I want to know how to define a good quality Multi player online game?
What should be present in a Good MMOG and what should not be there like high quality graphics,performance,reliability,speed and any thing u ppl can suggest?
Plz suggest if u r a player,developer,network admin,game admin or cracker
I am collecting that data for academic purpose.
Regards
I always consider the size of the community and social interaction between players as a measurement of an MMO's health.
If the game allows it, 3rd party development is also a good measurement. A good example of this is Age of Conan. It was booming in the first few months and 3rd party tools were created and maintained on a very regular basis. A few months later the player base heavily declined and the 3rd party dev community died along with it. Leaving most tools unmaintained.
(Related to MMO's I'm a 3rd party tool developer)
ps. This doesn't really relate to Ogre. Maybe move to off-topic?
20% - player,
80% - developer
Well... a bit of each "job" you put in Your list.
1. Ease of usage. I don't want to learn all the keystrokes, all the icons etc... just to play a game. I will learn them, but in time.
2. Simple at the beginning, complex near the end. Each MMOG has "stages" which You pass along the way - a stage of creating Your kingdom, a stage of gaining cash, the stage of conquest for example. I want to be able to make mistakes and still be able to compete at the beginning. I don't want to create another account/character/kingdom/whatever just because I started the wrong way. I'm not saying this shouldn't matter - the PRO's would be disappointed if the first steps were negligible. I'd say that 50% difference at the start for a newbie and a pro would be sufficient(at the same point in the starting game.)
When it gets near the end of the possible development (or in case of unlimited development - a point where development slows down considerably) I want the game to be complex. I want the player to have a lot of power not only coming from his quadrillion of battleships or 5M mana/hp but from his own knowledge and experience. Such as the ability to create Your own content n the game. The more - the better.
3. Reliability. That's a good one. You want to be able to fight that raid boss without server crapping out every few hours. You want to be able to send out a squadron of fighters as soon as the enemy sends his army towards You to check his strength. You need to be able to rely on the system to be fair and always accessible.
4. Not pushing Your time around. I don't like to play in a fied hours. They shift as my working hours shift, as my study time shifts. I want to be able to have fun anytime. Best way to do that would be paying(if You pay at all) for the time spent ingame. Not for the time YOur account is active. I can drop the gameplay for a month and return later. I don't want to have to set any "hiatus" flags or anything, because I never know when I'll come back to the game.
5. Active development. Either as players who have the power to change the world or a group of admins who do that. The world has to live - I don't want to come to a village under attack from some orcish invaders one month and see it exactly the same way the next one. Invasion is an invasion and it should have some effects. If I kill some people I want them to stay dead/not come to work the next day and serve me some tea.
6. Secrets. I want to be able to go where no one has been before, I want to see an upgrade no one else has, because I specifically set my mind to developing camouflage, external shielding and photon manipulation and finally I can build invisible fighters. Cool... huh? I want my character/kingdom/ship to be one of the kind. I want to have upgraded sword, dual laser turret with a better rate of fire and my corvettes to be able to make hyperspace jumps(when only Frigates of others have the ability) If there's always something to achieve - be it prestige or simply a new way of playing - the game stays interesting indefinitely.
I used to play games often, but I haven't had the opportunity to play any these past couple of years. Right now, I dedicate all of my free time to game development. I also run two successful MMOG communities with 3000/7000 members.
For all the stick it gets, Runescape, IMO, is a decent MMOG. It may not have next-gen graphics, but the gameplay is unique. In that respect, I like its sense of achievement and progression - it's satisfying when you gain levels, acquire better items, accumulate wealth and complete quests. The more you advance, the more you can do.
The downside is that it's hard to get into; it seems dull and useless at first. (Hence the majority of those who put it down are those who played it for a few minutes/hours/days at most and gave up.) However, on the flip side, the trading system was also an attraction to new players; higher level players would give the newbies 'free stuff', and that would encourage them to stay with the game since it made them feel as if they had an advantage.
It also used to have a risk to it -- you had to be very careful and alert, as you were always in danger of loosing what you worked hard to gain. Then if you did loose it, you were ever more determined to return and make it back. Also, it was a bit of an adrenaline rush if you stepped into the wilderness, or some other risky place. That sense of danger is something I think all MMOG's should have.
It was always satisfying to have other players 'follow' you, saying "wow, where did you get that!", "nice armour!" - it made you feel proud and important. (In theory)
Updates were also very regular, at least one considerable update a week, and some more in-between. You were always wanting to checkout the latest 'thing', since it is completely developer driven.
As sivael said, "Not pushing Your time around." - RuneScape is perfect for that. You can return years later with your account in exactly the state it was before.
Of course, that's me speaking from a few years back. (I had something called time). It has completely changed since then. But those were some of the factors that brought it to be the second biggest MMO.
These three are absolute musts in my opinion. If one fails, the game fails. Community is also a must, but I consider it a result of the game and how the devs/publisher/GM deals with the community, not a part of the game itself. Graphics is a must if you want the game to become a major hit like WoW, but graphics are useless if the game underneath sucks.
Reliability and user interface are "easy" to evaluate; reliability is how often there's a technical problem with the game, user interface is how easy it is for the player to communicate to the game what the player intends.
Gameplay and content are tricky. Here players have different preferences and the possibilities are endless. Games are expected to bring something new and combine it with refinements on old ideas, to a successful and entertaining whole. How much content is needed depends on the gameplay and the game style/genre, but generally there is a huge demand for entertaining and varied content in mmos, to keep players busy and entertained for months and years.
