The future on consoles online

[ninzel]

The future of consoles online.

Many people have wondered and predicted where the future of online play will go so these
are my thoughts on this very timely and important issue as this next generation
of game consoles ramps up.

All of my predictions are based off the premise that we are in general passive observers,
but with a need to socialize and interact in a fun and freindly manner.
Most people would rather sit and watch sports on TV, rather than play sports. Most people
would rather sit and watch TV or movies rather than go out and do something active, or
even go and play a videogame, or even read a book.As the availability of more and more TV and
movies have become a reality we have seen society become more and more sedentary.
I'm not here to argue the right and wrong of this trend, just merely observing the trend.
And at the same time people love to share these entertainment experiences with others,
laughing about them, criticizing and generally making comment on what they have just done or
watched.

So if we can imagine the population at large, imagine a sliding scale.On one side of the scale you
have the passive observers, and on the other side you have the ultra competitive involved
participator. I think based on human tendencies we can predict the scale will always be tipped in favour
of the passive observer, and the further game makers move away from that magority base of
passive observers, they alienate more and more people.

So how will this play out in terms of online gaming

1. The Halos and Unreal Tournaments of the world will never be the magority online gameplay experience.
The ultra competitive hardcore gamer is not only often caustic in his behaviour, but is also in the
minority in terms of how most people will like to digest their gaming.This atmosphere will not attract
most gamers, and the attitudes will often turn off those on the fence.
On that sliding scale this will obviously fall at one extreme, thus garnering a smaller attraction.

2. The single player experience as it, is not enough. It doesn't really satisfy peoples want
to interact and socialize and compare and yet it does allow people to take in their game play experience at
their own pace. This falls somewhere in the middle of the scale, requiring interaction, but at the players
own pace
Therefor in order to be more relevant and successful, SP games need to evolve. I think this is one of
the biggest areas of potential growth. I think we will see more of things like stats in SP gamers to compare, more chat
involvement, co-op play . Integrating existing technologies to make richer single players experiences without straying
to close to ultra competitive gaming.
A big area of growth will be linking your SP game to a friends, and having each other progress effect the others progress.
Leaving hints, items, changing rooms, enemies, etc.

3. One huge area of growth for consoles is a model that already exists, and thrives on PC.
I'm sure most of us have already played games on PC on networks like Pogo. Simple puzzle and word type games,
that offer simplicity,ease of use and entry, light competition, chat, stats and many other things that satisfy
alot of gameplay needs.
Now we in the console gaming world are used to ultra high end graphics and 3d worlds, so some might not see this area as
valuable, but I think if you look at the stats and how many people are enjoying this type of gaming you
would be suprised at the numbers.This by far is the biggest prize. The company that can successfully wooo these
gamers over to their console have potential bonanza on their hands. The obvious stumbling block will price of entry.
But no one ever said the greatest prize is easy to attain.

4. Another aspect of online gaming that will evolve will be using online content distribution. Now this is
obvious, but I just wanted to cover all my bases so as not to be accused of not being thorough.
With oline content distribution, their will be greater flexibility in terms of how game content is offered.
More choice is always rewarding to consumers.

So in summary, I feel that online will become a greater aspect of console gaming in terms of distribution
of content and certain levels and types of interaction but not so much in terms of actual hardcore gameplay.

 

[ninzel]

One more specific example of how online play will evolve single player games without direct competition.
A mystery game. You can either play as a detective, or a criminal. You can choose to play a pure single player game, or against a friend online.
So for example as the criminal you would play through committing crimes. Your friend at his house from his game would log on and try and catch you by finding and anazlying any clues you might have left behind. You are playing against each other, but not directly.You could log on much later , he could be hours ahead of you. This keeps it's it a single player game, yet offers interaction without it being that hardcore type you see in types of games like UT or Quake.

 

[ninzel]

No opinions, thoughts?

 

[Paul_G]

Interesting read. I personally think that a lot of what you describe in terms of types of games on offer already exist on the Xbox 360. We have hardcore games of course, such as Gotham 3, Call of Duty 2 etc. But inside Gotham 3 we have stats measuring all sorts of different elements of the game, scores for every single race in single player, length of time playing among other things. That covers, at least in some sense, points 1 and 2. Point 3, easy to use, easy to play games that don't demand much of the player is surely just another way of saying xbox live arcade? These games may not be free, but they are inexpensive, they are easy to understand but challenging to master. Not only that but at any point the user can have a voice conversation with another player, so chat is catered for.

I think that there is some way to go and online play is going to evolve over the coming years as it finds what works and what doesn't, but the closest thing we currently have to what you describe is xbox live, and it's early days yet.

 

[Frank]

There are different kinds of gamers. There has been some very extensive research on MMORPG players. Basically, they split up into four distinct groups: The accomplishers (largest group), who want to score as much points as possible, beat the game and show off. Next is the socializers, who like to dress up and talk to others. Next are the player killers, who like nothing better than winning by frustrating other players. And the smallest group is the explorers, who like to see it all, understand how it works and make maps, walkthroughs and stuff.

I think the future of online gaming is something that cathers to all those groups at the same time. Like, a virtual portal where you enter and can hang out and chat, with "doors" that lead to different gaming experiences. Like, you can go and have an FPS shoot-out, or go on some exploring in an RPG world to your liking. Or walk along a virtual e-bay and buy and/or sell stuff, virtual as well as real things, for real money.

And I think, that you can buy bonuses at the start of the games: spend money and get an armor and rocket launcher or a custom avatar at the start of the game and such. Or use a player made mod.

Clearly, all that is money-based.