So this weekend I succumbed to the urge that had been growing over the last few weeks to give Champion’s Online another try.  And while most of the things that caused me to go “meh” the first time I played it are still there, this time around I’m actually having quite a bit of fun.  Read on after the break if you’re interested in my reasoning as to why I think this is, and why I think it’s a good idea in general to give just about every MMO two shots.

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Hopefully you recognize the tongue-in-cheek nature of the title, but if you don’t, don’t despair, it’s still early and it’s still Monday.  But this was something that occurred to me over the weekend, and I stewed over it enough that I finally decided on Monday I’d have to put up at least a bit of a post. 

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I still have, on my hard drive somewhere, my initial impressions of Guild Wars, which I wrote in 2005.  It is, in a word, scathing.  There was a lot I didn’t like about Guild Wars in the first fifteen minutes of playing it.  Guild Wars, eventually became one of my absolute favorite MMO’s, and is one that has earned a permanent place on my harddrive.  I still log in from time to time, and go through bouts of extreme activity around the holidays, or just when I get a hankering to travel with Koss, Mhenlo, and Cynn.  I keep my scathing first 15 minute review around to remind me that, quite often, especially where MMO’s are concerned, my initial impression does not end up being my lasting impression.  That often things drive me crazy in the first fifteen minutes I eventually overcome, get used to, and learn to look past, to enjoy the broader, much bigger picture.

And this is why I haven’t put up my overall impressions of Champions Online until now — nearly 3 weeks after launch  (Well this and the fact that I’ve been insanely busy, but lets pretend this is all carefully planned — indulge me).  But the closed beta has come and gone, which I participated in to some extent.  The open beta and head start have come and gone, and now, the game has launched for real.  So it’s time to talk about it for a bit.  Read on:

 
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Diamonds in the Rough

The mmo design landscape is littered with mechanics that I like to think of as uncut gems.  These are mechanics that, at first glance, appear to be plain ‘ol rocks – unwanted, uncomfortable, unnecessary, and for all intents and purposes best discarded without looking back.  But the thing about uncut gems, is that once you look closer, and you try out some games without them, you come to realize these mechanics are actually very valuable.  And that while a shorthand gain might be achieved by discarding them, over the long stretch you realize that the game is actually much better served, and players have more fun, by keeping them.   Recognizing an uncut gem over a plain ‘ol stone is, of course, an inexact science.  And there is much truth to the adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.  And to make things even more complex, players attitudes and perceptions change over time, so today’s uncut gem might end up being tomorrow’s worthless rock.  Enough analogies, let’s talk examples.

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So as some of you know (and if you don’t, then why don’t you!) I’ve embarked upon the journey of creating a company, which in turn is creating a world.  And hopefully, you can see in the first five seconds of looking at Windstorm Studios’ site, that the world we’re creating is not going to be in your typical high fantasy setting.  And we’re in good company.  Right now there are more MMO’s coming out in a non-typical fantasy setting than ever before.   With games like Jumpgate Evolution, Champions Online, The Agency, and overly wordy Star Wars: The Old Republic looming on the horizon, players will soon have more selections than ever when deciding on the type of world they want to visit.  But why has it taken this long?  And why do we still see games being released every year set in that traditional fantasy setting?  Well, it’s mostly because fantasy gives you so much for free, from a design standpoint, and doesn’t present nearly as much of a challenge as designing your game in a contemporary or futuristic setting does.

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There’s a lot of pressure on MMO designers right now to do something different.  Scott Jennings is screaming from the top of his blog there isn’t a single MMO designer in the world that wakes up thinking “I’d love to clone WoW,”  and to a certain extent, he’s right.  Several have tried recently, and for a variety of reasons, (most of which had nothing to do with the actual design, sadly), none of them have had the success their publishers had originally hoped for.  So there’s more pressure than ever to shake things up, find our own niche, and do something a little different.  And the most common theme I seem to be hearing lately is that “MMO’s need more action!  No more auto-combat!  No more hit the attack button and get a sandwich!”  And several developers right now are answering that very clarion call.  The Agency, Champion’s Online, DC Universe Online, all promise “more action, twitch-style combat. ”  The Agency, especially, talks about how player skill will be the deciding factor in combat, not dice rolls.  All of this sounds great.  But for a variety of reasons, in an MMO, I actually think this is a bad way to go.  Here’s why.

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The time has come and gone to talk about if an MMO on the console would work.  Not only have their been several released already, but we’re slated to get not one or two, but at least three in the coming year or so.  Whether you think it’s a good idea or not, they’re coming.

So instead, lets talk a little about the major challenges these mmo developers face, in bringing this genre to the living room.  And I’m going to start right away by departing from what the traditional theory on this seems to be, and say I don’t believe it’s the control scheme.

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