GW2: not a game, but an arena in which games take place.
Isn’t this an overview of pretty much every MMO that has quests?
Interesting approach, but Guildwars2 is indeed by its very nature a game, here is how I described a game in my Disseration.
“a game, has branching paths to make choices going from start to finish, we make choices and move through the pathways (play) the structure is what gives us the choices and gives us the sense of freedom. The game provides the environment to make these choices, the structure and rules.”
While we are immersed in the world and yes to your point we enter the world but the world is the boundary in which we play our game. The above definition is based on the work of Jesse Schell and Kevin Werhbach. While you are correct we can experiment within the game but despite the large number of choices the basic game remains to Level your Character lvl 1 to Lvl 80. There are multiple paths we can take to get there, we can go to multiple areas, but in the end, the game takes us through what we can and can’t do by rewarding us for our efforts.
On the Negative side is Death where we are forced to go back to a spawn spot and repair costing us some copper. on the Postive side, we get coin, items, experiance points, Karma etc….. All this is provided within the structure and rules of the game.
Cheers
Yenkin
Isn’t that the definition of a typical “Theme park” MMO? o.O
I would not argue that fact AlexanderFaust, I have played MMO’s since the Original release of EQ. While we change settings the games are all the same, the Narrative (Story) and the Settings (World) is what sets these games aparts. But in Reality all games draw from the same theories on how to draw players in and keep them interested in playing.
Please note my study is on what is termed Gamification which is how do we apply games to every day tasks in the workplace. Can work be more fun like if we add elements of game play to daily tasks. Much of the same elements that go into Game Design of games such as GW2 can be applied to many elements of the work place as well as Consumer marketing.
I would not argue that fact AlexanderFaust, I have played MMO’s since the Original release of EQ. While we change settings the games are all the same, the Narrative (Story) and the Settings (World) is what sets these games aparts. But in Reality all games draw from the same theories on how to draw players in and keep them interested in playing.
Please note my study is on what is termed Gamification which is how do we apply games to every day tasks in the workplace. Can work be more fun like if we add elements of game play to daily tasks. Much of the same elements that go into Game Design of games such as GW2 can be applied to many elements of the work place as well as Consumer marketing.
Ah, my apologies ~ lol my last post was actually aimed at the OP.
#I had not read your previous post before replying to the topic.
Personally, tho it seems that the OP is talking about adjusting your point of view to see the game in a better light.
IE: To make it seem more appealing.
On that note however, I would say that if you approach GW2 as a standard 60$ Action/Adventure Console game (Skyrim) w/online co-op ~ then you’ll be pretty satisfied with your purchase and how GW2 caters to that mindset.
However, if you approach GW2 as an MMO ~ odds are, you’ll be disappointed for several reasons.
Standardized Loot / Character Progression / Combat::
1. Everything is set up so, no one really ever feels powerful.
2. Lack of trinity means, you don’t need anyone and are not needed by anyone.
The staples of an MMO are designed around creating a community from the players and promoting them to work together. ~ in this aspect, GW2 fails as an MMO.
Granted people can argue, saying that GW2 is amazing and is better off without the Trinity and having to rely on other players.
They then point to Dynamic events and how you “need” other people to kill mobs like Balthazar, Dragons, ect…
But do you really? are the faceless masses anymore “personal” than having a bunch of henchmen NPC to help you finish the event?
Think about it ~ we don’t know the names of other people at those events, because we’re not there for them ~ we don’t need to talk, we don’t need to socialize or even organize ~ we only care about the “chance” at uber loot (perhaps the precurser?) and to farm Karma/Gold.
Since those bosses are nothing more than HP sponges that hit like trucks (no tactics) ~ people just sit back and spam, leaving the few people that agro the mob to be chased by him, while they take pot shots at it and if someone gets low on HP they throw down their AOE heals.
Basically, GW2 tries to mimic the Trinity without creating a “need” for people to do anything more than zerg the content.
Even the dungeons are designed this way with their “Corpse run, waypoints”.
In all senses of the word “community” ~ it seems that GW2 fails.
This includes the free 24 hour server transfers that shred any hopes of a well built community as well at the ability to join multiple guilds, and yet refuse to put in a multi-chat for each of them, requiring you to “represent” in order to talk to other members.
At the end of the day, can you really say that GW2 IS an MMO anymore than League of Legends or Team Fortress 2?
I very much agree with AlexanderFaust.
When I first know about GW2, the trailers and discussion share alot of MMORPG’s presense and promises it’ll appeal to all kinds of mmorpg players. That made me anticipate this game as how I did towards MMORPGs.
If I had first approached this game with the mentality of playing a console rpg just like how I bought my ps3 games, I wouldn’t ended up in disappointment. It’s the reason why I gave some negative feedbacks in the previous topic about how this game is missing out vital mmorpg elements.
Imo, mentality of playing a MMORPG : Dedicated for 1~2 years. Each time I touch the game, there’s something to play towards a goal that pulls players in. Being part of a big group like guilds and something to achieve together as one in both PVE and PVP.
After I played this game for several weeks/months and reached the end-game, it felt like I finished a console game. That causes the disappointment.
I’ve played over 100 hours (1 month) of gameplay and I feel like I finished the game. That’s the same as any $60 console single-player rpg I played. The mmorpgs I played before was over 1000~2000 hours (1~2 years – 2/4 hours per day) of gameplay and I still feel there’s something to play for. There’s constant progression each time. It’s not content progression, but players/avatar progression. It didn’t have to be gear progression. It can be something else with the same value that make us anticipate to keep us playing. Cosmetic gears isn’t effective as endgame since every mmorpg have it as secondary element. It’s proven after seeing the number of players complaint about it. There should something with substance that replaces gear treadmill. Something solid and long-term in PVE where their avatars can grow and compare with other players in PVE throughout 1-2 years of gameplay experience.
But it has the look and sound of an mmo. All the swords and stat points. All the levels and classes. It is an mmo. It’s just a bad one that promised too much and only delivered on spvp and some of the leveling.
For me this is the biggest disappointment of 2012 only because I had such high hopes for the game. And I still hope. I hope it gets better but a lot of the problems that I can’t endure are not something broken or something that will be fixed. They’re design choices that I disagree with. While I had greater expectations for diablo 3 and a similar feeling of disappointment it’s now turning into a game I enjoy. I don’t see the same thing happening with this game.
I want to like this game. I want to play it but can’t find the motivation to log in for more than a minute. Playing dress up does not do it for me. Not as the core of the loot system anyway. WvW is a disaster for me and is something I hate. It could be good. It could be something I would enjoy but there are no signs they have plans on changing it. That’s demoralizing.