The Heart Of The Game (A VRMMO Creation Quest)

If you've ever played an MMO, you probably have several ideas about how that game could be improved, or what features and content might be awesome in a new MMO. Most of us, sadly, lack the technical skills, time, or money to contribute to the massive undertaking of trying to actually make an MMO.

This quest is the next best thing – come help us herd cats *cough* hammer out a compromise between widely varying design philosophies, artistic goals, and play styles iiiiiiinnnn... *drumroll* The Heart Of The Game, a 100% Transparent Micro-Kickstarter MMO Project. The only MMO design project to truly put the design decisions in the hands of the players! (Or rather, in the players' imaginary wallets, as you will vote with your weekly government-issued stipend of luxury credits, the only 'currency' supported by 2077's "Private Works For Public Benefit" government website, one of the most popular of the world government's Neo Deal programs. Be warned: if you loathe the concept of socialism or communism, this quest is probably not for you.)

Voting rules will vary by update; we won't get to the kickstarter voting-with credits thing until at least update 3. This first update is write-in only, game title suggestions, explained at the bottom of the post. Next update we will vote on the suggested titles (after they are winnowed down a bit by me). After that we will vote on actual game design choices. Also this is my first time running a quest and I don't have a beta-reader or an illustrator, so both of those positions are open. (I'm so disappointed I couldn't create original tags for this thread... just pretend it's tagged "post-capitalism", "creative vote counting", and "Teddy Roosevelt's New Deal".) Meanwhile, please do point out typos, I will fix them. I am aiming for 2 updates a week: one in the Tues/Weds/Thurs range and one in the rest of the week. You should always have at least 48 hours to discuss and vote. US Pacific time zone, if you aren't sure which day counts as.

This quest was inspired by CoreBrute's MMO quest. He said it was fine for me to make this one. It's rather different anyway, since we're not hiring employees. Thanks also to Gaemnomut and Ataraxia who gave feedback on the quest concept and this first post.


2088 (flash forward 11 years from the present day, after your MMO has become a wild success)

Interviewer: Today I'm interviewing KrispyKode, the Head Programmer of the global phenomenon, [MMO Name]! Krispy, your team's game has become the worldwide most played VR game of the 2080s. But where did this phenomenon begin? Where did you get the idea to create [MMO Name]?


KrispyKode: The first tiny seed was formed in 2077, in an unremarkable conversation between two friends: myself and Octahedral, our team's environmental artist who created many of the amazing locations in our game. Anyway this conversation was that extremely common type of game conversation, the complaint session. The only thing that was a little bit unusual about this conversation was that it delved a bit more into the topics of history, economics, and psychology than the average gamer complaint session...


2077 (present day)

A man and woman, both somewhere in the 20-25 age range, were hanging out in the shared living room of their four-unit 'communipartment' - a style of living promoted by the government since the 2050s, and eventually provided by the government after the Currency Crash. Various studies had showed that communal living helped prevent depression by a significant factor compared to solitary living, provided that the living space also contained enough private, sound-proofed areas for individuals to retreat to, and that the living space met various light and air quality standards. More directly relevant to the government's interests, the ecological footprint and resource costs of 80 people living in a communipartment tower were much lower than if those same 80 people were living in suburb.
The curvy woman with the long brown hair, known by the handle Octahedral, was the one who had contributed several crystals and prisms to the decor of the room, as well as a few 3D-printed sculptures of her best modeling work and a retro afghan which she had designed and had machine-crocheted at the local fabrication center. Currently she was seated in the corner of the couch, with her tablet PC in 'casual mode', meaning that she was just using her fingers for navigation, rather than one of the several art styluses she owned.

The expression on her face was quite melancholy. Not only was she so bored of EarthCraft, that she was browsing its forum instead of actually playing it, the contents of that forum were players making a variety of distressed cries at the recent announcement that there would be no more major development for the game. This news wasn't particularly surprising, because EarthCraft had received only the most minor additions over the past five years; but the fact that they were telling people to stop asking for anything other than minor bug fixes was truly morale-breaking. Not just because it was a death-knell for the game, but because now the people who had been begging and pleading for new content weren't even allowed to express that longing in the game's forums.

There was no similar alternative game they could migrate to, either. EarthCraft was one of only two major VRMMOs still in operation, and the other, StratusStrife, was a themepark focused on shooting at other players in an endless war. A war among the clouds, which was almost cool, but still, it was only about destruction, players couldn't create much of anything. Destroying stuff all day was too much negative karma, not to mention boring. Octahedral far preferred EarthCraft, a sandbox focused on creating architecture and sculpture. If only she could find something to do in it that she hadn't already done a dozen times...

Closing the game's forum site, Octahedral sighed and remarked to her apartment-mate KrispyKode, "The current state of MMOs makes me truly sad."

The man with short spiky black hair and caramel colored skin looked up from his own laptop and made a face like something smelled awful. "Sad? Instead I'd say it's disgusting. When full immersion VR came out, dozens, maybe even hundreds of MMOs started development. That was when currency was still around and you could actually pay other people to work together on one idea, even though they didn't all think it was the best possible idea."

