Raph Koster is talking about design pillars for Playable Worlds as they create their upcoming MMO, Stars Reach.
Koster discussed just some of the design philosophies behind the game in a recent devblog. He makes sure to point out that none of these came out of the blue, instead that they are a blend of a number of sources, including market research, feedback from MMO players, and even asking what kind of things MMOs have been missing. These are some of the ways they came up with these, in addition to looking at what's possible with today's technology.
Calling MMO design “kind of stagnant”, Koster says that despite early dreams from his Ultima Online days to make fully immersive worlds, “we have kind of settled into a mode where we as developers tend to make theme park rides for players”.
So one of their main design pillars is to make “the most live online world ever created”. This ambitious goal is expressed in things like making a vast number of ways to interact with the world and for the world to interact with you. Examples are maybe the wind will blow really hard and move you around, or maybe you want to set fire to a tree. They make these things possible, and many more, in service of creating an interconnected living society with an intent to create real communities.
This simulation also includes economic simulation since that's another way for players to interact with the world and interdependence as a community. This community and alive world also includes creating a foundation of, and allowing others to create, over time, a sense of history. “When we talk in the real world about our legacies, we are talking about the things that we leave behind for others to experience someday after we are gone. These are profoundly human feelings that games aren’t tapping into,” Koster says.
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Interview: Stars Reach Is Playable Worlds' Upcoming MMO, Set In A Fully Simulated Sandbox Galaxy
This is part of where so much player impact on the world intends to offer a richer experience, with lots of potential to be meaningful, and make players return over and over.
“So even though our need to have players commit to the game for a long while is a business necessity, it also serves a very real need for players: human connection. And really, that has been at the heart of the MMO genre all along.”
