This past weekend I was watching a new video by The Hive Leader in which he was discussing some lessons that MMOs might learn from the wider video game industry. Of particular interest was a segment in which he compared the extreme difficulty of Demon’s Souls against the cakewalk progression of most modern MMORPGs. He bemoaned that we had lost the risk and challenge of old school games.
The kneejerk reflex, I think, is to say that we need to go back to the design of those old days with hardcore elements (full-loot PvP, XP loss on death, long travel times, etc.), which is certainly what some indie projects are attempting right now. But many of those things were hated and proved to be exclusive back then, which is why I’m hesitant to return to them.
Instead, are there better and more forward-thinking ways to incorporate challenge and difficulty in MMORPGs without making them appeal to an incredibly narrow and masochistic segment of gamers? How would you like to see your game get “hard” while still being fun?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
