Sleep Therapy for Gamers
by covert.c. on Mar.15, 2006, under games design
I crouch. I run. I spin and shoot. Furiously tapping the mouse, I bask in the visceral surge of being in the zone, unstoppable. Finally, as I hurridly wipe the sweat off my hands, the round ends. I relax and exhale. Its over. Satisfied with my accomplishment, I wait until the next round starts.And then I yawn and fall asleep.
Some gamers require neither adrenaline nor an obvious DING! at the end of an activity. They like to relax, and just barely pay attention. Their reward lies within a patient crawl. Their satisfaction more abstract. They never see “the zone”, and they’re defnitely not looking for it.
This supposed demographic depicts a busier person, perhaps with family and professional responsibilities. Less time and less energy. I realise that not every gamer can be so nichified. Anyone can cross into intense multiplayer sessions if the mood strikes. Yet, this situation is quite inevitable for most people, even the devoutly hardcore. Its gonna happen to you.
We’re going to see more games that cater to this phenomenon, quite independant of time or focussed attention. I’m not talking about the “casual game market”. Y’know…those grandma games that supply simple game forms within a cutesy and clicky web app. I’m really talking about asynchronicity. Games where I set an activity in motion…and then walk away. I’m not even sure if this gametype has a name, but I’ll just call it detached gaming.
Some quick examples :
Hollywood Stock Exchange. Sort of an old example, but the bulk of it rested in returning to the game to check your results. The actual activity required no focus or time to participate.
EVE Online. As I’m told, it is plainly clever in this respect. Instead of following the pure timesink model glorified within other MMOs like WoW, they allow you to progress your skills while offline. Its a great example. Set your skill affinity, then log off. Why not? Waiting for a progress indicator or repetitively slaying a mob is just an empty activity.
Animal Crossing. Another detached game, if you want it to be. One of the interesting drivers in this game is indeed time, but not necessarily time spent actually playing it. Real time. As real days progress, you witness more events and happenings within the little virtual town.
There is a commonality at work here, and that is a form of offline persistence. The aforementioned examples require some aspect of it to allow the core activities to incubate within the game mechana. The game state requires preservation between invocations, whether its stored on a server somewhere or on your local console.
Just for fun, think about how this aspect could improve MMOs.
The unadulterated timesink (as found in WoW and the like) is a recognized flaw in the fun factor of that game. If the drive for greater subscription revenue had lessened, we might have seen a subtraction from this active playtime requirement. It would arguably improve WoW measurably. Why not play the AH from a webpage if I want to? Or set my character in a zone to grind and then leave her to it (perhaps at a greater risk from other players)?
I like to imagine a MMO with the hardcore aspects ripped forcibly from its innards. Where I check in periodically to see how my little army is progressing as I make a few ticks and balances of resources or investments. And then log off. A game where time flows and things happen, and then surprises me with the results the next time I visit.
This doesn’t stop at MMOs of course. More on this later, but in the meantime I must sleep. 
19 Comments for this entry
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March 15th, 2006 on 7:41 am
One of the constant complaints with Eve Online is that you can't use your account web interface to chnage skill training. If a skill completes at 10 in the morning, when you're at work, you have to log in to start training a new one, or wait until you get home, in which case you've lost several valuable hours of training. Other proposals include queueing skills to train so that one starts automatically after another completes. Likewise the extensive player driven market in Eve.
The devs officially responded that they didn't want to make it easier for gold farmers to grow sellable characters. They want to keep at least a minimal amount of involvement in the game--flying to a new system to buy the skillbook you need to train, moving a hot drop to a busier market to jack up the price.
It's not a knockdown argument, but it is a valid dev concern.
March 15th, 2006 on 11:37 am
So we can agree that EVE's offline advancement mechanism is a positive trend. At least for people that dislike timesinks.
March 15th, 2006 on 11:48 am
doooood! you know i'm on the same page!
m3mnoch.
March 15th, 2006 on 2:57 pm
By chance, I saw your post m3mnoch.. looks like we're smokin' the same shit, lol...
March 16th, 2006 on 6:31 am
I really like the concept of detached gaming, and I think you hit it spot-on as something that appeals to older gamers without the vast swathes of time that kids seem to be able to devote to immerseing themselves in games. (I remember spending literally every waking hour playing Montezuma's Revenge, something that seems crazy to me now.)