Now fully invested in the conversation, KrispyKode pushed aside his laptop aside in favor of waving his arms to illustrate his description of the history of MMO development. "Some great single-player games made it out the other end of that production pipeline before capitalism collapsed completely. But MMOs are the behemoths of the game world, they can take four or more years of development. Four years was long enough that the projects of the currency-collapse years hemorrhaged staff faster than they could train new hires, as more and more people got enough of a personal robotic workforce to be self-sufficient in their own homes. Hundreds of new indie MMO projects were started by tiny teams of people who were newly free of the need to work for someone else, but how many of those ever made it to some kind of launch? Even a playable alpha?"

Octahedral, whose brow had been getting more furrowed as KrispyKode went on, objected to the implications of his praise of capitalistic-era methods. "Wage slavery was horrible though... I mean, practically every human on the planet was enslaved by the economy they were born into, for centuries. Rates of suicide and stress-induced mental problems used to be way higher than they are now! Going back to a system where everyone was forced to sacrifice eight or more hours of their day doing something they didn't want to do just to keep themselves fed and comfortable... that's definitely not the answer!"

Krispy snorted. "No no no, I'm not suggesting we try to re-institute capitalism; that would never work anyway. It collapsed because robot labor became plentiful, and I'll be the first to say I love our fully-automated laundry system! And CaffeineBean might actually axe-murder us all if we told him he had to give up his espressorator. I'm just frustrated that people have to be so much like cats - without a bribe to dangle in front of their noses it's impossible to herd them all in the same direction. I like cats, and people. But they can be such snooty bastards, so finicky that they'd rather starve - for games, I mean - then compromise and cooperate enough to make one."

Octahedral was mostly placated by this explanation. "Well, that's true. It sucks that there are only two VRMMOs with even a trickle of new content each year. And the nearly infinite amounts of player-created item skins don't count; why EarthCraft supports such a uselessly narrow range of player-contributed content I'll never know."

"StratusStrife doesn't even support that much. And technically there are a handful of other MMOs that are still playable, but they are total abandonware, with a few broken quests or missing graphics here and there. But you're right that EarthCraft and StratusStrife have the biggest player populations, by far. And the people who want to interact with each other within the environment of those games are out of content to fuel those interactions."

Octahedral nodded vehemently. "And practically every new movie that is released is made in Myala, so they all have the same humanoid models, the same buildings, the same trees... it's awful! I try not to be over-dramatic, but I've seen this situation actually reduce some VRMMO fans to tears! But, if you think so too, how come I don't see you joining or starting a project to create an MMO? In fact I remember you complaining quite a bit when you were working on that mod for a single-player game. Did you not like it when the cooperation had to start with you?"

KrispyKode groaned at the memory of that project - he had eventually finished the mod, which he was still proud of, but damn had it been unpleasant getting to that finish line. "What I was complaining about, if you'll remember, is the fact that I couldn't get anyone to work with me – the exact same problem as the inability to hire people! I don't mind working, and I actually like working with other people's ideas, as long as there's some room to put my own in. But I hate working by myself, with no feedback, no one acting as a leader telling me what to do next... I was whining to you because I was hoping you'd work with me."

Octahedral winced. "I didn't even like the game the mod was for! I'm sorry that I couldn't be supportive of you, but where would I have found any motivation to work on a mod for a game I don't play? Plus, I was busy taking that video class series then – I had to put in some serious time on those exercises, I could tell the results would really be worth it, and they were. But what about starting your own project, then? I'd actually be interested in working with you if we could make something new where I could get my ideas in from the beginning!"

KrispyKode pursed his lips. "I'm no leader – the very idea of trying to recruit people and keep them organized and motivated sounds completely exhausting. Plus, I'd have to have a clear vision for a whole MMO; I have some ideas about what kinds of settings and gameplay I like, but a level of complexity above... no, more like three 'plex levels above anything I've ever designed. No, what we need is to have someone like your brother Star supply the design ideas, because he daydreams about game design all the time anyway – he's probably got more than one MMO design sitting around already made. And someone like my Parkour-kitty to be the leader so she can kick everyone's asses into gear when needed."

Octahedral laughed, "Are you sure ParkourTiger wouldn't just scare away all the recruits? Energy she's got in spades, and she has a naturally dominating personality, but being a leader requires diplomacy, which really isn't her strong point. She's not the most organized person I've ever met either."

KrispyKode also chuckled at the memory of the last time his girlfriend moaned and whined because she had made plans to go out to some big social event and then, when the time came, didn't want to get out of bed. "Lol no, the most organized person ever is clearly Porcelain. Do you remember her color-coded chart thing-"

Octahedral grinned. "That covered the whole wall of her bedroom? Haha yes I remember. Praise be that she got that tablet and figured out how to keep all her timelines and stuff in virtual space."

