Hi guys.

I'm setting up an extensive system to classify MMOs. When the system is up and enough games have been classified, one can simply go through a short quiz about their game preferences to find out which game is the best fit for them.

For this to work, the classification system has to be rock-solid. I have a draft at the moment and I'd appreciate if you guys could tell me if anything is missing from it or anything on it is uneccessary.

Combat:
Does the game offer PvE combat
 - Does the game support grouped PvE combat?
 - Does the game support solo PvE combat
 - Does the game support raiding?
 - Do players suffer item loss on PvE death?

Does the game offer PvP combat?
 - Is there arena based combat?
 - Is there open PvP combat? (On some or all servers)
 - Is there faction based PvP combat (RvR combat)? (On some or all servers) 
  - Does the RvR combat take place in a relevant, non-resettable, battleground?
 - Do players suffer item loss in PvP combat?

Crafting
 - Does the game feature a crafting system?
 - Are crafted items more powerful than looted items?
 - Does the game feature a deep and complex crafting system?
 - Does the game allow you to personalize items you craft?

Economy and trade
 - Is trading a viable profession in this game?
 - Is resource harvesting a viable profession in this game? (Looting excluded)
 - Is transportation and distribution a viable profession in this game?

Characters
 - Are characters very customizable in appearance at character creation?
 - Does the game feature a class system, skill system or other?
 - Does the game feature levels or skills or does it feature other advancement systems?
 - Does the game feature class-independent professions? (Assuming it features classes)
 - Do choices made at character creation restrict future possibilities?

Payment
 - Does the game require fees?
  - Does the game have an account creation fee?
  - Does the game charge a fee for expansions?
  - Does the game have a mandatory subscription fee?
  - Does the game have an optional subscription fee?
  - Does the game offer micropayments?

Difficulty and time-investment
 - How difficult is the game to learn? (1-5)
 - How difficult is the game to master? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support infrequent play sessions? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support short play sessions? (1-5)
 

Setting
 - What is the setting? (Fantasy, Sci-fi, Oriental, Other)

That seems like a pretty complete list. But what I also think is intresting is which races and classes you can choose from. And it would also be intresting if you would say something about the community, these these more and more topic are coming up in the LFGame-section about people who are looking for a game with a good/friendly community, and I,personnaly, give a lot of attention to the community aswell. 

I must say I like you project, some time ago there was a project like that (theburialgrounds.com/, but there wasn't really an active forum-community so it kind of died. So if you could use some extra help in your classification system, I am always willing to help. I got quite a bit experience with MMORPGs and I've got a pretty decent knowledge about MMORPGs. So if you would like me to help a bit just PM me and I'll be glad to help.

Thanks phatpetey. I'll definately need some help when I've finalised the list and start classifying games by it. I know a fair number of MMOs myself but far from all and some will have changed sinced I played them.

This is a Good project and you had a great idea.

This are questions i would add:

Does the game let you built your house?

Deas the game let you personalize it ?

The " bank" of your item is the house ; and can you own more then one?

In the RVR can you conquest outpost of the other faction?If yes , does the outpost give you some benefict for construction or trade skill?

Is the istance the main target of the game or is just a second way of lvling?

Are the istance a number restricted place or a free for all place without any limit of player inside?

Is the loot gived to the first one that loot  or just following other rules?

Can you vote with a ingame system for a Mayor of your faction?

are the item soulbound or can always been tradeble and useable

Are items that suffer damages been repairable? and if yes repaiting them will bring them always to 100% or just to the lvl of the repairer , and the item will ever suffer a permantly lost of % that you wont be able to repair

Are you always in a starshipe or you play olso as a person?

Originally posted by oby1sky

This is a Good project and you had a great idea.

 

This are questions i would add:

 

Does the game let you built your house?

Deas the game let you personalize it ?

The " bank" of your item is the house ; and can you own more then one?

In the RVR can you conquest outpost of the other faction?If yes , does the outpost give you some benefict for construction or trade skill?

Is the istance the main target of the game or is just a second way of lvling?

Are the istance a number restricted place or a free for all place without any limit of player inside?

Is the loot gived to the first one that loot  or just following other rules?

Can you vote with a ingame system for a Mayor of your faction?

are the item soulbound or can always been tradeble and useable

Are items that suffer damages been repairable? and if yes repaiting them will bring them always to 100% or just to the lvl of the repairer , and the item will ever suffer a permantly lost of % that you wont be able to repair

Are you always in a starshipe or you play olso as a person?

 

 

 

Some of those points I really like, but other ones just seem useless to me...

