MMORPGs and single-player RPGs essentially belong to the same genre – role-playing games. Yet, there are fundamental differences. Therefore, today’s question is: Can an MMORPG also be a good single-player RPG?
Many MMORPGs can be played well alone nowadays – at least up to a certain point and if one does not want to do all content like raids. Neverwinter can, for example, be completely played alone at least at the beginning. Even in The Elder Scrolls Online, you rarely need help from other players for the story content.
But does this mean that these games are also good single-player RPGs? If you were to remove all other players from the MMO and make it playable offline, would a Neverwinter or a The Elder Scrolls Online automatically be a good single-player RPG that could be compared to Fallout 4 or The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt?
Something like this is attempted by the development studio Portalarium with Shroud of the Avatar. The game aims to appeal to both MMO fans and single-player players and even offers an offline mode. Will this offline mode play out like, for example, Fallout 4?
Many mechanics of MMORPGs are significantly different from those of single-player RPGs. For example, the respawning of opponents. In an MMORPG, it is actually essential that monsters respawn because other players want to defeat them as well. In a single-player RPG, on the other hand, the focus is more on the feeling of wanting to achieve something and having a lasting impact on the world – and this includes, for example, being able to free a forest from all the bandits living there, so that merchant caravans can pass through unhindered.
Another example is combat systems – while in an MMO latency always plays a role, making active, action-based combat systems difficult to implement, a World-of-Warcraft-like system in a single-player RPG is rather boring.
Andreas thinks: Single-player role-playing games and MMORPGs differ in many game mechanics. Building a single-player game on an MMO framework is at best difficult, as one would always feel like playing an MMORPG where simply there are no other players.
Conversely, it would surely be the same: Simply adding other players to Fallout 4 would not make the game an MMORPG. A game that wants to be both has a hard time satisfying both communities. Essentially, one would have to develop two separate games. Otherwise, both modes suffer, and perhaps neither community is satisfied.
What do you think? In your opinion, is it possible to easily turn an MMORPG into a single-player RPG simply by being able to play it offline? The idea would be, for example, that you could still continue playing an MMO in this way even when the servers are shut down. What do you think? Share your opinion in the comments.
