No, you can’t tell them to flee for their lives. That’s cheating.
I’ve been thinking about this topic after Bossa Games announced Lost Skies, which is basically Worlds Adrift, Take Two. Worlds Adrift was super pretty and had a really intriguing premise, great building, a surprisingly deep community, a strong economy – it had a lot going for it! And yet it was completely destroyed by unfettered grief-PvP and the developers’ then-attitude that everything would be fine.
Everything was not fine. The game didn’t make it a year before Bossa gave up.
But now Bossa’s back, inching into the MMO space again, and it seems to have learned a valuable lesson about what MMO gamers will do to each other if allowed to with too few limitations: The new game is co-op with PvP only on private servers for those who want it. It frustrates me because this was not an unknown lesson; MMO devs figured it out in the ’90s. We done knew. But Bossa didn’t.
Let’s hear your takes: What one thing do you wish new MMO devs knew about the genre before trying to make an MMO?
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!
