Gating…the word has been used a lot these days in the forums.
I started using it back during the time that Ascended Tier and Fractals were being introduced. I didn’t like the blatant nature of it; it’s all about the execution.
The GW2 Devs appear to really love using gating as the hammer for every nail they see in the game.
They really need to find other tools to use. Running into barriers every time you “turn around” in game is not very fun.
Remember, fun?
Gating is everywhere in various forms:
- NPC Vendor/Bank/Ranger Pet location availability
- Dungeon Design (not just Fractals)
- Personal Story
- Achievements
- Map design and throttling
- Trait Acquisition
- Skills/Abilities Unlocks
- Profession design elements (ie. weapon combinations, armor types, etc.)
- The Skill Bar
NOTE: It’s not that “Gating” is wrong or doesn’t work, it certainly does and is a valid game design practice. But, one can have too much of a good thing.
Gating has to be used appropriately and judiciously; and it needs to conform to certain “rules”:
Games are defined by consistent sets of rules and patterns of behavior; one of the strengths of the human mind is that it’s adept at detecting patterns. Thus the rules need to maintain a naturalism that’s consistent and predictable – but not too much so – within the context of the game world.
The balance between systems and believability can be struck in the systems space, Gaynor believes. Designers build stories with a beginning, middle and end, and they’re designed to be experienced in order. Suspension of disbelief is broken when players are allowed to break that order, thus progression gating is necessary – however, too overt gating, or that which interrupts the naturality of the environment, also breaks belief.
…“Player tool gating is very powerful,” he says. “Do you want to define a predictable path through a space that is not linear? Do you want to allow your player to define their own goals in opening new areas that you don’t give them directly? If this is an approach you find interesting, it can put a lot of power into the player’s hands to progress through the world using the world’s rules.”
Source: PRACTICE: Irrational’s Gaynor On Better Storytelling, Player Freedom Through Gating
Obviously, I see gating as something that intentionally implemented to inhibit the player; I can understand why this is can be necessary, the problem lies in the over-usage of the practice.
Just log into a WvW Map and take a look at how relatively difficult it is to get from your Border Keep to where the “action” is.
You will undoubtedly notice big windy roads, stretches of unscalable walls and high cliffs with large drop offs; these things aren’t there by accident. They serve as a throttle to keep players from “rushing” the play field.
Completely understandable design element…and yet, more and more such a practice is becoming the prevalent means to control the Player in GW2.
GW2, may I remind you, was nominally touted to be the game that would liberate the Player from the stale MMO models of yesteryear.
I can roll with the punches, change happens, back pedals do occur…but maybe the Devs can find other tools to use?
Please, back off on the gating, the Trait Changes of April nearly ruined the game for me, I say “nearly” very specifically because the jury is still officially out until I level another 80.
Such things create an adversarial situation between Players and Devs, especially when existing game systems are revised to introduce gating. No one like to have their toys taken away and locked up but this becoming a common occurrence in GW2.
(edited by Kuldebar.1897)