MOP’s Chris is fast becoming my muse: It was his remark about Marvel Heroes that inspired this week’s Massively Overthinking.
“Some of the best fun I had in that game was diverting to whatever open world ruckus was being raised by randos while I was marching towards the next story mission,” he said. And of course I seized upon “open-world randos” because I always thought that was the best part of Marvel Heroes myself – and the thing that made it feel like an MMORPG, even though it wasn’t officially “massively.”
So let’s talk about random players in the open world! Do you actually enjoy encountering strangers out and about in the open world of your MMO? How often do you interact? Do you team with randoms for open-world quests, or do you smile and keep on soloing? What about games with more structured gameplay for randoms? Which MMOs serve this gameplay best? Do you enjoy open-world randos in your MMOs?
Ben Griggs (@braxwolf): This reminds me of a question I was once asked on a LOTRO podcast. It was something along the lines of this: “If, someday, LOTRO were to go out of business, but SSG released the game as a local standalone, would you still play it?” I believe I was the only one who answered a resounding, “No way!” I still feel the same. My favorite MMO distraction is to chuckle at some clever character or kinship name as it floats by my current game location. I can recall standing at the Bree West gate on my Captain, placing buffs on low-level characters as they ran past. Some stopped and saluted; others halted in utter confusion. I can’t imagine playing an MMO without these small pleasures and surprises made possible only by interacting with other random players.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna.bsky.social, blog): I know it’s silly but I really, really, really like structured gameplay that incorporates open-world randos, and I use that phrase with pure affection. I mean, I grew up in MMOs like Ultima Online and EverQuest, where open-world teaming was core gameplay, but it definitely hasn’t been the case in a lot of MMOs of the last two decades. Other people are there, but they usually don’t matter while you’re leveling out in the world, outside of instances. So I really loved Marvel Heroes for that, and I especially love Guild Wars 2 for that now. They basically got rid of the barriers to casual, low obligation grouping. Low-obligation, but medium-social, high-cooperation, and reasonable-reward. Let’s hear it for open-world randos!
Carlo Lacsina (@UltraMudkipEX, YouTube, Twitch): Who doesn’t love a good open-world rando? The tricky part is finding THE RIGHT ONE. Some of those folks feel forced, like they’re trying too hard to be accepted as the one true open-world rando. It’s harder than it look to be an open-world rando, you know. It takes a special kind of magnetism. The kind where you’re mining for ore in FFXIV, but this rando accidently aggroed a malbro and both of you get hit with every status ailment in the game because it just so happens to cast bad breath while you’re about to get a high-quality ore. Those are the kind of fun antics I like to see. RPing as a random open world rando feels a little more forced.
I love it, but there’s a sweet spot that must be hit.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes.bsky.social, blog):Â I do like randos in my MMO encounters, particularly if the game is built around encouraging folks to play together and get rewarded for doing so. The Rikti raids in City of Heroes, joining random rift-closing parties roaming the land in RIFT, any number of open world stuff in Guild Wars 2; those games did something special.
It’s probably why I’m looking forward to Project Ghost’s whole schtick, honestly. Having a game built from the ground up around easily coming together to do adventures at various scales is part of what makes these games work, and likely what makes sandboxes MMOs du jour for most. Though having that as an option based on mood is nice too; sometimes I just want to be in the vibe if not in the group.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): If you’ve ever played a dead MMO with basically no players — or no players in your leveling range — you’ll know that super-eerie and discomforting feeling of isolation in these vast worlds. MMOs were not made to be played by yourself, even if you do solo most of the time. So I welcome anyone I come across, for amusement and vague companionship if nothing else. It’s very rare that I encounter a truly annoying or toxic player in person, so I don’t dread those chance meetings.
Sam Kash (@samkash@mastodon.social): I do really love the rando game play. That’s 50% where I live (the other half is split between solo and duo play). It’s what I really love about MMOs. Just getting to see and indirectly interact with other players makes me feel like I’m in a live world. It’s what keeps me from really getting into large open-world single player games. I just can’t feel alive in those games the same way.
There are exceptions, of course. JRPGs have a whole exclusion article due in whole to nostalgia. Those were my games growing up.
My first experience with random open-world gaming really hit best in Warhammer Online. Those public quests were like a shot in the arm to my random player encounters. I was often finding myself hanging off to the side for someone to trigger an event so I could play a part.
Of course, that also ties into some of my favorite PvP experiences. Trying to run through the RvR zone and coming across someone on my team getting chased by a small party and then being able to jump in for the save. Just an awesome experience.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
