CGDC '97 Roundtable Report

In general, everyone who attended seemed to agree that socially-driven online "worlds" are one of the keys to the future of online game development. The consensus was that Role-Playing Games offered the best model from which to build, and that current efforts in that area have produced some positive results.

However, there also was general agreement that we could be doing so much better, and the issues of how naturally came up. Through a combination of my own offerings and group discussions, the following basic elements and ideas took shape --

*Social Engineering: We have too long spent most of our efforts trying to push the boundaries of the technology. In many ways, we have reached certain plateaus that promise to take considerable effort and money to overcome. In the meantime, haven't we all but ignored areas where we could make considerable strides for far less effort and resources? Entirely text-based, turn-based games retain hundreds of thousands of fans because of social dynamics that have largely been forgotten about in the great Technology Race. It is time to grasp the ideas of sociology, group psychology, and just plain common sense about how people interact and communicate. By engineering to these elements, we will proceed by literal leaps and bounds in the realm of effective online game development.

*Immersion Design: Related to Social Engineering, this idea refers to finding ways to create a high degree of character and world identification in players. A lot of effort has been spent on the technological solutions to this idea, but there are also more "touchy-feely" things that can be done to accomplish this. Again, such a text-based dinosaur as Gemstone^TM has succeeded (almost in spite of itself) because the players have found ways to feel connected to their characters and the world they "live in." By embracing these ideas and actively designing to achieve what has, thus far, happened more by default than anything, we can ensure a much higher degree of customer loyalty and long-term commitment.

*Facilitation/Validation Techniques: Continuing in the vein of Immersion Design, we can go a long way towards our goals by employing classic techniques derived from both "tabletop paper-and-dice RPGs" and "LARPs" (Live Action Role-Playing games). We've already taken many of the more mechanical aspects and have been using them for years to create what are, essentially, action and adventure games with RPG "trappings." By employing means of facilitating the storytelling desires of our players and then validating their efforts to tell those stories, we can create both an extraordinarily large and loyal customer base as well as a surprisingly creative and capable body of people to help us run our online worlds. Furthermore, they will pay us for the privilege to do so.

*End-User Empowerment: One of the most important results of the discussions was the realization that this one concept will not only work (as it has already proven to do so on a limited scale in mostly amateur realms), but it will completely change the face of online gaming. Ultima Online^TM already promises to take some serious steps in this direction (allowing participants to choose non-standard career paths and directly affect the economies of areas), but even more can be done. Rather than cater to the usual pursuit of "Power" that is common to most online games, it serves our purposes more effectively to reduce the importance of "Power" in favor of "Status." Allowing Status to represent a participant's level of access to the world and the storytelling resources will simply and efficiently alter the focus of the game play and create far more satisfying, "living-and-breathing" online worlds run by the very people who live there.

As is usual in such venues, a lot of people left with a lot to think about. I know that I learned much about what my colleagues are considering. I also learned a great deal about the ideas of producers, programmers, and marketing people in these areas. It is my sincerest hope that I gave the attendees some new ideas as well, and that this exchange will help improve the overall state of things to come.