For those of you that don’t know, I used to work in the games industry. I was a scripter/quest designer for two major MMOs, both of which had fairly heavy use of “instancing”. I created areas and quests that utilized instancing, as this was how the games reflected player choice and consequences. But instancing always bothered me. The more I used it and saw it used, the more I felt that it was the antithesis of what MMOs should be. With the launch of Fallout 76’s new Wastelanders update, I am once again reminded of all the reasons that I don’t like instancing.
First, in case anyone doesn’t know, instancing is a system in multiplayer games where one player may enter an “instance” that is unique to them. This might be loading into a new area, or simply an invisible (or visible) boundary that when the player crosses they enter the instance. Sometimes players can take teammates with them, letting them share the instance for a time. Other players may have their own instances or they might have a shared instance unless they are on a particular quest, made a certain choice, or whatever. Sometimes instances are just used to limit the number of players in a particular area. If the instance is not gated by a door, then players entering it might look like they just disappear as they cross into an instance.
There is a less intrusive version of this as well: conditional visibility (CV). This system doesn’t actually separate players with instances, but instead changes what players see based on quest, choices, etc. One player might see an NPC standing in the corner, others see it empty. Some players might see a town in ruins, others it restored.
Now the arguments for using these systems are pretty sound. Player’s don’t like entering a combat zone and finding it already cleared out. Everyone hated having to queue up for boss spawns in older MMOs. Players want to feel like their choices matter in the game, that their character is special. The list can go on.
But this all leads to a lot of problems: Separating players that make different choices, causing teams to have to repeat the same quest over and over so each player can make their own unique choice, seeing groups of players standing around and empty space where an NPCs you can see is, and so on.
And I feel that this is all missing the point of playing an online game. If you want to be the one true hero, who saves the world… then play a single player game. Single player games do all of this much better. They don’t need technical trickery to make the player feel important, because a single player is automatically important.
When I play an online game I’m looking for a SHARED experience, but instancing and CV degrade that. They stop being shared events and start to be parallel single player stories. I still have a lot of fun playing with others, but I find that I tend to remember the “open world” battles and experiences more than the quests, choices, and consequences. I’m sure there are some folks, maybe even a majority of players, that want to have those parallel stories. But that isn’t me.
What I would like to see is MMOs and other online games, that focus on their strengths (shared world/experience), and not their weaknesses (unique player story). When I go into a smoking ruin, I want to know that the player standing next to me is also seeing that smoking ruin. When I go help my buddy fight a group of rebels, I don’t want to see a bunch of hostile loyalists. I want to share that experience and be on common ground. I want to know that this world that I play in is the same world that my companions are in.
I've rambled on for awhile now, so I'll stop here for now. More to follow.
