Guild Wars 2

Greetings and Salutations.

We are all well aware of the current state of discontent with the pacing and rollout of content in the game. The second anniversary of Guild Wars 2 came and went with a whisper, and many question whether we are significantly better off now than we were a year prior. Numerous posts highlight the last time any attention was paid to fractals, to dungeons, to SAB, to WvW, to guild content, and to every other aspect of the game that spark the players’ passion.

I am not here to dismiss these concerns, nor to add my own lamentations to them. Instead, I would like to offer a simple proposition. It is completely understandable why Arenanet has done what they have done. China’s release yielded enormous revenue, an excellent business decision despite its enormous consumption of developer resources. Likewise, one can easily appreciate that the company would have difficulty catering to a hundred different player desires at once. Everyone wants something different, and the only thing we players have in common is that we think Anet should drop everything and cater specifically to our niche.

Yet despite both the business decisions and resource allocation being reasonable, it is also perfectly understandable for players to be dissatisfied with how their needs are being addressed. So many Arenanet posts describe a new feature or mechanic as “a good foundation for the future”, but these platforms remain underused and underdeveloped. Even the most innovative systems become monotonous if they never receive tender love and care, for no amount of planning and well-wishing to revisit a beloved mechanic some day in the future will match actual effort.

And so I offer this judgment. The Living Story has not failed. But it needs help.

The Living Story is the answer for a growing and changing world. It is the perfect way to gradually expand the game outward, taking us beyond the borders of the current game and discovering new lands, new plots, new challenges, and new heroics. The Living Story will one day take us into the Crystal Desert to challenge the mighty Kralkatorric, delve into the depths to confront the Destroyers, hunt the mighty Jormag in the Far Shiverpeaks, walk with the Tengu and dive with the Largos, and perhaps even return to the lands of Elona, Cantha, the realms of spirits and gods, and so much more…

But it cannot sustain this game alone, not at this current pace. With so many mechanics starving for attention, the bi-monthly seasonings of the Living Story simply lack the necessary meat. The voracious hunger of the player base howls for more content to sate so many different tastes. No matter the brilliance of Arenanet’s masterful chefs, the sheer number of plates demanding so many different orders keep piling up. When the restaurant becomes overcrowded and begins spilling out into the street, a good manager knows the answer is not more brilliant chefs.

It’s minions. Lots and lots of helpful minions.

So consider, if you will, a Community Content Krewe.

Hear me out. Numerous games have flourished as a direct result of allowing fans to tinker with their mechanics on many different levels.

Skyrim is the poster child for a wide range of modding efforts. Immersive Weapons and Immersive Armors are classic examples of 3d modeling talent, alongside the hundreds of hair models, magic effects, and atmospheric upgrades across the community. The Skyrim Script Extender is a brilliant example of programming expertise, without which a hundred excellent overhauls and enhancements would be impossible. And on the voice acting front, Interesting NPCs forms the golden standard in RPGs, all done by dedicated fans bringing interesting characters to life. In fact, the entire Skywind Project to recreate Morrowind in the Skyrim engine is a perfect example of the sheer brilliance of modding communities. Just spend ten minutes examining the Nexus and you’ll see what kinds of wonders arise from the fans’ labors of love.

ARMA 2 is an excellent example of the programming improvements players can produce, with its modding community featuring numerous addons and modules. Mount and Blade hosts numerous total conversion mods which completely overhaul the units, terrain, mechanics, or setting of the conflict, providing a rich and engaging experience. Kerbal Space Program provides hundreds of hours of whimsical science, expanded by its dedicated modding community.

It’s also worth mentioning just how amazing something as specific as fan-made 3d art can be. Star Citizen recently held its Next Great Starship competition geared towards allowing hobbyists to craft a ship in game. The results were considered superior to many of the professional company’s own ships, and a few of the hobbyists have recently shown up on the company’s employee roster. Just saying, the hobbyists have skills. To paraphrase one of Cloud Imperium’s lead artists in response to the fan competition, “we need to step up our game.”

And finally, one has to mention that player-made content has already been utilized in other MMOs. Cryptic implemented The Foundry in both Neverwinter and Star Trek Online to allow player-crafted missions. While these tools are far more public than what I propose, it is worth recognizing how the MMO sphere is not devoid of community driven content.

These works prove that fans have the talent and the passion to bolster a game they love through programming, 3d modeling, voice acting, writing, map design, and in-engine enhancements. Now imagine, for a moment, what they could do for Guild Wars 2.