Propping his chin on his hand, KrispyKode pondered. "But would Porcelain run a MMO creation project? I think she has at least played an MMO, but…"

Octahedral paused, having never considered this idea before. Thinking out loud, she commented, "Porcelain, run an MMO creation project? I mean, she's obviously a competent manager, and if Parkour acted as her, erm, 'enforcer'... Aha! Let's consult the cards!" Drawing out the tarot deck that she constantly kept in her pocket, she brandished it triumphantly.

KrispyKode gave a long-suffering sigh at the mention of Octahedral's security-blanket *cough* he meant tarot cards. "Or, you know, we could just ask Porcelain if she even has any interest in making an MMO..." But recognizing that protesting was pointless, he set his laptop aside when Octahedral joined him at the dining table and started shuffling.

While KrispyKode had certainly heard her explanation of how to properly ask a deck of tarot cards for advice on a problem before, he usually did his best not to listen. Seeing that he was actually paying attention this time, she took a calming breath and launched into an abbreviated version of her usual lecture: "Now, to properly ask the cards about Porcelain's suitability as a leader for the massive project of creating an MMO, and whether it's a good idea for us to attempt to make an MMO at all, we need a name for the project. Not the game's final title when – or if – it gets launched. We need a nickname that captures our deepest wish for the project."

"Why do we need a name at all, though?" KrispyKode wondered (or perhaps whined a bit). Can't we just call it MMO Design Project?"

Octa rolled her eyes. "If you call it that, that's like inviting the local magical forces to make sure it stays a project and a design forever, and never becomes a full game. Names have a lot of power, we need to choose carefully. Anyway, weren't you the one who showed me that ancient Star Trek story about the Enterprise's name being the reason it always gets into trouble?"

KrispyKode heaved a put-upon sigh. "I showed you that because I knew it would be just your cup of tea, not because I agreed with... Oh, nevermind. A good name can only help with recruitment or asking people to donate credits toward a server anyway. So, what name will help it become an actual game?"

"Well, like I said, it should capture your deepest wish for the game. What kind of MMO would you absolutely love to play?" Octahedral searched for some alternate ways to put the question that might help Krispy get a better grasp on it. "What would it need to have to make you satisfied – deeply satisfied, to play it for a long time? What kind of virtual world do you want to live in – would you become a wiser or more alive person by living in?"

KrispyKode groaned melodramatically, but spoiled it by laughing. "Wow, you don't ask for much, do you? I'm really not the right person to be asking this – you need to text that whole series of questions to your brother, Star might actually be able to come up with an answer for that kind of heavy philosophical... no that's not the word…"

"Metaphysical?" at Krispy's nod of agreement, Octahedral continued, "Yeah, you're right – not just StarSeeker, we need to send this question to everyone and pick the best name out of it tomorrow. Though, let's just say it's a survey of what people would really want in a new MMO; let's not tell them we want to actually make this MMO until the cards have, hopefully, declared that the project won't be doomed."

Time to Vote!

ALL VOTES THIS ROUND ARE WRITE-INS TO PROPOSE NAMES. ACTUALLY CHOOSING A NAME FROM THESE SUGGESTIONS WILL BE NEXT ROUND.



The next day Krispy and Octa had six responses from themselves and their friends to evaluate, and on top of that, it seemed that StarSeeker had liked the question enough to post a thread about it on VRMM. org, his favorite MMO forum, so Octahedral and KrispyKode also had the responses there to consider. Disclaimer: Examples may be terrible.

[ ] KrispyKode's Wish is for "A world that feels more natural and vibrant than reality."
- [ ] Write in a title for this wish. Examples: MetaNatural, Vivax

[ ] Octahedral's Wish is for "A game that enables self-realization; really helps its players become wise and happy. Maybe we could even do some matchmaking to help players make new friends."
- [ ] Write in a title for this wish. Examples: Actualidream, Path Of Becoming

[ ] StarSeeker's Wish is for "A truly foreign culture that players would learn about through exploration, and have to act within the culture's social expectations when interacting with NPCs."
- [ ] Write in a title for this wish. Examples: Far Intricalia; Spice of Ancient Geomense

[ ] ParkourTiger's Wish is for "An experience where I, as a ninja, assassin, or wizard, really move my body or the magic within my body as needed for a technique. Bonus points if I have extra-keen senses. I want to feel the breeze and smell my leather armor."
- [ ] Write in a title for this wish. Examples: Sensaturnalia, WeaponDance

[ ] CaffeineBean's Wish is for "A life of drama and excitement; an aware world that writes an interactive story around each player to suit their personal taste."
- [ ] Write in a title for this wish. Examples: PersonalEpic, Chronicalis Experientia

[ ] Porcelain's Wish is for "A game that combines the best of sandbox and themepark; I want to be able to build and experiment while still being able to meet great NPCs and discover deep worldbuilding and be a heroine who fixes problems."
- [ ] Write in a title for this wish. Examples: Contrivocation, Architale

[ ] YourName the Forum User's Wish is for "YourWish."
- [ ] Write in a title for this wish.