The Slow Single-Player Death
There was a post over on MMOCrunch.com that got me thinking. The post is not inaccurate in any particular way but because the very idea seems almost too possible.
To put it simply, if the single-player RPG experience is going to be dwindling and all we will be left with is everything coming out as an MMOG than there are some serious problems that need to be dealt with, all of which are well known.
First of all, story. MMOs are the only games I can think of that can literally get by on zero story. I know, someone is probably already yelling at their screens wishing to tell me all about quests and how there is more story in an MMO than in any other type of game. That’s bullshit. There, I said it. Killing 500 Wazzits because they are eating all the dingleberries is not a story. Let’s please try to keep our delusions of grandeur to a reasonable level here.
I play RPGs (of the non-MMO variety) mostly because of the story. It’s why I have sat, and continue to sit through hundreds of hours worth of turn-based or “active time battle” battle systems, not to mention random battles of the console RPG. These systems of combat aren’t particularly enjoying or exciting, but they get the job done and let me enjoy what I’m really there for, the story and how it unfolds. Until MMOs can come anywhere close to that I fear for the death of the single-player RPG.
Another thing that is seemingly overlooked is immersion. I know, I know, MMOs are constantly working on this, but in the single player RPG things are so much better defined. What I do matters, I really take part in the goings on in the world. The MMO has not been able to capture that same feeling.
Not to say, of course, that MMOs don’t have the ability to, or that they do not do many other things that the single-player experience can not (and does not try to) match, but these integral things, like story and immersion, must be taken care of. More on this tomorrow.
January 29th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
MMOs are great, but there’s nothing like a great single-player RPG story.