Looks like we’re at an interesting time in the lifespan of video games.

First, it was the console. Then the PC stopped being all business-like and decided to let loose and play some games. Then it came back to the console. Now we have casual games on the web. Sometime soon in the future, we’ll (hopefully) have streaming games from central servers.

It’s a rather interesting situation we find ourselves at, because we have past, present and future methods of content distribution and consumption all converging at this moment in time. Consoles and PC’s have historically relied upon hard-copies to provide the entertainment, but have started to move towards digital distribution. That’s the past. In the present, the big thing is “social gaming”, most notably through Facebook. Seems like everyone and their code-wielding grandma is jumping on that bandwagon in numbers not seen since the California Gold Rush of the 1800s (and we know how that turned out). OnLive announced that they’re going to be letting loose with their game streaming service on June 17th for PC and Mac, and we still have yet to hear from it’s lesser known sibling GaiKai.

Physical media generates so much trash, from the receipts that you get when you leave the store to the inserts they toss in the cases, to the obnoxious plastic wrap that you have to struggle with to get the case open in the first place. Add to that the fact that all of these physical products need to take up shelf space in retail or in warehouses. And manufacturing. All of this costs money. Ongoing costs, even. Right now, downloadable titles are gaining ground because you don’t have inventory to maintain, but they have their own issues. DRM (which plagues all owned releases these days) and what to do if you accidentally lose your original download? How about re-installing? Headaches abound.

Then there’s the casual revolution, the social gaming wave that we’re all swimming (drowning?) in. Facebook has millions of non-hardcore gamers who couldn’t tell the difference between an Xbox and a Playstation, yet they flock to FarmVille and Mafia Wars and other low-resource and high-yield titles. It seems like even the EAs and Activisions are getting into the social gaming space (SOE just released Pox Nora on Facebook, BTW). Again, from a totally baseless point of view, this can only last so long before this market bottoms out and EA and Activision sulk back to their bread and butter hardcore gamers.

In my opinion – and this is based on random cloud-staring musing – OnLive and GaiKai are their future of video gaming for many reasons. First, no trash! Nothing to put on shelves, no inventory to maintain, and no messy DRM! Second, anyone can play. You no longer have to worry about not having the right console, or a capable system. The clients work on PC and Mac, and since it’s all about passing video to the client, TV top boxes and even cell-phone clients are possible. Since the UI will most likely mimic that of our TiVOs, even your mother can get her GTA fix with just a few buttons on the remote.

I don’t know how the back-room dealings will work with these systems, but considering that the developers and publishers don’t have to press disks, stock shelves or ship anything, any money they make off of these streamed games is 100% theirs. Considering that OnLive is charging $15 a month for the service, on top of rental or purchase fees, the rest just goes to the publishers. Why wouldn’t they want to use this model for the future? The biggest bonus for them? Absolutely no piracy.

There’s downsides, of course. Lag is the specter that looms over the entire concept, and which will sink a streaming service quickly. Requiring an internet connection is another issue, which we’ve seen with the recent Ubisoft/Assassins Creed II situation. Still, being able to have your games stored in the cloud, available anywhere at any time (relatively) seems like a no-brainer to me. It is a kind of unbelievable situation, that we can transmit the video and response fast enough to be able to get the response times we’re used to with local games. IF these companies can solve those problems, then I don’t see why streaming gaming won’t become the dominant form of entertainment consumption.

Engadget has a post about Microsoft’s potential foray into the world of tablet computing, the Courier. News on the Courier has been scarce since concept art and videos popped up last fall, but today there seems to be a small but significant uptick about this unique device.

In looking at the image above (which may or may not be the actual deal) the design seems to have remained unchanged: it’s a dual screen, bi-fold touch screen device. As you can see in the image above, it’s suitable or is recommended to be used with a stylus/pen, which immediately sets it apart from the iPad, as this may indicate that the Courier is being aimed more at helping you be productive then it is at helping you…uh…pay the Apple Tax. Unfortunately, there’s no word of release aside from Q3/Q4, and certainly no price as of yet.

