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Raph Koster explains how WoW changed MMOs
There's liable to be a lot of virtual ink spilled over World of Warcraft as it celebrates its 10-year anniversary this month. You can save yourself some time by just reading famed MMO designer Raph Koster's lengthy and informed analysis, though. He covers a ton of ground, both negative and positive, including WoW's roots in EverQuest and the DikuMUD while also touching on all of the genre features that Blizzard cut in the name of "fun" and accessibility. Among the things left by the wayside were features that were proven. Gone were the richer pet systems that had driven so much engagement from players in earlier games. Player housing, past and future source of endless devotion (and revenue) in other games, absent. Never mind stuff like towns and politics and the like. Crafting took massive steps backwards from the heights it had been developed into in [Star Wars] Galaxies or even Sims Online, and went back to being more like that in EverQuest. Even the robust character customization that we slaved over in Galaxies, a system which today is in every RPG on earth, was gone. Koster credits WoW as the true innovator of the quest-led game, but he also points out that the game stifled MMORPG innovation in numerous ways.
Raph Koster on getting criticism
Veteran developer Raph Koster has authored a blog post that's worth a read if you're a game designer. Heck, it's worth a read if you're a game blogger, game player, or anyone else with aspirations on creative output. The topic is criticism, and more specifically, making the most of it. Koster, best known in MMO circles as one of the minds behind Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima Online, and Metaplace, offers plenty of advice on everything from dealing with people who tell you that you're awesome (these folks are "useless, no, dangerous") to digging for good feedback to the fact that all of your critics are right. "I've never gotten a piece of feedback that was wrong," Koster explains. "You see, you can't deny a player their unique experience. Whatever they felt was true. For them. And something in your work triggered it." He goes on to say that "self-doubt is one of your most powerful tools for craftsmanship." Aside from having "the arrogance to assume anyone will care in the first place," self-doubt is healthy and necessary because creatives are never done learning.
Raph Koster wants to know why we can't all just get along
Raph Koster, MMO guru and erstwhile creative director of Star Wars Galaxies, has had it up to here with you people and your intolerance of one another. Yes, you, game designers. In a recent blog post, Koster makes shame carrots at those on both sides of the science-versus-humanities schism in the game design community. He states that people on either side of the spectrum can be right and that there's room for both emotional value and scientific fact in games. Too many people, he says, are entrenched in their viewpoints, and that makes progress more difficult for everyone. The result is an abundance of "hipstery, self-indulgent, artsy, self-referential, slight, pretentious work all over the place that people are claiming as the One True Way or the best way to push the boundaries of the field." Koster says that rather than fiercely defend a specific type of game design, designers need to embrace a both/and mentality, in which multiple viewpoints and approaches are accepted as valid and worthwhile. Narrative designers should try making a game with nothing but counters and dice and no story. System designers should try making a game that is about telling a story. While we're at it, the world should really learn how to sing in perfect harmony.
Raph Koster categorizes his best game design blog posts
If you're looking for an entry point into the voluminous back-catalogue of game design posts sitting on Raph Koster's web server, look no further than his newest entry, which serves as something of a greatest hits listing. For those unfamiliar with Koster, most gamers associate him with watershed sandbox titles like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, and he has also written a book called A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Koster first published his website in 1997, and some of his articles date almost as far back. He's arranged the links in what he calls a "rough reverse chronological order," so grab your favorite caffeinated beverage and settle in for a lengthy design-focused read.
Raph Koster: Immersion is not a core game virtue
Yeah, you read that right, virtual world fans. One of the more celebrated sandbox MMORPG developers is apparently throwing in the towel when it comes to immersion. Raph Koster wrote what can only be termed a lament on his personal blog today, saying that "immersion does not make a lot of sense in a mobile, interruptable world." Koster characterizes immersion as a style whose time has come and gone, and he concludes that games are no longer for dreamers due to their far-reaching popularity. "I mourn the gradual loss of deep immersion and the trappings of geekery that I love," Koster writes. "I see the ways in which the worlds I once dove into headlong have become incredibly expensive endeavors, movies-with-button-presses far more invested in telling me their story, rather than letting me tell my own." Whether you agree with him or not, it's a sobering read coming from one of the chief creative forces behind Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online.
