3) Good Minigames
Other than a lot of the awesome (and mostly player-ran) stuff you could come across in Star Wars: Galaxies and City of Heroes, I struggle to think really of any awesome minigames in MMOs. Jumping puzzles in Guild Wars 2 are awesome, but that’s not the same thing at all. Pet battles in World of Warcraft are all fine and dandy, but it’s not something you can spend a considerable amount of time doing as anything other than a distraction or time-killer. Gwent on the other hand, the card-game in The Witcher 3, is deserving of its own standalone release – it’s that good.
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Gwent succeeds at being so interesting simply because it’s a well-designed and fun-to-play card game. End of story. There aren’t any intrusive or fancy tie-ins to the game itself other than it exists, and people enjoy it. The quality of the game speaks for itself. Now, if MMO developers could create something like this (it doesn’t even have to be a card game – it could literally be anything) and actually make it fun and worth investing time into, they’d be on to something here. Plus, it’s a no-brainer for free-to-play titles, people would easily drop some cash on that kind of stuff.
2) Mature Content
Let me be clear: when I say mature content, I’m not talking about Scarlet Blade’s brand of “maturity”. I’m thinking more along the lines of gritty realism and harsh environments with ruthless characters and violence, rather than boobs, butts, and blood for no reason other than boobs, butts, and blood. The closest thing to a truly “mature” MMO that I can think of is Age of Conan, but even that isn’t quite the same as what’s on display in the world of The Witcher. Tasteful and effective mature content is hard to describe really, it’s just one of those things that you know and appreciate when you see it done correctly.
I wouldn’t call Dragon Age: Inquisition an overtly mature game, but it feels like a much more mature experience than any of The Elder Scrolls games ever have, despite the shared ESRB rating of M. It’s about not only the combat and nudity, but the writing and events that happen, the choices you make, the characters you interact with, and the world you live in. The Witcher 3, for all of its fantastical elements and crazy monsters, is one of the most realistic depictions of the brutality of humanity we’ve ever seen. If an MMO could pull off something just half as mature and vibrant as The Witcher 3, I’d be happy.
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1) Subtle Choice and Consequence
And yet, they’ve managed to pull that off without making the “game” elements too intrusive. I love morality systems in games and I love knowing that my choices are having an effect on the world around me, but I hate when those choices are reflected on a visual scale or with some type of arbitrary point system. Real life doesn’t work like that.
I want an MMO that understands nothing is black and white – virtually everything sits in this huge void of grey right in the middle of what’s right or wrong. Instead of every NPC existing simply as a depository for quest items and a node to receive updates and information, how about giving them actual personalities? Instead of choosing whether or not I get 5 good guy points or 5 bad guy points, how about it be a question of whether I help this person succeed in a task that may have repercussions for someone else in the future, or I prevent this person from succeeding, which may have repercussions right now? Above all else, just make things interesting.
Conclusion
How does all that sound? Maybe we just cut corners and ask for a full MMO based in the world of The Witcher? I know I’d play that. Can you think of any other big things that The Witcher 3 does right that MMOs could learn from? Let me know down in the comments below!