The Krewe would have to be application based, in order to ensure that everyone involved already possesses a skill or ability that can help. Something as wide open to the public as The Foundry wouldn’t work for any advanced projects or serious content. But a simple network of applications and invitations can reel in plenty of eager hobbyists hoping to enhance the game with their abilities.

Based merely on what other modding communities have accomplished, consider the following hypothetical krewes (now edited to remove obscene verbosity)…

All eight teams I mention above are completely possible. Every single skillset or ability have emerged in one or more modding teams across the gaming medium, and each of them relies on existing frameworks within Guild Wars 2’s engineering. Arenanet themselves have constantly said the mechanics under the hood were conceived as foundations, ideal platforms for additional content down the line. The system was designed for incremental improvements!

But bless your hearts, Arenanet, you are more interested in treading new ground and making shiny new systems than sitting down and giving the current foundations the simple, mundane, unsophisticated love and care they need to rise to greatness.

We can.

We’re not experts. While there may be diamonds in the rough with talent that rivals the developers, many of us are only amateurs and hobbyists. Yet even a slight sliver of talent polishing a small piece of content can contribute to the game, and a hundred tiny efforts can snowball into something greater. Something amazing.

I realize that what I propose is insane. There are a thousand complications related to logistics and coordination, not to mention security and quality control. A decision of this magnitude would require a great deal of consideration and discussion within Arenanet itself, since it requires no small effort to distribute tools and integrate content into the game as a whole. Caution is well warranted in the face of the mad ramblings of a deranged fan.

But Arenanet has walked the path of madness before. It was insanity to reject the subscription based service of MMOs and launch Guild Wars under the buy-to-play model. Lunacy, to forsake the Holy Trinity and focus on positioning and individual skill use. Psychosis, to upend the common wisdom of enormous skill lists and scrolling hotbars and streamline the experience into a few solid abilities. Mania of the highest order, to declare that the gear treadmill was a false god and design a game around a power plateau. And delirium rivaling only the cackling laughter of the Elder Gods themselves to commit to growing a game outward through iterative content updates, bringing the world to life without ever requiring payment from the playerbase. But this madness, this glorious spark of creative insanity is what gave Guild Wars life, defying the stagnant conventions of the genre while whimsically whispering “Let’s try it.”

As developer and community both question how to proceed in the coming years, know this. The answer does not lie in the safety of sanity, nor the long-walked halls of conventional wisdom. The only thing that will keep up with the voracious appetite of the player base is that same burning hunger channeled into creative zeal.

Because that desire, that need for more content and experiences, it all originates from love. Love for the game, for the community, for the amazing adventure brought to life by the developers’ will. We are here because we believe in the wonder that is Guild Wars. And if you, the developers, grant the talented and the tenacious among us the means to make this game better, we will work, and toil, and strive, and strain, and sweat, and ache, and bleed for you. For the game we love.
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I realize how much this post is asking, how absurdly audacious this request may be. But mull it over. Give it time. Consider what you would want to put in the game, all the wonders and adventures that could be done if you only had the time, the resources, and the sheer number of hands on keyboards to get it done. All those labors of love you wish you had time to create, but just don’t have a high enough priority to work. From Polymock to SAB, dashing capes to King of the Hill, dungeon Challenge Modes to Canthan fractals, consider all the dreams that you know simply won’t get into the game under the current pace.

And the next time you’re sitting down to a cup of coffee, or relaxing after a hard day’s work, or spending a few minutes brushing your teeth (and flossing!), consider what could be accomplished with fifty, a hundred, a thousand eager helpers just waiting to make those dreams become reality.

If you give us gear and the order to march, your army stands ready.

Well it’s a nice idea, and a lot of games are playing around with the idea (I’m thinking of Everquest Next, although I guess the Foundry is also an example).

At the very least ANet would have to provide tools with which we players can produce content and although I’m sure they have in-house tools those tend to be horribly slap together and not user friendly. It might take months for ANet to steamline and polish their in-house tools to allow players to use it (a badly design tool would serve only turn players away and that’s not what you want in the player generated content).
The second problem of course is that GW2 isn’t really setup to allow for a player content system. Assuming the tools are there and you can let say produce a fractal, how will it be submitted? Will it be reviewed? How will players gain access to it? What if someone tries to create a fractal that requires 0 skill but drop loot like crazy?
Then we get to the biggest impediment of all, ANet’s company culture. Is there enough buy in? Is ANet willing to allow users to upload content which could be of an offensive or poor quality? Are management and developers ok with losing some control over the user experience?

