The game with a thousand faces

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17 April 2005

by Mike Rozak

To state the obvious, a standard MUD/MMORPG has the following features:

• Races
• Classes or skills
• Movement
• Inventory
• Combat
• Magic
• Crafting
• Trading
• Guilds
• Pets
• Etc.

This ubiquitous list appears in virtual every MUD/MMORPG "feature list" web page, along with their documentation's table-of-contents. The implementation specifics change from game to game, such as what races or spells are available, but not the generalities. (Some MUDs/MMORGs don't even have different races and spells, relying on the same humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and fire-ball spells.)

In abstract "game" terms, this means that most MUDs/MMORPGs are essentially the same game, but with different window dressings. In his book, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," Joseph Campbell says the same about many hero myths. Hence, the title for this article; While there are thousands of MMORPGs and MUDs, they are really the same game with different faces grafted on.

I found such homogeneity disturbing, so I spent time searching for different "genres" in descriptions of the thousands of existing MUDs and MMORPGs. It seems that a handful of genres covers almost all MUDs and MMORPGs:

• Standard MUD/MMORPG - This is the standard game described above, with races, skills, combat, etc. Standard MUDs/MMORPGs have a few sub-genres:
  
  
  • Player-vs-environment - The fun of the game is derived from going on quests and killing monsters.
    
    
  • Player-vs-player - Fun comes from competing against other players, usually with combat (individual or guild-based), but this could also include trade and politics. PvP games also include a lot of "player-with-player" activities.
    
    
  • Player-vs-storyteller - Skotos runs games where much of the fun happens when a trusted player or employee takes control of the world and customises the experience for a group of players, much like a table-top RPG game master would.
    
    
  • Role playing - Many text MUDs encourage or require role-playing, where  the fun comes from cooperative story telling, each player controlling their own character in the larger story.

  
  I have labelled these sub-genres because it's possible to produce one virtual world and customise the shards of the world to produce different sub-genres. For example: World of Warcraft has mostly PvE shards, some PvP shards, and a few role playing shards. Aficionados of a sub-genre will point out that failure to specialise in a sub-genre produces an inferior experience; Many MUDs/MMORPGs specialise in only one sub-genre.
  

• Creation worlds - These are virtual worlds, such as Second Life and text MOO's, that allow the players to freely create their own world, and then spend time in the world socialising. Unlike standard MUDs/MMORPGs, creation worlds don't usually have avatars with "skills" and "levels".
  
  
• Cooperative worlds - "A Tale in the Desert" presents a different scenario, where the players cooperate to build a new world. Their building capabilities are much more restricted than those in creation worlds. Unlike creation worlds, players' avatars have skills that they learn through in-game experiences, like a stock MUD/MMORPG.
  
  
• Adventure game worlds - Stock MUDs/MMORPGs are largely based on a CRPG game. If the world is based on adventure game, you end up with an online adventure game, like the defunct Uru Live. See The trouble with explorers.

The "Standard MUD/MMORPG" genre attracts the bulk of the players (80%-90%), with PvE worlds being the largest sub-genre.

When I asked about this issue on the Mud-Dev mailing list, several people replied that other genres undoubtedly exist, but that they haven't yet been discovered. This could be because of:

• Unwillingness to take risks on the part of game producers.
• Virtual worlds are so young that no one has stumbled upon the other genres yet.
• Other genres may be too small (at the moment) to be recognized as a genre.
• As the player population evolves away from hard-core gamers, new genres will appear.
• As technology improves, new genres will appear.

Looking at the problem in a different way

Since I couldn't find other genres, I thought I'd do a thought experiment to bypass my near sightedness...

I asked myself: What fundamental technologies are used to produce a MUD/MMORPG? The answer:

• A client with...
  • Avatar control user-interface.
  • Chat capability.
  • A graphics engine, along with models, textures, and animations, that is geared towards producing a first person POV. (As opposed to a graphics engine used to produce RTS games.)
  • Sound.
    
    
• A secure server that provides for...
  • Multiple players (potentially 1000's) in the same world.
  • Persistence of player information, such as character statistics.
  • Persistence of the world, such as any changes players have made to the world.
  • Scripting language.
  • An army of artificial intelligences to control the enemy monsters and NPCs.
  • "World physics" (simulation) are calculated on the server for anti-cheat and anti-piracy reasons.
    
