Scott Jennings, known many moons ago as Lum the Mad, has a relatively popular blog called Broken Toys. On it, Scott -- who is now a game designer -- writes about pretty much anything on his mind. Today I came across a very long and insightful writeup that he's put together on How To Make A Game With 'PvP Done Right.'
In it Scott touches on subjects like what to expect if you decide to add PvP into your game as an 'afterthought.' "If you go the path of designing a combat system that works well against AI monsters and raiding, and then retrofit it to a PvP environment, at least establish a framework so that what works against a monster doesn’t necessarily work against a player. However, if you go down that dark pathway, be prepared to hear a lot of complaining from your newly disenfranchised players that you just nerfed into goo. Another problem with “hey, let’s throw in a dueling system” PvP is that, by definition, that system will have little context."
He also feels that PvP must "screw someone over" but mentions that new players should be exempt from this -- mostly so that once the game has aged, they aren't discouraged from continuing on due to constant "ganking" from higher level players: "Part of opting into PvP (and oh, yes, we shall return to that point in a moment as well) should entail the understanding that not only can you lose, you will lose something dear to you. Whether that is as simple as time, or as permanent as item loss or even permadeath (if you’re particularly insane), consequences are part and parcel of meaningful PvP."
It's a fairly long editorial, but it's also a great read and a chance to peer into the mind of a game designer that just may be working on the next MMO you play. Head over to Broken Toys and check it out.
So then, after you're done reading, share your thoughts on what makes a game's PvP system "right" -- I'd love to hear them!
