Every inconvenience is a challenge.

[Lior]

For those who don't know him, Raph Koster is a game developer most famous in the MMO space for his work on Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. He has some great insight when it comes to design elements, whether or not one necessarily agrees with his point of view.

His latest blog post resonated with me on a particular level, and I felt I ought to share it for FFXIV's players and developers alike. Although the meat of the post attacks the traditional auction house system, he finishes with a quote that I think rings true particularly for those of us who remember Final Fantasy XI with fondness: "Every inconvenience is a challenge, and games are made of challenges. This means that every inconvenience in your design is potentially someone’s game."

Personally I hope that Yoshi-P will keep this in mind as development continues on 2.0. I can't say that I'm asking for a return to the brutal inconveniences of FFXI, but neither do I want to see Eorzea become as lacking in challenge and subsequently, character, as some modern games have become.

[TheBlazed]

I agree as well.

[Isaaru]

inb4: THIS IS WHY WE SHOULD ABOLISH ANIMA

[Starlord]

inb4: THIS IS WHY WE SHOULD ABOLISH ANIMA

This IS exactly why we should :P

[Tyro]

This IS exactly why we should :P

Leave the Animas alone ; ; Traveling shouldn't be a inconvenient. Is like if there was no Fast Travel in Skyrim, the game would be sooooo annoying.

[Starlord]

Leave the Animas alone ; ; Traveling shouldn't be a inconvenient. Is like if there was no Fast Travel in Skyrim, the game would be sooooo annoying.

And things shouldn't be so "easily accessed" there has to be a happy medium.... Because as it stands.. Traveling in this game has turned into a Hey Im here.. oh I beat it.. Now what, now that I beat this in 15 mins... Time to sit in Ul'dah for Hours while I ponder what I do next for the next 1hour... Rinse and repeat... Happy Medium.. all I ask :P.

[Eight]

Leave the Animas alone ; ; Traveling shouldn't be a inconvenient.

But it is......

[Xoo]

I agree, but unfortunately I don't think FFXIV was/is being designed to be as challenging as its predecessor - To the joy of some, and to the dismay of others.

Blame World of Warcraft or Canada.

[Sephrick]

Inconvenience is just the wrong word to use. I think what the original source meant is obstacle.

Waiting 10 minutes for an airship was an inconvenience in XI, but was never "challenging" or worthy of being considered "gameplay." Waiting for the airship because it pulled away as you ran up to it plus flight time meant a player could walk away from their computer for 15 minutes.

I can play the "waiting for the airship" game without giving a dime to a developer. It's called washing my dishes, folding my laundry or taking out the trash -- because those are the sort of things I did during the airship wait inconvenience.

But still the quote removed from context isn't as sound as within. It's still making a case for an open market free of auction houses. He's saying why design a game around the "convenience" of auction houses when some players want to play the game as a crafter/shop keeper only.

Sort of how SE originally started to design crafting classes. An idea, sadly, that never came close to fruition. Now, just like the rest of the game, we're half way between content. DoHs that take forever to level for little reward because we have a psuedo action house and no content for them otherwise. They're not even allowed full access to the leve quests.

In his article he makes the case that the "inconvenience" -- which should be called "obstacle" -- of a game with no auction house is that a player has to put in effort to sell their wares. They can't just list it and forget it. That opens it up for what XIV originally intended, a social world where players get to know each other through a system of bartering and trade.

I agree, but unfortunately I don't think FFXIV was/is being designed to be as challenging as its predecessor - To the joy of some, and to the dismay of others.

Blame World of Warcraft or Canada.

An interesting statement given the linked blog post.

On what gauge are we rating the difficulty of XI? Is it by amount of perceived inconveniences?

If so, XI may take the cake. But that doesn't mean there's any quality -- or discernible challenge -- in those inconveniences. XI was riddled with examples like waiting for the airship. Come to think of it, XI very much was a game based around waiting. Waiting for transportation. Waiting for a party to gather. Waiting for event cool down timers. Waiting for HNM pop windows. Waiting for the infamous "JP midnight." Waiting for an exp bar to slowly fill while mindlessly killing the same weak fodder. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

And after all that waiting, there was a glimmer of game play.

But I'd rather SE assume "inconvenience" means "obstacle."

I'd rather the "inconvenience" of having to talk to my fellow players to find the items for which I am looking than one of having to wait for content.

But if "inconvenience" is the mark of good design and supposedly fun and challenging entertainment than the gaming industry should have just called it quits with E.T. because it will never get much "better" than that.

[Malakym]

Inconvenience is just the wrong word to use. I think what the original source meant is obstacle.

Waiting 10 minutes for an airship was an inconvenience in XI, but was never "challenging" or worthy of being considered "gameplay." Waiting for the airship because it pulled away as you ran up to it plus flight time meant a player could walk away from their computer for 15 minutes.

I can play the "waiting for the airship" game without giving a dime to a developer. It's called washing my dishes, folding my laundry or taking out the trash -- because those are the sort of things I did during the airship wait inconvenience.

But still the quote removed from context isn't as sound as within. It's still making a case for an open market free of auction houses. He's saying why design a game around the "convenience" of auction houses when some players want to play the game as a crafter/shop keeper only.

Sort of how SE originally started to design crafting classes. An idea, sadly, that never came close to fruition. Now, just like the rest of the game, we're half way between content. DoHs that take forever to level for little reward because we have a psuedo action house and no content for them otherwise. They're not even allowed full access to the leve quests.

In his article he makes the case that the "inconvenience" -- which should be called "obstacle" -- of a game with no auction house is that a player has to put in effort to sell their wares. They can't just list it and forget it. That opens it up for what XIV originally intended, a social world where players get to know each other through a system of bartering and trade.




An interesting statement given the linked blog post.

On what gauge are we rating the difficulty of XI? Is it by amount of perceived inconveniences?

If so, XI may take the cake. But that doesn't mean there's any quality -- or discernible challenge -- in those inconveniences. XI was riddled with examples like waiting for the airship. Come to think of it, XI very much was a game based around waiting. Waiting for transportation. Waiting for a party to gather. Waiting for event cool down timers. Waiting for HNM pop windows. Waiting for the infamous "JP midnight." Waiting for an exp bar to slowly fill while mindlessly killing the same weak fodder. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

And after all that waiting, there was a glimmer of game play.

But I'd rather SE assume "inconvenience" means "obstacle."

I'd rather the "inconvenience" of having to talk to my fellow players to find the items for which I am looking than one of having to wait for content.

But if "inconvenience" is the mark of good design and supposedly fun and challenging entertainment than the gaming industry should have just called it quits with E.T. because it will never get much "better" than that.

Something is wrong with the forums, I'm hammering my fist into the 'like' button but it's not going up more than once.