Post by SunScript on 2021-06-18 04:17:26
Immersion in an MMO is make or break for me. Without it, I'm just swinging a sword around until I get bored and drift off.
Here's a few things I noticed that help with immersion:
1. Weather patterns that make sense for their biome. I feel much more like I'm living in the world when I get caught in a dustorm and the dust blows around me almost convincing my brain I can smell it. Good visual and sound design can go a long way.
2. Giving players reasons to become sensitive to weather/seasons, beyond the aesthetic. I come from FFXI where the weather and day of the week had effects on crafting, combat, spells etc. Certain seasons made certain types of weather more likely. The beauty of it all was that even if you tried to ignore all of this, you still ended up attuned to it and thus more immersed. Thunderstorm weather would spawn Thunder Elementals which you had to avoid, their loot was important to crafting etc. You ended up having an innate feeling of the seasons based on how hard it was to come across certain crafting materials and the obstacles it created around you.
3. Carefully thought out limits on crafting material amounts. When a player doesn't easily get an abundance of crafting materials, they're forced to either go gather and hunt for more, or organize and get involved in supply chains and auction houses. Both of these are forms of immersion that come from a need for materials. In the first case you're gaining an understanding of where things grow, which mobs you can steal cloth from, where you can find the bandits with the swords you can melt down etc. In the second case it makes you more involved in the goings on of settlements, caravans and their general flow.
4. Good NPC dialogue/sound design that doesn't get stale when repeated. Let's face it, no matter how creative and diverse NPCs are, eventually their lines are going to repeat or return to a default line. But there's ways you can make that work.
- a bad example is having an NPC repeating "I can't find my cat" or "have you seen my dog?" especially if you don't get the option to help them in any way
- a better example would be something like "Today is a great day for potatoes!". They'll keep repeating that and you will conclude it's always a great day for potatoes. That just works.
5. Making it clear that NPCs have lives outside of selling you arrows and giving you quests and that the world keeps going even without you. This can be achieved through lots of small things, like having migrating NPCs, dialogue lines that give you tiny snippets into their lives, and meeting NPCs somewhere outside town who may be hunting creatures too.
6. NPC quests making it reasonable and clear why the player is being given a quest and not because you're the Chosen Hero. Maybe you're the only Cleric in the little town, maybe they have come to trust you personally, maybe no one else was available, maybe they need all the help, or maybe they're testing you to see if they can entrust you with more.
7. Being gently reminded we're not all just murder-hobos all the time. I played Neverwinter Nights on the PC a long time ago and whenever I ran around the town at full speed, weapons in hand, the townsfolk would get scared, worried or grumpy. It made the world a little more realistic.
8. Related to the above, allowing for and encouraging moments of break within the game. You finally made it to the top of the mountain and you have a backlog full of quests to do, but you can stop for a few moments to admire the sunset. You're just walking around town and don't feel like being in that uncomfortable metal armor. It's time to wear casual clothes for a bit and check the local tavern.
Its often the little things that most contribute to immersion.
Apologies for the wall of text! Tried to keep it organized at least.
Here's a few things I noticed that help with immersion:
1. Weather patterns that make sense for their biome. I feel much more like I'm living in the world when I get caught in a dustorm and the dust blows around me almost convincing my brain I can smell it. Good visual and sound design can go a long way.
2. Giving players reasons to become sensitive to weather/seasons, beyond the aesthetic. I come from FFXI where the weather and day of the week had effects on crafting, combat, spells etc. Certain seasons made certain types of weather more likely. The beauty of it all was that even if you tried to ignore all of this, you still ended up attuned to it and thus more immersed. Thunderstorm weather would spawn Thunder Elementals which you had to avoid, their loot was important to crafting etc. You ended up having an innate feeling of the seasons based on how hard it was to come across certain crafting materials and the obstacles it created around you.
3. Carefully thought out limits on crafting material amounts. When a player doesn't easily get an abundance of crafting materials, they're forced to either go gather and hunt for more, or organize and get involved in supply chains and auction houses. Both of these are forms of immersion that come from a need for materials. In the first case you're gaining an understanding of where things grow, which mobs you can steal cloth from, where you can find the bandits with the swords you can melt down etc. In the second case it makes you more involved in the goings on of settlements, caravans and their general flow.
4. Good NPC dialogue/sound design that doesn't get stale when repeated. Let's face it, no matter how creative and diverse NPCs are, eventually their lines are going to repeat or return to a default line. But there's ways you can make that work.
- a bad example is having an NPC repeating "I can't find my cat" or "have you seen my dog?" especially if you don't get the option to help them in any way
- a better example would be something like "Today is a great day for potatoes!". They'll keep repeating that and you will conclude it's always a great day for potatoes. That just works.
5. Making it clear that NPCs have lives outside of selling you arrows and giving you quests and that the world keeps going even without you. This can be achieved through lots of small things, like having migrating NPCs, dialogue lines that give you tiny snippets into their lives, and meeting NPCs somewhere outside town who may be hunting creatures too.
6. NPC quests making it reasonable and clear why the player is being given a quest and not because you're the Chosen Hero. Maybe you're the only Cleric in the little town, maybe they have come to trust you personally, maybe no one else was available, maybe they need all the help, or maybe they're testing you to see if they can entrust you with more.
7. Being gently reminded we're not all just murder-hobos all the time. I played Neverwinter Nights on the PC a long time ago and whenever I ran around the town at full speed, weapons in hand, the townsfolk would get scared, worried or grumpy. It made the world a little more realistic.
8. Related to the above, allowing for and encouraging moments of break within the game. You finally made it to the top of the mountain and you have a backlog full of quests to do, but you can stop for a few moments to admire the sunset. You're just walking around town and don't feel like being in that uncomfortable metal armor. It's time to wear casual clothes for a bit and check the local tavern.
Its often the little things that most contribute to immersion.
Apologies for the wall of text! Tried to keep it organized at least.