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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsGuest Post: Into the future with user-created content
by J. Chesley Roberson Jr. 
Oct 4th 2010 at 3:00PM
One wonders how long World of Warcraft will remain viable. It is quite possible that my warlock will still be going strong decades down the line. Of one thing, however, I am certain: I will be playing some sort of MMORPG for as long as I'm able to tweak my spec. But will that game be WoW?
My friends and I muse about what it would take to switch to another game. That game would have to build upon WoW's legacy and offer something new and amazing to boot. Speaking of boots, I'd wager my Prelate's Snowshoes that the new game will be some incarnation of WoW itself, as Blizzard has proven so willing and able to adapt and grow with its fan base.
What makes WoW so popular and enduring? For starters, the game is so accommodating, with plenty to offer noobs and leets alike. Players can feel a sense of accomplishment from merely questing, while others can savor the challenge of working through multiple levels of high-end raid content. I can feel the delight of one-shotting a low-health rogue sneaking around the lumber mill or experience the soul-destroying chaos of getting quickly roasted in arena. And those of us with creaking, overworked CPUs are able to take part in the fun.
The power of people and players
WoW's most powerful legacy is its community. Imagine all of the man-hours spent creating the artwork, addons, comics, machinima, websites and endless forum posts (BTW, I think I figured out an awesome new demo spec). In my humble opinion, the most exciting part of the whole experience is the out-of-game time spent researching, theorycrafting and just plain daydreaming about the game. It is an imagination engine, a fantasy facilitator (an alternate existence?). Blizzard actively encourages this community by shaking things up on a regular basis -- rebalancing the classes, adding new content, giving and taking away. And we are allowed to create our own programs that enhance the experience, which gives us a glimpse into the future of MMOs: user-created content.
The web at large has been moving in the direction of user-created content for years. Why should online games be any different? My son plays a game called Roblox that allows the users to create their own environments in which other players may participate. Seemingly very simple, some of the user-created game spaces are devilishly complex and interesting. Ratchet this up to a Blizzard-like level of complexity and creativity, and we have the future! Imagine the possibilities ...
The player-created dungeons, battlegrounds, grottoes, panopticons and so on might be too difficult for some, too easy for others, downright boring or wondrous. The WoW community would guide us to the best of the lot, which we know would end up being mind-blowingly ingenious. For all the greatness of the Blizzard designers, there is some misfit out there willing to "waste" countless hours to design a delight to knock your socks off. Perhaps Blizzard could get out of the design business altogether and simply be in charge of the uber-rules and basic design pieces.
Nothing is as creative as the collective overmind of those who wish to build for the love of it. This, my fellow fantasists, is where we are bound.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Namssob Oct 4th 2010 3:39PM
Great idea! But - hate to burst the bubble, this is NOT a new concept for MMO's, if you consider the MUD, MOO, and Mush worlds of the past to qualify as an MMO. Back in the late 1980's when I started gaming, these "Multi-User Dungeons" depended on user created content. Some withered away, while others flourished (Google "Islandia TinyMUD"). And as you state in your article, there ARE crazed lunatics out there with too much time on their hands who will create content to rival professional designers.
As I recall, the issue was ALWAYS capacity and supportability. With WoW, an added problem of duplication would arise. If I created someone on my server, how would YOU see it on yours? Capacity, duplication, and being able to support the content (bugs, links not working, and who APPROVES the new content so it would exist at all?) In the day of TinyMUD, you would create your world as an isolated entity, then when it was ready to be released, you would be given an @link (a code#) to connect it to.
One solution to this problem could be to make user created content exist as an Instance. You create your world, test it, then when ready - submit it. When it's approved, it gets put somewhere as an Instance.
Seefer79 Oct 4th 2010 3:40PM
Personally I would like to see the customization of Everquest/LOTRO for characters mixed with the lore and style of WoW, put in better crafting, and quite a bit from UO like class types and their pvp style.
Biskit333 Oct 4th 2010 3:45PM
Considering Blizzard's support of the map making community in SCII, I would say that integrating user created content of some level isn't too far fetched.
Rob Oct 4th 2010 3:47PM
I think there is a call for additional customization and experience generation by the user community. But it has to be in such a way that if the experience (ie a raid, dungeon, or what not), hits the public at large, it needs to be vetted by blizz. I could see a microtransaction model in which Blizz releases mini expansion packs of vetted content. Look at Neverwinter nights, at first there was the usual bunch of crap, then Bioware (I think) started releasing in a microtransaction model little adventures that the user generates. Blizz can/should give a reward to the player either in terms of player time or some form of profit.
