“What is his nature?, What does he do?” This was the key question posed by Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. As I play Dragon’s Prophet, or in this case, don’t play it, I am suddenly struck by this question. Who is my character, and what is his nature?
The game is satisfying, graphics are acceptable, the pay wall implementation is not exceedingly awful. The ability to tame, ride, and level dragons is the star of the show and the most compelling difference from similar offers out there. But what is my characters nature? Unfortunately his nature is to grind quest after quest in order to level... in order to grind quest after quest in order to level... ad infinitum.
The story is lackluster, but that is a red herring. Unless the story was the most compelling story ever told; (Imagine a book where you had to run a mile after every tenth page, but was so compelled that you did so) a great story would not save this game.
The issue with this game is the same issue with many MMO’s using the same formula. What is the characters nature? To grind quests until you run out, or hit the level cap, after which you grind gear until you get the best gear or run out of content. Stated simply, the answer to what is his nature is “to grind”.
Your actions aren't meaningful, not even in the limited framework of the game itself. In real life, you burn time that could be better spent doing most anything(let’s go ahead and run that mile now). As with any new game, the jaded MMO veteran will explore the mechanics, take note of any interesting approaches to the many tropes common to all MMO’s, explore the class designs and leveling mechanics, and then abruptly check out. Maybe they return in boredom, maybe they go seeking the next new thing.
“What we do in this life, echoes in eternity!” - Maximus, Gladiator
The most fertile ground for MMO development requires that a player’s actions are meaningful within the scope of the game. Easier said than done, certainly. But until that bridge is crossed, however many millions of dollars are poured into copy after copy of knock-off games or rehashed mechanics would be better spent trying to cross this threshold.
The market is hungry for something novel. The market is STARVING for something novel.
“This town needs an enema” - The Joker, Batman
The next game that mixes fear and wonder, that makes either life, or death meaningful(preferably both) stands to capture a market of 20 million subscribers with a proven track record of spending $15 per month to scratch this itch. For $300 million dollars per month, can any team of engineers and artists provide us unwashed masses a game experience where killing the invading horde of goblins actually impacts the game world in some meaningful way?
Modern MMO’s are a thousand miles wide and six feet deep. Robust and interesting game mechanics are a gift that keeps on giving. Invest once, profit forever. Hand crafted content is interesting, and can be very beautiful, and may even be important in the scheme of things, but it is ultimately disposable. Once it is consumed its marginal value is minimized, and even more dangerously, because the studio is ever surprised by the swarm of gamer locusts consuming the content at such an alarming pace, they tend to rehash and remake the same content in order to reduce burn rate.
Even in the amateur game development scene I’ve met engineers and artists that have an incredible aptitude. Good, serious guys and girls that are masters of their toolset and just outright formidable in their approach to the craft of making games.
This is a solvable problem, and we need to get on it.
