Specialization and Trade, the Opposite of DBZ

The recent post on Power Creep (The DBZ Effect) sparked a fair amount of discussion and it deserves to be revisited. One thing mentioned in the comments that I will discuss in much more detail later is the issue of why people play that Matt M brought up. This question is very important to whether power creep is a problem, but I can't adequately address it in this post.

The basic idea of power creep is as an MMO progresses and new content is added, the cap between new players and the top tier increases. This is entirely natural as veterans demand new content. The problem is this increases the barrier to entry of the game though increased time required to be able to play at the top level.

One solution is what Magic: the Gathering uses: restart the game every so often. (Actually this is what all games did before the advent of the MMO.) Using this there is no gap in availability of items or character level, but veteran experience still matters through play skills instead of in-game statistics. This model definitely is feasible as evidenced by the Diablo II ladder system which resets every so often. (FoolHardy1729) This solution does not work for all player types though. Consider someone like Matt M who has emotional investment in the character. Constantly making a new character takes some of the fun out of the game. Resetting the game is geared for players who are mostly interested in testing their mastery of the game.

Another solution is shortening the time between the beginning and end of the game in response to new content. This is the approach that WOW has taken. This solution has the benefit of players keeping their characters and new players take as long as veterans took to reach the top. There are three issues with this plan that I can see. The first is this sort of change is fairly invisible to the untrained eye (new player), so whether they will see that the barrier to entry has not changed is ambiguous. Though this is a minor quibble,. The people who will notice this change in speed are the veterans who could conceivable be annoyed that their effort is worth less due to the new system. The final problem is subtler, by packing everyone near the top through increased speed, there will be a bigger competition for any marginal improvement in statistics. Players want to stand above their piers even if only by a mole hill's amount. This solution exacerbates the already present phenomenon of exponential price increases for the same marginal stat bonus.

I think that the fundamental problem is players are essentially driven by their statistics, which are just a bunch of numbers. In essence players are looking for how to have the highest set of numbers. One way to combat this is to simply add new systems to the game. This way, the old and new players start on the same footing in the new system, which the old players still have their area which they dominate new players. This is analogous to specialization and creating new markets. Everyone has a level, or at least more level, playing field and new entrants can specialize in the new product, which the established players keep their power in the old market. The trick from the game design perspective is how to add a new system in a balanced manner so that it is relevant, but not so that everyone must switch or be completely left behind. The other concern is this solution does not preclude increasing the potency of players in old systems, so power creep could still enter. Though is gives added valves to mitigate its consequences.

The Enemy's Gate is Down

I was playing EVE last night and something about the way the ships fly started to bug me. They always reorient so that "down" is along the plane of orbit in the system. This is completely arbitrary. There is no reason in game reason to do this. (Also there are 2 possible "down" directions for any solar system using the convention of the game.) I guess the developers do it as people's instincts demand an up and down. Though this removes the possibility of pulling a Top Gun like maneuver, which is a shame.

A related issue in game is the camera has points it cant cross at the North and South poles of the ship. This is far more annoying if I am buzzing enemy ships from above or below I can smoothly keep the camera trained on them. I am not too familiar with the coding of games, but this seems like an artificial restriction and I wish it was removed.

The Dragon Ball Z effect

I was chatting with my roommate last night and he mentioned how the definition of a big number in WOW has changed. What was once considered an amazing amount of damage is now commonplace and the frontier of power is many orders of magnitude bigger. This is exactly like Dragon Ball Z. The power of the fighters starts low and keeps climbing to 9,000 and beyond.

This steady climb is required for the already invested player. Without it the game loses its appeal as there are no new mountains to climb. Imagine DBZ where Goku fights Vegeta over and over again. Bad example, I mean Goku and Piccolo fight Raditz repeatedly without any of the three getting stronger. It is not interesting as we already know the outcome. (Spoiler the Saiyans both die.) Clearly this power creep must exist for combat games to be interesting.

Now imagine you're a new player to an MMO that has been around for awhile. The gap between you and the top tier is so much bigger than it would have been if you had started earlier. There is a big feeling of uselessness because you can't affect the world the way the veterans can and it takes so long to reach the veterans' level. Look at Hercule in the Cell Saga. Completely useless and can't even process how powerful the Z fighters are.

This power creep increases the barrier to entry of new players, which is clearly detrimental to the health of a game. The question is then how do you balance the needs of veterans for new heights with beginners feeling the game is accessible?

NPCs Should not drop Gold

One problem any RPG style game has is inflation. I know that there are already many posts on this topic, but this seems like something games have a problem doing right. I think that one of the big culprits is the ability of players to create gold (or any other in-game currency), usually though killing NPC monsters. Granted, the game must introduce gold to the players in some manner so it can circulate. And there is usually NPCs who take gold out of circulation in exchange for items. But to have monsters drop gold, especially in large amounts, means that every player has access to his or her own private printing press in the form of monster mobs. If everybody could print dollars the massive inflationary outcome in the real world is clear, so why do developers let players do this in game?

Monsters dropping equipment, crafting materials, or other items players use is not an issue. This is because the price of these items should be player driven through trades or auctions houses. If one of these items is over farmed, its price will drop, sending the signal to stop farming it. The reverse happens if the price is high. This is standard market adjustment, which is what players expect.

The picky reader will point out that inflation and deflation are just changes in the price of money and should also be considered natural market phenomenon. The problem is developers, like government, set certain expectations on how currency should behave. In particular it should be a store of value, which inflation destroys. Hence allowing in-game inflation goes against the expectations for money established in the real world, which is a bad thing.

Monsters dropping gold stems mostly from tradition. We see it starting all the way back in the 8-bit era with Mario stepping on Goombas for coins. The trend even predates video games. In particular, I blame Dungeons & Dragons for this convention. This is ok in a world inhabited by a few Players run from on high by an omnipotent GM. But it really falls apart without constant active intervention on the developer's part to keep things balanced. This is infeasible when there are so many other minds trying to break the game. Hence, NPCs dropping gold is one tradition games should discard.