Bartle and MMO Core Gameplay

Well, it seems like everyone else is talking about it, so I suppose I will join in while I buy a bit more time delaying the next article I really do want to write. Granted, Bartle’s interview was a while ago now, but… well, I’ve been in the middle of nowhere for a while.

I’m going to look straight at the most inflammatory statement made in that interview. “I’ve already played Warhammer. It was called World of Warcraft.” With that one statement, Bartle managed to draw quite a bit of ire his way. Why? Well, because the statement isn’t exactly entirely clear as to what he is saying. I’ve listed Warhammer Online as one of those games that I’m looking forward to playing. I certainly know that there are some differences between Warhammer and World of WarCraft. However, I also know that there are an awful lot of similarities as well. That’s what Bartle was focusing in on, so that’s what I want to focus on as well.

So, onto what I will likely consider my most cliche blog post ever!

What separates Warhammer and World of WarCraft? Well, there’s scenery, there’s backstory, there’s a greater focus on PvP, there’s the castle sieges, the Tomb of Knowledge, and what not. Sure, that can certainly make it seem like these are very different games – and to many players, they will be very different games. That said, they aren’t quite so different.

The fundamental gameplay will still come down to the same basic formula that we’ve seen since… well, MUDs. Certainly EverQuest. The stronger focus on PvP gives it a slightly different flavor, but it is still your generic MMORPG when it comes down to the game systems itself.

Bartle played WarCraft largely for credentials. He’s also a game designer and doesn’t look at a game in the same way many players would. He didn’t play WarCraft to experience the various tweaks to the generic MMO formula that WoW uses, but rather to play a game with that core system – WoW being the biggest MMORPG on the market made it the natural choice. The overarching gameplay system in one MMORPG is going to be pretty much the same as any other on the market. It may not be done in the same way, but it can be broken down to the same basic system. You have a class, you kill things, you level up, etc…

What Bartle is really getting at, I believe, is that MMOs are fundamentally all the same game once you dig down far enough to their core. They’ve got different settings and a few tweaks here and there, but very few developers have done anything to break the mold. How many MMOFPSs have there been since PlanetSide, for example? Sure, there are a few virtual worlds out there that break the mold, but they’re hardly considered games by many. The concept of what an MMO even is to most people comes down to the generic MMORPG. SecondLife is just that weird place that creepy people hang out so they can spend real money on a fancy chat room.

The generic MMO formula isn’t a bad one, and I’m certainly not going to say that they should stop being made. There is still plenty of demand for them, so they might as well keep getting turned out – it isn’t like anything is going to stop that from happening any time soon anyway.

That said, wouldn’t it be nice to see a little more variation? Variation that breaks the standard mold and throws out the fundamental core gameplay entirely?