Transparency is the Best Policy

As a veteran of countless MMOG launches and betas, I've come to realize that when problems inevitably surface, a transparent and honest approach will garner the most respect from your game's community.

Most MMOs will encounter at least one or two major hiccups during their launch. Even World of Warcraft had a very shaky start. Sometimes these problems will only affect a certain portion of players, and so a developer may be inclined not address the issue as loudly. But a forum post buried in a sea of topics is usually not enough.

The problem with addressing issues on twitter, blogs, or even forum posts is that angry players are likely to voice their complaint before reading these posts. It's best to prominently place messages on the launcher. It may seem like a bad move to "put your worst foot forward" as it were, but the truth is that players for whom the game works are not likely to care, and posting it on the launcher means that prospective customers will not see the message.

These posts should be as informative, offering workarounds if possible, and should channel players that are experiencing problems to the right area of your forums or site. I've found that most players are not satisfied when posts are made that read something like: "We are aware there is a problem and are currently working to fix it, but we have no ETA."

If there is a problem with a downed router somewhere, say so. If there is a problem with the way a patch was implemented, say so. Players will respect and appreciate your honesty and additional information.

For instance, in Champions Online's recent launch, a slip up caused a lengthy outage. But rather than a generic, "we're working on it" post, Awen of Cryptic confessed that a new member of the team had made a crucial mistake, adding that it would be resolved soon. The community's response was relatively positive. Yet when Cryptic neglected to sufficiently address the technical issues that prevented hundreds of players from progressing past the launcher, their boards were flooded with angry posts. This can hurt a game's launch as prospective customers are likely to visit its forums before making their decision on whether or not to purchase.

A good community is essential to an MMOG's success, and it's all about how you manage it. The community manager is a position that has gained importance in recent years. It is important to establish a good rapport with your players, but be careful not to sound condescending in posts, particularly those made addressing downtimes or other technical trouble.

Avoid "sounding cute" to angry customers. Don't begin posts with greetings like "Good Morning Heroes!" when dealing with these sort of problems. Remember that you are speaking to angry customers, who have every right to be disappointed by the fact that your company has in some way not delivered on a promised service, and should be treated as such. There is a time and a place for everything.

The nature of the internet and games does not typically engender respect. But if you want respect from your players, its best to respect them first.

Aion Beta Analysis and Player Reactions

Players' responses are mostly positive to NCSoft's Aion: Tower of Eternity open beta for the US and Europe.

The Art

Most players are finding Aion's graphics appealing, and it's more than just the Cryengine it's built on. The world is pretty, the characters are customizable, and the effects are smartly finished. However some players have found the art style a bit generic, a problem that has plagued Korean games for some time. The common complaint is that this style is mostly technique and not enough genuine creativity.

My own opinion is that there's more to Aion's art than the standard Korean style. While it may be reminiscent of NCSoft's previous MMO, Guild Wars, it features more flares of evocative art. It particularly excels in the design of the enemies and fauna that populate the world. Although I'm not sure that it properly sells the fanciful layout of that world, which is made up of two halves of a planet facing each other. The other half is visible in the sky, but is perhaps not prominent enough to be convincing.

The Hiccups

The US/European open beta has benefited greatly from the year of polishing the game spent in Korea. Aside from initial server or router issues that caused unplayable lag, it's been a long time since a beta offered an experience that felt so complete and refined.

Building or Borrowing?

As a long time MMORPG vet, I appreciate that the game assumes that this is not my first. By level five, my scout character was nearly as involved as an average MMO's level 30, stringing together dynamic combos and employing varied techniques for different enemies. As a result, there are many complaints about the game's difficulty, but there appears to be less than for Champions Online -- likely because Aion is far more traditional.

The game does suffer a bit from "more of the same" syndrome, as it does not stray far from the standard MMORPG mold. Starting on the Elyos side, the amount of time it took me before I had to kill my first boar for a beleaguered farmer was approximately three to five minutes. And the game strictly adheres to the auto attack + skill bar formula.

Ye Olde Quests

The weakest aspect of the game is perhaps the quest structure. The sort of quests found in this game could have been thrilling for gamers in the early part of this decade, but now they feel dated. They lack the flare and color of the average Champions Online quest. Aion does, however, feature a more involved main-line of quests, but even they feel a bit dry at times.

Fans of free-grinding will be happy to hear that killing enemies without quests yields markedly better experience than in most other MMORPGs.

8 Classes

There are four archetypes for the player to choose from at the start. As expected they are the standard: warrior, scout, mage, priest. At level 10, a player ascends and is able to choose between two career paths, effectively giving the game 8 classes.

I've never been a fan of branching classes. Even if you want classes to share a few basic skills, you can begin to differentiate them at the lowest levels by mixing in unique skills. Branching classes can discourage replay, as players are unable to immediately jump into a distinct new experience. But in Aion's defense, the game weaves the branch into the storyline in an amusing fashion.

I can Fly! Sort of...

The flight system is a welcomed addition, but feels a bit clumsy, requiring five keys to operate. I had trouble finding the right buttons to bind that didn't eat away at possible skill hotkeys. And don't expect to fly everywhere, because it's not allowed in many areas of the game.

The game seems to have won over many of the testers right away, but its continued success will depend on its endgame and PVP, as it does with any MMORPG.