-Does the game let you build/personalize a house.
-Are the items soulboundable, or can they be traded.
 

I realy hope that your project will work as this would give at least a compass to look better to all those mmorpg. The list game of mmorpg.com need realy an upgrade becouse the pvp column is too much reductive to have enought information to choose your favorite game , and second there are too much "?" .So the suggestion is to avoid as much as possible the ? from your list as this would not help the classification

Good luck m8 and tell me if i can help you in other ways.

Originally posted by Froztwolf

Hi guys.

I'm setting up an extensive system to classify MMOs. When the system is up and enough games have been classified, one can simply go through a short quiz about their game preferences to find out which game is the best fit for them.

For this to work, the classification system has to be rock-solid. I have a draft at the moment and I'd appreciate if you guys could tell me if anything is missing from it or anything on it is uneccessary.

Combat:
Does the game offer PvE combat
 - Does the game support grouped PvE combat?
 - Does the game support solo PvE combat
 - Does the game support raiding?
 - Do players suffer item loss on PvE death?

Does the game offer PvP combat?
 - Is there arena based combat?
 - Is there open PvP combat? (On some or all servers)
 - Is there faction based PvP combat (RvR combat)? (On some or all servers) 
 - Does the RvR combat take place in a relevant, non-resettable, battleground?
 - Do players suffer item loss in PvP combat?

Crafting
 - Does the game feature a crafting system?
 - Are crafted items more powerful than looted items?
 - Does the game feature a deep and complex crafting system?
 - Does the game allow you to personalize items you craft?

Economy and trade
 - Is trading a viable profession in this game?
 - Is resource harvesting a viable profession in this game? (Looting excluded)
 - Is transportation and distribution a viable profession in this game?

Characters
 - Are characters very customizable in appearance at character creation?
 - Does the game feature a class system, skill system or other?
 - Does the game feature levels or skills or does it feature other advancement systems?
 - Does the game feature class-independent professions? (Assuming it features classes)
 - Do choices made at character creation restrict future possibilities?

Payment
 - Does the game require fees?
  - Does the game have an account creation fee?
  - Does the game charge a fee for expansions?
  - Does the game have a mandatory subscription fee?
  - Does the game have an optional subscription fee?
  - Does the game offer micropayments?

Difficulty and time-investment
 - How difficult is the game to learn? (1-5)
 - How difficult is the game to master? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support infrequent play sessions? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support short play sessions? (1-5)
 

Setting
 - What is the setting? (Fantasy, Sci-fi, Oriental, Other)

Is the game more skill based, more armor based, or equally skill based and armor based?

Is the game RTS or Turn based or other?

Is the game rated E, T, or M?

Does the game have a small, medium, or large community of subscribers?

Does the game offer Role Playing/Role Playing PvP servers?

Is the game based around PvP/RvR or PvE?

That's all I could think of right now, but I might add more later as I think of them

If you want to test this system why don't you just chose a few examples of linked games here on MMORPG.com and see how they work?

For example World War II online:

Combat:
Does the game offer PvE combat - minimal (AI emplacements)
- Does the game support grouped PvE combat? - yes
- Does the game support solo PvE combat - yes
- Does the game support raiding? - no
- Do players suffer item loss on PvE death? - yes

Does the game offer PvP combat? - yes
- Is there arena based combat? - no
- Is there open PvP combat? (On some or all servers) - yes
- Is there faction based PvP combat (RvR combat)? (On some or all servers)  - yes
- Does the RvR combat take place in a relevant, non-resettable, battleground? - yes
- Do players suffer item loss in PvP combat? - yes (from side equipment pool - not personally)

Crafting
- Does the game feature a crafting system? - no
- Are crafted items more powerful than looted items? - N/A
- Does the game feature a deep and complex crafting system? - N/A
- Does the game allow you to personalize items you craft? - N/A

Economy and trade
- Is trading a viable profession in this game? - no
- Is resource harvesting a viable profession in this game? (Looting excluded) - no
- Is transportation and distribution a viable profession in this game? - ?? Jump plane pilot?

Characters
- Are characters very customizable in appearance at character creation? - no
- Does the game feature a class system, skill system or other? - ?? yes?
- Does the game feature levels or skills or does it feature other advancement systems? - yes
- Does the game feature class-independent professions? (Assuming it features classes) - ??
- Do choices made at character creation restrict future possibilities? - yes and no

Payment
- Does the game require fees? - yes
- Does the game have an account creation fee? - no
- Does the game charge a fee for expansions? - no
- Does the game have a mandatory subscription fee? - yes
- Does the game have an optional subscription fee? - no
- Does the game offer micropayments? - no

Difficulty and time-investment
- How difficult is the game to learn? (1-5) - 4
- How difficult is the game to master? (1-5) - 5
- How well does the game support infrequent play sessions? (1-5) - 5
- How well does the game support short play sessions? (1-5) - 5

Setting
- What is the setting? (Fantasy, Sci-fi, Oriental, Other) - other.

