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Head-to-Head
An overview of GDC 2006's Competitive & PvP Systems Round Table
This year I had the privilege of attending Damion Schubert's, Lead Designer for Wolfpack Studios, competitive & pvp systems round table. The table was designed to bring both industry experts and MMO enthusiast together to figure out how to take advantage of the greatest differences between singe-player/online games and MMOs.
Damion sold the idea that if designers continue to try and port single player gameplay to the MMO market, the industry would be doomed as games like Battlefield 2 can do it better and quicker.
In addition, Damion also brought up the scary thought that single player games are now starting to add persistent elements to their games (such as GuildWars, GTA and Battlefield 2).
"If designers continue to try and port single player gameplay to the MMO market, the industry would be doomed. "
While I sadly missed the first day of discussion about Player killing and PvP in general, day 2 focused on taking "Massively Multiplayer" to a new level with siege and other large scale battlefields within MMOs. Games like Dark Age of Camelot and Shadowbane are a prime example of such "massive" pvp experiences.
One of the most important topics I felt that was addressed during the discussion was how can you provide massive battles or sieges while still allowing for multiple PvP play styles.
Based on the feedback from the group there seem to be 3 major play styles in any PvP situation. The first is your lone ranger who heads off into the battle along seeking to pick off as many enemies
as possible.
The next are players who like to stay in smaller groups. The last group is your massive siege party who loves to travel in groups often numbering in the 100's. With the 3 play types in mind the group seemed to like the idea of an objective based pvp system where smaller groups could take out key positions while the larger group could focus on the main target (like a Castle).
The single player PKs could also play a valuable role in by taking down wonderers and rainforests. Damion expressed that he felt one of the major areas that MMO games where lacking is group large siege / battlefield leadership.
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