Anti-Aliased: Why leveling content is more important than endgame
Hey there 'Aliased readers! I've got a bunch to cover this week, and it's mostly derived from last week's Anti-Aliased. Point number three on my short list of what MMOs need to learn was that leveling content was more important than endgame content, and that seemed to put people into a state of panic. Now normally I don't like revisiting topics when they create massive anger because revisiting won't do them any good. You'll still be angry, sending rabid squirrels in boxes to my house, and I'll still be wearing my protective suit when I open my mail.
This, however, is a special case. I think one of the reasons we have such a divide is because we're not looking at it in the same way. I'm approaching this topic from more of a business angle rather than the angle of a player. So, this week, we're going to look at it from both the angle of the player and of the business-person, as well as take in your points and arguments from last week's comment discussion. It's like a Mythbusters Redux, except we're not going to be blowing anything up, sadly.
So let's start off with my original position, the business angle. As a business, an MMO wants to find and retain customers. That's two goals that are working with one another right there -- the concept of drawing people in and the concept of keeping them playing and paying once they are in. Why concentrate on leveling then?
At first glance, endgame seems to be the logical choice. It keeps your current subscribers happy by offering them more content to play and has the possibility of bringing in more by tempting them with your content. This is very true, and endgame is still a crucial piece of the happy subscriber puzzle as it keeps old game veterans in the game. But, endgame does not always bring in fresh new faces.
Sure, it might intrigue some people, but endgame isn't going to chase people away from your game or bring a good amount of people in. The standard, everyday user is never going to see your endgame. Heck, the standard user may not know what an endgame is until they set foot in your game. They may not read fancy MMO sites like this one. Yet, they are the ones that make up the bulk of your user base at any given time. This is why developers need to concentrate on the leveling process rather than the endgame.
If Joe Habeebit picks up a game, plays it for 10 minutes and hates it, he's going to tell his friends. Mr. Habeebit doesn't care about how flashy or awesome your endgame is because he's never going to get there. Users don't want to deal with a bad game just to get to a good one -- it's a waste of time and money, two of their most valued resources.
Change that around though. Let's say Mr. Habeebit picks up the game and completely falls in love with it after 10 minutes. You've made a good impression, he's going to stick around and invite his friends, and they're going to enjoy all your game has to offer. At this point, then endgame is worthy of being retackled and getting patched up. But until you make that initial journey into a fun one, any work you put into your endgame is in jeopardy. What if no one cares enough to get to it?
If you think I'm making this up, take a look at your friends. I, for one, have about 20 friends who all really love video games. Out of those 20, only 6 have reached an endgame in any given MMO. All 20 of them have played MMOs, including World of Warcraft. What happened to those other 14? They got bored during the leveling. An amazing endgame didn't keep them from canceling their accounts.
