Our Invisible War – Battlefields

The lands around his mountain home were scorched, desolate, and flat. Trenches scarred the earth. Gutted pillboxes with crumbling walls and abandoned machine gun nests haphazardly littered the terrain. The ground was pockmarked, ravaged by the occasional barrage of artillery fire. High above, the clouds drifted through the sky like glaciers, plowing through the sea of blue with ponderous grace. Ragged streams of golden light fell down from the cracks between the clouds upon the fighting below.

Though he was far away, Niles could still make out the destruction occurring below him. He stood and heard the air shriek with in pain at the howling fury of the artillery. He stood and watched as the earth roared and belched, sending fountains of debris and unfortunate soldiers high into the air. Farther off into the horizon, flashes of light erupted briefly, almost whimsically, like so many fireflies. Nearer to him were countless smaller bursts of lights. There was no pattern to their light show, only chaos and a garbled symphony of cries, tremors, and gunfire.

He never knew what to call what he saw occurring below him. He never knew what to call the madness below though he was a part of it himself. So he continued to watch with a kind of fascination one reserves for train wrecks and other man-made disasters.

Sometimes he felt like he was on a desolate beach with a vast wasteland at his back. He sat on the immaculate white sand and watched the waves beat the vast ocean into froth and foam. There amidst the barren windswept sand, the overwhelming overcast sky, he could be free to unburden himself to the air and water. His hopes, frustrations, anguish, desire, all could be cast exuberantly into the water with reckless passion. Yet the ocean would only swallow them all with barely a ripple and continue its melancholy roar. No matter how much he would give to the ocean, the ocean would continue singing its dirge to him until he was a mere husk. It would erode him away until he was a blade of grass among entire golden field, merely swaying wherever that sighing dismay exhaled. Sitting there, on the cool sand with the breeze blowing sharply and tenderly around him, the endless roar filling his eyes and ears.

Slowly, he felt the fascination ebb away from his body with each crash of the artillery. Weariness entered the gap of his lost interest. The fatigue slipped past his skin and quickly saturated his flesh. Almost at once, he was struck by the biting cold rushing around him and through the hollow cavities of his body. Niles let a hand cover his eyes. That same hand was soon supporting his head from falling forward. Another roar shook the air and he closed his eyes as his hands moved to cover his ears. But the ground underneath him still trembled, and the shrieking in the air passed through his hands effortlessly. He let his head fall forward and his hands grabbed at his hair fiercely. Gently, he let his hair sift between his fingers, caressing locks of hair between fingertips. His hands ran through his hair slowly. But gradually, the pace of his hands grew more frenzied. Fingers morphed into claws and Niles began to paw at his scalp. His right hand however, slowed down. Once again, it went back to caressing locks of hair. This continued for some time, one hand tearing at his scalp, while the other was at peace. Then both hands stopped. Delicately, with trembling care, both hands clutched at the silken onyx strands. His hands did not tug or feel, but instead grasped and held, as if that multitude of hopelessly thin strands could be his anchor.

Instance vs Non-Instanced Dungeons

Let’s begin with some definitions for those who are not in the know.

An instanced dungeon is a dungeon where the player and those in his group have their own special version of the dungeon. It’s the same dungeon that everyone else gets, they just have one “instance” of it to themselves. An appropriate metaphor would be someone reserving a room at a restaurant. They still get the same menu and food that everyone else gets, its just that the experience is contained so that they can only interact with each other and the waiters.

A non-instanced dungeon is a dungeon that is open to everyone. Multiple groups can be in a non-instanced dungeon. There is competition to kill certain monsters etc. Think of it like a buffet where everyone can shovel as much food on their plate as they like, but they have to compete with other people. There is an unlimited amount of food, but it takes time for more portions to be cooked (metaphor for monster spawns).

So which format is better? Well, if the results from a MMORPG.com poll are any sort of barometer, then I would say that a majority is indifferent as long as it’s well done:

What are your opinions on instancing?

04/19/2006

4

9204

It’s great! 16.0%

Depends on how it’s used. 61.9%

I’m indifferent 7.0%

I hate it. 15.0%

Why are most players indifferent? I would argue that most players appreciate the fact that either format offers something worthwhile.

A non-instanced dungeon might offer a more social experience, along with the feel that the player is truly in a world by having to compete with other players. This format suffers however, from a lack of narrative focus, and offers frustration in the form having to compete with other players\groups for that one special monster spawn in order to gain the loot. This also leads to problems of people “camping” spawn points, in other words, waiting for the monster to appear and killing it so that no one else can get the potential loot.

An instanced dungeon offers a tighter narrative experience, minus the frustration of spawn campers preventing players of getting good drops. It lacks however, the social experience of the non-instanced dungeon. Furthermore, load times and such decrease from the immersive factor of players feeling like they are in a world. The benefit of a “seamless” world should not be underestimated.

In my opinion, these two formats have not been utilized to their full extent. My main critique is this:

Instanced and non-instanced dungeons are very similar in their feel. When it comes to dungeon architecture, pacing, monster pathing, scripting etc. there is little that distinguishes a non-instanced dungeon from an instanced one except for the fact that one is more secluded then the other.

To go back to using metaphors, I liken a instanced dungeon to a roller-coaster and a non-instanced dungeon to a sandbox. An instanced dungeon in my mind, should focus on creating a tight narrative experience that is unfeasible in a non-instanced dungeon. Likewise, a non-instanced dungeon should focus on creating a more non-linear experience and take advantage of the free-form feel that the format offers.

Here’s an example of what I have in mind:

The Great Train Robbery (Instanced):

Players must rob a train of a crate of goods. The crate is guarded not only under lock and key, but it is also hidden somewhere on the train. On top of that, it is guarded by a small compliment of police. The players have a time limit before the authorities start arriving. As time progresses beyond that time limit, more and more police arrive and the players must escape on before they are caught.

A House with a History (Non-Instanced):

The owner of a large estate has passed away under mysterious circumstances. Players are asked to investigate the cause of the man’s death by his family. The entire estate is open for the players the peruse, monsters do not get difficult as players explore further into the mansion (in other words, progression should not feel linear). Rather, when players discover certain areas will the true horrors of the house be revealed. Hidden trapdoors, a overgrown garden, and a maze-like library are examples of areas within the mansion.

The point of these two examples is to create a dungeon experiences that fully embraces the inherent strengths of the format they are created in. There is no real reason why say, an instanced dungeon could embrace a more free-form approach or a non-instanced dungeon use more scripting. It is my opinion however, that the two formats have inherent properties that lend themselves to one more then the other.

If you, the reader, have not noticed already, I find the entire PvE experience in most MMOs to be sorely lacking in focus. More on this topic at a later date.