How does that work?  Make sense?

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be including some of them.Special thanks to you Gyrus for providing a nice example.

When I finalise the list and get a website up and running I'll definately ask for your help in order to fill out these lists for as many games as possible. It's a near impossible task for one man ;)

Actually, I just thought of something very important -

Browser based MMOs?

I was just playing pardus when it occurred to me.  There are a lot of Browser based MMOs and some are really good and include all sorts of things.  They need to be included IMHO.

I eventually hope to be able to encompass all kinds of MMOs but to begin with I will restrict the list to published, client-based MMORPGs (as opposed to MMORTS and MMOTBS)

Originally posted by Froztwolf

Difficulty and time-investment
 - How difficult is the game to learn? (1-5)
 - How difficult is the game to master? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support infrequent play sessions? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support short play sessions? (1-5)

This part I see as being one fot he sticking points when it comes to your idea.  I say this because this section becomes very subjective to the person who is doing your little "quiz".  One person's "hard" could be another person's "moderate".  It can also apply to the other points.  Some can apply to the play sessions questions since some people will go in and do a bit of crafting, feel satisfied with the ammount of stuff they did, go offline and come back later.  Others might come in, do a couple quests get half way through their level and have to go because "life beccons" and be annoyed that they couldn't finish that level.

These points will mess with your rating because people are all different.  I am not quite sure what to suggest to fix this, but I'd suggest you give this one some more thought.  I think perhaps this section needs a more detailed breakdown or something?

Hope that some of this helps you somehow.

Originally posted by Froztwolf

Hi guys.

I'm setting up an extensive system to classify MMOs. When the system is up and enough games have been classified, one can simply go through a short quiz about their game preferences to find out which game is the best fit for them.

For this to work, the classification system has to be rock-solid. I have a draft at the moment and I'd appreciate if you guys could tell me if anything is missing from it or anything on it is uneccessary.

Combat:
Does the game offer PvE combat
 - Does the game support grouped PvE combat?
 - Does the game support solo PvE combat
 - Does the game support raiding?
 - Do players suffer item loss on PvE death? (replace item loss with significant death penalty)

Does the game offer PvP combat?
 - Is there arena based combat?
 - Is there open PvP combat? (On some or all servers)
 - Is there faction based PvP combat (RvR combat)? (On some or all servers) 
  - Does the RvR combat take place in a relevant, non-resettable, battleground?
 - Do players suffer item loss in PvP combat? (replace item loss with significant death penalty)

 

I would break down PVP into 5 different catagories:

Gladiator - Nothing fancy, no objectives, just killing.  Instanced (i.e. Death Match, Arena)

Objective Based - Group PVP based on completing objectives instead of just killing.  Instanced (i.e. Battlegrounds)

Realm vs. Realm - Players split into two or three factions in noninstanced area.  All actions go towards war effort.  It can be killing, objective, PVE, whatever. (i.e. DAoC, WAR)

World PVP - PVP objectives, quests, or raids set in PVE areas.  Usually used more for flavor than actual PVP progression.

Open PVP - PVP with no artificial limitations.  You can anyone, anywhere at anytime as long as you are willing to pay the consequences.

 

Crafting
 - Does the game feature a crafting system?
 - Are crafted items more powerful than looted items?
 - Does the game feature a deep and complex crafting system?
 - Does the game allow you to personalize items you craft?

Economy and trade
 - Is trading a viable profession in this game?
 - Is resource harvesting a viable profession in this game? (Looting excluded)
 - Is transportation and distribution a viable profession in this game?

Characters
 - Are characters very customizable in appearance at character creation?
 - Does the game feature a class system, skill system or other?
 - Does the game feature levels or skills or does it feature other advancement systems?
 - Does the game feature class-independent professions? (Assuming it features classes)
 - Do choices made at character creation restrict future possibilities?

Payment
 - Does the game require fees?
  - Does the game have an account creation fee?
  - Does the game charge a fee for expansions?
  - Does the game have a mandatory subscription fee?
  - Does the game have an optional subscription fee?
  - Does the game offer micropayments?
 

