I recently interviewed Nexon's Min Kim for
Worlds in Motion, where I'm editor when not here at Destructoid. I cover bizness news related to online worlds, social networking, and MMOs that work on the free-to-play, pay-for-goods model. Nexon is, as you know, like, a ridiculously successful company in this space, and one of the more amazing things is that in this crazy 3D world in which we all live, one of its most successful longstanding games,
MapleStory, is a 2D sidescroller.
I reviewed MapleStory for the lil' Online World Atlas
that I do over there, and I found the Asian-influenced, cutie-sprite oldschool look really charming; as I said, it reminded me of playing strange nonsense Hudson Soft-type games on my Turbo Grafx 16 back in the day.
MapleStory has millions and millions of players worldwide -- I've heard the figures pegged at anywhere from 30 to 60 million users. When you think of how big a deal people like Newsweek and Time think
Second Life is, reflect that
Second Life has only about 7 million. On top of that, MapleStory has been thriving for almost five years now, and growing every year -- after about five years, the majority of MMOs have maxed out their lifecycles.
When I asked Kim about why MapleStory's been so successful in a relatively tricky market, his answers are pretty much what you might guess -- fresh content constantly, listening to what the users want, being unique graphically, and having a strong community. After all, the difference between MMO and just plain old O, as in, uh... you're the O-nly one playing (isn't that what it stands for?) is other people, right? So what does your MMO community mean to you, and how does it affect the experience of gameplay?
The community element is one in particular that a lot of players in this space are talking about quite a lot lately. There's this huge gold rush going on for MMOs and virtual worlds; just about everyone has realized they can make a ton of money by aiming a community-oriented product at the "sweet spot" aged about 14-17. Especially if they can get those kids to bring their friends. Saying that peer pressure drives site loyalty is a bit of a cynical way of looking at it, but if you have a MySpace or Facebook account, why'd you get one? Because you had some friends who were using it. And once you're sick of it, why do you keep logging in? To see what your friends are up to, of course.
In other words, a sense of community and shared experience drives revenue, because it keeps users coming back. And for sites like Twitter, Digg, Flickr (why do dot-coms have the stupidest names ever?) it's pretty clear they wouldn't be big hits without that element. But what about MMOs?
I played MapleStory; I still play it, sometimes. I'm not enormously fond of action gaming on a keyboard; I could never become accustomed to it, and maybe that's the reason my patience for MMOs is fairly limited. As far as I'm concerned, my PC gaming career was point-and-click from the time I was, like, five (yay for HyperCard) so keyboarding still feels archaic and cumbersome to me. I suppose that could be remedied by getting a USB controller, but I just don't care all that much.
And that's the problem. I think that the community element that could really drive an MMO is still not bulls-eyed yet; I don't care, because most MMOs I have played still feel a lot like any old-school RPG to me -- only more skeletal, because of the open-ended world and the lack of a presiding narrative. It's grind and gather, and it tends to bore the hell out of me. The variable element is supposed to be the presence of others; you and the others are supposed to create your own story. But all that really ends up happening, in general, is that you don't grind alone. You form teams not to create a story, but to grind more effectively.
I know that for, say, WoW loyalists, they feel rather connected to their guildies and consider them friends. We hear a lot about how some people can talk to their cohorts in MMOs more than they can to their friends. But there seems to be a disconnect there -- you're fostering a social relationship based on your real life, your real identity, whether you're just being friendly or you're confessing your life's secrets, your problems with your girlfriend or your favorite kind of beer. All of that, against a backdrop of elves, orcs, monsters and mysterious artifacts? Why do the social relationships in MMOs seem primarily strategic, a function of your gameplay style? Is it because despite all the attention paid to this "exciting new" 3-dimensional connected reality, people don't really want to escape all that much?
I don't mean roleplaying per se, because I know there are plenty of people doing that on designated servers -- though I confess it surprises me that they're in the minority. What I'm saying is, with an MMO there is the opportunity for users to literally build an entire story of their own together; there are no limits on what they can design. And yet primarily, it's team up, kill things, sell loot, repeat. It's either that, or they don't talk much at all because they're busy -- wait for it -- playing the game. Seems to me there's a lot of lost opportunity there.
I think that if socialization and gaming were hybridized a bit more fluidly, then we might have that truly lifelike, compelling and immersive gaming experience we all keep saying we want. What do you guys think?
Contest:
1:02 PM on 08.29.2007
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I could see how Maple Story has such a huge fanbase , like Ragnarok Online, it is a game you can pick up and put down. Games like WOW take alot of time and dedication, where promises in game are just important as promises in real life. Eventually the commitments you make will intrude on your real life and overwelm it, in which you have to make a decision to pick whats your favorite reality...(this decisions destroys lives or saves them).
In the aspects of social relationships, there are people who use other people, but some people genuinenly are looking for friendship. The internet increases the chances on making more friends then your immediate area around you. Through an MMO it ups the interaction factor between people, which we bond through common quests/interests.
On the MMO biz, I have refrained from playing any MMOs because many of them are cliched fantasy romps that look boring to me. Ragnorok and Maple Story I would consider playing because of their stylised graphics and low spec play access. I have to say some of the Korean MMOs look more fun and varied. There's even a basketball MMO. When we can get such variety of MMOs in the west, perhaps then I'll jump in.
What I do know, is that I'll be investing the DS versions of both Maple Story and Ragnorok Online next year.
Good post, Leigh.
Rping in EQ and WoW were some of the most fun I've ever had playing an MMO... And there were jerks on the server. Lots of them. I still don't know why people wwho don't RP would come to the server and bring their dumb, goofy, no shift key using friends there as well.
And don't get me started with some of the stupid names people would just plop their hands down on the keyboard and use what they came up with.
The Korean MMOs... *sigh* It's true that their greatest strength is being able to just pick it up and play. Whereas you had to go fly or wait for warps everywhere in WoW or EQ (and that got really time consuming after awhile), Korean MMOs were quick to travel and get to your bashing spot.
That's about where the fun ends with the Korean games; afterwards it's NOTHING but the grind, or really stupid sidequests (like hats in RO). There's really nothing else beyond the grind. RF Online and Sword of the New World were awful because of this. You grind and grind and grind, and the only thing you have to look forward to is a world of unbalanced PvP.
My story is that I'm done with MMOs for good. The roleplaying back on WoW sort of died out with the others, and everyone concentrated on grinding. Godforbid how far you get left behind if you miss one or two days, but imagine missing a month because of my computer. I couldn't even hope to catch up with the rest of my guildies.
That's when I realized that playing MMOs becomes a chore after awhile, then eventually becomes a job. The grind's burnt me out for good, and there's no desire to travel in the virtual world ever again. And don't get me started with the PvP, I wrote enough already...
Sorry for writing a frickin book here, but I've got lots of stories in the MMO world.
I'd like to add, MMOs need as much variety as possible. I do like the look of Tabula Rasa and some of the MMO stuff Dave Perry is working on.