The problem with change is that, well, it’s not the same as it was when we took a liking to it.

People approach things initially – ideas, objects, people – because they “like what they see”. In some cases (an attractive person at a bar, for example), what you see is really only a small part of what you get. An MMO is similar: you have to base your choice of which one to play based on some rather shallow surface information such as:

 

• Previews on gaming websites and blogs
• Beta test experience (slippery slope, this one)
• Videos, screens, and interviews
• Friends
• Genre

It then boils down to personal preference based on the features that you like to play, since picking up an MMO is a real devotion of time and money. You need to feel secure that you’ve made the right choice for you, based on what you feel the game can provide.

Unfortunately, MMOs are unstable objects. The update schedules are accelerated beyond what you’d see for a single player game, and each list of modifications is usually quite large. It seems that with every litany of bug fixes, there’s a few “features” that are added in, updated or removed. Over time, these changes are layered on top of one another, and after a while, the game that is is no longer the game that was.

Take this post as an example. Lord of the Rings Online has a unique subscription option where for the amazing low price of $299 USD (that’s not a typo), you can have a lifetime sub to the game with no other recurring fees. Pretty sweet deal, if you can swing it (I wish I could). But as the author of the above post feels that the game that these “Lifers” signed up for is no longer the game they signed up for. In this person’s case, they say that “Sadly, I feel as if I wasted my money.”

In another, totally unrelated blog post, we have someone who takes issue with some recent changes made to EVE Online. EVE’s player base is quite rabid about any and all changes, since even the tiniest shift in capabilities of a single ship or module can alter game play immensely. The poster tosses on an additional layer of grief aimed at the CSM, which is a body of elected EVE players who are talked to interface with the community and bring it’s ideas and complaints to the developers.

As much as we all like for things to remain the way we like them (which is why we started liking in the first place!), MMOs are simply designed to be changed. What you get on day one is guaranteed to be something different then what you’ll have on day 365. Maybe not TOTALLY different, but different in many respects. Not every change touches you: some are made at levels lower then you, some at levels higher then you. Some affect systems which you may not even use. Changes need to be made in order to maintain balance, which is a mythical MMO creature that represents every player’s ability have the same experience as every other player. MMOs are constantly striving for balance, and, as can be expected, when one stat is changed in one location, the balance is shifted, requiring another change to a totally different stat. The tweaking is eternal in this quest for balance.

The odd thing about the two posts linked above – one for LotRO and one for EVE – is that they both blame the same group for being the reason behind many of the changes: new players.

Unfortunately, because of the MMO model that Western games apply, the need for new subscribers is never-ending. If a game were to remain as it was on launch day, they wouldn’t attract new subscribers because one could assume that if non-subscribers had any interest in the game from day one, they’d already be paying for it. Tweaking an MMO is like turning tumblers in a lock: at some point, you’ll get one to drop, and it will allow the key – in this case, new players – to move forward and enter in. You’ll never be able to actually “unlock” the MMO to bring in every possible player, of course, but the goal is to keep new subscribers flowing. To do that, developers need to update, remove and change game play features to make “X” more difficult, or to make “Y” easier (“easier” is always the bane of the elder players, since they see it as “dumbing-down” the game in an attempt to appeal to the “mass market”).

MMO developers walk a fine line between keeping the elders happy, and fine-tuning their formula in the hopes that it will start to appeal to non-subscribers. It’s a deadly dance, since they risk alienating the devoted players if they deviate too far from the original formula. Developers try to make up for this through expansion packs which are a combination of “throwing the elders a bone” and “outright smokescreen” in that 98% of expansion pack content is aimed at high level players intended to keep them playing, but it also gives them something shiny to take their attention away from changes to the lower level content that they might otherwise complain about (many level capped players create alts, probably out of boredom, so changes at the lower ranks can affect them still).

I look at it this way: MMOs are meant to simulate living worlds. In a living world, nothing really stays the same. To expect an MMO to remain the same as it was from day one is ludicrous, based the very definition of what an MMO is, so trying to paint “new players” as the bogeyman is simply a scapegoat for people’s inability to change their point of view or play style, to adapt, or is an attempt to garner some kind of credibility in the community as one of the sage elders of the game. Modification of the rules is something that must happen if the game is to have any kind of longevity. Even though the changes may be aimed at bringing in new blood, it’s the new blood that’s helping to keep the servers running so that the “sage elders” can continue to play the game that they once loved, and can continue to love, if they just roll with the punches instead of railing against every change.