Blizzard - Rob Pardo Interview @ CVG

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SasqWatch
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Rob Pardo talks game design with CVG.
There's a quote from Raph Koster that 'the singleplayer game is an aberration.' Historically, games have always been played together.

Rob: I think that's wishful thinking on his part. I think when you look at Raph, all the games he's worked on have been multiplayer games. I think maybe, to him, that might be true. But I don't see any sort of trend that leads me to believe that we're not going to see Half-Life 3, or God of War 3, or any of those kinds of games. Those games are awesome, amazing experiences.

For me, games become exponentially more entertaining when experienced together.

Rob: Don't get me wrong, I love multiplayer games, and from a Blizzard perspective, all of our games have a hefty multiplayer component, but I just don't see them as mutually exclusive. Even games that are traditionally singleplayer, like Super Mario. Nintendo added some pretty interesting co-op gameplay to Galaxy. I totally see that there's going to be more and more multiplayer functionality in games. To say that 'singleplayer epic games are going to disappear because of MMOs...' I think that's a reach.

We actually ban our writers from using the word 'gameplay'. We think we can make a better and more precise point than that. Do you agree?

Rob: To me, a game mechanic is something that's in the game that allows players to have fun. But gameplay is 'what a player does'. It's where they derive fun from the game design. There's lots of things that people enjoy in games. It might be technology, it might be the photorealism, it might be the visceral mechanic... gameplay is just one of those things. Gameplay means quite a bit to me as a game designer... It's really interesting too. I think a lot of people think the way you do: younger designers often come in and I'll ask them, "what do you think was fun in that game?" and they'll talk about things I wouldn't consider to actually be gameplay.

So can you describe what gameplay actually is?

Rob: It's the player's interaction with the game mechanics.
More information.
 
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Meh.

I'm old enough to want to play games to escape the reality beyond my door. This includes escaping exactly the personality and group dynamics that appear in multiplayer games.

I like single player because

- I don't get spam
- I don't have to fight the economy influenced by Chinese farmers
- I am yet to see l33t talk

There will always be people who want to connect to the human race through their gaming experience.

Not me.
 
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A good post martink but...

Many farmers are good ole' Americans making big bucks selling virtual items.

Spouting populist hyperbole about "Chinese farmers" is the same as talking about "Negroes" or "The Information Superhighway." Dated.
 
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A good post martink but...

Many farmers are good ole' Americans making big bucks selling virtual items.

A good retort, but by the law of large numbers for every one American doing something online, there are four (plus or minus two) Chinese doing it.
 
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Off topic:
China is the biggest "online nation", with roughly 250.000.000 users (less than 20% of their population, but still more than anyone else in numbers).

On topic:
I enjoy MMOs, but only to fill the gap between good SP games, and certainly don't agree that a multiplayer component is vital in SP games.
 
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and certainly don't agree that a multiplayer component is vital in SP games.

I don't agree either.

To me, SP games are like good books / novels (in the best case), and MMOs are "social gathering" to me, nothing more.

I don't want to read one book with several people at the same time. Not all of them sitting inside my armchair at the same time (as I do). ;)
 
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Both have their place, I don't want to see any game styles/genres just get wiped out because I kind of like variety.
 
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I also like both a lot. I will admit that after playing MMO games now for many years the single player games can sometimes feel empty or hollow - if only because I know I am the only "real" person there.

On the other hand when I can really get into the story and character I am playing I still greatly enjoy it. Even though NWN2 and MOTB can be multi-player, I played them all through 2 and a half times when I needed a break from WoW. I had a blast.

Sometimes I don't want to deal with other people from the real world. I just want to sink into a fantasy work and lose myself. People in an MMO very seldom let you forget you are playing a game.
 
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