Raph Koster talks about free-to-play models and whales
The idea of free-to-play business models can prompt a lot of venom from players who are certain that the model, essentially, is a trick. You'll be forced into paying for the game somehow, or you'll be able to pay extra money and walk away with all of the best stuff in the game. Raph Koster has a different view of things from a business standpoint, and he outlines how the free-to-play model works out in practice in a recent blog entry. Koster explains that you wind up with a handful of players who sink a huge amount of money into the game, while most users (upwards of 60%) never pay a dime. The users who do pay that much money, referred to as "whales," are essentially being treated as if they're in a retail store, compared to the more traditional model where you pay $60 for a game only to find out you don't like it. Whatever your views on the model, it's an interesting look at the changing face of monetizing games and is well worth a read.
GDC Online 2011: Raph Koster speaks on the gamification of real life
Raph Koster spoke at the recently concluded GDC Online 2011, and if the summary on Gamasutra is any indication, his message was somewhat mixed. Unsurprisingly, the former sandbox maestro (and current social gaming evangelist) had a lot of positive things to say about Facebook. On the other hand, he said that going too far down the accessibility road can lead to "bad art." He also opined that "design is about constraining people," but that games still have the potential for player creativity, and that Facebook has more user-generated content than games or virtual worlds. If you're confused yet, you're not alone, as Koster also mentioned something about wizards, magic circles, and his belief that the world is becoming more game-like (and thus there's no one better to shape it than game developers). "Let's watch out not to let the pointsification and rulesification, quantification, and reductionism that we have always loved about what we do -- let's not let that change who we are," Koster said. Check out his notes and slides from the talk via his blog, linked below.
Raph Koster on the legacy of Star Wars Galaxies
Amid all the internet commentary sure to be forthcoming over the next few days regarding Star Wars Galaxies and its upcoming swan-song, none of it is really as relevant as the thoughts of the man primarily responsible for designing the original game. Raph Koster offers up a bit of commentary on SWG's demise via his personal website, and despite the brevity, he manages to touch on exactly why the game mattered to so many of us and why it will be sorely missed. "It gave us features that continue to amaze people who don't realize what can be done: Real economies complete with supply chains and wholesalers and shopkeepers, that amazing pet system, the moods and chat bubbles [...], player cities, vehicles, spaceflight," Koster says. It also gave us dancing, and while many progression-focused gamers scoff at SWG's social features, Koster rightly concludes that they may well be the game's legacy since they allowed us to "stop saving the world or killing rats and realize the real scope and potential of the medium." In the end, Koster says that SWG's potential may have overshadowed the final product, but what remained was nonetheless a mold-breaking MMORPG. "I'd rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity. There's a reason people are passionate about it all these years later," he wrote.
Single player gaming doomed, say execs [UPDATE 1]
At the Churchill Club in California yesterday, Peter Moore wasn't the only one gazing into his crystal ball. Raph Koster of Sony Online Entertainment and Lars Butler, formerly of EA, were cheerfully predicting the downfall of single-player gaming, with Koster going so far as to say that the last 21 years of gaming history are an aberration.Drawing from the fundamental principle that "people play games together", Koster and Butler predict a huge shift in the games industry as the impact of online gaming starts to really hit home. Butler's claim that "linear entertainment in single-player is to media what masturbation is to sex" is eerily similar to David Jaffe's comparison between games and porn. Experiences are enriched by the presence of other people, and perhaps the depth of multiplayer gaming and the online social interaction embodied in these games can provide the emotional content that Jaffe finds so lacking.[Via Raph's Weblog][Update: Raph has written a much more detailed explanation behind his statement.]
