Every MMORPG has them; Go and kill X amount of ‘fill in the blank’ creature or Collect the ‘Y’ widget by killing the ‘fill in the blank’ creature. What originally started as minor, easily completed side quests are used as full blown filler to the point of making gamers want to puke! Developers and designers take note; this crap has to end!
The Kill Quest Perverted
There are numerous examples in both mythology and fiction where a heroic or villainous character has to go out and slay someone or something. It could be a dragon, an evil overlord, or a good king. It could even be a marauding monster or some other not very nice creature. Since this kind of plot device can easily be overused in a MMOG setting, designers came up with a variant of it. These type of quests or missions involving killing a specific number of a specified creature, usually something along the line of ‘thinning the overpopulation’ or ‘proving your worth’ or some such.
While not riveting story wise they’re OK as a side quest or quick to do task.Problem is, this ‘side quest’ is used WAY too much in MMORPG’s. They’re used as filler more and more to the point that they’ve become a staple for any MMORPG presently and future ones in the works.
World of Warcraft is the biggest offender for this sort of stuff. Like I said, they’re in every MMOG out there but WoW really takes the cake with this sort of thing. You can’t go by 2 levels without some sort of kill quest being thrown at you, and it’s more pronounced in their Burning Crusade expansion pack.
What’s so bad about kill quests? For starters, they foster repetitious behavior that will even turn the most die hard MMOG player off after a bit. Granted, all MMOG’s have some sort of behavior their players will repeat over and over again (like combat or resource gathering) but one of the main purposes for quest structure and content is to add variety. Kill quests are varied only in the type of creature needing to be killed and the number needed to complete the quest. That’s it.
In the grand scheme of MMO things, repetition isn’t that bad. What it does to the immersion factor of the game is bad. Not just bad, it’s a downright game killer! Every developer/designer strives to get players involved with the game they make. They call it ‘immersion’ or ‘Suspension of Disbelief’. It’s these elements that make a game fun and anything that detracts from that detracts from the fun. In a MMORPG setting where you, the player character, are meant to be adventuring in some fantasy or sci fi world, do you really want to see the man behind the curtain? After performing a few of those Kill Quests, it becomes painfully apparent that the quest is nothing but filler, something to distract you and keep your monthly subscription. It’s not really fun and it doesn’t help you get immersed into the game. I’ve seen a few Kill missions that had pretty decent stories behind them, but they’re the exception when they should be the rule.
The Drop Quest: It Should Be Dropped All Right!
The Drop Quest is very similar to the Kill Quest in one sense. Usually you have to hunt some sort of monster in order to get something from it say an ear, tail or some special do-dad . The player is told they need to have an ‘X’ amount of these do-dads to complete the mission. So you kill ‘Y’ creature to get the ‘X’ item, getting enough ‘X’ items to satisfy the quest. At least it appears to be that way and there the similarities between Kill Quests and Drop Quests ends.
What really happens with Drop quests is that the player is NOT guaranteed that killing ‘Y’ monster will drop the ‘X’ item every time. It’s random. Kill one monster and it has what you need. Kill 20 more and they don’t have it. The player often winds up having to kill an obscene amount of monsters just to get the item(s). If you think that is bad, imagine what its like when a group of players all have the same quest, each of them needing the same amount of that elusive item. Just sit back and watch the hours tick away!
What the Drop Quest is, is repetition ad nauseam. It goes beyond being filler, but a full blown time sink and a test of the player’s patience. Now if the item was found every time after the monster was killed, the quest wouldn’t be so bad. Add the random chance of the item being there or not for ‘challenge’ and watch the player swear up a storm for having to go through this nonsense. Drop Quests are an immersion killer. The longer it takes the player to complete it, the faster the fun dwindles. I think if you did a player poll to see if anyone enjoyed doing a drop quest, the overwhelming answer would be NO. Again, I have to point the finger at WoW for blatant overuse of this gameplay element. Yeah yeah every MMOG has em. WoW has them in spades!
Stop the Madness!!
Developer, designer, overly cautious investor, listen up! These type of gaming elements are not that fun and when you make it 40% of the gaming content available for players it just plain sucks. Maybe it’s just me, but with all the MMO games on the market now plus the ones in development, plus the ones in the document stages, you keep up this style of content your game will be bottom feeding before you know it. If you need to use a Kill Quest, hide the number to add some mystery to it that won't discourage your players right away. As for Drop Quests, make it drop every other time at least. Personally I think these quests should be dropped entirely but some folk actually like 'em.
WoW fans, don't get me wrong; WoW is a great game and did wonders for the industry. But some of the gaming content their peddling ain’t worth your time or your dollar. You know what I mean.
Darke