This week, Pwyff decided to tackle the issue of difficulty in MMORPGs. Are we more satisfied when the game is tougher? What does it even mean when an MMO is called difficult? Read on to find out!
Throughout my years and years of MMORPG playing experience, I've definitely been happy to see this genre evolve in a variety of different ways. The implementation of quests over monster grinding, the massive increase in solo content over group content, the graphical upgrades and PvP game play becoming more and more important; the list goes on. Of all of these evolutions, however, none of these industry shifts appear to be as prevalent and genre-changing as the one that has managed to attach itself to many budding MMOs, and has also shown itself to be the cornerstone of Blizzard's 11.5 million subscriber base: 'easy casual' MMO gaming. No other term would also be as divisive in the MMORPG community as this.
In this regard, then, gamers will often note that, when something is easily achieved, it's considered to be 'casual' content, and it will be stigmatized as such. On the other hand, when something is extremely difficult to attain (Absolute Virtue items in FFXI, perhaps the "Alone in the Dark" achievement in World of Warcraft?), other players are quick to conclude that it requires too much of a 'hardcore' effort and, while the difficulty of the content will be appreciated, chances are high that very few players will be able to take part in it. In this way, the question I have is this: is difficulty the sign of a quality MMORPG, or, in our busy world, does the quality of an MMO now rest upon how many things a player can do in under an hour? This editorial may not provide all the answers, but at least it will give you something to think about!
Before I begin, I'd like to clarify that, when I say casual MMO gaming, I'm not referring to a playing schedule by which someone plays their MMO; I'm actually talking of the ways in which companies simply make their game appear to be less 'hardcore.' Of course, these two definitions are highly subjective and somewhat dependent upon each other to define each other. With 'hardcore' gaming, I am mostly referring to the old-school approach to MMO gaming, with hours spent scouring for guides and discussions on forums, and days spent dedicated to the pursuit of a single achievement. With 'casual' gaming, I am referring to the systems set up in many of our current day MMORPGs that are designed to facilitate quick gaming with low consequences and, some would argue, little difficulty for experienced MMOers.
There's a saying out there that goes: "May all your dreams, but one, come true," and I think this is the best way to describe any MMORPG ever made. We play MMOs in order to get a sense of achievement from getting bigger weapons or shinier armour. When we run out of swag to get, or things to achieve, it's certainly very depressing to know that there's nowhere left to go. Some MMOs, like Final Fantasy XI, EVE Online and Ragnarok Online, require a great degree of effort to achieve anything worthwhile in the game, and they apply rather ghastly consequences for 'bad' play (deaths, getting killed in PvP, etc). Progression and 'wish fulfillment' (gaining levels, getting items), in the case of these more difficult MMOs, is usually quite delayed, but the pleasure is definitely real upon achieving anything. Other MMOs, of which World of Warcraft is the most pre-eminent, reward players for almost anything they do, and consequences are extremely low for these kinds of games. In this way, the 'difficulty' of the game may be perceived as low, because progression just keeps coming, and achievements are more readily at hand.
But do any of these qualities really denote difficulty in a game? There are definitely a number of ways a developer can make something "artificially" difficult, and many of the more 'difficult' MMOs definitely have some moments of this. For example, in Final Fantasy XI, it typically takes a number of months (especially from a fresh level one) to grind your way to level 75 (multiply this by four if you're a Thief main). Not only this but, depending upon the job the player chose, they also have to level at least one or two (or three or four) sub jobs to 37 so that they aren't perceived as bad players. In Ragnarok Online, there are a number of quests that require hundreds, if not thousands, of items that are rarely dropped by a certain monster. With these examples, while it feels incredibly awesome to achieve these formidable tasks, is this a sign of difficulty, or is it just a matter of extending the life of your game by increasing the time it takes to complete a task?
Alternatively, there are other games that are inherently difficult to play just because their mechanics make them a little bit tougher to get used to. For example, Darkfall Online is definitely one of the most difficult games I've played, but that's because some of the animations and combat were so laggy that it required a great degree of getting used to. Part of the charm of DotA (the incredibly popular Warcraft III mod) is the fact that it's not ultra responsive; players need to take into account their individual hero's attack animations, turning speeds and responsiveness while also playing the game. When a graphically upgraded version of DotA came out (Heroes of Newerth), many players criticized it as being 'too easy' because it played just like DotA but without the animation lag. If the game play itself inhibits the game in a noticeable manner, does this also contribute to the concept of 'difficulty,' or is the game simply being annoying?
Finally, many games implement many consequences for player actions, and this can severely affect the 'casual' player who just loads up the game, but doesn't want to read guides on forums and websites. Some games have incredibly steep consequences for deaths of their players, like a hefty EXP drop in Final Fantasy XI, which can result in the loss of a level, or Ragnarok Online, where each death constitutes a loss of 1% of your EXP, which, at level 90+, can equate to many hours of work. Other games force the player to 'define' their character via a free-flowing system of choices that will shape the growth of the character. I've been playing a great deal of Champions Online these days to get a feel for the game, and while it advertises that players can create absolutely unique champions, they neglected to tell me that trying to change these decisions costs an incredible amount of money. In this way, I made a critically bad choice a few levels back, but when I went to undo my choice, I found that there was no way I could afford the cost. I had to reroll my character fresh just because of my careless mistake. While these consequences are great for forcing players to feel the importance of their actions (and not just carelessly throwing themselves off cliffs in order to travel faster by resurrecting at a graveyard ahead), they're also really strict, and can make a player feel very paranoid about making hasty decisions in the game.
On the other hand, however, there are also forms of difficulty that demand creative thinking, quick reactions and intelligent play. Many players will cite fighting games, like Guilty Gear, Street Fighter 4, Smash Brothers and Blazblue as being the epitome of the above, but only in the context of playing against other players. In an MMORPG, while there are certainly many opportunities to engage in PvP, players point to the fact that they want other content to be difficult in this way as well. One disgruntled 'hardcore' World of Warcraft raider noted that Mimiron (a boss in Ulduar) on hard mode and M'uru from the Sunwell Plateau (in The Burning Crusade expansion) were two very challenging and fun bosses to fight. Alternatively, however, other bosses in Ulduar were only difficult because they were given demanding enrage timers (time limits as to how long it took you to kill the boss) or they simply dealt incredible amounts of damage.
When it comes down to it, it really is subjective as to who's playing the game, and what he or she would like out of it. As a competitive player who also considers himself to be a 'hardcore' player without the time to dedicate to it, I prefer games that don't reward me for picking up a stick, and I really do enjoy games that employ some form of consequence for negative game play. Would you like to play a game that has few rewards along the way, but gives you that satisfied feeling of achievement every time? Or, perhaps, would you like to play a game that has a lot of things to offer, but also has top guilds clearing all endgame content two weeks after it's released? While upcoming MMOs may have the chance to balance themselves in the middle of the scale (I'm looking at you, Secret World!), everyone should realize that MMOs are here for us to enjoy - if you think that your MMO is too 'easy' or too 'hard,' maybe it's time to check out the hundreds of others out there!
Christopher "Pwyff" Tom
Editor
ZAM.com
