In the MMO shooter The Division, the Dark Zone will be a culture shock for many who just want to give it a try, predicts our author Schuhmann.
Let’s start with the blessed past to understand what makes it so special that The Division today focuses on “open PvP.”
I can still remember a time when there were “Open PvP” games. Well, actually that’s nonsense. The concept isn’t extinct today; it simply changed its target audience and has become a niche solution, particularly in MMORPGs. Games like H1Z1 or DayZ use the system today and enjoy a wonderfully toxic community and a terribly bad reputation, attracting sadists.
In the past, one didn’t have to consciously decide for such a “rough” game to experience open PvP. Even in MMORPGs, it was quite normal to enter a PvP zone without any idea of what awaited you there. Whether you would be playing 20 against 20, or 15 against 50.
When games like The Elder Scrolls Online try to do this today, it splits the community. It is already a special thing to see the system today and then at such a prominent place as in The Division.
If one wants to play solo while the others are out in groups of eight
To understand what The Division is planning and what the problems are, let’s take a look at one of the games with open PvP and what types of players went in:
- in Dark Age of Camelot, for instance, there were single players in the huge border areas who operated as assassins. They were the lone wolves.
- small groups of 2 or 3 assassins and archers worked together in stealth, so to speak as small task forces.
- “Full groups” of 8 players were out there, working as a team, striking like an elite unit and could disappear quickly.
- then there were several full groups, for example, from a guild, working together to gain an advantage, regiments so to speak.
- and one encountered the so-called “Zerg,” large uncoordinated masses of players running after a leader and flattening everything that came in their way. An army.
Even back then, over 10 years ago, Dark Age of Camelot was incredibly marked by frustration and mutual hostility. Because: Whenever one of these groups met another, they overran them and spoiled “their fun.” Because actually, everyone wanted to maintain their play style. Solo players wanted to face others. 8-man groups against other 8-man groups. And the people who were in the Zerg had fun when they could face another “army.”
In practice, however, the “solo players” were consumed by small groups, the small groups by 8-man groups, and the 8-man groups by the Zerg. Unfair, echoed over the years from a thousand guys.
The accusation was always: You can’t do anything, so you “cheat” and flatten me, come on with the same strength as us, then you’ll see. And the other would say: Mimimi, I can’t hear you, you’re dead.
The solution for many was: Structured PvP or Zerg
In recent years, actually for the last 10 years, we have moved away from this open idea of how PvP should be and have basically chosen two different concepts to solve these problems.
In newer games like The Elder Scrolls Online or Guild Wars 2, which wanted open PvP, they emphasized from the start with an even stronger focus on group PvP: We want you to be out in larger groups. If you don’t run with the Zerg, then we can’t help you. There are a few things you can do with fewer people, but basically it’s about sieges and castles, and for that you need masses. Also, they are no longer as open as before, with hidden caps implemented.
On the other hand, in many games, “Structured PvP,” closed PvP, has prevailed: You enter a sandbox that has clear game rules. Whether you now call it battleground, arena, or melting pot is ultimately irrelevant. From the beginning, it is clear: 2 against 2, 6 against 6, or even 20 against 20. Everyone knows what to expect here. These are the rules. All who enter have the same goal. It’s fair. That’s the gameplay style that most are used to today.
So it is all the more astonishing that The Division deviates from this.
The Division will be a surprise for many in the target audience
In The Division, they opted for a new system, the “Dark Zone”. It’s a relatively open PvP area, though not nearly as large as in DAOC back then. In terms of dimensions, it resembles a closed PvP area more. Only that players are not divided into equally strong teams, but generally operate alone, though they can team up.
So the conflict in the Dark Zone is actually only between players who operate alone and those who work together in a team.
Already in the first hours, you hear complaints from players who are not used to such a system: There are four people working together. You can’t go in alone. I’ll be shot immediately. I don’t stand a chance. Unfair. I don’t want to play like this.
As an alternative, the solo players, which the developer surely wants, would now have to form teams, defend themselves against the four allies lurking at one of the key points. If necessary, the “individuals” would have to go against the team with 8 or 12 players. For this, The Division has even planned additional rewards with the rogue system.
But this “in necessity we work together as a team” requires a change in thinking from players that they have not wanted before. The lone wolf does not hunt in a pack. He simply does not want to. And many in the target audience of The Division are, it must be made clear, lone wolves. Massive knows this too: they marketed with the “You can also play alone” thing.
In The Division, an additional frustration element is added: Once loot is acquired in the Dark Zone, it can only be secured at certain locations after a nerve-wracking ordeal. If you are eliminated beforehand, it can be completely lost. A cooperating four-man team can effectively rob “solo players” and maintain a lucrative playstyle with minimal personal risk. The perceived unfair playstyle of 4 against 1 still pays off. This further ensures that the Dark Zone is already keeping players busy.
One can say that The Division in this regard relies on an unusual flavor that many players in the target audience do not know today and that will not be to everyone’s taste. The question will be: Who can warm up to the new taste, and who will at least approach it openly?
Now, one should not blame The Division: Anyone who only walks in worn-out paths will not find themselves in any interesting place. The open world concept has always found its friends, who react to the thrill of an ever new situation. A “fair PvP concept” would not have fit into the scenario of The Division, as it follows the motto: War is not fair either.
But it’s strange: For a game that clearly focuses on the mainstream, on shooter players like The Division, the Dark Zone is a surprisingly bold choice. It remains to be seen whether the concept will be maintained and how players will accept it in the long run.