    
• A network standard supported by both the client and server with...
  • Client-server architecture for security. (As opposed to pier-to-pier.)
  • The ability to automatically transfer new content (such as 3D models) and software updates to the client.

These statements are generalised... Text MUDs don't use graphics, and many MMORPGs are still based on 2 1/2D sprites. However, 70%(?) of all virtual world gamers are using 3D accelerated engines, and this percentage continues to increase. Likewise, not all virtual worlds have artificial intelligence, sound, a scripting language, persistence of the world, or the ability to seamlessly transfer new content/software. The trend, however, is for their inclusion.

Now that I know what technologies are used to make a virtual world, my next question is: What genres of entertainment can be produced using such technology?

To use an analogy: A book is made from paper and ink. An origami crane is made from folded paper (and perhaps some ink). An origami crane is obviously not a book. However, a pop-up children's book has the properties of both an origami crane and a book, so it is a book? Most people would agree that it is a book. Without stepping "outside the box" to a different level of abstraction, pop-up children's books would never have been invented. Can different virtual world "genres" be discovered using a similar technique?

Existing single-player game genres

Once a developer has developed the technology necessary to produce a MMORPG, the following single-player game genres can "easily" be created from the same technology: ("Easily" is a relative term.)

• CRPGs - Turn a PvE MMORPG into single player CRPG by putting the server on the same computer as the client.
  
  
• Adventure games - Instead of content centred around killing monsters, include content with lots of puzzles.
  
  
• First person shooters - Since the Internet has such a large communication lag (250 - 1000 ms), MMORPGs are designed so that no feature requires a quick reaction time. If the server were on the same computer as the client, or even a low-latency network connection, a MMORPG's technologies could be used to write a first person shooter.
  
  
• Action-adventure games - Similar low-latency design issues as first-person shooters.
  
  
• Platform games - Similar low-latency design issues as first-person shooters.
  
  
• Vehicle simulation games, such as auto racing, flight simulators, and space combat - Instead of the player's "character" being a humanoid, it's a machine. Flight-sim and space MMORPGs already exist, with ship-based and auto-based MMORPGs coming.
  
  
• Interactive storytelling, as expoused by Chris Crawford.

Some genres require different technologies and can't be easily produced from a MMORPG's components:

• A game like The Sims (offline) requires a client and server that doesn't assume the player has only one avatar.
  
  
• Real-time strategy games require a different rendering engine, AI, and no 1-to-1 assumption about players and avatars.
  
  
• Sports games require different AI and no 1-to-1 assumption.
  
  
• God games also present problems for the rendering engines, AI, and 1-to-1 assumptions.
  
  
• Chess, checkers, and card games use technologies that are very different to a MMORPG's technologies.

What else can be done?

I brainstormed some other games (and entertainments) that could be created, using essentially the same technology that's present in any MMORPG. These ideas are half-baked, and most won't work. They do illustrate some possibilities, and (at the very least) a different way to approach the problem:

• "Virtual world" like - A few of my ideas produce an experience similar to today's MMORPGs, although with significant variations:
  
  
  • Multiple avatars - Instead of players controlling just one character, they could control a group of them, as they do in The Sims. Control could include some form of "programming" (or behaviour modification/reinforcement), so the fun of the experience is getting the characters to do what you want them to, and to see how they interact with other players' "programmed" characters. Unlike MMORPG PCs, player characters could continue operating even when a player logs off.
    
    
  • Short MMORPG - Instead of a MMORPG being designed to keep players around for 400+ hours, and longer if possible, design it so that the experience will only last around 40 hours before players "win" the game and are encouraged to find another MMORPG to play. See The anti-MMORPG.
    
    
  • Completely instanced world - As Richard Bartle has pointed out, a virtual world with instancing (aka: private dungeons) ends up turning into a large lobby where players meet one another, form small groups, and then go off into their own private worlds. At the moment, Guild Wars relies on instancing the most, but tries to hide the fact that the main world is a lobby.
    
    What would happen if an instanced game went all the way and admitted that its main world was just a lobby? The instances could be much more rich and varied, especially if players were given new (and customised) characters every time they entered a new instance. For example: If one instance were a murder mystery that required Sherlock Holmes-like characters to complete, the players would be given such characters. A different instance might rely on combat, so combat-skilled PCs would be provided. A world where players bring in their own characters can't require specific PC skills to complete an instance without preventing many players from experiencing the content.
    
