Character Progression vs. Character Development
April 30, 2008 – 11:39 am
I want to present a comment from one of Keen & Graev’s AoC posts that got me thinking…
“One day, a company will realize that rewards for being a hardcore player should be presented as mostly cosmetic changes… Awesome titles, cooler looking armor, access to more convenient (but not better) NPC resources, extra emotes, more chat colors, access to different chat channels, boosts to alts, etc.
Wouldn’t it make more sense if *everyone* was competitive? If everyone could reasonably grind out gear solo? Then you’d have people raiding and pvping for prestige. That prestige is reward enough. There’s no need to tie your ability to beat a specific dungeon or a specific player to your gear that you can only get through a horrific grind.” - Hexx
There can more rewards for character development than seeing your XP bar inch its way across the screen, renown-point tally rise, and hotbar clutter up with newer, more powerful abilities. There can be more to it than jumping on a never-ending raid treadmill (grinding for gear in one dungeon so you can enter and grind the next, ad infinitum).
Yet these are traditionally the core concepts MMORPG design is based upon, and rightly so, because they are what usually keeps people coming back for more. However, there comes a point when you can give us a little more… raise our expectations.
Call them what you will—cosmetic or fluffy—rewards of this nature can be just as valuable in giving players a sense of accomplishment as the more obvious rewards we’ve come to accept.
I think EA Mythic is on the right track here, with several of their concepts planned for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning!
- The Tome of Knowledge, a massive personal journal tracking all your accomplishments that gives XP rewards and personal titles for certain unlocks
- Camelot Herald 2.0, a web site dedicated to tracking your personal and realm’s success on your server (RvR ladder, war status, etc.)
- RvR statues dedicated to the 10 best PvPers from the previous week located throughout the capital cities (or just Altdorf?) that can be reduced to rubble by enemy raiders
- Orcs that get larger in stature and dwarves with growing beards as each increases in level (hopefully, this will make it into release)
What do you think about these “fluffy” rewards? Can you think of any more?
Rather than the rich getting richer and the poor finding it increasingly hard to compete, would you vote for a more mechanically fair system that gives “the hardcores” cosmetic rewards or one that gives them “overpowered” ones?
When can we slow down on the character progression and start concentrating on character development?
14 Responses to “Character Progression vs. Character Development”
See, those rewards are the kinds of things that a more casual person like me would LOVE to work towards! Minipets, ‘fun’ items, and all those things are what I actually have fun working towards. The only reason I’m even tempted to ever buy a WoW card is for stuff like the Dragon Kite and paper airplane crafting patterns.., I wish more of those were in the game instead of just more dungeons being added to get the next +1 stat gear.
By Pai on Apr 30, 2008
Sounds like we’re retrogressing back to UO….
Best MMO to date.
By Michael R on Apr 30, 2008
@Pai: I am a hardcore player. I’m not going to list my e-cred in the games I’ve played but without a shadow of a doubt I am hardcore. That said, I do not see cosmetic rewards as casual in any way. What makes gear a “hardcore” reward and your character growing larger, gaining spikes, or other aesthetic changes “casual”? Are they not both forms of character development and progression? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — gear comes and gear goes but your character is forever.
This tunnel vision focus on gear being the central focus of the game has got to go. Why aren’t the CHARACTERS the focus? Why is it that the characters mean nothing and the ITEMS/GEAR mean everything? I feel like I am alone in my thinking that the focus should be shifted off of items and onto the character. Sure, gear is great and it should always remain in the game. But why can’t it be < 20% of your actual character?
By Keen on Apr 30, 2008
Actually there is about a 70% chance the character growth system wont make it into the game at launch =[
By Cicadymn on Apr 30, 2008
I think it was confirmed by Jeff Hickman in Paris that it’s 100% NOT making launch because it’s too much work.
By Keen on May 1, 2008
My favorite idea on that subject has always been trophies in combination with player housing. Wouldn’t it be great if you had lets say the head of Onyxia over your mantlepiece in your virtual home?
By Tobold on May 1, 2008
Blah, I was hoping they’d be able to fit it in, but as long as the idea doesn’t get wiped off the table completely, I’m happy.
Doh, I forgot to mention trophies in my list! Yet another cool way to improve you cosmetically. I remember the old DAOC housing zones with some really awesome trophies displayed in guild houses.
By Snafzg on May 1, 2008
In single player games cosmetic and game changing rewards have existed for those who want to beat their games multiple times.
From my own personal experience cosmetic rewards are ok as incentives but they aren’t the best.
From my observation of other gamers Pai is wrong to say that casual gamers (meaning those who only play when they have liesure time) will benefit from this. It is hardcore players (meaning those who take up their games as jobs or life missions so they must try and complete/master everything) who enjoy cosmetic rewards the most.
Rewards don’t have to be cosmetic or item centric. Another form of reward that has existed in single player games are evolving storylines.
E.G., even pvpers would be forced to acknowledge that pve is challenging if dying or failing to complete an objective completely stopped your advancement on a specific storyline.
By mutantmagnet on May 1, 2008
You bring up another good point with advancing storylines. I was going to write an epic piece on RPG elements missing from current MMORPGs but Syp got around to it first (http://waaagh.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/its-story-time-boys-and-girls/). You should definitely have a look at that, while I rework my idea into something a bit different!
By Snafzg on May 1, 2008
Yea I think they said something about the growth system in one of the IRC chats, I can’t for the life of me find it now. I was disappointed because a 70% chance of it not making in is in dev speak a 100% chance.
But luckily it sounds like it’s not off the table. I know I’ll be rolling many many alts so it’ll be just as cool to see it affect them as it would on my first.
By Cicadymn on May 1, 2008
Ah sorry man… I don’t think it was an original thought on my part, I know I’ve read a few posts over the past month comparing single player RPGs to online, so I just took it in the story direction.
By Syp on May 1, 2008
Hah, no need to be sorry!
By Snafzg on May 1, 2008
My definition of casual is someone who doesn’t raid. Because the only game I play is WoW, and basically all of it’s content besides raids can be eventually accessed ‘casually’.
I personally play like, 6+ hours a day, but the kinds of stuff I do is not raid-related. It could be considered ‘fluff-oriented’. So is someone like me, who would actually have lots of fun spending hours working towards a cosmetic/fluff goal, considered ‘hardcore’?
By Pai on May 2, 2008