Editorial: Console Conundrum

By Jeffrey Philipp | September 5, 2009 | | Filed under: Editorials | Tags: Consoles, Editorial, Editorials

Greetings again everyone,

For a long time the whole Massively Multiplayer thing has been considered a rather explicity PC only thing. That’s not to say that MMO’s on the console have never been tried, what with Everquest Online Adventures and Final Fantasy XI for the PS2, but neither one of those really seemed to take off. It’s hard to say, with such a small sample size, whether that was the fault of the console or just poor games.

That said, either developers have short memories, or are simply determined to not learn from the past, as a number of MMO’s and other online games are slated to be released for consoles in the coming 18 months.

While it’s clear that there are some obvious differences between the old attempts on the PS2, and the more recent variations that are being attempted, I have a few thoughts on the matter.

I personally, am of the opinion that the previous foray into the console market was something that wasn’t ever destined to take off like a rocket. A number of people disagree with me on this, but I honestly believe that PC gamers and console gamers really are two very different animals indeed.

It’s a fairly clear thing to observe that even the simplest of priorities are different between the two cultures, and I want to make it clear that neither is something better than the other, merely that there are some cultural differences.

I suppose the most glaring and obvious difference is in the natural input method. I’m sure nearly everyone here has some pretty extensive wear on their WASD keys unless you’ve recently purchased a new keyboard to replace your old worn out one. If you ask me this is one difference that is hard to overcome, and one that I feel confident in saying there is a clear “Winner” in. A keyboard and mouse, in my ever so humble opinion, are simply a more efficient, precise, and far reaching method of control input.

There is a certain intuitiveness about the control stick, but let us not forget the many joysticks that happen to be available to enthusiasts. Granted if you were to go out of your way to get all the fancy peripherals you’re going to be spending a great deal more than you will with the consoles.

Speaking of purchasing an upgraded peripheral, that happens to segue nicely into another little thing that I happen to find different between consoles and the PCs. Upgrades. The master and the monster. The double edged sword. The cloud complete with silver lining.

Regardless of your particular opinion on the subject, the fact that a PC owner can pop open their case and swap out something old for something new is a rather drastic difference between the two cultures. Not that it’s all fun and games, since the rather towering advantage goes to consoles in this particular case. Since they have specialized hardware, and they all have precisely that same hardware, a developer will know going into a project, exactly what they need their product to work on. PC developers have no such guarantees, and system configurations are as varied as DNA signatures, especially among enthusiasts.

This can cause some rather serious showstoppers, often obscure, and usually nearly impossible to troubleshoot due to some obscure foul up in the way one interface handled a request from a hardware port cause it’s mother said something about the NICs apple pie or whatever. The point being, unless you happen to find some other reports of players whose graphics have all turned hot pink and whose speakers sound like they’re striaght out of the Exorcist, then you’re just plain out of luck.

This leads to a number of obscure workarounds, and hoping that someone else who’s having this problem happens to have found out just which card in the box is causing all the trouble and ripping it out.

The upshot to all this is that when you have the money, you can purchase the latest most bleeding edge components that are out there, and your games will look absolutely gorgeous. I’m talking stunning. Fall on your knees, hearing angels voices nice.

At least that’s the theory, if you can get all the driver updates and download the patch for your game that supports all the new features for the new hotness graphics card you just picked up.

And that brings us nicely to the less technical and indeed less physical difference between the consoles and the PCs. That’s right, it’s even a little bit psychological. This one is actually blurring a little bit recently, due to the fact that consoles come with NICs standard these days, and all of the big name consoles have networks of their own.

Yes, I’m talking about the internet effect. I call it that because it sounds fancy. It’s not a technical term or anything, it’s just that PC gamers have been much more aware of the internet as it pertains to gaming. This has many effects, some good, some decided quite awful.

First for the good. Internet multiplayer, indeed the birth of MMOs was made possible by the proliferation of the internet to home computers, and this is something that computer gamers have been using and getting comfortable with, and creating social networks in for years. Console gamers obviously are not stuck in caves, and are aware of and use the internet, but until recently it hasn’t been as directly involved in their gaming culture as with PCs.

I’m going to come out on the side of PCs again here and say that you will notice that rather gaping cultural chasm between the players of something like Everquest, and the usual interaction you get over the internet with a Halo 3 player. While I’m willing to accept that Halo 3 is an anomaly in that sense, I personally avoid XBox live voice chat like the plague.

Over the wire communication in PC gaming has developed a rather stunning number of rules and conventions for said wired communication. Again some good, some bad. A system of iconic faces to indicate non-verbal cues is something you might put under the good. Those symbols being overused to the point of disgust, that would go under the bad, with the leet speak and troll culture.

That aside though, there is a sense of community in online games that doesn’t yet exist with current console online fare.

The absolute worst thing to come out of the internet culture for us PC gamers, is the drastic lowering of standards. One need only look at recent examples like Age of Conan or Warhammer online to notice that somehow, and for some reason, we’ve suddenly become okay with games being released half finished because “We’ll patch the rest in”. Now clearly that is part of the reason why these two games failed, but the fact that they were so blatant in the incompleteness is just an indication that we as a consumer group have become complacent in this area.

Console gamers, on the other hand, simply will not accept a product like this. If a game is incomplete, it generally doesn’t even hit store shelves, and if it does it is more often than not, quickly bludgeoned into obscurity by a collection of gamers who are truly passionate about their hobby.

And this brings us to the problem with trying to get an MMO into a mainstream console market. An MMO is almost by definition never finished, as if it stops being developed people no longer have a reason to pay for it.

One of the most common things I hear from my console playing friends when we discuss our hobby is that they simply don’t understand how I can pay monthly for the same game when I can’t even say it’s finished yet.

I try and explain that it’s expected to evolve and continue, but the thought that everything doesn’t come on the game disc just doesn’t seem to be natural to some. I also bring up the communities and the fine and wonderful people tha tone comes into contact with during the games, and this is also not something not familiar with some people.

For some people the social group involved in a game is limited only to the room that they are in, or the virtual room that they use to play with the small group of other same-y space marianes with ridiculous firearms. For others the social group can include huge numbers from across grand spans, communicating through more than simple pre-recorded sound bites for tactical communication, and discussing the meaningless details about their days that one might compare more to a close friend.

Finally, and this part is likely to be the most divisive, is the different nature of the tw ogaming styles on a conceptual level. Console games tend to be much more fast past, action-y, and twitchy. MMOs on the other hand play much more slowly, much MUCH more slowly. In fact instant gratification junkies really need not apply. This I think is going to be the hardest part to overcome for MMOs trying to establish themselves in the console market, and unfortunately it’s not something that can be done with the standard MMO model.

I suppose it’s telling that two of the biggest titles, Realtime Worlds’ APB, and SoEs The Agency are both shooters placed in a persistent world. This could very well be the thing that is needed in order to draw in gamers from titles like Gears of War or Resistance 2, and if they happen to find that they like the persistent world of MMOs perhaps then, they will explore the vast and varied collection of other MMO titles out there, and that’s only good for everyone.

It was only a matter of time really before this was tried. Console gamers are a huge market, and any company that could manage it would love to get a payment every month from such a massive number of people, that’s just common sense. The trick then becomes creating an MMO that feels right for consoles.

Though I feel that the next generation of console MMOs will inevitably be hurt by the lack of requiring a keyboard to play, I do hope that they manage to get the kinks worked out and introduce a new batch of gamers to the wonderful persistent world.

Well that’s just my opinion anyway, feel free to sling insults at me, I’ll grovel as best I can whilst being pelted by obscenities.

Until next time!