McQuaid talks the future of MMP games
Vice-President of Verant Interactive, Brad McQuaid has been interviewed on the RPG Vault and talks at length about the future of the genre, from creating communities to wooing the elusive ‘casual’ gamer.
Jonric: What are the major obstacles in the way of rapid market growth? What needs to happen in order to make online worlds attractive to more players, and especially to a more mainstream market than just serious gamers?
Brad McQuaid: Some of the obstacles aren’t too different than what single-player game designers and developers have struggled with for quite some time. Many players want a detailed and in-depth game but are also intimidated when all of this is thrown upon them right in the beginning. It’s important that a game slowly but surely reveal itself as the player is playing, not before. It’s always better when a player can get involved and playing right away - nobody wants to read and digest a thick manual. This also relates to the interface. A simple GUI that grows with the player in terms of functionality and complexity is very important.
Then there’s attracting the ever-elusive casual gamer… another MMOG holy grail. We all know there are millions and millions of gamers NOW but only 500,000 or so playing our games. Attracting them is easier said than done, of course. By their very nature, massively multiplayer persistent worlds need to provide gameplay that compels people to play day after day, month after month - especially under the subscription model, which I definitely think will continue to be used for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, what makes a game compelling long-term is quite often mutually exclusive with the schedules and tastes of truly casual gamers. And I think as long as time investment is the primary advancement mechanism in these games, this problem will exist.
No, I’m not going to tell you how to solve that one :-)
If the MMP genre is one that you are interested in, the interview is well worth your time.
Brad McQuaid on MMPOG
posted by splash · at 10:43 am · filed under News