Why your gripes with the World of Darkness MMO are stupid
This post is in relation to the World of Darkness Online MMO that was recently announced at The Grand Masquerade. I've heard a few gripes that seem to come up a lot in various forms and forums, and I would like to address them here. Most of my thoughts boil down to: stop making assumptions, and have patience.
They aren't adding in X supernatural type, so I'm not going to play this game!I realize that you don't like vampires, and that hearing whisperings of a WoD MMO made you all giddy with the possible excitement of being able to play a mage/changeling/wraith/whatever in an MMO setting, and that the news that vampires (and mortals) are your only option has filled your vagina with sand. However, if you take a moment to think about it, you will realize how retarded you are for even wanting that. Seriously, you're like a little girl demanding a pony for her birthday — you are ignorant of the logistics involved. Making a game that has multiple supernatural types out of the gate would be a disservice to the game as a whole. As the executive producer Chris McDonough said, they are focused on making the best vampire game that they can, and if that goes well, then maybe they will focus on adding other supernatural types to it, giving each their due attention as well.
If they were to make other supernatural types available as PCs out of the gate, then none of the supernatural types would be well-developed, and it would suck for everyone. In other words, if they were to try to give you what you want, then you would not like it. So have some patience, and encourage all of your friends who are into vampires to play the game when it comes out, and if you're lucky they'll add in your favorite supernatural type down the road and make it as cool as vampires.
It's not Requiem! / I hate clans! / Masquerade metaplot sucked!
Listen to what was actually said. "Based on" Masquerade. Not "going to be exactly like Masquerade." Chris McDonough specifically stated that "we are not going to make a replica of anything we've done before. We're going to pull from all of it to make the best MMO that we can." So stop your baseless speculation and assumptions. You don't know if there will be clans or covenants. You don't know if there will be a Caine myth in the game or not. You don't know if there will be metaplot. You don't know if Malkavians will or will not be in the game. You don't know if there will be a Camarilla and Sabbat. There will certainly be some of these things, yes. Which of these things, however, is still up in the air. And maybe there will be Circle of the Crone, or some of your other favorite elements from Requiem. Relax, wait and see.
They're not telling us exactly what the game is going to be like
That's because they don't know yet either. At length, they explained that MMO design is a very iterative process. What the game is like, and the direction it's going in now, might not be anything what the final product ends up being like. And if you think about it from a marketing standpoint, they don't want to blow their load too early. Excitement only lasts so long, and they've said that the game will come out 2012 at the earliest (and possibly after that, going with the Blizzard philosophy of "we'll release it when it's ready to be released, and not before"). Focus on what they have told you, and I think that should be exciting enough. Which leads us to…
So what have they said?
The top-level points below have been outright stated (mostly at The Grand Masquerade), sub-points are logical extensions that others have drawn.- It will be a player-driven game with lots of social and political elements.
- Giving power to the players is a double-edged sword. So while they might not have mechanics to stop someone from talking in netspeak and being a douche, other players will presumably have the power to smack that bitch down1.
- The themes that the game explores will be: Mystery, Romance, Power, Danger.
- It will be an adult game, that aims to invoke emotion in you.
- Vampires will be the only supernatural player characters, but stuff from the other games will be present in some form. Also, there will be the option to play a human, though no specifics on that were given.
- Other supernaturals will most likely be environmental content, NPCs, that sort of thing.
- Humans will likely be ghouls or blood dolls, but maybe we could see some human vampire hunter PCs too.
- Character customizability and aesthetics will be big in this game. They have even hired a fashion consultant.
- They want to make the game as accessible as possible, and this is one of their criteria for success. So they want it to be fun for both hardcore and casual gamers.
- They also want to cater to an array of players by having three ways you can play the game: sandbox (open-ended like EVE), theme park (traditional MMOs like WoW), and coffee shop (social). These playstyles will be interconnected, with each one feeding to and from one of the others.
- The game will not be combat-intensive, unless you choose to play it that way.
- Being the biggest social/political mover and shaker will garner you far more power than being the strongest fighter.
- Factions and territories will be a big part of the game.
- The game will have gay clubs.
- The game will be fully PvP, but that's not to say that you can be attacked anywhere. If you don't want to get attacked, you might want to hang around Elysium a lot.
- This will probably be like any LARP. If you go down a dark alleyway, you might get jumped by your enemies, or even some random person. On the other hand, if the person jumping you breaks the Masquerade, they're in for trouble.
- Some Disciplines will not be included because they're impossible to have in an MMO, like Temporis.
There are some other things, mostly other nitty-gritty stuff like they are using Scrum development methodologies, have already spent like 314 man-years (which equals one Shane DeFreest year) in development, etc. But that's the core of what is publicly known about the game so far.
[1] Few things would make me happier than to see a group of characters going around mercilessly and repeatedly killing any character who acts that way, until such point as that player starts roleplaying, or quits the game.
Awesome blog post.
I totally agree with the bulk of your post, and firmly believe that the content and setting will be well done. My concern is based more on the stated desire of play. A social/political LARP style game sounds awesome and if Second Life and the Sims have anything to say about it, would work. But when you add character sheets, XP, and combat to that scenario, you create a situation where you make PvP between the target audience of RP folks (which I am part of) and power gaming MMO grievers who XP grind for more 1337 combat skillz so they can pill up kills. My concern is finding the balance. It’s 2 years off, and I know CCP has MMO success to figure out that dynamic. But I’m not optimistic that it’ll work. Trying to do both WoW and 2nd seems more likely to be bad at both rather then good.
