Ben Gonshaw: Digital Media Theorist & Game Design Consultant
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12th October 2004

In the mad scramble to get content and feature complete, during the crunch periods of doom where bug #730 keeps being reopened and no one can work out why, someone is already pondering the ‘next big thing’.  In this hit driven industry two things are certain, late nights and the search for a killer next gen title (whichever 'gen' that happens to be).

So what can the future hold?  Will it be massively multiplayer?  Will it be in persistent worlds?  Will it be single or limited players with a narrative?  What will happen, and what would be the best thing to make now is the multimillion dollar R&D investment question of today.

One possibility is a network of online games, sitting in the same IP universe, that feed into one another and have a communal ‘hub’ world.  Each game is unique and to a degree separate, but it takes its inputs from at least one other game, and it outputs into yet others.  Strategy players are competing in a Risk style game, moving troops and units from one place to another.  Arcade gamers are the troops, fighting it out on land, whilst flight sim enthusiasts dog fight overhead.  Puzzle gamers are fitting together blocks of parts into better, new types of machinery and arty types are designing new shells for these machines.  SMS fiends stay in the connecting hub, conversing about who’s winning the war, who’s wearing what and even what’s going on IRL, occasionally being buzzed by skateboarders.  Spies gather there too to try to gain information and stealth gamers try to sneak into other people’s houses, workshops etc. to find booty or steal blueprints.  Sim City buffs plan the urban spaces and other creatives landscape parks and countryside. 

The number and genres of game that exist in this universe can be constantly expanded, both by professionals and in a controlled way by enthusiasts and the community.   A flexible scripting language, robust engine and professional quality development tools that can be released are a must.  It would help to have several layers of tool, from basic which has a gamey interface and few functions, to one with an industrial interface and deep functionality, to create a learning curve for potential contributors.

In a world where set-up costs for the average MMO are upwards of $70m, this is a cost effective and extensible way of providing fun online content.  The best thing about it is that as the number of linked titles expands, so does the community and the types of people attracted.  This means even more variation in the community created content, which attracts yet other subscribers.  The only problem is how to position the IP.  There is a difficult balance to strike to attract both the billions of main-streamers and the hardcore who have the skills to extend the content.  While a Sci-Fi or Fantasy setting instantly marks it as geek (and therefore niche) the alternative of real world is generally unexciting and unattractive to the modders. However, I could have been a bit bigotted about the modders there :-)

To conclude, a modular approach to MMO gaming cuts intial costs, reduces the initial complexity of the task and allows the products to appeal to all current genre gamers and beyond. It's financially safer and has a potential appeal to subscribers a magnitude larger than current MMO games.

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