    
  • Private world - A single-player CRPG (or adventure game) could be written to support a party of players. A group of friends would purchase the game and arrange to play it at a set time. One player would host the virtual world on his machine. Uninvited guests wouldn't be able to connect. When the players finished for the night, the world would be suspended until they next return. (I think Neverwinter Nights does something similar.)
    
    
  • "Computer-top" RPG - The private world experience could be modified so that one of the players was given the role of "game master", and could add/change the world and control NPCs. Basically, this would create a table-top RPG played over a computer network instead of someone's kitchen table. (Pizza delivery to six different addressed might be a problem though, even with a "/pizza" command...)
    
    
  • Live action role playing - In LARP games, as well as "host a murder" games, each player is given a specific part to role play. The pre-written PCs are designed to fit in with the other characters and produce interesting role-playing experiences. This system might work in a virtual world if a group of (non-griefing) players could guarantee they'd be able to play a specific scenario for a few hours... which is asking for a lot.
    
    
• Stories - The technology used to produce a virtual world can also be used to produce linear stories.
  
  
  • Machinima - The term "machinima" is used for amateur animations produced using real-time rendering and animation systems from customisable games like Quake. These animations are recorded from an in-game camera, spliced together, dubbed, and saved as a movie file. A machinima could just as easily be produced in a MMORPG (which has already been done), and have the animation scripts saved to a file instead of the raw movie frames. Animation scripts are "better" than the movie files because they use significantly less bandwidth, just as MIDI music-synthesis files are smaller than wave files.
    
    
  • Machinima "TV" series - Amateur machinima directors/authors could produce a weekly/monthly 30 minute story. Viewers would download and watch the machinima in real time because it would be stored as an animation script. Of course, viewers would provide heaps of feedback to the directors/authors, allowing the directors/authors to adjust their plot based on community requests, creating a marginally interactive experience. The flavour and quality of the animations would probably be similar to amateur web comics.
    
    
  • Customised story - The viewer of a machinima could specify what type of story they like, whether it's action, romance, intrigue, or lots of back story. Based on the viewer's preferences, the machinima's server could omit scenes or include extended scenes. For example: Viewers that dislike romance and like backstory would get shortened romance scenes, and extra backstory scenes. Viewers wouldn't be able to change the outcome of the story, however.
    
    
  • 3D story - Since the machinima is being animated real-time on the viewer's computer, let the viewer wander around the scene while it's being played out. The viewer might even be able to follow certain characters around the story world.
    
    
  • World of stories - Players would wander around a world and meet NPCs. Many NPCs would tell stories (machinima). The actions of the PC could be used to advance the stories, or affect their outcome.
    
    For example: A PC could talk to a bereaved farmer, who relates an anecdote about how his fiance was captured by orcs. The anecdote would play 5-10 minutes of machinima, enough so the player cares for the captured fiance. Then, the player would have the chance of rescuing the girlfriend (or not), and see how the story ends... perhaps with a 5-10 minute machinima wedding for the romantically inclined.
    
    
• Hybrids - Some hybrid solutions, part story and part game, are possible:
  
  
  • Intermixed machinima and sub-games - The experience might include some machinima (very long cut scenes) followed by sub-games that allow the plot to be advanced.
    
    
  • Choose-your-own adventure - Everyone is familiar with CYOA books. The Tunnels & Trolls table-top RPG (as well as Melee and Wizard, the predecessor to GURPs) had solo adventures similar to CYOA books, but which included single-player RPG elements amongst the CYOA activities.
    
    For example: A player would select option A (knock down the door) or B (knock on the door), which might then lead to a room where they would have to fight a troll, or the same room with the troll in a talkative mood. Machinima would be used instead of traditional text narrative. Some clever design might even be able to make the experience multiplayer.

But are they really "virtual world" genres?

Some of the ideas I described are virtual worlds, but most don't subscribe to any commonly accepted definition of "virtual world", even if the definitions are stretched beyond recognition; they are not virtual worlds. If it's any consolation, they do use the same fundamental technology that's needed for a virtual world.

If you can get past the fact that virtual world technology is being used to create something that is not a virtual world, you face another hurdle: Undoubtedly, most of the ideas won't work. One or two of the ideas might succeed, and might provide a welcomed alternative to the standard (and cliche) MMORPG formula that's used today. Unfortunately, I can't tell you which ideas will work, if any.

Even if none of the ideas work, the approach of trying to build something new with the technology pieces from a MMORPG might prove fruitful.