[General Discussion] MMO Design

Now I am sure that everyone who reads this at one time or another has at least dabbled in an MMO. Myself I have tried everything from old time MUDs, to WoW, to EVE, and a bunch of more obscure MMOs that never made the big time.

I have never been able to find an MMO that has really been for me. An MMO where the way it worked, the way it was structured, and in general the entire environment really fit what I was looking for. Guild Wars came close in its giant world. EVE comes close in the way that all of its content is user driven. But really, nothing out there truly clicks with me.

Assuming anything was possible, what would you look for in an MMO? Barring of course it was completely free.

I was never a fan of the linear progression model, and would want something akin to the elder scrolls series or EVE. You can train in whatever you want, become a master of your craft, but that doesn't require you to get to 80, grind raids until you are in full epics.

Aside from that I would be looking for something where the game adjusted to your skill/gear level. I.E. you wouldn't have 99% of the players clumped in one area because it was the endgame area, but rather all areas had something to offer to the endgame player.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Right now I am looking for a new MMO, one that actually has risk of losing something.

Originally Posted by Shin

I'd be more inclined to play MMO's if it was possible to enjoy the game and be part of the community without having to either grind for a million hours or be part of some bullshit clan and turn up at specified times for "raids". I don't really see the point of getting all the best gear anyway because once you've spent the hundreds of hours to get a ton of gear, then what? You PvP someone else who's got all the gear and the fight is as evenly matched as two brand new characters going at it. Obviously there are varieties of builds but the internet being what it is, those are common knowledge all too quickly.

To me this is how WoW has become. Welfare epics, carebear PvP, and a whole lot of people who bitch at Blizz while still paying their monthly fee. Nice eh?

I look for all of these things in an MMO, even if it is an older MMO (I played AO for a little bit recently), and really just am looking for something like that to play. I enjoy the social aspect, but if I wanted to play the glorified chat room that WoW has become, I would stalk small children over Yahoo.

Okay...I really wouldn't, but you guys get the point.

I have been looking for an experience that punished you losing enough to make you take it seriously (for a game), and have found myself returning to ADOM and Nethack. Are there any MMOs, new or old, that really stood out in the aspects we have mentioned?

There's nowhere I can't reach.