I've tried to play many MMORPG's, but each and every one of them feels, to me, exactly like this:
Linear RPGor this:
WTF RPGI've had some ideas on how to make games not feel like this, but being mathematically/programmingly retarded, I've never been able to do anything with them.
For example, all of these games seem to involve grinding in some form. The worst form of this for me is kill monster A enough times that the number on your character sheet goes up and then you can kill monster B, which has a different image, enough times that you can kill monster C, which has yet another different image... et cetera ad inifinitum.
I hate this. I accept that in order for the players to feel like they're accomplishing anything with their time, they need a goal to work towards, and it's pretty hard to do this without some form of grinding for slow but steady progress. But why not make the grinding itself fun? Take tradeskills, for example. I'm a big fan of these over combat. How about instead of click on dirt to make tilled soil, click on soil to plant seed, click on seed to water, click on plant to harvest... Make it a minigame. It doesn't need to be realistic. It can be some abstract minigame where you work for the local farmer, rush around pulling weeds and throwing them in the compost, then picking plants and throwing them in a bin before time runs out. You earn your points by doing something more than just clicking over and over again. And then, once you have enough points to do something really interesting, you can buy/make your own farm and do the click to plant, water, harvest thing, and do something real with the results, like cook or sell your produce to other players.
The other thing that bothers me is the slow progression of numbers. NOTHING in the game really changes other than the numbers and the images those numbers allow you to see. Fighting a dragon is just a longer, more drawn-out fight with a rat, where the rat has a bigger picture with wings and scales and fire. If I had my way, there would be no numbers. Progress? Absolutely. Just don't give the player a number for that progress. Make the player have to guess how strong they are based on what mundane tasks they can accomplish successfully (such as in minigames), then take an actual risk by going out to fight something. This combined with permadeath would put an absolute halt to all that powergaming that irks me so much. Put an element of risk into the game, real consequences, and a dash of realism (you might know how many pounds/kilograms you can benchpress, but you'll have to take a gamble if you want to fight someone), and you'd have a game world that's about a lot more than just repetitive clicking.
But alas, I am well aware that I am in the minority with these ideas, and I will never see them in a game. I am curious, however, as to what you guys think of them.
Author
Topic: A good free MMORPG that doesn't suck balls. (Read 27203 times)