News Original From MMOsite's columnist Theo Brothers
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Golden Monkey
January 2nd, 2009 by Theo |
The majority of games in the MMORPG genre essentially follow the same design methodology, one which creates the perfect breeding ground for the secondary market of RMT. The current model forces, directly and indirectly, players to follow suit, style, and goal while expecting time to be valued equally by all players in all locales; without such a Petri dish the subject of gold farming wouldn't exist. Escaping it is near impossible as few companies have been willing to change their focus on business to one of ingenuity. Add to this the audacious hypocrisy of some developers and producers who attempt to place blame on the symptoms while not even admitting to the farce of their design, the cause. This design is a minimal risk to high reward concept they have knowingly formulated to meet their financial milestones; an end they achieve by creating mechanics and structures that greatly distort the time, effort, and real desire for gaming all while forgoing the players' enjoyment. The answers to the problems of RMT are not in its impedance or destruction but rather in its advancement and inclusion. This can only be accomplished after a complete restructuring of the philosophical motivators of recent MMORPG design, returning focus back onto the players' individual experiences while vehemently denying any authority to those best described as profiteering gluttons.
Every genre of multiplayer online gaming has its monkey, usually falling under a canopy of illegal or exploitative tactics that hinder competition and propagate unfairness within the game, forcing some players to complain, revolt, and eventually quit. Within MMORPG's gold farming seems to be consistently at the top of many players most hated lists while also being a hot topic for most developers. Although many would gladly declare it to be this genres proverbial monkey it is better defined as a golden one, a problem that while alleged to cause damage in actual fact generates vast amounts of wealth and benefits for the company. The truth is that while many developers state that they are in disagreement with the practice and vow to fight or remove it from their game, they make this claim knowing full well that it is in direct contradiction to their design model and philosophical motives which are in turn both subservient to their business goals.
Gold farming is a secondary market born out of a design, structured to gain and retain patronage regardless of fun, so as to maximize profits while taking on the lowest possible risk in the venture. Despite the obviousness of this statement a large majority of developers seem reluctant to take little if any responsibility for this fact, while many players seem glad to devour the excuses and outright diversions laid out in front of them in regards to its design caused nascency. While the importance of RMT (Real Money Trade) warrants arguably the highest level of discourse at this moment in time, the negativity placed upon those who service this secondary market and/or those who support it is completely baseless and illogical. Players and developers alike need to place and accept blame where it is most due, not where it is most convenient.
To better elucidate RMT this article will simply state what every competent MMORPG game designer already knows, that the secondary market is a direct consequence of design and implementation, that MMORPG companies gain more than they lose providing no real motivation to seriously oppose RMT, and that the true answer to the problems connected with gold farming is not only the integration of an RMT system but a complete overhaul of the current item addicting, level segregating, combat-centric model.
Many players argue that RMT ruins a game in myriad ways. While this might be acceptable coming from players as they react unreflectively to certain annoyances of gold farming, there is absolutely no excuse for a developer with proper design understanding to take this simplistic position, but they often do.
RMT's existence is solely dependant on the design model that plagues the majority of MMORPG's today, a model that's philosophy is built upon the question, "How to lengthen the time it will take a player to go through the finite and shallow content provided?" There are many appropriate design features which satisfy this query; a prime example is the leveling format, guaranteeing that players have to trudge through equally labored content simply to get to what is considered enjoyable, the so called "end game". Another is the ever revolving set of items which players are not so much persuaded but rather forced to acquire lest they become uncompetitive or unable to advance quickly enough through the afore mentioned mediocre content.
The staple of the contemporary design model is the continued acquisition of patrons through addictive constructs. Developers methodically fabricate an experience rather than allowing one to emerge naturally. While attempts are supposedly made to ensure the journey is as enjoyable and satisfying as reaching the destination, it almost always comes up feeling shallow and uninspired, as there is no real freedom of choice and no variance throughout the journey or the destination reached. Freedom is almost unheard of and is usually only brought up as a marketing ploy when a game compares itself to the rest of this linearly controlled business enslaved genre. Creativeness, on the other hand, is profusely existent despite the current incestuous design model. It exists because players want to create, from making marketable trailers and contests, to self made mini games and lore. If the model actually pandered to creativity and welcomed growth one can only imagine what kind of world would emerge and how long it would survive.
Disappointingly, what is to be designated "important", how to attain it, the amount of players whom will acquire it, and how long it will take them to accomplish, are all strictly determined by the development team. That being said, while developers may be in figurative control, the literal control of the production company is far too often overlooked by players and a dirty secret for designers. Simply, there is an overbearing focus on designs that ensure an optimal (grotesque) return on every investment of time or money. With quarterly profit as the driving force of design, these games are becoming staler, more predictable, and exponentially less creative. Those calling the shots have no real desire to change this structure until it is unprofitable, at which point they will finally move to the next and already well known model, that which generates creativity, socialization and exploration throughout the community and game world.
The fact that time is such an overwhelmingly valuable asset, that there can be massive disparities between players' valuation of their personal time, and that the game takes large, mostly unenlightened, uncreative, and uninspired chunks of said time catalysis the propagation of a secondary market. Whether admitted or not, this market is necessary and quite valuable, is not problematic in the way claimed, and no matter how fervently denied is due to the design of the game, developer planned, decided, and implemented, and in all actuality generates innumerable benefits.
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