ReThinking MMORPGs

Most Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Games are similar. Will Wright was quoted in a post at New World Notes Will Wright on the Future of User-Generated Online Game Worlds (Circa 2002) as saying:

The main limitations on the MMORPG market really seem to be self-imposed: Most developers can’t shake the fantasy/sci-fi mindset or conceive of an alternative way of playing. Very few role-playing games have deviated far from the world imagined by that somewhat dotty, Hobbit-fixated Oxford professor 50 years ago, or strayed much from the central conceit of “leveling up” — that is, improving the traits and abilities of your persona in gradual steps — originally invented by Gary Gygax for Dungeons & Dragons more than 25 years ago.

So what kind of new elements can be added to a MMORPG to take it to the next level. SPORE was an attempt that allowed users to create their own creatures and interactions within a virtual world, much in the same way as the platform of Second Life.

But for many so-called “hardcore” gamers, having an open world is not appealing. No sense of adventure, not missions to accomplish no tasks to full-fill.

So, we seem to be stuck between open platforms and well scripted MMORPGs like, of course, World of Warcraft. But some games seem to be able to balance user-driven goals with intriguing game play. Probably the best example of that is the Eve which combines free-play elements with missions and player defined missions.

The challenge that is before the learning and development world is to create a MMORPG that not only defines an environment in which people can communicate and exchange ideas but an environment in which real work can occur. Can people collaborate on designing a car or product and test it out in 3D? How can 3D worlds push the learning envelop? As Ryron Reeves and J. Leighton Read state in their book Total Engagement, how can we make mundane tasks that people do everyday at work like security observation seeking suspicious activity more “fun” and engaging for person looking at people doing everyday stuff all the time?

A rethinking of the structure of MMORPGs is a good start. Can they be less about programmer missions and more about “learning missions” but still with the guidance and structure needed to accomplish specific learning goals? Can they be more like an apprenticeship model where learners could “study” a craft or art under the virtual guidance of a wise avatar? Could artifacts crafted in a virtual world be created as a “printed item” in someone’s home manufacturing room?

This is all possible…what is the right combination of market need, insight and innovation that will bring it to life?