This is the device for me. I would consider a lot of gadgets “nice to have”, but for someone who is constantly trolling for information, saving it, or creating it, having a device that offers the advantages of a notepad (handwriting/sketching, the familiar form-factor, etc) with the advantages that technology brings (storage, interactivity, not-killing-trees, etc) the Courier is a perfect device. The only downsides are price (below $500 would obliterate the iPad), battery life (powering dual screens) and the most concerning of all, first generation hardware and software.

I consider the MMO genre to my personal favorite amongst the gaming genres – which should be obvious by the number of MMO posts on this site. I recall way back when (before I knew there were such things as MUDS and such), a friend of mine and I envisioned a video game (like Ultima, oddly enough!) where every character you meet was another player. We thought that this could be the Future Of Gaming, and in a way, we were correct. In the modern MMO environment, I enjoy the idea that the game worlds can be ever-expanding, and even if the world itself doesn’t change, your own circumstances do, based on your actions and the actions of those around you.

I’ve played many an MMO in my lifetime, but I never felt more overwhelmed then I do now. Although there are legions of MMOs that I have not tried, the mere fact that there’s a new one introduced into the Western market seemingly every month (maybe more then one) gives me a feeling of being buried in a perpetual dumping ground of online games.

Sad to say, but the spigot is situated in the East. We’ve seen a lot of Asian imports making their way to Western shores for years now, but to my un-scientific eye I feel that the conveyor belt that churns out these titles in Korea, China and even Russia has been recently cranked up to 11, doused with a rainbow of pretty colors and sent packing to the West to carve it’s own niche amongst our very own home grown titles.

Through all of this I feel it’s getting harder for the “discerning” MMO gamer to keep his or her head above water. Amongst the Twitterati, it seems that there are a lot of people who are relying on the Old Guards Of Western MMOs for their enjoyment: EVE Online, EverQuest II, World of Warcraft and other well-worn titles. The recent flap over Allod Online’s cash shop, and the recent news of another Eastern MMO coming to the US both makes my head spin. Is this mass-produced import schlock the future of the modern MMO genre? Apparently the Eastern developers don’t think that the West has enough MMOs. At least certainly not as many as they think we need.

In all of this, we do still have a few Western MMOs to look forward to, like Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic and hopefully The Secret World, but whereas before we waited between MMO releases with nothing to occupy our senses but the occasional drip-drip-drip of carefully timed PR, we are now assailed by blatent WoW clones and titles marketed to players using scantily clad Anime Amazons who’s releases seem timed to make us forget about the pending AAA titles that they hope they can compete with.

In the end, you play what you like, of course, but when the news-O-sphere is filled with wall to wall coverage of the latest Eastern imports, it feels harder and harder for me to really care about the genre as a whole. Part of the excitement of the past was spending the silent time between MMO releases guessing and obsessing over the possibility that a far-away title would bring. Now it seems that it’s harder to focus on the future when there’s so much noise filling those gaps.

I’d like to mention that these ideas came up during brainstorming for a cyberpunk MMO. In the mould of Blade Runner, certain aspects of these ideas fit perfectly, but when applied to high-fantasy titles, they’d need some finagling, if they’re possible at all. I’m going to continue to present these ideas, but now more overtly targeted at futuristic genres, and will leave the comments open for ideas on how to shoehorn these into other categories.

In and of itself, the previous scenario we’ve looked at – with the obvious holes filled to satisfaction and will hours and hours of play testing – would theoretically form a pretty good passive PvP experience using the world economy as a weapon. After all, don’t we experience this now when we talk about Coke and Pepsi or Apple and Microsoft, and when we hear about countries maneuvering their economic policies to fit both the world markets and to extract the most benefits for themselves? Economic PvP is happening all around us, but MMOs haven’t really attempted to model systems after this cerebral and often times obtuse dance.

But, being pure fantasy, MMOs which did attempt this kind of system have an advantage that is generally frowned upon in the real world – but which undoubtedly happens: industrial espionage.

