Moorgard on IP's

This was on the 38 Studios site this morning:

Steve Danuser on Ten Ton Hammer: The Big Debate over Original vs. Licensed IP

Earlier this month, Steve Danuser contributed to a discussion with Ten Ton Hammer’s Cody Bye, who wanted to know why the MMOG environment appears to be shifting from games based on existing IPs to games developed in original worlds. Bye queried MMOG fans as well as a handful of developers working on original IPs.

It was noted that existing IPs are well known and already have a fan base, so it is often easier to find funding and media attention. The downside to basing a game off an existing IP, some interviewees mentioned, was that the scope of the game was often limited – you might not be able to play as the hero of the story, or perhaps you already know how the game will end.

On the other hand, original IPs give developers lots of room to be creative and constantly expand the story. “Making a new IP stand out comes down to a number of factors,” Danuser told Bye. “Are you crafting a world in which players can feel a personal investment? Does it drip with charm and danger and drama? Are you thinking not only of cool places and people to put into the game, but also the history behind them and how they relate to the world as a whole?”

While making a game around an original IP sounds exciting, there are a lot of risks involved. But with those risks come great rewards. Over half of the gamers interviewed noted that at least one of their favorite games was based on an original IP.

Bye and Danuser both had a lot more to say on this topic – seven pages worth, in fact – so check out the full story at Ten Ton Hammer.

Steve and Cody weren't the only ones. You might have some thoughts of your own as you read this. Let us know what you think, too! Enjoy!

You Know, there are so many parts of Copernicus I am going to like. I love a good story and they way they are talking about tying it all together, it seems too good to be true. One thing I feel they have never faulted on is their story base. I feel they got this point right.

As for Original vs. Established IP's. It all depends on what creative power you have. LOTRO is a great example, they were really bound to the lore of Tolkien, And it was great lore to be sure. But I felt slighted when they changed something or it wasn't as I had imagined it. I felt the same with Vanguard, reading the Great lore they had there, and then to have the game not live up to that lore.

In the end, no matter what you choose, it's not about the IP. It's about the game. No matter how good your Lore is, it is useless if you cannot make a good game to go with it. If you want to make the player feel like he is a hero, then you first have to make him connect to his/her character. Make them fear death, make them scared to venture further then a few paces from the city gates. Make it so that every step of an adventure takes courage. Make it so they become their characters, else the have little use for lore that affects them not.

To ramble on further. A good story is one where the person can get lost in the rich world the writer creates. R.A. probably knows this like no other. You must first connect with your reader, before you start taking them down the path you want them to go. If you do not make that connection, it won't matter how rich your world is. In a story it's about putting characters in situations that are familiar to the reader. Global ideals such as love, hate, boredom and lust are some of the foundations of connection. This is where knowing your readership is important. Drizzt, a great character, used the familiar pain of not belonging to make that connection. It was because I connected with that pain that I began to care what happened to him. Why I could feel along with him as he went through various trials.

The same connection can be made in single player games. Any game that follows a story with one character can make that connection. It is with that connection that we can build a desire to beat whomever we must Sephiroth, the Enclave, Dues Ex, Krillian. But, when it comes to MMO's that connection requires a different dynamic. We are already ourselves, simply writing in a connection will not suffice. You must build it so that we may become our characters. This is no easy task.

First, you simply cannot have everyone be the victor all the time. To make everyone a hero, is to make no one a hero. Loss is going to have to be apart of any successful MMO and it MUST sting. And it's not just loss to the game, but to other players as well. Yeah it feel bad when you lose, it feels real bad, to the point where you don't want to be apart of it anymore, but it's odd, people always seem to come back after a defeat and those who always win seem to be the ones who leave.

Secondly, Fear and Awe. If you want me to fall in love with your IP, you have to make it appear as something special. In a book, it's easy to slow the pace of where characters go and it's easy to keep the mystery. In an MMO however... You must show glimpses of things to come, but not let us have it. Keep us wanting, keep us in awe. How? Again loss or at least the threat of it. EQ did it with a potential loss of time. The worst case scenario could be you lost months worth of time if you lost your corpse for good. Now that was loss, It equated into real life loss. It was also that fear that kept people locked in and on edge. It was that fear that instilled awe in the people who first heard about a guild taking on Nagafin. It was wondrous to hear of people risking so much. Do you have to do it the same way? No I guess not. But I have yet to come up with something that instilled the same fear as that did.

Well enough of my ramblings. I would just like to sum up, that if you want me to care about your MMO's IP, you have to make it a world I can connect to. And for me, that is a world of pain and suffering.