This model could work, but for me, I want to experience new universes. I'm kinda tired of the sword and board MMO, and another WoW clone probably won't do it for me. I'd like to see SW:TOR, really looking forward to that. I think there is room for another really popular MMO which is not a fantasy RPG archtype, especially when we run out of content that Blizz generates as we have here with 2 months left until the expansion.
guest42 Oct 4th 2010 3:52PM
WoW's survival is not just about what it plans to add but what it decides to do away with. At some point the daily PvE grind will turn people off (or more accurately turn more people off). In a way I envy the PvP'ers whose daily grind (honor pts and arena rating) is accomplished while doing what they want (battling other players). Meanwhile many PvE people are struggling to stay awake farming mats, farming gold, raising profession levels or doing quests (not everyone enjoys questing). There is room for much streamlining of wow and the David that tackles this Goliath will inevitably offer players liberation from the grind whilst maitaining the MMO world feeling.
I believe WoW's greatest threat is the first group to launch a decent FPS MMO. Modern Warfare has been tiptoeing closer and closer to that without actually going there. The player leveling, customization, and expansion map packs are certainly a step forward from classic FPS games. All that is missing is an online world that exists after the game is turned off for the players to park their characters.
More customization of characters, and an opportunity for players to have a visual impact on the world would also be strong selling points. Prestige amongst the other players on the server, as conceited as it is, is a strong draw to players. If it were possible, it would be great to see new, uncharted areas require a group to blaze a trail and establish outposts that aid their group and others in exploring and conquering the area. Such an outpost would be a lofty goal, a sign of accomplishment and prestige, and an integral part of allowing less-capable people access the area. As fun as flying mounts are in wow, they have removed a part of that feeling of exploration and risk. Of adventure.
Fnatk Oct 4th 2010 4:09PM
I think Blizzard could and will continue to listen to their community of users and gradually piecemeal these ideas into content as long as it follows certain guidelines: 1) it is "doable" in the first place; 2) it follows logical lore progression; 3) it is entertaining; and 4) it is profitable to Blizzard. With each expansion, we have seen significant monetary upswings to Blizzard's profitability, I expect it to follow trend with future releases. Even to the point of seeing guild built towns possibly on other planets discovered in the Twisting Nether or virtually built in the Emerald Dream as Honor Hold was initially built as a forefront military depot for the expansion The Burning Crusade... (afterall, we know that some Alliance came through the portal... how else did Honor Hold come about... not likely it was a Dranei establishment that became re-populated). But think, guilds could enter an instance to the Emerald Dream, accept quests from quest-givers on the other side to retreive certain products, have blacksmiths, alchemists, engineers, etc., convert these products into building materials and - like they did for Opening the Gates at AQ - at certain levels reveal new looks to a guild town that the guild built and it becomes the central point from which your guild launches forward into the next expansion. Now I know this will lead to an indundation of questions... but let us cross that bridge when we come to it.
Treegdar Oct 4th 2010 3:57PM
Even if this isnt in an MMO style i think it has enormus potential
http://pc.ign.com/objects/143/14324100.html
sorry if u get an ad at first
Eirik Oct 4th 2010 6:46PM
Sorry, the ad stopped me from looking further.
Windshear of Duskwood Oct 4th 2010 4:06PM
Actually, I think Blizzard is going to be releasing another MMORPG in the not so distant future. Recently when I was on their careers website they had jobs posted for "Up and coming MMO". That leaves either Diablo or Starcraft. I would think Diablo would too closely resemble a WoW playstyle, so a Starcraft MMO is my top bet. Something with more of a space fantasy realm with guns. I am betting they will have much higher graphics requirements than WoW presently does.
Ata Oct 4th 2010 7:20PM
Im fairly sure that with that, it's a 'nonexisting IP', meaning it's not based upon one of Blizzard's current properties.
Ata Oct 4th 2010 7:24PM
http://tinyurl.com/25aqbyq
That will go to a google search for 'Blizzards unannounced mmo' and all of the news about it saying it's not based upon a preexisting property.
Saikoujin Oct 4th 2010 4:16PM
I'm all for user-created content, but in games like WoW I would like it to be via gamer-driven world impact. Imagine an Azeroth where guilds could buy up land (the more money, the bigger the lot, but it would be limited) with which guilds (not individuals) could build a guild house (for pride and posterity), or a tavern/inn (to generate income) and role-play within the community. In typical Blizzard fashion, out-of-game purchases could offer guild banners to display on these structures, or add rooms, training grounds, stables, etc. Imagine being able to sell your guilds members' profession wares at your establishment. It would add an entire new dynamic than the current AH system. Of course, there would have to be a lot of extra world space in order to implement this, but a bigger, more immersive world is never a bad thing. In my opinion, this would be an incredible feature in post-modern incarnations of WoW.
wirhl Oct 4th 2010 4:17PM
This isn't an MMO but I've been a huge fan of the neverwinter nights/NN2 user created dungeons.
