Monday 9 June 2003

Pic of the day: In Dark Age of Camelot, they added shiny graphics when you level up: A DAoC symbol in 3 brilliant colors comes down from above and combines around your feet. It sure makes it obvious that someone is leveling.

Levels in online RPGs

Two things coincided to make me write this entry. One was extensive reading of the City of Heroes forums (you can easily waste your whole day, they are so productive) and the debate there about levels in a superhero game. It was not clear from the start that there would be actual levels, but there are. People will get improvements on each level-up, like in a classic RPG. Some are NOT happy. When did you ever see a Green Lantern level up?

The other things was while playing Dark Age of Camelot, I heard once again someone mention the "level grind" at levels 46-49. This half amazed and half amused me, because I level much faster now than I did in my late 30es, and I don't even really try to level. There are so many interesting things to do: Keep raids, diamond loops, knights groups, prince raids. I still haven't even tried dragon raids or a multi-realm Legion raid ... All of these things are group activities, and because I have made a group-friendly character, I often find myself in very powerful groups and see the experience bubbles sail along ...

***

Levels are a core part of the RPG heritage. For some, it may be hard to imagine a role playing game without levels; but they are there. The offline game Darklands was groundbreaking in its genre, with realistic attributes, 99 skill levels but no character levels. You could not create a character that could fight an army alone, no matter how long you played. But you may be able to defeat a band of ragtag outlaws with your elite sword skills and Germany's finest weapons and armor. Against overwhelming odds, you needed tactics. Don't get surrounded, divide and conquer, stuff like that.

I would not at all have minded if City of Heroes had been like that. The more you use a certain power, the more likely it is to increase. If you fly around all day long, you become a fast and skillful flier, able to dodge and loop easily. Just having the flight skill and not using it should leave you levitating clumsily. Still gets you to the rooftop, but not in a dignified way. And so on with every superpower. But alas, this is not the case. And I have reflected on WHY there are levels in an online multiplayer game. It seems, at first thought, like bad business.

Levels encourage people to play a lot, to travel around, to fight. All this puts a strain on the system. But they pay a fixed sum per month. It would make more business sense to cater to people who log in, chat a bit, look at the pretty colors and log off. You would save a fortune on bandwidth. Also with leveling, you need to provide a wide range of content, to give an equal challenge to every level. Why not have everyone at the same level and just give them all the same challenge? Save time, save development costs.

Already Adam Smith pointed out that the baker does not bake bread for us because of his kind heart, but out of enlightened self-interest. This is the basis for all modern economy. So clearly the game developers get something back from all this level chasing. It soon became clear to me that they believe that people want levels. And they are probably right. People who might have played a while and left, choose instead to stay in order to reach higher levels.

It is a human trait, and a good one by most views, that we want to grow and reach out for something more. And in life, there are milestones that people look forward to, celebrate when they come there, and look back at briefly in between running for the next. Coming of age, getting a boyfriend or girlfriend, drivers license, wedding, a child, our own house, divorce, revenge on the ex, a new love, a job in management, a luxury cruise, retirement. People are always chasing for the next level, hoping it will be better than the last. If you can get them hooked so they stay chasing the hare until they die, you and they will both be happy.

And this, my dear gaming friends, is why online games these days have levels. And this is why City of Heroes will have levels. "Security levels" my famously handsome derriere! An entry test would be better to determine whether you were ready for a particularly rough neighborhood. No matter what their levels, what will a team of pure earth-bound tank do against a flying villain with ranged blasts (or even a good old bazooka)? Clearly skills are more important than levels in many situations. But levels are addictive.

And now, if you will excuse me, my paladin is level 48.5 and I'd like him to hit 49 tonight ... ^_^