That’s my main concern too, but as you say, CCP has a good track record with EVE in making a sandbox-style game where politics and social interactions rule the day. My hope is that those who prefer more of the stereotypical MMO style of play will stick to the themepark aspect of the game, whereas those that prefer the LARP-style games will concentrate on the sandbox and coffee shop aspects. The friction will come in the necessary interactions between all three styles of play, but with the people they’ve got on this project, I’m optimistic that they’ll be able to pull it off in a smooth way.
Giving people what they want leads to New Formula Coke. Telling Internet trolls to STFU leads to happiness. People are stupid. We have always known this to be true. 90% of the Internet is shit. This includes baseless bitching and moaning. Ignore the fucking noise and keep moving forward. WoD will be huge!
Hee. Nice post. I hadn't actually caught any of these announcements. If the game actually manages to achieve these lofty goals, it'll be one of the most impressive feats in MMO history. Looking forward to it.I'm sort of confused the first iteration of Point the Second, though. Is this really a big complaint? In the six or so years since its release, I don't think I've ever heard another human being utter a positive word about 'Requiem.' This (uncharacteristically) isn't hyperbole or glibness. I end up talking to a pretty wide swathe of role-players, and have honestly never heard anything but scorn directed at the setting.
To be fair, the people complaining are really in the minority by a pretty big margin. Even on rpg.net, where trolls and chronic complainers make their home, the reaction is overall very positive. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people form baseless opinions.
@Brian: You'd be surprised. I mostly hear them on the Internet, but a few people I met in person at The Grand Masquerade were bigger fans of Requiem than Masquerade. I think a lot of the complaints about Requiem aren't very well-founded either — honestly I do think it makes for a better tabletop game because I like the "toolbox" approach, and the rules really are better as a whole. Also, White Wolf is actually coming out with a conversion book later this year which will have instructions on taking Requiem rules and combining with the Masquerade setting (and vice-versa, I think).
Also, fair disclaimer: I do not work for White Wolf, nor do my opinions necessarily reflect those of said company. They are my opinions alone, yadda yadda.
Yeah, I should've been more clear – the derision is usually directed at the setting rather than the rules, which people seem to generally agree are superior. My only exposure to 'Requiem' was the introduction to the first book which laid the "dark dark, gothy dark ohcruelworld" on a *tad* thick, and put me off the whole thing.
Wow, you really have been paying attention!
You probably wouldn't remember the talks about the MMO so many years ago, Mike. If not, I'd like to remind you that I too am ALL ABOUT smacking down players who grief the roleplayers. As a matter of fact, I hereby volunteer my joyful service to that effect.
@Amber: I was on the initial design team before the merger, so I'm really excited to see the finished product! I also have to pay close attention to what's made public, so that I don't accidentally slip and let something loose that I shouldn't. I go to great lengths to keep confidential information secret.@Dustin: I'm actually considering forming a group based on that premise. Perhaps we think that there is some new mental virus spreading, and that to protect the Kindred from it we must quickly dispatch with anyone who speaks or acts in this particularly odd manner…
@Mike: =O yes.
But… That would be horrible! If EVERY group were hostile to netspeak, where would new memes be born?!?!
Anywhere other than this game?
Plus plenty of memes come about without netspeak and other such silliness. Just think about the gazebo meme.
You have no idea on how much I agree with you. CCP is a serious “out of the box” company who do not give a damn about copying the zillions clones of WoW or Everquest out there. From experience one can tell they will strive in porting World of Darkness from the Pen & Paper as good as they can. Besides, you can smell from far away, expansions labeled Werewolf and Mage.
What I am worried a bit about is the concentration they have on Eve online (another expansion is coming up, and we can’t forget Dust 514) which gives me the uneasy feeling they love their “opera prima” too much, and they will not give the incredibly rich world of darkness, the attention it deserves.
Sounds like it will rock, with that said, the blogger has ALOT of misplaced aggression…
“However, if you take a moment to think about it, you will realize how retarded you are for even wanting that. Seriously, you’re like a little girl demanding a pony for her birthday — you are ignorant of the logistics involved. Making a game that has multiple supernatural types out of the gate would be a disservice to the game as a whole. As the executive producer Chris McDonough said, they are focused on making the best vampire game that they can, and if that goes well, then maybe they will focus on adding other supernatural types to it, giving each their due attention as well.”
If your stupid for wanting to play anything else but a vampire, then why bother developing them later? Advice- get laid, high, or both. I agree bitching about an mmo 2 yrs off only in developmental stages is beyond fucking stupid. But people want what they want. Your desires are no more pathetic then anyone elses. Yes your shit stinks to.
The point wasn’t that people are stupid for wanting to play something other than a vampire at launch — the point was those people are asking for something that’s not feasible, and it’s pretty childish to get upset over wanting something that’s logistically impossible for you to get. Hence the girl/pony analogy.
You can have a good game with Vampires at launch and then maybe some other supernatural types later when they have time to do them right, but you cannot have a game that is both good and has playable non-vampire supernatural types. And if one insists that the latter would be possible, I would ask what MMOs they’ve developed to qualify them to make such an assessment.