If the world economy in an MMO were to be driven by player production, as it is in EVE Online, there’s really no risk of disrupting the product flow. Anyone can create (with the proper resources, training and blueprints), so there’s more redundancy then what we’re talking about here. Plus, players can only strike at players, and only in ship-to-ship (or ship-to-facility) combat. What we need is something more…subtle.

Emerging Face of Capitalism

As mentioned earlier, one of the important aspects of this system is player owned facilities. The reason for this is simple: players need something to raid.

In the cyberpunk model, a blueprint would exist on the player organization’s internal network. Of course, in cyberpunk, nothing on a network is safe from hackers, and this is not exception. In conjunction with a well designed cyberspace system, players could be allowed to hack into the networks of player organizations. Successful hackers could steal blueprints, corrupt them, or modify them. The results could be catastrophic for the developer, who has put hours and literally millions of dollars into the R&D of this product, but it also provides another PvP avenue: network design and assault. Player organizations would need to create a defendable network, and hackers would need to load up the best cracking and utility apps to take them down. Successful hackers who steal blueprints could then sell them to competitors, or may have already been hired by the same for that very purpose.

The fact that a blueprint is the lynchpin to the entire operation makes each and every blueprint the most valuable item within an organization. It’s loss represents major setbacks, but causing a rival to lose theirs could count as a major win.

Demanding The Supply

Of course, having the production facilities being player owned as well adds another choke point and opportunity for traditional PvP, and that’s the factory raid.

City of Heroes allows you to create a base for your player organization and when suitably built, to open it for attack by players of the opposing faction. These ad hoc raids are something you hardly ever see, but the consequences in this case are relatively inconsequential. The defending player stands to lose something of import, but life goes on.

In our system, a factory could be an instanced factory tied to a particular production run. Opposing players could infiltrate the facility with the goal of destroying the production machinery. Defending players could enter with the goal of repelling the invaders. The defenders would have the benefit of hired NPC guards and other defenses (automated turrets, security systems that would need to be hacked, etc). The event could look more like a game of Team Fortress 2 then your traditional MMO, but could also include both PvP and NPC combat in traditional MMO style.

The result of this would be either the downstream disruption of production (should the hacking phase fail), or the proper defense of the production line. Again, success or failure would dictate whether or not a player organization could be competitive in the wider world market. Players who only want to deal with the economic game can either assign organization members to do the dirty world, hire other players to design their network and defend their factories, or can mix and match their involvement as they see fit.

* * *

Obviously, this is a 10 mile high concept. It’s not a design document, but more like wishful thinking and armchair design. My hope, however, is not to see this exact system co-opted by some game at some point, but to hopefully put forth some alternate – possibly off-the-wall – ideas to counter the same old, same old systems that are trotted out game after game. My deepest hope, however, is to elevate other systems to the level that combat has traditionally enjoyed in MMOs by showing that systems other the combat can be deep and satisfying if given the right attention.

You know, I am damn sorry I kept giving EverQuest II such short shrift over the years, but I suppose that in doing so, I’ve learned to appreciate it more now. I’m older, hopefully wiser, and I can take the time to really deal with the intricacies of what if has to offer (and it’s a lot).

I’m a level 30 bruiser, and am currently in the Butcherblock Mountains. I was perusing the update notes for the latest expansion Sentinal’s Fate, and noticed that BBM got the most changes of any zone listed. Boo yah! A lot of NPCs were moved around, and things seemed to be more in my favor. The Big Deal is the new Golden Path progression “guideline” that is a series of quests designed to basically push a player through their levels, all the way up to level 80 (I believe). I picked it up here in BBM, which saves me a lot of runnin’. This is Not Insignificant, as EQ2 has enough depth to really confuse the living daylights out of a person who’s not paying significant attention.

And thanks to @Scarybooster, who I hear is having a wonderful time in EQ2 through my Refer-A-Friend code, I managed to pick up a sweet ride. I also spent some SC to pick up some cosmetic armor (which I later regretted because I found that I had some freebies in the /claim menu for a much cooler looking set of PJs, shown here).

And last but not least…What would gaming be without a warm, cozy…blanket with sleeves (courtesy of @g33kg0dd3ss). Yes, the Snuggie comes to EQ2. Unfortunately, it’s not wearable.

