Comments on That's a Terrible Idea: Difficulty, an Unsolvable Problem

Tolthir and Tim have good points on this. It is...

2009-11-29T19:08:57.176-05:00

Tolthir and Tim have good points on this.

It is true that the rate of difficulty seen as indirectly proportional to the chance of success; however, difficulty is proportional to the number of conditions that must be satisfied in order to succeed.

WoW for example is seen as easy, even if the grind is long, because victory is often assured by meeting a DPS requirement. Difficulty is increased when you also have to pay attention to where you are standing, when to hold attacks, and so on. When everything has to come together perfectly for a success, it is difficult.

MMOs have become substantially easier because some conditions that made the game hard were also annoying (e.g. Three minute downtimes after fights in EQ, old DAoC).

Difficulty, by nature, is a deterent. Bad for marketing. Solution? Eventually an indie MMO will come out that shows it can be difficult and popular.

MMOs could allow players to voluntarily take on ex...

2009-11-23T13:33:18.295-05:00

MMOs could allow players to voluntarily take on extra difficulty in exchange for bragging rights (achievements) or other rewards, like exclusive content (costumes, secret areas).

Challenges might be a limit on the number of healing potions you can carry, absorbing some damage done to your companions, or fighting monsters above your level.

The trick is finding challenges fun enough that people would accept them willingly, and finding rewards that aren't seen as necessary to succeed in the game.

In MMOs, we encounter an unsolvable difficulty iss...

2009-11-21T01:53:33.267-05:00

In MMOs, we encounter an unsolvable difficulty issue. Some players want the game to be easy for them, but difficult for others.

In other words, everyone wants to be above average?

I've often thought that one possible solution would be for MMOs to increase the variety of roles that players could take on. In particular, different roles could involve different skill sets and/or difficulty levels.

For example, compare WoW and EVE. In WoW, everyone plays more or less the same role. I.e., you participate in combat involving timely execution of skills with cooldowns. That role requires basic tactical ability and some reaction speed. Naturally, some players will be better at that than others, and they'll be the "best" WoW players.

EVE, on the other hand, allows a variety of roles. You can be a combat pilot, which requires skills similar to those in WoW. You can be an entrepreneur, which requires strategy and market analysis. Or you can be a miner or hauler, which don't require much skill at all. All of those roles are valued.

In other words, in a game with a variety of roles, players could take on a role that suits their skills and/or desire for difficulty. The key is to make sure that all of the roles are rewarding.