Quote:Original post by Kylotan The original poster didn't specify a list specific to his game, but of 'MMO design elements', which implies something more general (and thus, in my opinion, more useless). The poster also went on to say that they "still haven't found a decent list", implying there would be a standard list somewhere that applies to everybody. I am basically of the opinion that such a standard list serves no purpose, in much the same way that the old "what does RPG really mean?" threads on here served no useful purpose. I have no problem with people drawing up their own checklists relevant to the game they want to make.

I can't control what you infer from my words, nor can I guarantee you've completely misguided yourself from what you think I implied. But I'll leave you with a question. Is understanding what successful MMO's are comprised of a useful tool? Could someone take a standard element of the MMOs, decide he can do a way better job with it, and completely evolve it into something more fitting to its longevity?

Take the spec screen for example. For too long, RPGers have been staring at this window where they choose their specs. Even as the RPG genre gets much more twitchy and action oriented, we still have this death pace of a screen. Sure its fun to choose our specs, but why does it have to take us away from interactivity? If someone could reinvent the task of specing in a way that breathes lively gameplay into it, he'd be making the standard element unique.

Anyone could invent this kind of idea. How he reaches it is his own business. But, I tend to lean one way. For example. Let's say 2 groups of people wanted to put aging into their RPG. One group goes like this "Hey, why don't we try to put aging into our RPG?" The other group, after long hours of critical thinking, reach a possible solution to their design problem as a man in the back says "We could pull it off... with aging." One group is just randomly trying to be creative. The other group is using creative problem solving. I hope to be the type that uses creativity not as a replacement of education, but as a guiding tool of what I've learned. And we all know studying MMO's is a path of study.