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Obduction Backer |
Joined: Wed May 10, 2006 5:04 pm Posts: 20 Location: Germany
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You are about to embark on a long journey, friend. Welcome!
The purpose of this thread is to put forward and discuss suggestions for positive change for Uru's future.
Since the discussion is quite involved, this introduction will have our results so far at easy glance.
Although much has already been said, please don't feel intimidated, step right through and join the
debate. Happy New Year!
Axel
---------- Concrete Suggestions for Cyan----------
A Season One Post Mortem
It is felt that often communication is lacking. This furthers speculation, rumours, misunderstanding
and more often than not undue expectations and resulting disappointment. As a way to heal some
of those pains, we propose to you, Cyan, to write a Season One Post Mortem. Think of it as a project
post mortem only focusing on the design aspects, i.e. that is not to imply it shouldn't touch
technical issues if you felt them to be important, just bear in mind your audience will be non-technical
people. Specifically, we are interested to hear: What did you hope to achieve? What
were your challenges during Season One? What worked really well? What failed in your eyes?
Story elements should be made persistent.
While we can appreciate your artistic intent to prevent the cavern as 'real' as possible, it is felt that
too many players are left behind in terms of the way the story is presented. We have proposed several ways
to achieve this in-game, since we also feel that leaving this burden to the community alone is actually
hindering people to interact with the game.
Consequences should enrich the game experience, not lessen it.
This point is currently being fleshed out a little more. In essence, however, it is felt that rigid implementation
of the 'cavern is real' artistic attempt is often taking away from the game experience in unnecessary ways.
---------- More to follow as they emerge ----------
And here is my original post that started the discussion. Have fun
I have been involved with Uru since the second beta, which seems like an incredibly long time ago now. And so it was with a very heavy heart that I canceled my Uru account today.
I didn't want to leave without a farewell, and I thought I would at least provide some suggestions for a second season if it should get made. Most of the points aren't really new to the more seasoned fans here, but I felt like writing a final summary to just get it off my chest and maybe input something positive. Since I will shamelessly refer to all manner of game elements I post this in the spoiler forum. If an admin thinks this post is better suited somewhere else, please move it.
When I first heard about Uru, it was still called Mudpie and was pretty much just in its conceptual stage. Back then, the concept of an online Myst game seemed as much like a radical departure from the established line than it eventually turned out to be. Being a little worried about it, I asked a simple question:
What makes Myst Online fun?
I mean, what does the online concept add to a Myst game to make it more fun? Don't dismiss this off-hand by saying: It adds a social aspect. Think about it for a moment, if you will. Myst has up to that point been a fundamentally single player experience. The strength of the Myst games, and their particular, archeaological storytelling mechanism has been a deeply personal experience for many of us. Allowing us to play at our own pace, with many different motives and many different rewards.
At the time, Rand Miller gave a very convincing answer to that question, that despite my doubts, made me very excited about the project. He stated his vision for a kind of online game experience that would be very much like people enjoy TV today. If you think episodic content is a relatively new development, let me tell you that this had been outlined many years ago. Rand said that he envisioned people to come home, log in, and enjoy episodes of the game at their own pace, and follow a compelling storyline that simply would not end as long as people would enjoy being part of it.
That sounded great and it still does! However, unfortunately, through all manners of twists and turns, compromises, setbacks, technical limitations and whatnot, this vision could not be realised. I still think, the first major mishap was retrofitting Uru Prime to be a single player game. Yes, it eventually worked, but it was clearly not designed to be a single player story-driven puzzle game like the predecessors. It wasn't really a great single player game as a result. It turned out to be really thin on plot and upfront story, and thus, at least for me, wasn't really fun. There were all manner of triumphs in the game as well though, especially with PotS. I still think that the Kadish storyline and especially the Ahnonay cycle is the best storytelling and game design Cyan has ever shared with us in all these years.
So, why does Uru not work for me now? Why is it not fun?
I cannot complete the episodic content at my own pace.
