Hrothmund's random ramblings.
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Let me start my post by creating a little bit of a background for my musings. In the past few days I've been playing CD Projekt's excellent RPG, The Witcher. Now, this game has some serious flaws, errors and bugs, but they don't matter, the overall experience is wonderful. The gritty and uncensored atmosphere, along with the unpolished translations create a very unique feeling within the game, that makes it one of the most immersive titles I've played in the last few years.

Now, being a fan of The Witcher, I must type that AoC has many similarities with the aforementioned game. A 'mature' and 'manly' world, drinking and brawling in pubs, semi-twitch based combat and outstanding graphics and overall presentation are all things these two titles have in common. I would be satisfied, if Funcom could just come up with the same level of polish as CD Projekt did, but honestly I expect much, much more from AoC. However, I am truly hoping for the same 'off the hip' attitude from the development team, the same sense of  enthusiasm and love for their title that transferred through so well  to me when I was playing The Witcher. Along with this, Funcom have to accomplish something CD Projekt didn't, 'endgame content' and replay value.

All in all, I am sure Funcom has their hands full. Immersive, read interactive, environments are much harder to create in a MMO setting, when compared to single-player titles. Also Funcom are working with an established IP, which limits their creative freedom content-wise. I hope we can be expect characters and settings that have not been jaded by demands from management or the production team. In short, I wish AoC could finally be the 'made by gamers, for gamers' title that so many of us have been waiting for. I know there are some really creative and understanding games executives out there, but it seems when examining recent MMO releases, that there's always that same '50-year-old couldn't-give-a-horses-cock' type of production executive that manages to bland down the games and tone down the title to a generic and uninteresting game.

I'm in the software business myself, but when developing business tools, the outlook of the producers and managers is a lot different. Yes, ease of use and eye-candy are a factor in this segment of the software world as well, but when it comes down to selling the end product, the criteria differs substantially. The software that is chosen is commonly selected because it can do something the competitors can't, is easy to integrate/adopt into the customer's environment, does not require a vast amount of resources to run, and is cost-effective and dependable. In this regard, the games industry has a few things to learn.

As a conclusion, I'd like to extend my best wishes to the AoC development team and sincerely hope you can get the game finished on time and won't have to make too many concessions. There are many of us out there waiting for your game who do not think the current 'copy and paste' method of creating MMOs is the way to go.

I know there are creative writers and developers out there with exciting concepts of game mechanics and intellectual properties we can only dream of playing at the moment. The question is, where are they? Has WoW pushed the MMO community to a point where the only ideas that actually gain funding and go into production are titles that offer something that has been done before but claim to do a better job of it. Sure, there are some games out there that offer a few quirks here and there, but I've yet to find a product that is truly original and at the same time appealing.

Let's make this clear; World of Warcraft is a great game and huge a success, I do not put the blame on Blizzard in any way for killing the creativity in MMO design. The fact is, that once something becomes as established as WoW, if you come up with a concept that mirrors the original but offers the consumers a somewhat altered and unique end product, it is much easier to get your project approved and funded than a game that pays no resemblance to the current market leader.

I truly hope that there is some crazy developer out there with a solid idea for a sandbox game that would actually have mass appeal, yet be so original there would be no comparing it to past titles. Yes, I recognize that hundreds of MMOs have been released, many of them(especially the crazy Asian ones) being quite original, making it hard for anyone to come up with a truly imaginative idea. However many of the 'truly original' Asian MMOs have plainly been too weird to play for me. The game that would send shivers down my back then, would have to then be a true master-piece, a new avant-garde trend setter amongst the worn-out MMO titles.

Mission impossible, you might think. I've actually been putting my neglected brain cells to work on this one, and have come up with a few ideas that I think could improve the genre.

• Most MMORPG IPs are either high fantasy, scifi or a mixture of the two. Why not create a world that is as much make-believe as it is realistic and gritty? I would love to play in Film Noir setting, for example. I'd definitely buy a well implemented game set in a toned down version fo the Gears of War or Blade Runner universe. I think comic books and well-written thrillers could provide MMO designers with fresh ideas and a street-wise edge that would be popular amongst many.
• To be truly immersive, MMOs could learn a little bit from Hollywood. To establish true immersion, the IP needs to be believable, without any major discrepancies and to not include the plague of current MMOs, different design styles for content. There is nothing that breaks your involvement in the game world more than stepping into an expansion area and clearly noticing the difference in the artistic style and overall mood of the setting. What MMO design teams could need then, would be a producer type brand-manager figure, who would make sure the lore and game world are presented in an uniform manner.
• What I also crave in the current MMO offering are involving and fun time sinks. I know gambling is a no-no for developers that don't want an 'M' rating, but this does not bar minigames and twitch based secondary trade skills, like real-time dancing or sports in general. What I want is more truly casual content, think Wii here,  for killing time.
• Character progression, that's a tough nut to crack. I would want a steeper power curve for abilities and skills, at least in the visual department. Somehow using the same ability I used to kill level 1 rats and bunnies in the starting area to take down the hardest raid boss in a given game does not appeal to me. Again, yes this is a pain for the devs, but more content is needed here in my opinion.
• True NPC interaction. Let's say you portray a filthy and parasite ridden bum in rags, why don't the NPCs react to your repulsive appearance? Most likely you will be allowed into the hall of the most respected rulers wearing your potato sack, or level 1 squire's leather armor. I know this is a nightmare to implement, but I hope that in a few years we will get there with more and more powerful computers and a better network infrastructure that will make truly interactive worlds possible.

So there we have it, I could go on and on with demands like the ones above, but what I'm really hoping for is that there is already a development team out there with a like-minded production counterpart that thinks somewhere along the same lines as myself. One can always hope, can one not?