Blizzard - Core Game Concepts Summary @ Gamasutra

magerette

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Gamasutra has posted a summary of a lecture directed at game developers given by Blizzard's Rob Pardo at the GDC on the core design concepts used in Blizzard's multiplayer games, particularly WoW and Warcraft III.
The summary includes five basic design concepts: gameplay first; easy to learn, difficult to master; make everything overpowered; play don't tell; and make it a bonus.
Here's the explanation behind 'easy to learn, difficult to master:'
More specifically, Pardo says the objective he pushes at Blizzard is more akin to "Easy to learn and almost impossible to master." Because almost all Blizzard games are primarily multiplayer, the company must focus a significant amount of depth to the multiplayer.

"When we shipped WoW, people say we dumbed everything down," said Pardo. "Actually, WoW is a really hardcore game, it just happens to be more accessible than a lot of other games."

Pardo says that the Blizzard design pipeline is to design the games depth first, because it's the hardest part of design. He suggested that rather than worrying about the multiplayer component of a game last, Blizzard tweaks that component first and feeds what they learn into the single-player campaign.

More information.
 
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WoW isn't a hardcore game - and it never was.

However, it (also) catered to hardcore gamers and it still does.

They don't even know their own product.

A hardcore game is one that requires you to be hardcore to enjoy it properly, and Pardo seems to miss that basic concept.
 
A contrary view.

It's reactionary and I don't think most of the arguments are valid, but still thought provoking.

I agree to the last 3 points of it.

Well, it might have something to do with generations of gamers.

Or generations in general.

Nowadays, no-one - almost no-one - of the younger generations listens to "Classical Music" like Mozart, Beethoven etc. anymore. Almost no-one of the younger generaions reads Shakespeare. And even older literature, like the Ilias.

The younger generations might perhaps develop - or even have already developed - a different system of perceiving the world. Remember this ? http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9420

A certain sort of games might perhaps support a certain technique of perceiving the world - thus cementing a certain "way of life". Short-term goals become more important than long-term goals.

And what this means to our world economy is easy to imagine.
 
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A contrary view sucks, it seems like the guy who wrote it has a grudge for Rob Pardo.
 
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I could never understand how Blizzard could be as successful a game company as it has with these core game concepts...its so contradictory and simple that I think they
 
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WoW isn't a hardcore game - and it never was.

However, it (also) catered to hardcore gamers and it still does.

They don't even know their own product.

A hardcore game is one that requires you to be hardcore to enjoy it properly, and Pardo seems to miss that basic concept.

Perhaps your definition of "hardcore" differs from his...
 
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These "core concepts" are explicitely directed to the "MTV generation" with a lower attention span etc. .
 
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A hardcore game is one that requires you to be hardcore to enjoy it properly, and Pardo seems to miss that basic concept.

(Emphasis mine) You do need to play World of Warcraft hardcore if you want to enjoy it properly. If you play solo a couple of hours a week, you're not going to get everything there is from it. You need guild involvement, maybe try running a guild yourself, set up large raid groups and get 40 people (in the old days) powerful and coordinated enough to bring down a powerful boss. Unless you have done that, I don't think you can say that you enjoyed WoW propberly. And it's pretty hardcore to get to that point, in my opinion. Casual gamers don't spend that much on their games.
 
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(Emphasis mine) You do need to play World of Warcraft hardcore if you want to enjoy it properly. If you play solo a couple of hours a week, you're not going to get everything there is from it. You need guild involvement, maybe try running a guild yourself, set up large raid groups and get 40 people (in the old days) powerful and coordinated enough to bring down a powerful boss. Unless you have done that, I don't think you can say that you enjoyed WoW propberly. And it's pretty hardcore to get to that point, in my opinion. Casual gamers don't spend that much on their games.

I disagree entirely, and I know several people who enjoy it solo/casual partying quite a bit. Also, the term hardcore is not necessarily related to how much time you spend playing something, because an MMO is potentially everlasting.

We're not talking about getting everything there is from the game at all. THAT would require hardcore dedication. We're talking about having fun and not feeling like you've wasted your money. That's what enjoying a game properly means. Not every gamer is obsessive compulsive about content.

Just like the average gamer playing the average RPG isn't going to obsess about every last sidequest or finding all possible loot. You're looking at what I said all wrong, using your own rigid subjective definition of "enjoying properly" as some kind of objective guide.

It's about how much you invest yourself in the game, and how good you're willing to become.

That's why there are hundreds (if not thousands) of guilds calling themselves casual because they don't do anything to achieve hardcore status. They just relax and kick back with easy mode content. There's a huge amount of players who basically use WoW as some kind of advanced chatroom, and they're really not there to get "everything out of it" but to form social bonds for whatever reason. I know these people, so this isn't talking out my ass. I played WoW intensely for 3 years and I've talked to hundreds of players personally. I'm pretty sure I know if the game can be enjoyed properly as a casual player or not.

The entire levelling process is trivial in terms of how easy it is, and everyone can enjoy that aspect of the game before even considering whether they want to be hardcore or not.

Again, the game caters to both casual gamers and hardcore gamers alike. Just like every single Blizzard game in existence. That's their primary design philosophy, which is exactly what they mean when they say "easy to learn, hard to master".

The developers are confused if they're calling WoW a very hardcore game. What they mean to say is that it CAN be very hardcore, if you so desire.

There's a significant difference.
 
(Emphasis mine) You do need to play World of Warcraft hardcore if you want to enjoy it properly. If you play solo a couple of hours a week, you're not going to get everything there is from it. You need guild involvement, maybe try running a guild yourself, set up large raid groups and get 40 people (in the old days) powerful and coordinated enough to bring down a powerful boss. Unless you have done that, I don't think you can say that you enjoyed WoW propberly. And it's pretty hardcore to get to that point, in my opinion. Casual gamers don't spend that much on their games.
I played WoW for 4,5 years and (co-)led a single guild for 3,5 continious years, and I strongly disagree with you.

It became a lot easier once 40 man raids were gone. And as time progresses the game keeps becomming more and more casual friendly (which is actually severly damaging the game if you ask me). Especially since "The Lichking" expansion you need to spend not more than a couple of hours per week to get things done.

The only exception to this are certain officers of guilds, eventhough the past years it's become increasingly easier for them too. But the regular members of guilds (see 95% of a guild)? They have a very, very easy time these days.

And getting into a guild isn't hard these days, good gear is fed to you the second you get to the max level these days. All that is required is the will to write an application to a guild.
 
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