple of things to ponder, and these speak to the heart of the challenges developers have before them … The world of MMP gaming is, for the most part, transitory. Players are now moving in allegiances and clans, seeking the game that will sate their need for a home in these vast realms. Each clan has different things which it seeks – for some, it is quest-heavy adventure, for others it may be an economic models through which they can use intellect to affect the world, while for others it is the might of arm and weapons combined in a brutal player-versus-player setting in which only the strong rule.

 

While many games aspire to be many things to many people, to date few have manage to provide everything. As such, though some games do have a solid base community, there is a lot of movement as the next big game comes out. Some players will jump in, muck around a bit, and then return to a realm they are familiar and more comfortable with.

 

The genre of MMPs is big business and has the potential to generate a lot of money on a continuous basis. Players will pay $50 for a game, and the current trend is calling for a monthly fee of $15 a month. A recent, unconfirmed number offered that City of Heroes has somewhere around 100,000 subscribers. Just do the math and you’ll see why so many MMP titles are being released, and the cash cow that they represent. (Remember that number was unconfirmed, but it will do to simplify and highlight the financial aspects of the genre.)

 

While I tried to see as many of the games at E3 as possible, there were two I did not see – The Matrix Online (SEGA) and Middle-earth Online (Turbine). Hopefully that will be rectified in the weeks or months ahead. But there were a bevy of games to see: Wish (Mutable Realms), Dragon Empires (Codemasters), Warhammer Online (SEGA), Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (Microsoft Game Studios), EverQuest II (SOE), Guild Wars (NCsoft), Tabula Rasa (NCsoft), Auto Assault (NCsoft), Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs (Mythic), Dark and Light (NP Cube), and Saga of Ryzom (Themis).

 

World of Warcraft was previewed already, and that will be a delightful romp into the MMP genre, but it may not be released for a while. Ultima X Odyssey was notable by its absence as well. But there have been some changes with the development team that has seriously affected the release date of that title.

 

Ryzom is a stylistic title which some very solid crafting elements. Players will actually be able to create brand new items, or spells, by using the bricks that make them in different formulas. Wish is a fantasy title that allows players to attempt to create a unique character because it has no classes, per se, and players can take over some of the towns in the realm. Warhammer Online is a grittier game, full of dark gothic humor, with three modes of PvP (player-versus-player). Dragon Empires looks terrific, and has some strong player-ownership elements and PvP elements. Guild Wars offers content for the casual and hard-core player and will not have a monthly subscription fee, but will charge full-price for updates. Auto Assault will fill a nifty void of car-based combat with fully destructible environments. EverQuest II promises strong new AI, content and a look that will elevate the genre. Tabula Rasa has intriguing elements that will support the grouped effort and make combat more immersive. Vanguard looks impressive, but still has 18 months or so of development time before its release. Dark and Light is huge and has a wonderful mix of real-world and fantasy elements. DAoC: Catacombs is a complete face-lift for the series and offers new single-player content.

 

What was surprising about the E3 show is that each of the titles, rather than retreading the same familiar ground, seemed to be stretching into new areas. Yes, there was a lot of overlap, but each of the titles did offer something relatively different.

 

So what will be the big titles?

 

Obviously EverQuest II will get a lot of attention. The game looked terrific and seemed to hold a lot of challenge. Ryzom is the next title out of the gate and into the retail market (mid-June), and should hit a niche market that like the blend of science fiction and fantasy.

 

But the titles that hold some of the most potential are Dragon Empires (with its somewhat intuitive interface), Guild Wars and DAoC Catacombs. DE offers players the chance to change the world and with dragons as the architects of the world, telling clans to challenge for leadership of towns, it looks to have a nice blend of economic, political and combat gameplay. Guild Wars is for the player who does not have a lot of time, but really does a nice job of trying to level the playing field for both casual and hardcore gamer. Catacombs tantalizes with the new graphics and while DAoC has been a steady performer in the MMP marketplace, this title will bring in a new wave of gamers.

 

Auto Assault will have a niche core of gamers waiting, as will Warhammer Online, and Richard Garriott’s association with Tabula Rasa (which seems to be geared to making group hunting a focus and plays strongly into the idea of online friendships and community) will also attract attention. Wish’s developers are really paying attention to their community and taking input into consideration during the development phase. It truly could end up being a game developed (in essence) by its community.

 

In a talk with Laurent Paret, vice president of business development and co-found of NP Cube (Dark and Light), he stated that the graphics engine of D&L was in place, and for the next months, the development team will be working on content.

 

With the Unreal Engine, and similar graphics engines, powering these games, there is little doubt that they all look great. What remains to be seen is whether the games can provide the balance content that gamers seek. No one game will be THE game for all MMPers. Each will hope to provide what they think gamers want, and then hope they draw enough of a community to last.

 

The sad thing is that not all of these titles will make it for an extended period of time. That is the nature of the genre. Games will have to evolve or they will be left behind. Developers will have to pay attention to the community and what it seeks and then try to incorporate some of those elements into the games. A development team cannot afford to create a world with blinders on in regards to the community. From what was shown at E3, it appears that some developers are listening, and while they seek innovations in the genre that will mark them as different from the multitude, they are ensuring that they keep the prime elements in place.