But that aside, I do like the idea of player generated content, who wouldn’t? Ideally it’s a win win situation for players and developer.
I think the easiest way that this could occur is as follows: ANet produces the tools and opens it up to the community. Regularly ANet creates competitions where players can produce content using the tool and then submit it to ANet for review and possible inclusion into the game (in return for gems or in game items or something). This way ANet doesn’t have to worry about the quality or content that’s being produced as they’d review it. They’d also be able to further refine submitted content, or combine it with other submission. So ANet still has control over their game.

A lot of people don’t want player generated content, myself included. One of the reasons to play a themepark MMO is that everything is done by the developers which ensures complete consistency. Player content, no matter how policed it is, is never going to be of a consistent standard, not to mention the policing of it just takes time and resources away from the developers and their ability to actually produce content.

If you want player generated content can I suggest going and playing in a sandpark game, they exist specifically for that purpose.

It sounds crazy, but I think this is an excellent idea. ANet will need to act as the curator and editor, and get used to REALLY QA’ing THINGS, which they’ve had problems doing in the past, but if they would do this, and could get it to work, it would be amazing.

ANet: This is how you make Minecraft levels of money. This is how MINECRAFT made Minecraft levels of money. Think about it.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

A lot of people don’t want player generated content, myself included. One of the reasons to play a themepark MMO is that everything is done by the developers which ensures complete consistency.

And in a perfect world, you would be absolutely correct. Developer content is the right choice. But the problem with the current state of the game is that we’re in an imperfect world. Arenanet doesn’t have enough time, resources, and employees to ensure that the seasoned hand of a developer crafts every single thing players ask for. People want SAB, refined dungeon bosses, new fractals, new WvW maps, new explorable zones, new minigames, new PvP modes, new armor, new weapons, refurbished armor without clipping, precursor quests, upgraded dragon champions, new world bosses, etc, etc, etc, and they want it yesterday. How much of that is going to get done anytime soon?

So I would ask this question in reply. Is it better to get new content that is decent, but not superb….or no content at all? Is it better for SAB to remain closed for another two years, or for the next three levels to be assembled by hobbyists under the watchful eye of a developer? Would you rather have dungeon bosses be left the way they are, or allow someone with time and talent to take a shot and try to make them more interesting than the current Defiant v. Berzerker setup? Are you content with the rate at which new armor and weaponry are obtainable through in-game means, or would the game be improved by more items being added outside of the gemstore, even if they’re not crafted by Anet’s hands? An imperfect world requires imperfect solutions, and sometimes the mundane incremental improvements provide the sustenance the game needs.

Now, that being said…

CureForLiving.5360:

At the very least ANet would have to provide tools with which we players can produce content and although I’m sure they have in-house tools those tend to be horribly slap together and not user friendly. It might take months for ANet to steamline and polish their in-house tools to allow players to use it (a badly design tool would serve only turn players away and that’s not what you want in the player generated content).
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I think the easiest way that this could occur is as follows: ANet produces the tools and opens it up to the community. Regularly ANet creates competitions where players can produce content using the tool and then submit it to ANet for review and possible inclusion into the game (in return for gems or in game items or something).

You are absolutely correct that this sort of thing greatly depends on the tools available, the company culture, and the integration of player creations into the game. Caution is well warranted, especially when it may cost resources to get something running when the outcome is uncertain.

However, I’m glad you brought up the idea of competitions. See, back in the day, Arenanet ran a pair of Design a Weapon competitions during Guild Wars 1. The results were quite nifty, and a few of the designs were even brought over to Guild Wars 2. The best way to test the waters of community content with absolutely no negative repercussions whatsoever would be to bring them back. Since Skyrim, Kerbal, and Star Citizen all prove that players can create assets, the competitions could shift from concept art to actual model work.

Bring back Design a Weapon. Release the technical details that are required for the items in question, and go from concept phase to actual 3d modeling within a single competition. If it goes well, expand the project, from the more technically complicated (Design a Cultural Armor Set) or the straight upgrade (Design a Legendary Weapon), to the fun and whimsical (Design a Guild Emblem, Design a Minipet, Design a Musical Instrument).

Since these competitions would be straight asset creation, there’s pretty much no possible downside (as long as all art is documented to show the submitter created it, etc) or complications. But from a project standpoint, they serve as an excellent way to gauge how well the community can create content for the game, even if it’s just one particular realm. And from there, the future is what we make of it.