Garriott talks about the state of MMORPGs

Speaking to developmag.com, Richard Garriott revealed that his keynote speech at the Brighton Develop Conference will be entitled “The Rapidly Maturing Genre of Online Gaming.” Garriott said that in this speech, he will outline what he sees to be the future of MMORPGs, and what possibilities are there for game developers and gamers alike.

While talk about NCsoft‘s Tabula Rasa is unavoidable, since that game is Garriott’s next baby, we’ll give you all the revealed Tabula Rasa contributions to the MMO genre later. For now here’s how Garriott sees the MMO genre the way it is now:

The MMO world is both the same and different. It is the same, in that I believe MMO game design has not evolved nearly as fast as it should have in my mind. Nearly every MMO to date is still built in the mold of Ultima Online and EverQuest, which laid the design foundations ten years ago. People still level grind in the constantly replenishing static respawn zones, carefully managing their D.O.T (Damage over Time)

Garriott also says that “community” is what makes MMOs different from so many other types of games. He says that in order to support the “community”, one has to not only support the clans, guilds, and other player groups within the game, there must also be dedicated employees ready to support and represent the player community as directly as possible.

As for MMOs in consoles, Garriott notes that that is an ever increasing possibility as large hard drive space and online support is becoming more common on consoles. He says that MMOs on game consoles is something that he “will be watching keenly.”

As for Tabula Rasa‘s contributions to the MMO genre, more of that when you click on the “Full Article” link below.

Speaking to developmag.com, Richard Garriott revealed that his keynote speech at the Brighton Develop Conference will be entitled “The Rapidly Maturing Genre of Online Gaming.” Garriott said that in this speech, he will outline what he sees to be the future of MMORPGs, and what possibilities are there for game developers and gamers alike.

While talk about NCsoft‘s Tabula Rasa is unavoidable, since that game is Garriott’s next baby, we’ll give you all the revealed Tabula Rasa contributions to the MMO genre later. For now here’s how Garriott sees the MMO genre the way it is now:

The MMO world is both the same and different. It is the same, in that I believe MMO game design has not evolved nearly as fast as it should have in my mind. Nearly every MMO to date is still built in the mold of Ultima Online and EverQuest, which laid the design foundations ten years ago. People still level grind in the constantly replenishing static respawn zones, carefully managing their D.O.T (Damage over Time)

Garriott also says that “community” is what makes MMOs different from so many other types of games. He says that in order to support the “community”, one has to not only support the clans, guilds, and other player groups within the game, there must also be dedicated employees ready to support and represent the player community as directly as possible.

As for MMOs in consoles, Garriott notes that that is an ever increasing possibility as large hard drive space and online support is becoming more common on consoles. He says that MMOs on game consoles is something that he “will be watching keenly.”

When asked about Tabula Rasa‘s design contributions to the MMO genre, Richard Garriott had the following to say:

• Tabula Rasa introduces more real-time strategy elements to MMO combat: “Hiding behind cover is a massive aid in survival, as is crouching to assist in targeting accuracy. In most MMOÂ’s you just stand toe to toe and trade blows with your opponent and ignore what is happening in real time around you. In Tabula Rasa, players and creatures will continue to jockey for optimal positioning in real time, adding greatly to the excitement.”
• The world in Tabula Rasa is dynamic and changing. “Dynamic” here doesn’t just mean night and day, the world actually changes: “The creatures and NPCs in Tabula Rasa have clear military objectives and move to take and hold strategic areas of the map. Making the world different each time you return. Whole outposts with all their NPCs, missions, shops, hospitals, waypoints etc, will come and go depending upon player control of the battlefield. Tabula Rasa is unlike the typical MMO, where you go ‘farm’ in the level one hunting grounds and creatures respawn right back where you last killed them for the next XP farmer to get in their level grind.”
• This game has more story to it: “In Tabula Rasa we use instanced spaces as party based story telling centers, where you and your friends truly become the stars of the story and complete epic puzzle and story crafted spaces that culminate in grand cataclysms and profound success! It feels more like a Party based solo-player game than a ‘traditional’ MMO.”
• You don’t have to restart from Level 1: “Lastly, class trees with Load/Save/Clone. In most MMOÂ’s your class choice is permanently made at the beginning of the game, so if you decide to try a different class, you must start over again at level 1. I think this is bad for players and the developers. In TR everyone starts as a recruit and grows their character through a branching class tree. When we couple this with the ability to save and clone your character anytime along the way, you can always explore new classes by just loading up a save of your character before the branch and going down the new path.“