I am a casual player, with only a few hours of Uru time to my week. I can only recall being part of one story event in the cavern, and this was basically a Cate lecture to a small crowd. Apart from that I barely even noticed any story going on at all. Now, you will probably say that I could read the forums and be on top of happenings in the cavern. But truly, I ask you honestly, is that good enough? I want to experience a game first hand. I do not want to be rushed. And I don't want to feel I am missing all the fun, if I don't hang out idly in the game on the off-chance I might experience a bit of plot.
The story is not compelling
This is, of course, a purely subjective assessment. But for me, the Uru story is very flat and unengaging. Beginning with Yeesha, who should provide me with a solid motivation to go forward on her journey, but really doesn't give me enough involvement to do so other than to eventually progress in a game.
The second major problem is, of course, that I hardly get to be involved with the story since. I could read the forums, I could lurk in the city. But really, very few things actually happen. The things that did happen turned out to be just waypoints in a meandering tale that, after all this time, really didn't lead up to much.
My final major turn-off was the introduction of the Bahro. I think what makes D'ni such an exciting fictional universe is that it is believable fantasy. Cyan did their job really well in creating a believable universe. There is very little conceit, and very few narrative conveniences. For lack of a better word, there is very little 'magic' in Myst. The Art yes, that is a major point of suspension of disbelief, but it is counter-balanced by a solid scientic approach to all things encountered in those fantastical ages. And now, onto the stage came the Bahro, oppressed yes, but virtually omniscient beings breaking all the previously established rules. I could feel for an oppressed slave-labor people misused by the D'ni. Very much so. Teledahn was a powerful environment to open my eyes to the true nature of D'ni. But why did Cyan feel they had to introduce such an immense fantastical, all-powerful element into the story at this point? At least to me, that shattered the fine balance, the delicate nature of their believable fantasy.
I think, they have painted themselves into a corner. Then again, I have no idea what they wanted to do with the story in the first place, and it is hard to see, when the tale hasn't been fully told.
There is not enough engaging content
This is, after all, the main issue. I know, and appreciate the reasons for Cyan not being able to produce more content when the economical situation does not allow for it. However, wasn't that forseeable at the very beginning? Even before Uru was actually released, many of us wondered, how development of content as time-consuming to create as full-blown Ages could ever stay ahead of the players consuming them. I never quite understood how Cyan meant to keep their playerbase entertained, and at least in my knowledge, they never really said.
Uru is very unlike other MMOs which mainly revolve around doling out a constant stream of mini-rewards to their players. Whether they are XP, gold, quests, items or whatever. However, that kind of content is relatively easy to create since they simply follow pre-set templates and are just done over and over again. WoW anyone? Uru's content is so much harder and more expensive to create, if it should actually satisfy us hungry crowds on a steady basis.
I think this is Uru's most fundamental problem, and it's not here because of the current situation. It was always there, it is a systematic problem inherent in the design. Although, I suppose we will not learn their intended solution, I am still very very interested to hear how they meant to tackle this issue. Because, if they actually could solve it, I think Rands initial vision could be realised after all. I still wish it could!
Uru is expensive outside of the US
Also a subjectice point, but probably important to players from around the world. Since to us, Gametap, is not part of the package, we have to pay full price for Uru. Now, up to this point this hasn't really been an issue. I wanted to do my part to to help realise the vision of Uru. However, since I found myself actually not spending any time with the game, save for those short bursts when somthing new came around, it became harder and harder to justify. What would have helped me to renew my faith in the project would be some kind of roadmap or vision of things to come. Some kind of statement of how the various issues the community has will be addressed. I know that many of you will feel differently, but to me the first season was not really a successful online game experience. If the second season would just be more of the same, I don't think the game could be sustained.
The final straw
So, what broke the bahro's back for me? Ironically, it was Ahnonay. Yup, the Age I was most looking forward to seeing again, the great triumph of Uru. In realising their original vision, Cyan of course, made the puzzle multiplayer, like I suspect it was originally meant to be. I had previously only logged in occasionally, actually fewer and fewer times, only seeing what was new, and making sure I got my sparly. And now, for the first time, I actually had to get somebody else to help me make progress, and what made it worse, I only had limited time to do so.
