In most walks of life, keeping the train chugging for almost
half a decade is a good sign things are going well and getting
better. For MMOs, it means things are old and getting older.
Any design innovations you had at launch have been pilfered
by the other developers out there, the awards and accolades
you got that first year are covered in dust, and your graphics
engine is starting to look like it belongs on a Gameboy.
Sure, the hardcore players are still subscribing because
they’ve hoarded so much loot they just can’t
walk away. But you’re not getting so many new subscribers,
and that’s where the money’s at.
But
anyone really paying attention to MMO history knows that
Everquest didn’t explode until it introduced
the loot system that made it so addictive. World of
Warcraft did well at launch, but it hadn’t even
begun its rise out of MMO geekery into a pop culture phenomenon.
Why, just this past December EVE Online replaced
their whole graphics engine.
So how
does City of Heroes, widely recognized for the
best character creator in the industry, respond to whispers
they’re getting long in the tooth?
They’re letting the players design the game themselves
through Mission Customization.
“Similar
in concept to our character creator, it allows you, the
players, to create missions and story arcs for your characters
and others to participate in.” says City of Heroes’
Lead Designer Matt ‘Positron’ Miller. “You’ll
be able to pick the map, villain group, and objectives,
as well as write the dialog and any clues needed for the
missions.”
To compete
with World of Warcraft’s vast resources,
NCSoft’s developers have turned their army of subscribers
into content generators, allowing for a level of interactivity
unheard of in the history of MMO design.
Building
off the bones of the unloved Base Creator introduced with
City of Villains, the new Mission Creator will
let players construct all the adjoining rooms, alcoves,
hallways, stairwells, attics, and basements where enemies
gather like roaches in the dark.
Background
music and soundtrack can be chosen from the City of
Heroes library, lending the perfect atmosphere by having,
say, carnival music playing in the background as you plow
through mobs of circus freaks on your way to taking out
their clown prince of crime.
Yes, you will be able to customize the archenemies who
control crime in Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, and possibly
across time and space.
Players will also get to choose the enemies, battlegrounds,
and NPC dialogue, giving each mission the level of detail
needed to stand out from the gold-standard “Bring
me <insert number> of <insert enemy group> <insert
body part> so I can complete my <insert spell, invention
or cuisine>” gameplay the rest of the industry
relies on.
“When you are satisfied with it, you can upload it
and have other players across all servers play it and rate
it. Fame will come to the players whose stories rate the
best overall.” Positron says.
Details
of the new system are just dribbling out, but a few insiders
are saying the current plan is to have two coexisting systems
for players to share their custom missions and story arcs.
The first would allow for more restricted rewards but wouldn’t
require developer approval. The second would be fully reviewed
by NCSoft staff but would allow for greater player rewards
and could be considered part of the City of Heroes
canon. Both would operate on the same backbone, though they’d
be flagged differently.
The interesting part of this design is how it connects
with NCSoft’s reaching out to Paragon Wiki concerning
the site’s recent revitalization. While not as high
in page count as World of Warcraft’s wiki, this site
is known for its higher level of content. So much so, NCSoft
developers have been pointing to the fan-run site for many
answers to player questions.