 

The first step to making one version of a PvP-enabled economy would be to evolve crafting from being an atrophied limb to the virtual heart of the game. Sorry, raiders, but in any viable economy, it’s the dollar signs that rule, not the l33t gear.

One way to do this would be to put crafting in the hands of player organizations, and take it out of the hands of the rank and file. The reason behind this is simple: mass production. As EVE has shown us, an entirely player driven economy can work. When we’re looking at a general DIKU-style MMO, having players provide those never-ending commodities that players take for granted – never ending ammo, bags, potions and so on – would need to be handled through mass production. Loss of crafting at the individual level would probably anger some, but some may also jump at the chance to make crafting far more relevant beyond making things for themselves or friends.

Here’s a brief breakdown of some possible steps.

1. The organization needs to research a blueprint. They do this by combining materials of different qualities and through experimentation. The combination of material quality and experimental outcome determines the quality, stats and abilities of the finished product. This phase would require significant cash, since no income would be had as a direct result of this phase. This system was actually implemented quite nicely by Star Wars Galaxies.
2. Blueprints are sent to player-owned factories for mass production. The acquisition of the raw materials is still up in the air, whether they’re purchased from exclusive NPC organizations, or harvested via SWG-type machinery. The key here, however, is player owned facilities. In EVE Online, players can rent facilities, but as we’ll discuss, having a player owned facility is key to the PvP part.
3. The goods are then shipped to either NPC vendors, or to player owned vendors around the world. NPC vendors allow players to know where the goods are at, and also would require player crafters to “fight for shelf space” through advertising. Player owned vendors allow for more player control, but also would force buyers to run around to ensure the best bang for their buck.
4. Advertising could follow, assuming the world setting has a viable mechanism. In modern/future settings, billboard space could be rented, newspaper ads could be bought, and even direct email could be used – in-game spam. High fantasy settings are a little trickier when it comes to advertising.

The overall purpose of this system is designed to ensure that players who wish to compete in the economic arena have an equal opportunity to compete, by making the materials available to everyone, and real-estate available to everyone. However, since manufacturing takes a large amount of currency, the system will (hopefully) limit the number of player groups who are able to create. As these groups manufacture and advertise, players can associate organization names with quality goods – or know which products to avoid.

Already we have an indirect PvP mechanic through a stylized competitive market. Groups who create quality goods at decent prices will be more appealing to players then those who make shoddy goods at higher price, or shoddy goods in general. It drives player organizations to make better goods, but it also attempts to keep them honest by putting the purchasing power in the hands of players. This is unlike the standard auction house because:

• Goods source from only a few organizations
• Goods from different organizations will differ. A longsword from group A will not be the same as a longsword from group B. But you know that group A’s longswords will all be of the same quality, no matter where you go.
• You won’t see different prices for the exact same item. This way, an overpriced item will lose out to a less expensive but comparable quality item.

If the game world can take advantage of the advertising mechanism, then we have an additional layer of PvP: eyeballs. Making a name for the organization is probably the most important aspect of this system, because when people think guns, armor, potions, etc., making the producer’s name synonymous with the product itself is the highest compliment a consumer can give to a company (Kleenex, Jell-O, and so on).

But wait! There’s another level of PvP, dirtier and more savage then this high-brow business school crap, and which will appeal to the traditional PvPer, and we’ll talk about it in Breaking the Economy.

In checking out the newspaper in the break room this morning, I came across this article, which struck me as unbelievable. I mean, yeah, it’s factual (I assume), but it is 2010. Here’s some highlights of the FCC’s Internet use survey referenced in the article:

• 35% don’t use broadband (high speed) Internet access at home
• 22% of those people don’t even use the Internet!
• 36% say it’s too expensive
• 19% don’t see the relevance of being connected!

I know that there are those who just don’t care, or can’t get service, but seeing stats like this always make me step back and realize that with all the time I rely/depend on being connected, there are those who don’t give a damn. Are they better off then I am? Am I better off then they are? I’m sure each of us would say that we come out on top, but in the end, I know that neither one of us is wrong, and neither is correct.