There is little doubt that the MMO or MMORPG genre is the biggest new genre to hit the gaming industry since the Real-Time Strategy game. It's a genre that, like most new genres, has boomed and is now stabilizing. The unique thing about the MMO genre (if we are to look beyond gameplay) is that their especially long development times have slowed down the evolution of the genre allowing us to analyze its growth across a much larger scope than would typically be possible.

The purpose of this series is to do just that: to take an academic look at the MMO genre as a whole and see what we can learn about this growing genre and gaming as a whole as well. Backed by academia, through the The Guildhall @ SMU, and built on a foundation of in-depth interviews with the developers down in the trenches making these games, this article series is both an intellectual exercise and learning experience for all of us and an attempt to offer something back to the development community that is, unfortunately, in limited supply: a source of discourse on game design.

In the last article we examined the future of the genre in light of the high profile cancellations and failures that have appeared over the last year or two. Was the genre doomed? Was the success of the Ultimas, the Everquests, the Lineages, etc just a fluke? To find the answer I approached founding fathers Richard Garriott and Brad McQuaid. You can see the whole article here:

http://www.gamedev.net/reference/design/features/mgp1/

Our final analysis was, no, not at all. The MMO genre is simply following the same path that all genres do: an initial boom and then a period of stabilization. So with the MMORPG here to stay, what's next?

The world of the MMORPG is perhaps the highest-risk project in the industry. However it is also one of the most rewarding. Because of that, on paper, it would seem that it's a genre best left to the experts.

But that's not going to happen. Developers either entirely unproven or unproven in the genre are going to step up to the plate. And rightfully so. Nearly every huge MMO to date has come from a developer who was new to the genre. Ultima Online and Everquest were pioneers but more recently City of Heroes and World of Warcraft were all by companies that had never produced an MMOG.

So what do developers need to know if they hope to tread the genre's dangerous waters? Where are the Scyllas and Cyclops of their journeys?

In hope of answering this I ventured down to the offices of NCsoft, located in the hills outside Austin, Texas. NCsoft is in the unique position of being exclusive to the MMO genre and being both a developer and a publisher of third party titles.

There we held a roundtable to answer these very issues. The cast included some of the most well known and influential members of the genre:

Peter Freese, Core Technology Director
Jeremy Gaffney, Vice President of Product Development
Starr Long, Producer, Tabula Rasa
Valerie Massey, Online Community Coordinator, Auto Assault/Tabula Rasa
Paul Sage, Lead Designer, Tabula Rasa
Chris Strasz, Designer, Tabula Rasa
Richard Weil, Online Community Relations Manager

With the goal of providing insight into what MMOG developers need to know to survive in the next generation firmly in mind we discussed topics which touched on all aspects of the industry, beginning with publishers, traveling through development, into beta, and onward to release and beyond. The following chapters form an account of that journey and while they do not provide a road map for success - for indeed no such thing exists - they should provide valuable insight to any would be developer of MMORPG titles.

Chapter 1: What Are Generations?

"Generation" is a term that is often thrown around when speaking about the industry as a whole. MMORPGs are no different. Currently MMOs are in a transitional period. Are they in their second generation or third? What is a generation?

A generation of technology is, much like its etymological parent, defined by a period of growth more than a period of time. Unfortunately, in an industry trapped between hard numbers and hard marketing such a nebulous concept often leads more to debate than consensus. Nevertheless it is unavoidable. It is a term widely in use and firmly entrenched. Therefore we should do our best to define it.

We see two primary opinions: Jeremy Gaffney and Starr Long both agree that the term as a whole is poorly suited to the genre. There has been little truly revolutionary throughout the growth of the genre and so, they argue, is it truly worth considering anything a new generation? Is polishing and expanding upon already existing technologies and mechanics worthy of the title "generation". From a pure technical viewpoint it's a point that's hard to argue against.

There are two sides to this coin however. If we return to the root of the term we quickly realize that there are two ways one can look at the concept. If we use the First Person Shooter genre as an example we can see the growth of a genre practically defined by the latest ID and Epic engines. It's easy to define something as Doom, Quake, or Doom III era. From this viewpoint the first thought is entirely correct. Conversely, has the move from Everquest and Lineage to Everquest II and Lineage II done much to redefine the genre? From a purely technical perspective, absolutely not.

The other view is that a generation is more of a "systemic band". A period of time in which the community of developers creates a "generation" of titles followed by a new period of time where developers (either the same developers or others) create new titles which will, inevitably, form a reaction to the successes and failures of the games that came before them.

Richard Weil first brought up the term "systemic band" in this quote, "I think you can see some kind of systemic bands that people are referring to as generations. If you look at the first generation as people who sort of launched themselves off a cliff and my sense is that the second generation is people sort of polishing things they saw go wrong with the first generation. And I hope that with the third generation you'll see more of what we commonly call innovation."

Given that the term is not going away I prefer the second school of thought. It's semi-quantifiable and somewhat useful since we can see cause and effect within the model. That means that the first generation was those who "launched themselves off a cliff." Titles such as Meridian 59, Ultima Online, Everquest, Lineage, Anarchy Online, Asheron's Call and others and it marks a period of time roughly encompassing the late nineties.

The second would be the games who could watch the successes and failures of the first generation. It also features our first sequels. This would include most of the games released after the turn of the century. Dark Age of Camelot, Everquest II, Lineage II, City of Heroes, Shadowbane, World of Warcraft, etc

And this would leave the third generation as our future: Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Guild Wars, Imperator and many others. All of these are titles that will need to look carefully upon the successes and failures of both generations to succeed.

