PvP ... EXACTLY WHAT PART OF "NO" DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?

I remember reading a conversation with whoever the main guy is that started HORIZONS, where he admitted that, by far, most people do not want to engage in PvP. However, he personally believed that this it wasn't the PvP that people didn't like, it was the victimization, and that if PvP was "done right" that this section of the customer base would change its mind. Proponents of PvE point at EQ and Ultima and reasonably state that it is obvious that most people, when given a choice, choose not to engage in PvP in any way, shape, or form, if they can avoid it. Proponents of PvP say that this is only becuase PvP still hasn't been "done right" and that the PvP mechanics in EQ suck.

When EQ was designed, the designers felt PvP was going to be a big part of the game. They fully expected each server to be populated by enough "reds" (PvP-enabled characters) to sustain themselves in the PvE environment, where grouping is essential. They coded a Priest of Discord in every city, and one of the basic pieces of equipment everyone discovers when they create a character is the book they turn in in order to switch on PvP.

What happened when EQ went live is that there were so few people enabling their PvP that the "reds" (the name above your head is red if you are PvP enabled) were a rare sight. They couldn't survive in the PvE game because the "blues" couldn't heal or buff them. Verant had to bring up a special PvP server so that those wishing to play PvP could at least have enough people around them to play the PvE game as well. Many PvP proponents point out that there was a "mad rush" to populate the PvP server, indicating an overwhelming desire to participate in PvP throughout the general EQ community. The fact is, every time Verant opened up a new server it was "bum-rushed" by people wanting to experience the newness of the game on a new server, and by people wanting to "reserve" their names on every server that came up. This phenomena wore off somewhere around the 20th server EQ put up.

Simply put, there is no credible evidence whatsoever that the people who overwhelmingly populate the MMOG market want anything to do with PvP whatsoever. The only pure fact available is this: an MMOG that is designed where players don't have to participate in PvP to play any part of the game can be wildly successful (EQ, AC, the new UO). The only examples of required PvP being successful in games are in small, eclectic realms called MUDs, which is where most of today's MMOG designers come from.

Why was forced PvP successful in those MUDs? Because they were eclectic and self-perpetuating in nature. They naturally drew very specific types into them, largely teenaged computer "geeks" that COULD find them, figure out the protocols necessary to connect to the game, and enjoyed that kind of pasttime. Many of these naturally fit the profile of those who would find PvP entertaining, or would move to PvP after quickly becoming bored by PvE interactive games. It can be said that these games were successful, but were they? How many potential long-term customers logged in, got PKed immediately and repeatedly, and just left without fanfare? Who's to say that the self-perpetuating PvP realm, that really only allowed PvPers to play by making gameplay impossible for non PvPers, didn't turn away five or 10 customers to every one they retained because of the PvP? Success in that context simply means keeping enough customers to turn a profit and provide some game upkeep; it was a time when a few hundred subscribers meant huge success and some profitability.

When EverQuest went online, they expected that a very large portion of their customer base would desire PvP, and had some core programming to deal with that. They expected people to play EverQuest the way they (the designers, old MUDders and professional gamers) would. The people that actually flooded into EQ when it went online and disrupted several major internet backbones in the process weren't professional gamers ... they weren't PvPers .. they weren't even MUDders... they were casual players that found the idea of an online community in a fantasy game context fascinating, as well as thousands of players complete disenfranchised by other games (UO) where forced PvP ruined their ability to enjoy this new entertainment media.

The vast majority of players who are, and will be, attracted to the MMOG phenomena are not people that want to engage in PvP. You know why professional players get bored of PvE and turn to PvP? Because they play so much so fast. Of course they get bored. But most of us don't play that way. I've played EQ for over two years and I still haven't seen a lot of it, and it still isn't boring to me. PvP is not necessary for the long-term health of an MMOG, and forced PvP participation can ONLY harm the chances of success for any new game, unless they make a conscious decision to target that specific section of the marketplace.

Please try to get this through your pin-sized little developer heads: most of us do NOT see MMOGs as a competition. Most of us log on after work instead of watching TV, find our online friends and want to kick back and do the equivalent of bowling a few rounds and knocking down a few brewskis or capuccinos with our buds. Guess what? we don't invest enough effort, focus, or time in the game to ever be able to compete in PvP against the professional players and those that make PKing their way of life. We want to make some jokes, catch up on gossip, and also enjoy the game. Sometimes we get serious and try to do in-game stuff, get gear or level or adventure. But we don't log into EQ to get into conflict situations with other people whom we have no chance of competing against. We get enough conflict in real life. There's no such thing, for us, as PvP "done right", because we don't want to PvP. At all. Period.

Forced PvP in the current MMOG field is nothing more than elitist, professional players wishing to install unnecessary systems in their games that promote their sense of superiority over the vast majority of their customers, whom they hold in some form of contempt because we don't take the game as seriously as they do, and have no desire to compete with them head to head. They think that everyone plays at the same burn-out pace they do, and that everyone has attention deficit syndrome, and that eventually everyone will want to feel the adrenaline rush of ganking some wide-eyed newbie at his or her log-in spot.

Grow up. Unless you're specifically targeting PvPers, design the MMOG so that you can offer servers or shards that are exactly the same, except one is PvP and one is not. Quit trying to justify your need to prove yourself superior to casual gamers by claiming that PvP is necessary or essential, when every single bit of evidence is clearly demonstrating the exact opposite. What part of "no" do you not understand? Or are you just TRYING to alienate most of your potential customers?

PK this column HERE.