As MMO players we have likely seen it all. Starting in the early days where MMOs were also open battlegrounds. Games like Ultima Online were just open, with few safe zones. In order to really play though you had to venture outside. However, this trend in competitive gaming has really grown strong in recent titles. Here are a few examples of how we are living in the PvP era.
Battle Ground Games
Games like PUBG and Fortnite has coined the modern concept of PvP. Many younger players who grew up on Minecraft are now jumping into matches on Fortnite daily. They are joining a full on PvP experience. Whether it is solo or squad, this is the common game play they are used too. The game is amazing fun and takes advantage on the battle ground scenarios we had seen grow up back in the Dark Age of Camelot days.
PUBG takes the same steps and seems to push into the levels of an esport. Even though the game is not designed that way, it can be a fun live stream experience. The competition levels are so high it is amazing when you actually get a win, let alone finish in the top five. These styles of games are dominating the market right now. With millions of players, they are setting the stage for trending games in the next few years.
Esports
Esports continues to become more mainstream. The Overwatch League is growing slowly as more major investors become involved. If you map the landscape carefully there is a scenario where esports are massive in the next five to ten years. They will be huge and every kid in North America will be following their teams and playing games in hopes of becoming a professional. This is the era they continue to grow up in. As competitive gaming grows more, we start to see less time played on single player or narrative video games.
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MMORPGs
There are still a huge group of players in the MMO world. In fact the rise of original game servers from some of the top titles over the years is bringing back a whole new audience. While MMOs host a huge amount of PvE content the upcoming MMOs have a heavy PvP element to drive their players. Crowfall has a unique system of faction warfare and even a full section of the game which is similar to a battle ground scenario. Crowfall announced this back before battle ground games took off. Their design allows for players to travel into whatever level of PvP they wish. From large faction warfare to single combat.
The team at Crowfall have a ton of experience and their design could shape a lot of how future games are built. If other games start to follow their multiple format designs for PvP you may see games like Fortnite even changing their tune and building out new scenarios for players.
It all depends on what game experience creates the most fun for their user bases. The catch is, not everyone wants to PvP every night of the week. There still needs to be open world narratives and quests to keep players enjoying the world. Crafting is always another element to these worlds which gives players solace. Sometimes you just want to take it easy in a game.
MMORPGs have balanced these two concepts fairly well over the years. It now just depends on how the future players entering into new worlds will shape up on things.
For now, the PvP era will dominate the next few years. As we have always seen in games, old trends come back into style. Eventually we will see narrative content and questing games take center stage.