In the end, I think, that is very bad design and betrays the original promise of 'together or alone'. I simply did not have the time to make many online friends. And I much more enjoyed playing the game at my own pace. Now, I finally find I cannot progress in the time given to me, will miss this sparkly and therefore would have to wait another 12 months to get this one.
I know this is only a trivial element of the Uru experience, a mere trophy of vanity. But when there is so little other content around, this was keeping me happy for the time being. I did try to make it, but with so little time, especially this month, I didn't manage to complete it even with the ever so helpful community.
So, I am out for now. Now, for the positive part
What could be improved to make Uru more fun?
Make it more accessible to new players.
That is the key for any online game wishing to be successful. There needs to be an influx of new players. Just catering to a hardcore crowd of old-timers leads to a niche too small to sustain. I think, Uru as it is, it very unforgiving to new players. It is very complex, there is very little help and very little guidance in-game. Sure, there is a wealth of information on the forums. But if people should be enticed to pick up a subscription the game needs to work entirely on its own. There need to be more rewards, which are easier and more obvious to attain. At the most basic level, this could be KI messages telling new players what to do, and what to attempt. In-character and of course, optional to follow. The interface needs an overhaul. The KI is very hard to use for a completely new player.
Make episodes persistent
While the idea of having live actors sounded appealing, it is ultimately a failure and much too exclusive a means to convey the story. I think the episodes need to be persistent. I.e. the players should be able to play through them at their own pace. Yes, this will take away the idea of a living, breathing ongoing D'ni in a way, since people will be in different parts of the story at any given moment. But honestly, is that so much worse than the current situation where most players will not experience the story at all? Whether this is done through interactive NPCs (I have a feeling Cyan wants to avoid that at all costs) or mini-cutscenes like in the Bahro cave does not really matter. Just make sure every player has an equal chance to actually experience the story. For examples of what kind of devices and mechanisms can be used to present such a game, one only needs to look at the current crop of MMOs. Right now, I believe Lord of the Rings Online, Tabula Rasa and maybe Guildwars do a very fine job of presenting an ongoing storyline in a non-linear, yet persistent way.
Time-based puzzles are not fun!
Whoever thought it was a good idea to introduce puzzles which need to be solved in a given time-frame before the reward becomes unattainable should have their office donut rights revoked for a month. That is so 90s MMORPG. Look at the current games. Everyone can get all the content at their own pace and in their own time. Period. There is no excuse.
Multi-player content should be truly optional
This is probably the hardest pill to swallow, but everyone else is. If you look at the current successful MMOs you will find that more and more of the content, probably most of it, is opened up to single players. You may argue why play a multi-player game then? Well, for the social aspect, for the occasional challenge that needs other players. For the community. If you compare the current crop of big release MMOs to those of 5 years ago you will see this drastic development. Why? Because the market is expanding to casual players, who simply do not have the time to invest in required, involved and lengthy multi.player gameplay. What does this mean for Uru? Well, give single players a way to solve multi-player content, no matter how hard or time-consuming. It should be possible. Otherwise, the casual crowd will not stay.
Finally, and most importantly: Tell me a story
It could be that I have missed the finer points of the past episode's plot. However, I doubt it. For me, Uru's critical downfall compared to say, something like Riven, is that there is simply no engaing, exciting, emotionally involving story being told. In fact, I find it hard to decipher a coherent storyline in Uru at all. Raph Koster's (of UO fame) contention that players will make their own stories is as bogus today as it was back then. Yes, players will certainly make do, if nothing else is there, but they will not feel entertained. At least not in the way Rand's original vision of online episodic content promised. A couple of years ago MMOs only had a backstory and filler content. That was good enough. Today's MMOs tell as compelling stories as single player games do, maybe richer ones because of the social aspect and maybe because of the occasional role-playing that goes along the official material. Give me a tale and I will follow. Worked for TV, will work for games. Episodes, which I can explore at my own pace are the key.
And so, I close, parting for the moment, hopeing truely, the end has not yet been written!
P.S. If you read through this manifesto, I apologise sincerely for my verbosity, offer a virtual sparkly as compensation and would truly enjoy hearing your opinions on any of it.
Shorah,
Axel
Edited for typos (I bet there's more!)
Last edited by Axel on Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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