“Decisions Determine Destiny” can be clearly demonstrated with the decisions we make regarding how we use our time. Time, they say, is the true currency of life. It is the great equalizer, the one thing every person regardless of circumstance wakes up with an equal amount of. It is how we decide to spend this currency that determines our destiny. Wasted time equals wasted potential, wasted growth. This applies to our lives both in and out of mmorpg worlds.
So in the spirit of Strangelands what do you think is the biggest waste of time that you encounter when playing your characters in game. That is to say what part of mmorpg design limits or hinders your characters growth or seems to be a waste of time that negatively effects your characters and in turn effects your enjoyment of the game … is it raiding, finding a group, crafting, leveling treadmill etc.
Is there anything we can do when we design a mmorpg that would eleviate these time wasters, or are they necessary evils that are needed in a game to ensure you conitnue to pay monthly subscribtion just to see the next part of the game …
Remeber life is to short to be squandering your time …
FedEx quests. The only courier quests I’ve found that aren’t a complete and utter waste of time are those designed simply to point you to the next area of the game. Other than that, they’re total time-wasters. I end up spending them seated on a gryphon on a horse and reading a book while I wait to get to my destination. Any quest that guarantees I’ll be reading a book in order to get through it is a sheer time-waster.
OR a horse. Good lord, I swear every comment I leave today is filled with typos! Well at least this one is amusing. The visual that accompanies “seated on a gryphon on a horse” is pretty entertaining…
fedex quests oh god yes, scratch them from any future games please … and while you are at it scratch harvesting
No, no! Don’t scratch harvesting! Remake it! Thanks for the inspiration, by the way.
I may have to tackle FedEx quests from the same angle sometime. They can probably be reworked into something fun. Half the challenge seems to be just making the path between point-A and point-B adventurous (i.e., dangerous or challenging).
The other part is ensuring the player thinks of point-B as being “on the way” to further enjoyable content. If I want to continue adventuring around Mos Eisley, I’m not going to like getting a quest that takes me far away. I guess players just need to know the destination before they accept the quest, and have local alternatives.
Fedex quests and “go here and kill x of this” quests are completely aged now in my opinion. We need to get away from them quickly and move into more of a living world of questing with a reason. How can we do that? That’s very complicated.
yeah fed ex needs to go the way of the dodo. Its understandable if moving a person from zone a to zone b which is more level appropriate for the player but then how they do that can vary in so many different ways. Quest continuation, story quest resolving and pointing you on to the next location.
But deliver this to point b from point a has to stop there is no point and no excuses its just the easy option to filling out quest numbers for a given zone ….
It doesn’t have to be tedium though. A delivery quest could be a good way of encouraging the player down a particular path…not for the destination they’re trying to reach, but for the adventure they’ll have on the way. If MMOs didn’t have so many areas that are completely predictable and safe, then running down the road might not save you from wolves or bandits.
And the devs can even set things up accepting the delivery quest determines that you’ll meet a particular enemy or ally along the road. These quests could be a hell of a lot more interesting is someone’s willing to put in the design work.
exactly, it just needs some creative thinking to make the mundane something a little more entertaining …
Thanks pal. Not bad article you got here. Got some extra links to link to which have more information?