I have been one of many to see the evolution of the gaming industry,
both Pen & Paper and Computer. Though thankfully I am still very young
*wink*.I have been one of many to see the evolution of the gaming industry,
both Pen & Paper and Computer. Though thankfully I am still very young
*wink*.
Over the years the computer role playing genra has evolved from simple text, to text with occasional pictures, to moving graphics with some text, to somewhat 3d dungeons (forward, forward, right, left), to 3d overhead perspectives in true 3d, to multi user dungeons aka "mud" (text via online connections), 3d network games, to now full 3d perspective as well as being an online multi player environment.
Will we ever go back? Will the draw of upcoming games, such as Bauldors Gate 2, Diablo II, Warcraft 3, pull people away from games like EverQuest and Asherons Call and satisfy them as much?
Will companies continue to produce such games in the future or follow the new precedence set by Tribes 2, Battletech 2035, and Freelancer, where the persistent online multi player environment is the main, if not sole, focus of the game?
Yes and No.
I think yes, there will still be a market for solo play games, but no I think they will no longer satisfy the gamers of today in the same way an online version can.
It's inherent in human nature to want to explore and solve things. (Only in some areas of the world is it inherent to collect things). The addition of other players always brings something interesting to the mix. You know something different is going to happen.
I've spent probably close to or over 100 hours in Lower Guk now, staring at one of five different rooms that whole time. Yet each group, each experience is different and interesting.
What makes it so? The players. The unknown of what they may do or say that causes you to react and feel in different ways.
Would it be as fun if they were scripted AI characters, and I could hand pick exactly the party I wanted? In my opinion no.
It's our differences as people, our wants, needs, drives, emotions, that make us interesting.
While we are not playing EQ we feel the urge, the addiction, to get back into that world. We feel were missing something by not being there.
This doesn't happen with scripted AI. A solo game waits for you, nothing happens without you. With persistent online multi player worlds, this is no longer the case. If your not online you may miss meeting a person, or event, the experiences that are shared or given by that experience. These differences make the game more appealing and interesting.
Summary / Solution / Truth
The truth is there will still be a solo play game market for PCs. Probably as long as the PC exists in it's current form. However, with the current technology, the ability to sufficiently fool the senses (graphics and emotes making the characters as visually believable as you know they are mentally), the new drive to have 'collectable' things emerging, I think it's imperative for a game to go the multi player online route, as opposed to the randomly generated AI scripting route.
People make things interesting. Whether you choose to interact with them or not is your decision. You never know what's going to happen in Norrath and that's part of what makes it interesting. You may just be joining a group to kill the same thing you've killed 100 times before. Or you may watch someone jump off of a ledge to see how much damage they can do to themselves, find someone giving away or trading this or that item, join a drunken brawl. These oddities is what makes the game far more interesting than any solo scripted game. These strange and interesting players, make for an ever changing and different game.
You will never experience the same thing twice, no matter how hard you try.
PS- Consider this, some day online games may lead the world to a new level of peace and cross culteral understanding.