In the best case, MMORPGs can provide a gaming experience that is unmatched in any other genre. At the same time, it is extremely difficult for developers to fully exploit the unique potential of online RPGs. In this MeinMMO column, MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz sheds light on this dilemma.
When looking at modern MMORPGs, they often provide online adventures that can be experienced perfectly alone. Fighting with other players or against them? Optional! Social interaction? Sure, but not a must.
Due to the extremely long development phases and high costs, it is essential for an MMORPG provider to address as wide an audience as possible. They cannot afford to exclude anyone who does not have the time or desire to commit to a community or to wait an eternity for the group to fill up for the next dungeon.
The target audience can also be best expanded when there are constant successes during the adventure and convenience in all areas. Furthermore, many players want to express themselves individually with cosmetic items for their characters. Developers appreciate this as it allows them to justify their in-game shop.
My heart bleeds
More comfort, more options, as little frustration as possible. Sounds great, right? For many players, it is. And I am also glad at many moments not to be stuck in raid instances four evenings a week or to plan several hours for an instance run, without completely forgoing the genre.
At the same time, my heart bleeds because modern MMORPGs only offer a watered-down version of the special gaming experience they are actually capable of providing and with which they can distinguish themselves from all other genres.
Elder Scrolls Online can be played perfectly as a solo RPG with an optional co-op mode.
The essence of MMORPGs
Or when was the last time you played an online role-playing game where you were part of a closed server community, where after a while you knew the most important guilds and players, and where over time you made a name for yourself?
When was the last time you added new people to your friends list almost daily because you kept running into them while leveling or looking for a group? When was the last time you were part of a large community of dozens of like-minded individuals who worked together towards common goals for months and years, creating friendships, relationships, and families?
For me, that was the case at the launch of World of Warcraft Classic. So in the relaunch of an MMORPG that was first released in 2004 or 2005, and despite all the weaknesses of the vanilla version, it provides a solid foundation for exactly this special gaming experience.
With WotLK, the dungeon finder was introduced into World of Warcraft. The beginning of the end?
The fear of ghost servers
The major challenge for any MMORPG developer begins with the choice of server structure. Nowadays, many online titles rely on flexible or interconnected realms where all players from Europe or North America come together.
By dividing the game world into various instances, phases, channels, or layers, overpopulation is avoided. At the same time, the number of game world copies can easily be reduced as soon as fewer players are online. The big advantage: Ghost servers and frustrating server mergers are not an issue.
Initially, Blizzard also wanted to provide general EU servers for WoW Classic to be as flexible as possible. However, the announcement was followed by a shitstorm in several countries, showing that potential language barriers can be a hindrance for many people in MMORPGs.
The worst of both worlds: There are no official language servers for New World, yet each realm can only have a maximum of 2,500 characters online at the same time.
Language barrier is a problem
In addition, many people simply do not want to be forced to communicate in a game in a foreign language – even if they can speak English perfectly well. It’s just more exhausting and nuances are lost. The latter is especially important for role-players who want to give their character a personality through language.
Well-defined language servers, as eventually ended up being the case for WoW Classic, offer a solution for this. In such a closed world, a large community made up of many small communities can form beautifully. With rivalries and collaborations between guilds. With player-planned, server-wide events. With lively discussions in the server’s forum or Discord channel.
But of course also with players who end up on blacklists because they did not behave. And with protagonists who earn a positive reputation by helping others or working for a great gaming experience for the entire server community.
In the content search of Final Fantasy XIV, you can choose the language of your fellow players.
No solution is perfect
WoW Classic also demonstrated the problems of this inflexible server structure impressively. On some realms, there were frustrating queues for a long time. Other worlds that were added later quickly mutated into potential ghost servers. And then there were servers with a strongly lopsided faction balance, which was especially not fun for the underrepresented faction.
In short: For the best possible MMO experience, closed language servers are actually the best choice. However, due to the high risk of overcrowded or empty servers, MMORPG developers prefer to use flexible alternatives, which noticeably diminish social interaction.
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