Difficulty and time-investment
 - How difficult is the game to learn? (1-5)
 - How difficult is the game to master? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support infrequent play sessions? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support short play sessions? (1-5)
 

Setting
 - What is the setting? (Fantasy, Sci-fi, Oriental, Other)

Don't forget the type of graphics.  They are always a sticking point for some people.  I would break them down into three catagories:

Photo Real - Graphics made to look like reality.  These I usually really impressive graphics but a resource hog. (i.e. Vanguard, AoC)

Artistically Stylized - Graphics not based on realism.  Usually have better performance than photo real. (i.e. WoW, WAR)

Hybrid - Somewhere between the two.  Usually pretty good graphics with pretty good performance (i.e. LotRO)

OP, you might look at www.boardgamegeek.com and check out various games there.  They have various classifications for games there. It might give you some ideas, or rule out something.

Originally posted by Illius

Originally posted by Froztwolf

Difficulty and time-investment
 - How difficult is the game to learn? (1-5)
 - How difficult is the game to master? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support infrequent play sessions? (1-5)
 - How well does the game support short play sessions? (1-5)

This part I see as being one fot he sticking points when it comes to your idea.  I say this because this section becomes very subjective to the person who is doing your little "quiz".  One person's "hard" could be another person's "moderate".  It can also apply to the other points.  Some can apply to the play sessions questions since some people will go in and do a bit of crafting, feel satisfied with the ammount of stuff they did, go offline and come back later.  Others might come in, do a couple quests get half way through their level and have to go because "life beccons" and be annoyed that they couldn't finish that level.

These points will mess with your rating because people are all different.  I am not quite sure what to suggest to fix this, but I'd suggest you give this one some more thought.  I think perhaps this section needs a more detailed breakdown or something?

Hope that some of this helps you somehow.

Yeah I realise this. Still those are very important factors when considering an MMO and I don't think there is any way of coming up with subjective questions to cover them.

Kyntor: I am still trying to keep subjectivity to a minimum. Item loss is objective. Significant death-penalty is subjective. I realise that there are games with death penalties beyond item loss but what would you call significant? Would you have a way of phrasing the question in an objective manner?

Thanks for the comments, both of you :)

After getting feedback from various sources, this is the current list:

Combat:
Does the game offer PvE combat
  Does the game support grouped PvE combat?
  Does the game support solo PvE combat?
  Does the game support raiding?
    Does the game support raiding with groups of these sizes: 0-10 / 10-25 / 40+
  Do players suffer item loss on PvE death?
  Is character advancement exclusive to PvE?

Does the game offer PvP combat?
  Does the game support gladiatoral PvP?
  Does the game support instanced objective-based PvP?
  Does the game support area-limited PvP?
    Is the field of battle periodically reset?
  Does the game support fully open PvP?
  Does the outcome of PvP battles affect the rest of the game?
  Do players suffer item loss on PvP death?

Crafting
Does the game feature a crafting system?
Are crafted items more powerful than looted items?
Does the game feature a complex crafting system?
Does the game support personalization of crafted items?

Economy and trade

Is trading a sustainable profession in this game?
Is resource harvesting (other than from combat) a sustainable profession in this game?
Is transportation and distribution a sustainable profession in this game?
 

Characters
Is it possible to make a uniquely looking character at character-creation?
Does the game feature a class system, skill system or other?
Does the game feature class-independent professions? (Assuming the game features classes)
Does the game feature levels or skills or does it feature other advancement systems?
Does the game feature a rich endgame? (Assuming the game features levels)
Does the game support character advancement through quests?
Do choices made at character creation restrict future possibilities?

Payment
Does the game require fees?
Does the game have an account creation fee?
Does the game have a fee for expansions?
Does the game have a mandatory subscription fee?
Does the game have an optional subscription fee?
Does the game have micropayments?

Difficulty and time-investment
How difficult is the game to learn? (1-5)
How difficult is the game to master? (1-5)

How well does the game support infrequent play sessions? (1-5)
How well does the game support short play sessions? (1-5)

Items
Does the game feature vehicles/mounts?
Does the game feature player housing?
Does the game support personalization of player housing?
Does the game restrict "ninja looting"?
Does equipment suffer damage with use?
Does equipment suffer damage on character death?

Other
What is the game's ESRB rating?
Which platforms does the game support? (Win, Mac, Linux)
What is the setting of the game? (Fantasy, Sci-fi, Horror, Oriental, Other)
Do your actions on the world persist and affect other players?
Is the game on a single server or is it "sharded" onto multiple game servers?
Does the game unravel a story through ingame activities?
Does the game support role-playing?
Does success in combat rely on equipment, character skill, player skill or other?