The example of the Hollywood Stock Exchange is interesting, too, because that implies that all forms of stock exchange, from the DJIA to betfair.com, are in some ways "detached gaming". Is this an after-the-fact rebranding? By buying equities, is the stockbuyer just engaging in a form of gaming? It's been called gambling in the past, so I suppose so, but it would certainly be an interesting take on the profession of stockbroker -- gamer? As you point out in the post prior to this one, I guess the line between gaming and daily life can be easily blurred nowadays.
March 16th, 2006 on 10:23 am
I have been playing Galactic Civ 2 and I have been thinking how sad it is there is no massive aspect. How great it would be to build up a huge tech tree and alliances with other players. Eve Offline is a snooze fest as is almost anything that doesnt require some twitch. It would be nice to manage a glorious empire from your armchair and log in daily to check up on its progress.
March 16th, 2006 on 9:28 pm
Nelson gets the prize for being the one to reason out the topic of my next post.
March 16th, 2006 on 10:40 pm
On another note - EVE - its all depth and no twitch. Definitely not for everyone, but it seems like a healthy MMO thats found its own.
March 27th, 2006 on 6:22 pm
Eve took so long to figure out, wait I never did figure it out.. hrm
deep thoughts. Wouldnt it be cool if you could get points for aimlessly crusing around space picking up xp for cool things that randomly happen to you then when you want to you plug back into the hyper-gunz battle going on inside any given star system with the click of an overhead bleeping signal beckoning for help.
[blink> [blink> "help base station 39 defend against the algerson alliegence"
So you go in dystopia style kick ass or lose and loot the invadors or get ass ramed by pirates. I think if you feel like fleeing its ok, just bust back to your ship and space out!!!
March 27th, 2006 on 6:24 pm
oh key note. tha longer you play the cooler you look of course, but your gunz ability is a factor of your hand-eye, not your time spent. But your ship certainly can be a factor of the time spent.
March 28th, 2006 on 3:09 pm
As I said before, a space shooter sim (even MMO) is long overdue.
Justing and I were talking about some rumoured expansion to EVE including planetary exploration and colonization. There would be a great opportunity for CCP to incorporate some twitch elements into their gorgeous game. Doubtful, of course, but we can always dream.
April 4th, 2006 on 4:32 pm
How about this idea. Background, I work for a voice software place right now, we are always talking about ways to keep people on the line a few senconds longer with new little gizmos. How about a deal with a phone company, where you can control your players location in am mmorpg with vmxl. So you call in, and can speak to your player and say as your players inner voice. Login.
April 4th, 2006 on 4:40 pm
Precisely!
April 12th, 2006 on 3:51 pm
You play Oblivion?
April 13th, 2006 on 6:13 pm
I try to keep the "now playing" area up-to-date, just for interest's sake. So yea, I play it and ... wow!
November 1st, 2006 on 3:57 am
I had a thought a few weeks back that is a little off topic but ties into the casual gamer vs uber gamer converstion.
I think a server split based on time played would be interesting. Basically you pay a amount set by hours per week and you are put on a server that mixes you with others of your same time allowance. Say 10 hrs per week, 30 hrs per week, and unlimited.
There are probably many issues that would have to be worked out but an idea like this would solve some of the leveling issues and keep players on your server throtled to a similar advancement such as yours.
I play SWG and I have been a come and go player for three years. I can honestly say being half the level as the mass player base on your server does reduce SOME of the fun of the game.
I just can not devote as much time as others and if I could play on a server filled with others more like me I would love it.
January 26th, 2007 on 4:25 am
I think the split idea would be great for all online games. If you could have someway of logging hours played by your cd key. I believe this would make online games more enjoyable for everone. How many times have you purchased a game more than a week after it comes out, and there has already been someone in the server who has played every hour of every day since it came out.
If they could find out some way to allow players in servers based on time it would be great. Giving newer players the ability to go into more advanced servers, but not allowing the people with 1000 hours of playing time to mop the floor with beginners for the fun of it.
September 7th, 2007 on 5:05 pm
Yeah a detached gaming can probably attract bigger audience if build nicely. I haven't played MMO games in awhile because I hate to compete with college and high school kids (glad I was there too enjoy the moments)
February 8th, 2012 on 6:18 pm
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