Categorized | Gaming

MMO’s around the next curve

Posted on 01 February 2008

This post is a reaction of sorts to something Brent asked in the fantastic show 100 of Virgin Worlds. If you haven’t listened to it yet then you are missing out and should sign up through iTunes today, now, go, I will wait…

…right.

Basically Brent spent sometime asking his podcasting collective a very good question and I wanted to run with it a little to give some of my ideas and see if this is spotting a trend. The question was, “What do you see as the future of (Game) podcasting?” My answer to this is to say that the future of game podcasting is tied up with the future of MMO gaming itself. MMO’s the next generation.

So where is that going and how does podcasting fit in?

We are all tired of MMO’s as they stand. Sure people play WOW, but a lot, a significant lot have quit and we all know the state of the recent releases. Vanguard tried to break my heart, but it was already broken by SWG. My friends and I all wanted Vanguard to work. Why was this? It was because of The Curve. The Curve is a way of describing the future. Around the curve is the next generation and before the curve, back down the road, is the past generations. All games exist somewhere on the curve itself, like a set of racing cars all vying to round the bend of the curve first.

The further they go forwards the more of the future comes around the curve and the more of the past generations you can no longer see as they drop off and fade away into nostalgia. Many MMO games are already back there, way back there, and probably start with Nethack then all the way through Mud’s, early university MMO’s, Ultima online, Everquest, DAOC, and up into the curve itself.

Nethack owned

Currently the head of the curve, the one to beat is of course WOW. There have been attempts to try and do this: for example Vanguard, which tried to be more hardcore and build up from a playerbase of fanatics and by popular acclaim overtake WOW.

It failed dismally.

The truth is this, WOW is so far up the curve that in order to overtake it you need to produce a game that is actually around the corner. That is; a game that is the next generational leap.

So what would such a game look like and what does it have to do with podcasting?

I don’t think that the traditional MMO genres of ripping off AD&D are going to cut it going forwards. And I don’t mean just the EQ2’s or Tabula’s, I mean the fact that the way you play AD&D; the dice roles, is still at the heart of all current MMO’s. As I have blogged before, I don’t see this trend being core to the games around the curve.

So what is going to be the core?

We all are.

I have seen the trend coming on…

I have been watching the media interest in Second Life and wondering at it for quite a while. Second Life is a terrible MMO’s, because it isn’t really an MMO at all. It is the front end to an MMO. Second Life is like those waiting rooms between maps in an online shooter. The problem is that the shooter never starts.

But an idea occurs to me.

Sony have been working this idea for while with Home; the interface for the PS3 that is like a social meeting room before you go off and play a game with your buddies. A kind of 3d version of Xfire, mixed with social tools to interact with your gaming comrade’s.

When I saw the Internet buzz around Home (from Penny Arcade, Edge Magazine, etc)…

Will Home ever get here?

You too can have hair this bad!

…I was reminded of the greatest MMO you have not played; The Metaverse in the novel Snow Crash.

You should all read this book NOW!

In Snow Crash the book is based around a kind of social MMO that people connect into and hang out. It is from inside the Metaverse that they then go on to play a game. It could be anything, riding bikes at high speed, shooting at each other, sword fights, etc, etc. The Metaverse is the gateway to the online existence and it is through that gateway that all games are played.

Everyone connects to the Metaverse and hangs out first.

I loved this vision of the future and I remember Brent mentioning in his show 100 that game designers are interested in such things as Gaxonline, Virgin Worlds and all the self created social spaces generated by the games banding together. Looking at how fast Gax has grown I can see why.

It cant be long before you are able to launch your MMO of choice directly from Gax Chat. It won’t be long after, that social sites such as Gax will become a front end to MMO’s. Imagine, if you will a 3d version of Gax, where all the users could hang out, socialise and blog to their hearts content. Imagine being able to use Gax as a hub to go to whatever game you wanted and to bring along all you Gax friends with you. It cant be long until a self organising collective of gamers use the technology of the web not only to talk about games but to create a true portal to actually play them too.

So what of the podcast?

Metaverse Media such as Radio or even 3d TV casting.

In the Metaverse shown in Snow Crash there would have been tons of cool radio stations pumping out info on the latest gaming. With radio, podcasters get the opportunity to put out information that is much more up to the minute and reaches a much larger audience. If the coolest way to get into a game was to meet up in GAX3d first, imagine how many people such a radiocast could reach? It could be millions. No longer would you have to fuck around with the crap interface of iTunes, you could catch the latest news right as you log in.

So imagine if you will the next stage beyond that.

Games that download in GAX3d.

your mates playing the latest game and you don’t have it? No bother! Simply log into GAX3d, walk your avatar down this particular corridor and by the time you get to the door at the end the game will have downloaded, installed, created your account and be ready to play, so simply open the door and walk in!

So, for me, the next generation of gaming is not about making a better WOW, it is about harnessing all these player built social spaces to better communicate to gamers and allow them to experience their friends and make new ones in a more visceral way. And while they are waiting for more to join their upcoming raiding party, pumped over the digital airwaves is the smooth and soothing voice of Brent…

…although he is probably telling them the game they have downloaded is shit