Janitor on the Death Star

MMORPG.com's Justin Webb returns to his regular column day with this look at making players feel more heroic in MMOs.

I wrote a bit yesterday about R.A. Salvatore’s talk at GDC. A portion of his talk was about player death and the teasing of the Well of Souls feature. However, Bob also had a lot to say about making players feel like heroes. Since he created one of fantasy’s most enduring heroes, he assuredly knows what he’s talking about.

A lot of Bob’s talk centered around heroic events that he experienced as a player in Everquest. He gave one hilarious anecdote concerning a well-timed use of Supernova in the Estate of Unrest during a twink run that had a lot of the old timers in the audience mumbling in agreement and stroking their beards.

He put forward the argument that a harsh death penalty; a big hard-to-navigate world; challenging content; and a bunch of good friends can all help lead to a world where “heroic moments” can occur. And that it is absolutely vital for the player to feel like a hero when playing a game.

Read Nobody Wants to be the Janitor on the Death Star.