Bethesda: You'll Get Your Money's Worth in Elder Scrolls Online

[mamasan2000]

Frankly, I think MMO's have shot themselves in the foot with trying to get as many players as possible, but they can't retain them with the model they use. MMO's are all about social interaction, but in order to get as many people to sign up, they've all be eliminated social interaction. You no longer have to group, solo is just as good. If you decide to group, you don't have to talk to anyone to get grouped up, just join a queue to automatically join up. They create all these queues cross server in many games, so even if you like the people in that group, you cannot communicate with them once the instance is over.

Social interaction is all but dead, and probably why WoW is losing subs, as people do not get attached to the people around them nearly as easily. MMO's in the past, kept people around, not because the games were great, but because the people they knew and met in game. These games are more interesting the more you interact with people.

I doubt I'll ever get attached to another MMO unless all these new anti-social techniques disappear. MMO's as a game, are not as good as any single player game. It is the people that make them fun.

You hit the nail on the head here. WoW was probably also the first to "remove" the social interaction.
Only reason to be in a guild is to get the bonuses to XP or if you want to raid in a more coordinated fashion (that can happen in PUGs too). I played WoW from the start. Had I not had a friend playing I would have quit after 1-2 months. But I played for 2-3 years. When it comes to gameplay, I always gravitate towards Everquest 2. Same thing there. I was in a small, friendly, fun guild and stayed there for probably 5 years.

All this talk about retention. You would think the devs would know by now. Instead they spend time on achievements and crap. Cooperation, interaction, building something together. These things motivate people.

 

[sjc1017]

I am not sure the game designers can do anything to make people interact given the nature of the people who play on line games. When I first started playing WoW, in 2007, there was a lot more interaction. Then it changed with WLK which suddenly changed it all with very overpowered classes and a culture of abuse started to really seep into the game. I've played many mmos since and they are all the same. Nobody seems to play MMOs for the social aspects unless it's for loot or conspicuous display of status symbols. I don't see how could be remedied in any way without a very difficult game mechanic that would, now, simply deter people from playing. It is sad that the defining possibility that MMOs offer is so overlooked by most players.
On another note, with the subscriptions, you wonder how the subscription can be justified when Blizzard have trimmed back support to maximise income. I called this week about pre-purchase of the new expansion and got an automated voice system referring me to the website. The whole thing has become more and more impersonal as they reduce costs.

 

[bystander]

I am not sure the game designers can do anything to make people interact given the nature of the people who play on line games. When I first started playing WoW, in 2007, there was a lot more interaction. Then it changed with WLK which suddenly changed it all with very overpowered classes and a culture of abuse started to really seep into the game. I've played many mmos since and they are all the same. Nobody seems to play MMOs for the social aspects unless it's for loot or conspicuous display of status symbols. I don't see how could be remedied in any way without a very difficult game mechanic that would, now, simply deter people from playing. It is sad that the defining possibility that MMOs offer is so overlooked by most players.
On another note, with the subscriptions, you wonder how the subscription can be justified when Blizzard have trimmed back support to maximise income. I called this week about pre-purchase of the new expansion and got an automated voice system referring me to the website. The whole thing has become more and more impersonal as they reduce costs.

Elitism existed from the start of Everquest and on. That won't change, but until WotLK, most MMO's forced you to interact or fail. Even in small scale things. Even before WotLK, WoW started down the path of killing social interaction, but it was limited to the early levels.

If you want interaction, you need people to group and work together. I don't mean to group because of an experience bonus, but because when you are grouped, you are more productive. Those people you group have to be on the same server, otherwise you cannot add friends when you find people you like. This alone would go a LONG way to bring back social interaction.

In PvP, the battlegrounds were far more fun when it was not crosserver as well, as your enemy were people you knew. You had grudge matches. After a while, many of those people became friends, as you or they might jump on a new character to talk (our guild had the top BG PvP group on our server, and we had many honorary horde players in our guild that we used to war against).

Cross server queues are anti-social. They prevent you from meeting people doing what is fun in game. Soloing being able to gain experience and gear as easily as grouping also kills social interaction. Prior to all these new changes, people used to be forced together through the advantages of grouping, and kept running into the same people who eventually become your friends.

It really was that simple, people are lazy, and will do what ever is the easiest way to reach their goal. All that has to be done is make grouping the easiest way to make your goal, and those people have to be on your own server, not in a queue from servers you cannot talk to after you finish your group.

Note - before these changes, people used to complain a lot that they had to group. Of course this mechanism was the reason people got to know each other.

 

[sjc1017]

I prefer to group with others but it happens less and less in on-line worlds. Now, people don't even look to interact in any way and even find it intrusive if you whisper them. They just see these games as solo affairs now. It is sad. I wish they'd make "social" or "moral" or "cooperative" servers (like they have RP servers) for people who want to interact with a degree of civility and cooperation.

 

[bystander]

I prefer to group with others but it happens less and less in on-line worlds. Now, people don't even look to interact in any way and even find it intrusive if you whisper them. They just see these games as solo affairs now. It is sad. I wish they'd make "social" or "moral" or "cooperative" servers (like they have RP servers) for people who want to interact with a degree of civility and cooperation.

Same here. MMO's are terrible single player games.