Of course this definition reflects only on the mass market titles. Only those titles that are Massively Multiplayer are really included because for years previous to any of these titles the MUD community was quietly refining the experience and laying the foundation that all of these games would be built on. And this is a very important addendum. But within these guidelines we have a workable division. Fluid, perhaps, but workable. And that in itself is an important step in researching the genre as it evolves.

Chapter 2: Gaffney's Four Rules of Success

Publishers are a fact of life with every game. The word "Massively" is a part of the MMOG title for a reason. These defining titles are big, huge games, both in terms of players and content. Developing these massive undertakings takes a commensurate amount of capitol and someone has to foot the bill. While not the cornerstone of a title they are the first step towards having a title see the light of day. They are the gatekeepers.

As the Vice President of Product Development at NCsoft Austin Jeremy Gaffney sees hundreds of game pitches a year. Of those only a very few are chosen to be NCsoft products. But how are those projects chosen? Now while there is no equation, no magic bullet that will tell you what to do, Gaffney outlines NCsoft's simple plan:

"Good games sell and so we have this really complex strategy: We make good games. You know we do whatever it takes to make 'em. It's really complex. It confuses people in suits. So we plan on staying at the forefront of making games that we want to play."

There are some things and some areas in which you can outright fail however. Gaffney broke those areas into four rules. These rules form the foundation that every company must have to successfully develop a MMORPG. Negative reinforcement at its finest: you must have these things or you're almost guaranteed failure:

"The main things we look for are four basic areas of making games. There's management. Do you have a group which can manage themselves to get there? Because you're probably going to have a small group that's going to grow to a very large group. The average size by the time you ship in this era is probably about 40-45 people and it's only going to get bigger. Content bars are being set by every new product that comes out.

So there's management. There's art. Do you have good artists who can execute? Programming, you know it's a very complex technological task to do this. Design, because it's also very hard to quantify.

And also you're really looking for innovation which is really hard to judge when you're in the early stage of pitches. You know, is this going to work or not? Contrary to the popular take on publishers I think most publishers really are looking for innovation. Because most people are bright enough to know that clones just don't sell. I mean name me a successful clone; its pretty tough to think of one.

Really what we're looking for is fun. If you can show us a fun demo you can screw up everything else in your game as long as it's fun. That's a really good stepping point to actually be able to get a pitch. If you have a demo you bring in that the publisher is actually going to be playing in their off hours you win. Because there's no way that game's not being signed up."

Rule 1: Can you manage yourself? This is a stumbling block that many people fail to consider the full ramifications of. Rationally it's obvious that running an office of forty to fifty or more is a difficult endeavor. However, people often overlook the biggest stumbling block: upsizing. It's difficult, but highly manageable to keep a team going, be it a team of eight or eighty. Once things are moving along most bumps along the way are easily correctable.

The difficulty is switching between those extremes. It's a personnel and personality issue. Let's take a fictional lead artist as an example. On a team of five you're probably The Artist. Consistency, quality, and timeliness are all your responsibility and job. But what happens when you're now a team of 50? Maybe you have ten guys working under you now. You've gone, probably over the course of only a few months, from creating 100% of the art to 5% or less. It's still your responsibility but it's no longer your job. Each person copes with this in different ways. Some well and some not so well.

What do you do if you're the producer on that team and you know The Artist, who is probably also your friend, isn't going to adapt well? What do you do about the person who insists on doing it "the way it's always been" when new processes are put in for a reason?

The answers to these questions are beyond the scope of this article. Never-the-less they're questions that a developer has to consider. If you can step up and show a publisher a plan for your expansion you can help yourself greatly. Manage expectations. If The Artist knows from early on that he'll be a senior artist and not the lead artist it'll be easier for him when the time comes for someone to step up to that position. It's things like this that publishers are looking for - with good reason, as this is the sort of fundamental business element in projects like this that often gets overlooked and, in turn, causes significant pain to both the project and the personnel.

Rule 2: Do you have the skills? The first half of this is obvious. Video games push the boundaries of technology constantly. You need people who can handle truly advanced technologies quickly. MMO games are no different at the most basic level. However, what is worth considering is the ways they are different. You need network code that rivals financial databases. You need technology that allows you to get the best look and frame rate with fifty characters on screen all wearing different things. You need modular character designs. You need the tightest security possible. The list goes on. You may not have to be on the cutting edge of normal maps and real time lighting but the pitfalls are just as difficult and just as great.

Rule 3: Have you innovated or improved the genre in some way? Innovation is important. As Gaffney said, clones don't sell. This is, perhaps, even more important in the MMORPG genre as these games are inherently "sticky" in design. With offline games you just need to move the box and, hopefully, make the customer happy enough that you'll be able to move the next box as well. But with an online game you must plan to keep people playing for months and months if not years and years. Because this is a necessity you must not only provide a reason to play your game but a reason for people to give up the game they're already playing, all the while, attempting to bring new customers into the fold.

It's a tall order. Pretty graphics and slick features help, but in the end you must bring something new to the table to stand out.

Rule 4: Is it fun? This is the golden rule. Every developer knows it. Every player knows it. But it's also the easiest thing to lose perspective of. It's easy to tout features. These sorts of things are easy to quantify. So people, developers and players alike, will latch onto them. It is always easier for the mind to accept the concrete over the abstract. The developer must always keep in mind the Golden Rule.

There is a simple reason that the bullet points on boxes sell: because even if the consumer does not directly realize it the concepts they promote sound fun. That's it.

A concrete example would be Doom III. Normal mapping and real-time lighting sold copies. Not because players wanted to view the technological achievement, but because it looked good. And why did this matter to those customers? Because the better looking the game is the more fun it is to play.

Time and again Gaffney came back to this point. To re-quote him: "…you can screw up everything else in your game as long as it's fun."

Chapters 3-5