Bioware would ship the toolset with the game and the user community created some outstanding material. Entire sites were devoted to categorizing and rating the material so that it was easy to find what your looking for.
As to lore, I don't think anybody can argue that the Forgotten Realms has a huge massive history to it.
Of course this is all a single player game. But I've often wondered how cool it would be if something like WoW was able to accomplish the same kind of user creation environment that neverwinter nights had.
cocoboom Oct 4th 2010 5:18PM
I don't consider user created zones or battlegrounds to be feasible. user created dungeons on the other hand could be an option.
Then again, if this content is accessible from within the normal game, how would loot be handled? Would there be none at all, which with the craze for gear and epics would still see "official" dungeons vastly favored over user created ones by the player base?
Blizzards dungeons are quite fine tuned and tested to offer a certain difficulty combined with appropriate loot, I have trouble seeing user generated content matching that.
Sean Oct 4th 2010 5:53PM
This has been done just never in an mmo before WOW i played online Neverwinter nights where 1 or a group of people design and Mod a world based on there own rule sets they change weapons Armour spells skills anything they want to suit there world (Still using NWN basic box) It quite amazing. these players host a server off a computer (In there basement or pay for a company with insane bandwidth to run it and they update it) Now some servers have been around for 10+ years and still kicking (though the player base has dropped)
Nicodemas Oct 4th 2010 6:11PM
This is what I've been looking for my whole life. I don't know if anyone remembers Neverwinter Nights, but I learned to code using their developer's software, spent years at it, but it was outdated when I started working with it. Using WoW's engine, there's no limit to the possibilities for creative development. I guarantee you there would be a dozen worlds to put Blizzard's WoW to shame within one year of releasing developer's tools. People in the RPG community are hungry for this kind of opportunity. Bioware actually had a great model for live hosting too, which I think Blizzard could implement even better. The developer's software kept NWN going long after it was outdated in every way (there's still a thriving community, believe it or not), and I think it could do the same for WoW after it's dated- some would argue that it already is.
Vash Oct 4th 2010 6:07PM
In just to say is an awesome guild name. If only I could have stolen Bilbo's book title first!
dengarsw Oct 4th 2010 8:15PM
I can't see user-based content if Blizz isn't too keen on player customization in and of itself. (Not just in character customization looks, but clothing options, dyes, stats, etc). The overcloaks and new talent trees are a prime examples of their stance on customization (restrict it). Any real sense of freedom will probably have to wait until the next Blizz MMO (being announced this Blizz con perhaps? ;) )
Darias.Perenolde Oct 4th 2010 9:21PM
Every time Sleeper Cartel throws a server party, there's a ton of "user created content" in the mix. Whether it's one of my (/mourn) level one races, a scavenger hunt, or just the fact that we're throwing a party in a friggin' video game, it's all *us*.
With a note regarding MUDs/MUSHs/etc, one of my former officers ran a MUD way back in the day with her husband and some friends. She was a writer as well, and as such, whenever we did parties, she made some AMAZING player-created questlines. In one of our parties (at Ravenholdt Manor), she had this great "catch the spy" game where you had to question members of our guild that lead you through clues at the party. It's that kind of stuff we love to include in our events.
Another item we do is that we hold mini games at the events. When someone completes one of the mini games -- relay races, costume contests, gnome darts -- we give them a "prize token" that's redeemable for gold. (The last few parties I think they've been 10 or 20g each.) Think of it like a player-made daily quest.
Making up the tokens is harder than all the crafting and planning for the event. We usually scour Wowhead for gray drops with a not-horrible-but-not-easy drop rate that stacks to at least 10, and is no where close to the party. (It's unsettling to see how many people take advantage of our good nature and farm them up during the party!) Each time we throw an event, we always say, "Dear Blizzard, give us a mechanic to make our own token-type items that are tagged with a name. Thanks, SC." Never happens.
I love our parties. I love creating new *stuff* to do when the game gets hum-drum (pre-expansion doldrums anyone?). We're getting to a point of planning an "End of the World (of Warcraft)" pre-Cat party.
Now, we just gotta come up with the damn tokens...
Nicodemas Oct 6th 2010 10:47AM
Have you tried Gryphonheart Items? Sounds like just what you're looking for.