Long Term incentive? Tell me where there ISN'T incentive and motivation?

[MrVicchio]

Author Topic:
Station Member MrVicchio

Long Term incentive? Tell me where there ISN'T incentive and motivation?

Registered: Nov 2002

posted 04-15-2003 03:50 PM user search report post
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Lets see... after three years of FPS online, from Doom to CS, DoD, SoFII, NS, TFC..... There was a 30 minute reason to play.... and a 2 week reason...
30 minutes to "win" whatever the objective was for the map and have the "high" score.

2 weeks is the average life span of most of the FPS out there in terms of stats....

Thats it... 30 min of play reflected in 2 weeks of stats....

Wow.

Now here comes PS. A never ending world, a play field the other games only DREAM of supporting, stats out the ying yang, and they last longer then 2 weeks, bases to control (there is your 30 min goal) and long term you have lifetime of your Char stats... hmmmm...

I think there are two issues here that are in play.

1. You cant hit tab and see where you rank against others.

2. At the end of a base capture, the score card doesn't come up to display this to all playing that you are 1337.

ADD is at play here, think outside the box people. You make your own goals, your skill on the playfield will make you known, forget the traditional 1337ness of the other games and see the future.

eeriee, I am being watched....

SporkfirePS
Station Admin
Registered: Jan 2003 posted 04-15-2003 04:27 PM user search report post
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We consider fame, fortune and glory to be a major vehicle for keeping players interested in the game. PlanetSide's design goals revolve around continual competition. It's not the only motivation we expect to keep players interested though. We've been watching the gameplay unfold as real players go about their lives and see some areas where we can improve. Obviously, we want you stay interested in the game and are always looking for ways to keep that going.
We have concepts of what the ideal war feel might be, and what players would really enjoy being a part of. We're doing everything we can to meet those ideals. The beta is not the final game. Keep an eye out for what the beta helps us create.

Victor Wachter
Community Relations Representative
Many questions can be answered by reading the PlanetSide Game Info and FAQ

http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/planetside/Forum2/HTML/005990.html

[SpaceDrake]

It's good to know I'm not the only one with a lick of sense on this issue around here. Incentive? Bah. Your incentive is to have a good time. If you need to have a "purpose" when playing this game (or ANY game), then you need a life. Badly.

[Destroyeron]

My Incentive: Blow things up, make a name for myself that will never happen in real life, kill people

[SpartonX]

Originally posted by Destroyeron
My Incentive: Blow things up, make a name for myself that will never happen in real life, kill people

couldn't have said it better myself:p

[Rasulis]

About time I see some one with some since other than me.

Under the general feedback area of the beta forums I put up a post that argued against every one saying theres no long term goals and of course no one who complained about it would argue with me, then when I would see another no long term goal post I would just link it to my old one and it would usually shut them up.

[Feynn]

Can you post that link?

I'm the leader of a moderate sized outfit, and having just gotten BETA to work I'm currently BR10 and CR2 after about 2 days of play. One of our members is BR15 I believe since the character wipe. I say this, because I strongly believe that once people max out their levels, the game has the potential to get boring fairly quickly (a couple of months) unless something changes.

I put up a post on the beta forums that got quickly buried, but basically I think the analogy between other FPS', CS especially, is flawed. In my experience there is a clear progression that outlines how the goals of an FPS player change with time. In general that is: Fun-> Recognition -> Competition. Over all of that, is playing to get better which people tend to do throughout the time they spend playing.

The key difference between Planetside and CS is that Competition (in the way of CPL or even CAL type leagues) does not and cannot exist. Recognition is limited in that it isn't possible to make a name as a solo player and outfit recognition seems to only reward time played. (I really like the idea of making the outfit that caps a base known)

That leaves fun and playing to get better. But what you have to understand is that without the 2 "higher" goals, hardcore players will likely move onto other games after getting bored. When you lose your veterans at a constant pace, new players don't have people to chase as far as skill goes, and lose the desire to get better. IMO this is the difference between CS and Tribes2, both very fun games, but while one really rewards the veteran and hardcore, the other doesn't, and the difference in number of players for the two is huge.

The reason all of this is extra important for PlanetSide is that 1) they are attempting to charge monthly and 2) PS NEEDS a certain amount of people to be playing at any given time to reach a critical mass where the game is enjoyable.

Now all of that is from the FPS angle, but having had a LOT of experience with MMOs, I think the MMO players will be disappointed as well. Primarily because the xp grind, as much as people hated it, is one of the biggest reasons that people play MMOs. MMO Players like to increase their levels and get new spells or abilities, making their characters stronger than the person who just started. By design, PS isn't really like that. To make matters worse, with the levelling rate the way it is now, I expect most of my outfit will max out BR after 2-3 weeks.

There is also the social aspect of MMOs which is still present but severely handicapped. EQ was so slow that you could afford to xp or raid and chat at the same time, not the case with PS =).

I'd also like to point out that there are a lot of ideas that I've seen that would help to keep players' interest, and I'd like to think that the devs are planning to implement some after things quiet down. Problem is, as EQ shows, content creation cannot keep up with hardcore players. New stuff might come in, but well after the serious outfits tire of the game and lose momentum. People have to understand the problem exists or it won't get remedied in time to secure the long-term future of the game. Remember that EQ could theoretically remain fun with only 200-300 people on a server, but for PS the lack of NPCs mean you need a lot more to be online 24 hours a day.

In any case, I'm leaving out a lot and this is still a long post, if you have coherent arguments and reasons why I'm wrong, I'd love to hear them.

[wrecklass]

I have to agree with Feynn. People tend to say "Wow, this game is so much more fun than CS or Quake that anyone who says it may not last is just a party poop!" But that tends to be a "Golly gee" first impression. After playing any game for more than a couple of weeks, the "been there, done that" mode kicks in, and it is what's under the covers that keeps people around. Unfortunatly, PS has a very good WOW factor, but it isn't clear what it is standing on for the long term.

Yes, there are folks who still play CS years after it released, but the vast majority of those people are playing it because it is cheap to buy, and they frankly don't want to pay to play. For PS to attract that crowd it has to offer a great deal more depth than "take a base, lose a base, take it back again" types of gaming. There needs to be incentive, recognition and rewards.

I'm patient, and I will stick around to see how things develop. I'll probably buy the game in the end, but getting my money every month will take a bit more than what I see in the game today. Hopefully that is going to be addressed to all of our satisfaction.