(BA) Design for Interactive Media

Concept Module Report

For my second year concept project, I have decided to continue on from my process and future module projects based on the idea of cohesive gaming; this refers to the concept of different video games genres coming together in a cohesive manner in order to create one solid world and one player identity. This report will consist of the research that I have discovered and used as influence and inspiration, which will then be accompanied by a visual representation in the form of a poster to visualize my concept as well, which will be followed up by a minute long concept video as my realization module for the end of year show.

The problem that I have identified within the field of Gaming with Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) is that this genre has an unlimited potential in comparison with its smaller online counter-parts as an example I am referring to Online Shooters and Real Time Strategy Games which consist of small servers hosting 2 to 64 players on average. MMOGs on the other hand have persistent worlds with up to thousands of players playing at any given time offering potentially a much more immersive experience and a closer representation to what we consider a complete “Virtual World”. However as far as Innovation goes within the MMOGs genre, there has been very little that has tried to push this potential, weather its due to budget constraints or the modern rule of thumb where developers and publishers put a lot of stress into appealing to a wider audience, which often leads to games becoming simpler and less complicated. Ultima Online for example, stressed the importance of the player and what his effect on the world was, as opposed to the more mainstreamed approach that Everquest Online took where the players are led through a series of scripted quests and dungeons to progress and compete, which is how World of Warcraft the most dominant MMO on the market has approached the genre. This seems like a major step backwards compared to the ideas that were originally intended for Ultima Online using the “Artificial Life Engine” as explained:

“Nearly everything in the world, from grass to goblins, has a purpose, and not just as cannon fodder either. The ‘virtual ecology’ affects nearly every aspect of the game world, from the very small to the very large. If the rabbit population suddenly drops (because some gung-ho adventurer was trying out his new mace) then wolves may have to find different food sources – say, deer. When the deer population drops as a result, the local dragon, unable to find the food he’s accustomed to, may head into a local village and attack. Since all of this happens automatically, it generates numerous adventure possibilities.”

Starr Long, the game’s associate producer

However due to technological constraints project “Artificial Life Engine” was not possible during the 1990s and was dropped due to performance constraints. Which makes you wonder what could be accomplished now in 2010? The genre faces other issues, my main concern here is that most MMOGs are pigeon-holed into one specific genre, the most common of these are Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) which dominated this genre, and naturally due to the nature of Role Playing Games it is much easier to create a sense progression and character building. Levelling up and increasing stats, meeting friends and engaging in teamwork situations is a small representation of what we do in reality. My problem with this concept is that no matter what class type you choose, what your characters role is in the game, weather it is a Warrior, Mage or Blacksmith for example, the game is ultimately the same and re-rolling new characters often feels like a small substitute to something that could be a lot more varied in game play mechanics and roles.

My concept design is similar to what you can find now in services such as Steam, Xfire, XboxLIVE and Playstation Network; these services offer a unified profile containing information on what games you have played and achievements you have earned within the games. However none of these games beyond a simple achievement tallies cohere together, achievements are what scoreboards were to arcades, where as my design concept aims to go beyond that and connect the worlds by reading useful information via data or page scraping, similar to services such as GoCompare for car insurance, but using that hidden information to trigger changes across games. This idea however refers specifically to a specific company rather than what’s currently on the market, since its very unlikely that separate competing companies would choose to create different genre games designed to connect together to create one world and one Identity. A current example that influenced my design concept was CCP Games’ EVE Online, a player driven persistent world MMORPG with heavy focus on community, economics and spaceship combat. CCP games has several products under development, however Dust 514 is the project that caught my eye the most due to its concept. Dust 514 is a Massivly Multiplayer First Person Shooter (MMOFPS) designed for the Xbox360 and Playstation 3, which is based in the same universe as eve as explained in this article:

“The company stated, “The primary gameplay of DUST 514 features brutal ground combat that takes place on the surface of planets from EVE, delivering the visceral, adrenaline-fueled experience of futuristic firefights. Developed for the current generation of consoles, DUST 514 combines equal parts battlefield reflexes and strategic planning, giving commanders and ground infantry real-time configurable weapons and modular vehicles to manage dynamic battlefield conditions.” “

http://www.massively.com/2009/08/18/ccp-games-reveals-new-eve-online-console-mmo-dust-514/

CCP Games’ method fits in perfectly with what I intend for my Concept Design, in more ways than one, first off because DUST 514 is going to be available on the home console systems instead of the PC Platform where EVE Online is found, this gives me further proof that by using this method of combining games we can abolish the restriction of “System Exclusives” thus making an MMORPG on the PC and a MMOFPS on consoles less off a financial risk because the target markets are both satisfied and profited from to their best potential. But more importantly the article goes on to state:

“In his talk at GDC Europe today, Hilmar stated that DUST 514 will reach out to two different audiences, fans of first person shooters and MMO players, and their aim is to ultimately meld the communities of EVE Online and DUST 514. He elaborated on this and explained the various ways that the two games will tie in with one another.”

http://www.massively.com/2009/08/18/ccp-games-reveals-new-eve-online-console-mmo-dust-514/

This ties in with my idea that MMO’s should not be pigeon holed into specific genres, not just for financial benefits for the company, but the advancement of the MMO genre and video games in general, my idea expands on this in order to create many games based in the same world, each individual retail product acting as one cog in a network of gears. Each individual genre for example First Person Shooters would act as a form of a “virtual job” in the similar sense as you would have a job in reality in a profession that better suits your skills and abilities, and yet still having a meaningful impact on the other games within this one universe, until ultimately you have what appears to be a more meaningful and literal virtual reality closer to home. To put this into perspective I have taken this out of the article aswell to be read:

“DUST 514 will figure prominently into the CCP Games strategy to revamp EVE Online’s system of galactic control, called sovereignty. It was originally discussed in the current issue of EON magazine that planetary control would be an aspect of changing how EVE’s player alliances gain control of territory. Apparently, what players can do in DUST 514 will also play a major role in EVE moving forward. Hilmar explained more about how the terrestrial gameplay of DUST 514 will be interconnected with the ship-centric gameplay of EVE Online.”

http://www.massively.com/2009/08/18/ccp-games-reveals-new-eve-online-console-mmo-dust-514/

I have looked into quite a few different methods on how information is recorded for the purposes of a user, and how information as a whole is gathered and compare in one singular network, the best solution I have come across would be “Data Scraping”. In normal circumstances data transfer between different software programs is done by using separate data structures suited for automated computer processing, these formats however are usually poorly structured, well documented and easily parsed. In most cases these formats and transmissions are not readable to humans directly. Data Scraping however is distinguished from regular data parsing by the output being “scraped” is intended to be displayed to the end user in other words human readable. The benefits go further however where as you can bypass pointless or unnecessary data and filter through what is relevant to what the user wants. In this case I intended this to be used as a way to funnel necessary command and social data between the games’ software while connected to an online network as opposed to simple showing this information or if necessary to display that information while influencing each individual software in a cohesive manner.

As I look back over this project I have come to the conclusion that within reason this project is defiantly within technical limitations and possible to realize, not for me personally however, but for companies interested in going down this route within the MMOG Industry. My concept idea creates a virtual world that’s much closer to simulating our own, and will enable one universe to reach a much larger audience instead of those interested in only one play style. CCP Games initial steps into this field have also been interesting to follow, its allowed me to put my idea into a new perspective and I sincerely hope, not just for the idea of my project, but as a gamer that DUST 514 and EVE Online’s cohesive existence will be successful and perhaps spice up the MMO industry as a whole, which is in definite need of a breath of fresh air.