Breakfast Topic: The pros and cons of collision detection
by Josh McGee 
Jul 10th 2011 at 8:00AM
One of the first things I noticed when I migrated from Final Fantasy XI to World of Warcraft six years ago was the lack of collision when running through another player character. In many MMOs, characters and NPCs are treated as solid objects. As a result, PVP and PVE are more dynamic and challenging, but this also causes problems when there is an enormous crowd in front of the auction house.
There are many pros and cons for collision detection, but I think Blizzard was smart in keeping it simple. With World of Warcraft's tens of millions of players, events like The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj would have been even more hectic if players could not run through each other. Bosses like Valiona and Theralion in The Bastion of Twilight, where you have to stack up (for the Meteor) would be so much more challenging if stacking up took collision detection into account.
On the other hand, things like PVP would be much more engaging. Imagine Warsong Gulch in a game of Capture the Flag. Players would literally form a barricade around the flag carrier and protect him until they die. Honestly, I do not PVP much, but I know this would change up the dynamic of the game greatly. As for whether it would be for the better or for the worse, I will let you guys decide in the comments.
What are your thoughts on collision detection? Do you like how it is right now, where everyone can stand right on top of each other and run through players? Or would you rather it be more solid and realistic, but possibly more frustrating?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Monato Jul 10th 2011 8:05AM
The only change I would make to the current situation is to add collision avoidance to certain NPCs, mainly quest givers, auctioneers etc.
Gordal Jul 10th 2011 9:28AM
I think they actually did start doing this to certain NPCs during TBC; arena vendors and the like. They also made some really awkward NPCs "bigger" in some form to avoid being crushed: Skyguard Khatie, for example, was a regular-sized gnome in Blade's Edge Mountains, a contested area, with Alliance and Horde both allegedly working together for the Skyguard. Many a life was lost due to careless right-clicking. The horror; I was there, man.
So to resolve that, they gave her a mount. But as for making certain NPCs collidable, I think they've all but given up on that practice in lieu of putting them on the biggest mount logically available to them at the time.
I'm against collision detection honestly. Before coming to WoW I cut my teeth on Guild Wars in which pretty much everything (NPCs, mobs, party members) were "solid". As a tank, lord knows how many times I'd end up rubberbanding around the area around a mob while the server tried to decide where we were in relation to each other. God, it was an absolute nightmare and probably the reason I've spent pretty much my entire WoW career as a ranged DPS.
LynMars Jul 10th 2011 10:36AM
While player collision would lead to griefing and frustration with as many people who stand on top of quest givers, etc, accidentally or on purpose, I would really like collision on quest NPCs, vendors, and auctioneers.
It wouldn't cause a lot of crowding as players could still clump up around them, but we wouldn't have someone standing on the Molten Front folks on their freaking dragons. Flagged up, no less. I just want to get my dailies done!
I thought it worked well for some NPCs during the Elemental Invasion event, like the guy in the Stormwind Keep. Had to run around him to get into the Petitioner's Chamber, but it was 1 guy so no worries.
vocenoctum Jul 10th 2011 3:26PM
Myself I think the greatest thing they did for the JP/VP vendors was putting them behind a wall. The day of 4.2, you can see everyone pressed against it and just know they'd all be standing on top of the vendor otherwise.
In addition, making you able to hotkey the "use" function rather than having to right click on a mob, priceless!
I think it's another of those "where do you draw the line" type things, and that they're slowly expanding safe-zones to some areas they know need it.
leemoran1989 Jul 10th 2011 8:07AM
I was a big fan of Warhammeronline, in which i played my first tank ever, the Ironbreaker and i loved it to death, as it allowed you to actually protect your healers and squishy Dps, and (with the Ironbreaker mechanic) it made them focus on you or you would crush them. Being able to body block and incomming charge from a choppa was awesome. Good stuff.
DarkWalker Jul 10th 2011 2:43PM
Apparently GW2 will feature this, with tanks being able to jump in front of their squishier brethren to block attacks to them. Could be fun.
DCUO also has this in some form. It's nice to be able to take cover behind the tank :) It's also not a problem in crowded zones (if you can find one) because players keep their movement powers everywhere, so they can fly or jump over any blocking player.
Artificial Jul 10th 2011 3:51PM
Indeed, no doubt GW2 will have it, since the original GW had it too. It makes both PvE and PvP much more strategic. You can't have serious PvP without it (which isn't a problem for WoW, of course, since it doesn't even attempt anything remotely resembling serious, competitive PvP).
Krishaa-ah-an Jul 10th 2011 8:08AM
Oh boy, imagine how much fun the entrance to AH would be if we couldn't walk through people/mammoths!
Thiron Jul 10th 2011 8:09AM
Tauren on a kodo.
Vitos Jul 10th 2011 12:10PM
Gnomes and Goblins. You can't see what you're tripping over.
Big Shoe Jul 10th 2011 8:15AM
Collision detection has its place, but MMOs in general -- and WoW in particular -- are not one of them. Without even getting into the various PvE and PvP headaches it would bring, collision detection would make trying to click on a mailbox or the use the auction house an excercise in teeth-gnashing frustration. All those dragon and mammoth mounts are bad enough without collision detection!
Artificial Jul 10th 2011 4:00PM
It's in every other MMO I've ever played, and it doesn't cause any problems like that, but that's because it's implemented intelligently. Granted, if a complete idiot implements it, it would cause the kind of teeth-gnashing problems you suggest, but most MMOs are coded by people who can easily thing of solutions to that if they bother to think about it for a few seconds...
SR Jul 10th 2011 4:07PM
This.
The only way to make this work is to scale the world so much that it can accommodate huge crowds. As in... I think about 300% world size increase would do the trick.
Either that, or scale down the players and NPCs.
zymry Jul 12th 2011 2:17AM
Ummm all of the "protests" from Everquest1 say "hello" members of various races, classes, or other causes would gather enmasse and block content until a game developer showed up to address their concerns. This is as big a "do not want" on my list as player housing.
Bumblebee Jul 10th 2011 8:19AM
I'd love that for PvP, but yeh, people would be griefing in the Capitals around banks and the AH.
cyanea85 Jul 10th 2011 8:20AM
I generally don't mind it because it would render places like Stormwind, Orgrimmar, and especially Dalaran in its heyday as impenetrable walls of people. Even getting to the AH vendors at a busy time would be impossible.
However, it doesn't make certain fights that call for cramming 10/25 people within 2sq feet of space feel awkward.
cyanea85 Jul 10th 2011 8:22AM
*because having collision detection
"However, the lack of it does make certain fights that call for..."
Man, I need to stop posting before my coffee.
Dez Jul 10th 2011 8:22AM
Probably worth noting that the FFXI collision detection allowed you to run through people if you simply ran at them for a couple of seconds, so you couldn't get blocked in at all. It also restricted the number of visible players to around 50 or so (you could configure it), enough to give a sense of crowdedness but not so many as it acts as an inconvenience.
But if WoW has taught us one thing, it's that trolls/griefers will stop at noting to exploit any game mechanic that would allow them to annoy other people. Any sort of collision detection in WoW would quickly be abused, much like the train set, mammoths, and so on...
Dez Jul 10th 2011 8:24AM
Trolls/griefers will stop at -nothing-, even. Though some may give up to pen and paper. ;)
Mortenebra Jul 10th 2011 8:40AM
You know as they say, "The pen IS mightier than the sword."