Richard Vogel – developer of the MMORPGs Meridian 59, Ultima Online and Star Wars: Galaxies – spoke in a panel about one of the biggest difficulties in developing multiplayer games: the players. He lists ugly actions that players have taken and reports how they resolved those issues and what other developers can learn.
What does the developer report on? Vogel recounts that the Ultima Online team was somewhat naive at release. This was less about the game content and more about the players themselves: “The biggest problem we identified after launch was that it was a PvP sandbox with an open world. What could possibly go wrong? Right?”
However, players found various ways to show their ugliest side:
- They killed each other senselessly
- They insulted each other
- They brought penises into the game world
- They messed around with player pets that could be killed and then skinned
Vogel notes in the panel:
We learned something about player behavior that no one had learned before us. We learned how toxic players can be when there are no boundaries […] no consequences. The ugly side of human behavior was fully revealed in this game.
“They skinned the pet of an eight-year-old girl and then gave her the meat”
What was a particularly bad moment? In one example, the developer recounts a call from a woman who complained about the behavior of the other players:
We had a woman on the phone whose daughter was eight years old. She had just lost her pet and was devastated. We gave her a pet back. We gave her another one, but she was devastated because someone came up to her, killed her pet, and gave her the meat. To an eight-year-old…
He also reported on “gang wars” in which players from the East and West Coasts of America attacked role-players from the middle of the country. The middle was supposed to be harmonious and beautiful, while the edges were more toxic. Fortunately, the middle was able to withstand the attacks.
How did the developers solve the problem? Vogel reports that after the rocky start, the studio had to regain the players’ trust. To do this, they introduced a “police force” – that’s what they called the game masters back then. They took care to punish insults and all kinds of “bad behavior”.
The complete freedoms that Ultima Online promised were limited in this regard.
The developer also warns other colleagues:
We have learned: The more power you give to players, the harder they are to control: If you’re making a metaverse, you should keep this in mind. Because it’s real. Because that’s the ugly side of people that comes out in these virtual worlds. It doesn’t matter that I’m reporting from the past. I believe that it is even more pronounced today.
Have you also had bad experiences with other players in MMORPGs? And which game do you think does moderation the best? Feel free to leave it in the comments.
If you’re looking for a new game, you should keep an eye on this title:
New MMORPG on Steam sounds too good to be true – now reveals details about classes, PvE, and PvP
