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Free Realms Interviews: Guilds Added: Exclusive Interview
Sanya Weathers reports on the addition of guilds, which hits FreeRealms tonight.
By Sanya Weathers on June 19, 2009
When I accused the Free Realms Systems Lead Luke Sigmund of being part of a vast conspiracy to create the ultimate gateway drug for MMOs, he laughed and said “No comment!” But I’m getting ahead of myself.
SOE is about to launch guild functionality for their free to play kid/casual game. I gave the game a great review on the grounds that it does what it does very, very well. But in the same review I noted that Free Realms is not a traditional MMO, and in fact was only an MMO in a literal sense. Massive numbers of people can play it online, yes. But raids, guilds, community, and even grouping are noticeably absent from the title, and when I was playing it for the review, I felt like I was playing a fun single player game. I never spoke with, or heard from, another human being, and that among other reasons made me miss my “real” MMO games.
;)
Since the review, SOE has put in zone chat, and today they started their media blitz to promote their adding guild functionality.
Why?
Sigmund told me, “We put guilds in because we know that’s what players want. We’re diligent about reading feedback and responding to that to create a really fun experience. And everyone knows that playing with your friends is the most fun thing.” He should have some idea as to what fun it – he was a raid designer in EQ2, and before that, he was the guy behind all the live events (things like the holiday goodies, etc) for several years.
He said, “We want people to talk to each other! Guilds help us push along socialization. We read the reviews, and saw what people were saying [about the lack of social connections].”
That’s not to say that guilds are being implemented solely because of the feedback. Sigmund said that guilds were always a planned feature, but when the team was setting priorities for launch, social features like guilds came below highly polished, intuitive gameplay.
The team knew enough to know that what’s intuitive for an old MMO hand is incomprehensible twaddle to… well, anyone else. So they built a usability lab, complete with viewing windows and cameras to record every expression, every hesitation, and more. Now, this is pretty standard product testing for most industries, but I’m hard pressed to think of many game studios doing it at all, let alone in house.
;)
“Seeing reactions was really important. The usability lab has been the crux of our decision making behind the UI, and making things intuitive,” said Sigmund.
;)
If this kind of focus testing is done, it’s usually farmed out to consultants who may or may not understand the significance of the little details. Building the lab in house and bringing in focus testing children shows a degree of commitment not normally seen.
Then again, it was widely known within the industry that Free Realms was CEO John Smedley’s baby, and he was going to nurse this thing into existence with every resource he could get his claws around. I didn’t know how committed he was until this interview, when I learned that he’d given up his plush office with the private bathroom just so he could sit closer to the Free Realms development team.
;)
Anyway, the target market for this game was never the traditional (adult) MMO consumer. That the game can be enjoyable for that consumer is intentional, of course. But the basic Free Realms player is someone, a young someone, who hasn’t picked up an MMO before.
Still, traditional MMO players expect guild functionality. The Free Realms guild system was designed to do two things. One, meet the expectations of traditional players – those people used to creating guilds, or people already in guilds that formed in other games. And two, educate new players – explain to them what a guild is.
That’s when I suggested that the team’s real goal was to build the ultimate gateway drug into “real” MMOs, and that’s when the systems lead and the PR girls started laughing and refusing to comment.
So… what’s included? I warned him that I was now trained to expect incredibly easy to use tools that didn’t require anything thinking.
“We wanted to turn around the first iteration of guild functionality very quickly,” says Sigmund. “The basic tools are there – tags, chat tabs, the ability to teleport to other guild members. Recruiting and web tools will come later. We’re planning social networking features, but they won’t be coming online with the first guild patch. We need everything to be really polished before it goes live, and right now we’re focusing on in-game features.”
I asked how you make a guild in Free Realms. I’m not sure what I expected, but I was still startled. “Guilds are kind of a prestige type thing in Free Realms – to create a guild you must be 15th level in one of your jobs.”
That’s it? How much does it cost? How many people do you need to create the guild? Well, apparently, nothing and no one besides yourself.
;)
Of course I asked about housing. I’d been hearing rumors of a housing patch, and if we’re going to have guilds, we gotta have guild housing. But he wouldn’t bite. “We love housing. And we want to make it awesome. And that’s all.”
Fine, fine. Sniff. No scoop for me.
As the interview drew to a close, I asked for final words. Sigmund told me with an audible grin, if you know what I mean, that adding guilds “will start a cascade of awesome.” I made him explain that statement, and he said, “It comes down to this. If you’ve played an MMO, you’re more likely to do stuff if we make it easy for you to talk to your friends and coordinate everything. We know there are people in the community who want to do stuff together, and we’re making it possible for people to organize themselves. People are already putting together parties and gatherings, we’re just giving them the tools.”
