What are the impediments to designing the ultimate game?

[Eraden]

I think everyone has experienced playing a new MMO and finding themselves disappointed because certain features were lacking or outright omitted. I also suspect that there are a lot of MMOs out there that have done at least one or two things amazingly well and have been acknowledged by their players to be exemplary in those aspects. My question to all of you is this: Is it not possible to combine the best features of various games into a single brand new game that fulfills the desires of the player community?

Think about a game that would have the glam and storage system of GWII, the detailed storylines and world building of FFXIV, housing from whatever game is considered tops in that aspect, and the combat system from a game that excels in that aspect. I think if you polled the playing community, you could easily drum up a shopping list of features and the games which do them best. On the surface it seems so easy a task with the best features all staring us in our faces. So what is the issue preventing the ultimate game from being created?

Is it development cost? Is it matters of IP? Is it that all these features might rely on coding tricks that would render them incompatible with each other? Is it lack of interest on the part of companies? After the disaster that was New World, I am seriously wondering if it is even possible these days for companies to take on such a task without messing it up. So, folks, what do you think? What is preventing the ultimate MMO from being created?

[Espon]

The problem is difference of opinions. People want different things from a game, so you cannot satisfy everyone without extremely bloating the game. And not just players, but the developers as well.

A company also has a limited number resources; be it money, people, or simply time. You can only throw so much money and people at a game before it all starts to bottleneck. You want the game to be a quality product and not riddled with bugs and other issues. The more that gets added at once, the more testing is required.

[Vidu]

The problem is difference of opinions. People want different things from a game, so you cannot satisfy everyone without extremely bloating the game. And not just players, but the developers as well.

Just to ass an example here:

the detailed storylines and world building of FFXIV

This is already a "controversial" feature of FFXIV since there are a lot of people who dont care about the story and want to jump straight to endgame - at the same time there are a lot of people who enjoy the story or play mainly because of the story (and care less about endgame). Trying to really sastify both cmaps seems like not such a great idea to me - I mean: Why would you if you could just make to different games that excel in their respectives aspects (story/endgame) while sprinkling in a little bit of the other.

[Minarisweet]

Just to ass an example here:


This is already a "controversial" feature of FFXIV since there are a lot of people who dont care about the story and want to jump straight to endgame - at the same time there are a lot of people who enjoy the story or play mainly because of the story (and care less about endgame). Trying to really sastify both cmaps seems like not such a great idea to me - I mean: Why would you if you could just make to different games that excel in their respectives aspects (story/endgame) while sprinkling in a little bit of the other.

I really think if they would design more substantial and long lasting content that wasn't done in 2 or 3 days like bozja a lot of people like me would be satisfied, it doesn't take many resources to do stuff like that.

[KageTokage]

I really think if they would design more substantial and long lasting content that wasn't done in 2 or 3 days like bozja a lot of people like me would be satisfied, it doesn't take many resources to do stuff like that.

I'm kind of concerned that given all the "new" content on the table like the Criterion dungeons and Island Sanctuary that we're not going to get a new exploration zone, as those historically have been some of the best content for keeping people occupied at length, and I loved the large scale raids like Baldesion Arsenal personally.

[Mikey_R]

The main impediment is that there is no such thing. By creating the 'ultimate' game you imply your game will please everyone, or at least the majority of people and this is just in the MMO crowd. You bring up some points, however, you never looked at the main component, the combat. What game would you base it on? Everyone has different opinions on what they want the combat to be, how it should play etc. With such a broad range of expectations, you cannot please everyone and so you cannot make the ultimate game just by its very definition.

[Eraden]

The main impediment is that there is no such thing. By creating the 'ultimate' game you imply your game will please everyone, or at least the majority of people and this is just in the MMO crowd. You bring up some points, however, you never looked at the main component, the combat. What game would you base it on? Everyone has different opinions on what they want the combat to be, how it should play etc. With such a broad range of expectations, you cannot please everyone and so you cannot make the ultimate game just by its very definition.

Surely you could poll the player community and find out if there is some kind of consensus on these various features. Even if there were no clear choices in terms of popularity, the raw data from such a survey should probably provide some insight into what most of the players would want. I guess in this context, for me, the ultimate game would be the one that could satisfy the largest amount of players.

[GeminiReed]

Surely you could poll the player community and find out if there is some kind of consensus on these various features. Even if there were no clear choices in terms of popularity, the raw data from such a survey should probably provide some insight into what most of the players would want. I guess in this context, for me, the ultimate game would be the one that could satisfy the largest amount of players.

Blizzard actually researched this. Their conclusion was that there was no dominant niche. What they did find was that most players played a variety of content types. Ironic considering they let Hazzikostas gut everything casual. Even before the revelations about their toxic work environment their player population was trending downwards because of this.

[Irenia]

It depends.
It's possible to make a game that most people like. Your approach can get something like this.
It's impossible to make a game that most people love. I imagine any ultimate game needs to reach this goal, but because of differing tastes, it is out of reach. To use XIV, lots of people love this game, but more people only like it. Using myself as an example, I love it, but the abuse of veteran healers threatens that, which came about due to attempts to cast a wider net.

It is much more possible to have a many "ultimate games" each serving a small community, but MMO logistics make that impossible; scale is the name of the game.

[Avatre]

Surely you could poll the player community and find out if there is some kind of consensus on these various features. Even if there were no clear choices in terms of popularity, the raw data from such a survey should probably provide some insight into what most of the players would want. I guess in this context, for me, the ultimate game would be the one that could satisfy the largest amount of players.

The problem with polling the community is that you will only get the people who respond. There will always be many more who don't bother, or completely forget to answer in time. Think about a reporter out asking people for their opinions, how many say something about "don't have time" or "don't care"? The reporter could ask 300+ people, but only get half that responding. Polls, while they do give some insight, wouldn't provide a complete picture, so some people will always be left dissatisfied with the results of what happens due to a poll.

So honestly, the players themselves are the impediment to a "perfect" game because some will not like what the devs themselves created, or will dislike what the community has asked the devs to adjust/add/remove - especially if one of those things greatly impacts what they do enjoy in the game.