Character Development

Let me preface this entry by saying that I enjoy MMO games. I am convinced that this genre will open up all kinds of new things to players. That said, the following things (and most of the things in this blog) are gripes I (and a few other players hopefully) have with most of the games out there. But this is not about griping, Its about presenting a problem and proposing a solution. I enjoy trying to solve these problems, not necessarily explaining the problems themselves (though it is necessary and sometimes enjoyable).

Player experience, levels, and character development have remained relatively unchanged since tabletop D&D. Hell most of the stats are entirely the same. This system works for D&D because the player is not actually interacting with his or her character directly; these stats provide a way for the player to have some influence on the outcomes of the story.

However, this type of system is not really necessary for a digital game, because the player is actually doing something. The player is controlling the character, moving, attacking, and jumping in real-time. In D&D its nice to hear the dungeon master describe what's happening with your character in an entertaining way, but you do not have the final say in what happens. That is up to the dice and the dungeon master, because that promotes interesting storytelling, and that is what the game is about. When you give the computer his job, you have a simple simulation with a percentage chance of a few outcomes and no real fun, because there is now no story telling element. This is not a game. Sure nowadays developers have dressed up this system into something more game-like, with its choice of spells and skills and timing. But, boil it down and you have the same simulation, stats vs. stats. Adding more players to the mix brings in additional chaos, but it is not a way to make this dated thing work, one needs to start with a real gameplay mechanic, something that is actually fun. Stats are well and good, but they can only augment the real game, not determine its outcome.

Take Tetris for example, cause we all know Tetris. Lets say in our hypothetical version of Tetris, a few things are different.

-The player has a smaller and smaller timetable to complete each successive level, but the blocks always fall at the same speed (if not "pulled down" by the player).

-The pieces rotate in one degree steps instead of 90 degree steps, so the speed of this rotation is an issue in positioning the blocks.

-The speed that the blocks fall when the player pulls them to the bottom (by pressing the down arrow or whatever) can change.

So, if we were to apply the same logic of MMO stats to our little game, we would say that once the player progresses to level 2, he/she receives a +2% chance that a needed block shape will appear. This increases linearly with level advancement. At level three, the player will gain a +2% chance that a shape will appear in a useful orientation (regarding the current block formation at the time of its spawn). This also increases linearly with level advancement. Obviously, these kinds of bonuses make the game easier, but if we calculate these factors into the required time to defeat the level, we could make the progression a relatively even. This is the kind of thing that stats do in MMOs, which is to say virtually nothing. They add no depth to the game, they simply make it easier to defeat content that one has already progressed beyond, and they make the next bit of content accessible.

Now, if our aim was gameplay with depth, we would do the following. Once level 2 is achieved, the player is able to spin the blocks 2% faster. At level three, the player can pull down the blocks 2% faster. These stats increase linearly with level advancement. See what happens here? This gives the player the capacity to complete the more difficult levels, but more interaction and timing is required to do it. The game changes as the player progresses, requiring more and more skill. There is no "simulated learning" in many games where your stats increase, or level increases, the player is actually learning how to play the game, and so the bonuses are not superficial. This is a simple example but it illustrates the point that, with simple (but deep) gameplay, one can have a character development system without meaningless levels.