“Guilds are a way for people to get together, and we don’t want to put too many barriers in the way of that.”
Great news .. we can make guilds now :D . I can't wait untill they release the other maps >.<
Now, if SoE can take the positive lessons learned from Freerealms and apply it to a more mature title, they might actually be able to turn around their reputation. A lot of good stuff here in this simple, yet fun, little game.
One thing that all MMORPG developers should look to here is Inhouse Usability Labs. Professional playtesters, who are used to monotonous, bug hunting play drills are good for quality control, but useless for determining what will work and what won't work with the gaming public.
Closed betas can produce feedback, but it can become a lot of noise and often a faction that wins out in arguing a major point does not represent the view point that the larger player base would chose.
Being able to watch and study people playing directly has huge advantages. The labs and staff don't represent a huge monetary investment and test participants can be had cheap or for free.
they are taking lesson from FreeRealms and applying it to a more mature game...The Agency. They've been watching the pricing model to see how well recieved it is, for starters.
Trust me, they are definately looking at FreeRealms as a golden goose
Woot! Guilds!
beau
As one of the older adults (38) who play this game, I too welcome the creation of guilds. It should allow a bit more grouping and "raids" for the harder monsters and dungeons (snarled vines in Briarwood comes to mind). After suffering for 4 months in WAR with balance issues galore, this is a much needed relaxing and fun game to play. Have been loving it since I signed up.
I don't much bother with guilds in "adult" MMOs, so I can't say I was missing them in Free Realms. Housing, though, that's a whole different issue.
One of the things I actually liked most about Free Realms was that it was pretty much a single-player game using the tropes of MMO gameplay. That, however, isn't going to stop me starting my own guild as soon as I hit 15th (which as a Pet Trainer is probably going to take, what, an hour?).
I 'm curious to see what content-related (as opposed to utility) function guilds will have. I've yet to run into any content that isn't balanced for solo play, although I've seen it referred to, as in this thread. Seems that to have any content tuned to a group, let alone a Raid, would go entirely counter to the ethos of the game.
Yey guilds... i hope i get into a good one. also i wish they will add guild exlusive quests.
Most games benefit from usability/playtesting with non-professional gamers. One of the most interesting challenges, I find, when working with developers and publishers is to ensure that game play is intuitive and fun for "core" gamers (gamers familiar with the genre) but is also accessible and friendly for "new-to-genre" gamers who might be interested in the IP, trying a different kind of game, or playing with friends and family members who are already playing.
Nothing replaces just shutting up and watching players struggle with your game in terms of identifying and fixing impediments to fun and then validating that the experience, at its core, is fun.
I never get board of watching :)
What we really should be asking ourselves here is......when....and if when then possibly...then. If then is indeed the answer....then you must ask.....why then as opposed to now....and if not now....then when?
I signed up for this game so my kids could play it. I have also played it and I find it to be fun but no one talks to anyone in this game. I just do not see the point in adding guilds into a game where no one talks to anyone. I have yet to see any one talking in this game and I have had a sub to it since the game was released.
How mind boggling. Hit 20 with my Blacksmith and 17 with my miner, guilds are not in yet. Probably next patch. Game is really fun, plenty of minigames to take your mind off any type of "grind" (for the fighter classes). Love that you can switch between classes on the fly.
Im sorry but if you al find this game fun it tells alot about how you failed at the the more succesfull MMO's out there, its a kids game, half done, and most of it a nice try of a copy of you know who... An MMO is succesfull when it reaches more than 5 million, other than that its still crap.
Yes...Well God forbid anyone enjoy something meant for kids. I guess everyone who 'failed' at the 'more successful' MMOs is a kid. Or...just maybe, a parent. Or even! Someone who wants to try something different. Ah, but what would I know, I mean, I've only played WoW, GW, CoX, Cabal, and a bunch of other MMOs. But I am glad an expert on the success and failure of MMO gaming can point us all in the right direction.
you have no idea what you are talking about dude . :)
First of all this is unlike any mmo out there, it really isnt an mmo only in the combat forms- its just an interactive minigame hub with mmo features thrown in.. i like the simplicity of it and it seems soe is using this simplicity as a building block for there upcoming mmos..(dconline ui) For the age demographic it is hands down the best looking and best playing game out there and considering the population of that age demographic, i only see this game succeeding in the future.. Guilds... this is more of a single player game imo no need for guilds but good for increasing the social community i guess..
Listen here I am a parent of two little girls who happen to love this game and I find it fun to play the game with them. When I play games by myself I play Eve Online, Lord of the Rings Online and a couple other MMO's. I played Everquest for 8 years. You have no clue what your talking about so it is better to keep your mouth shut and let people think your stupid then to open it and remove all doubt.