Crafting

This interchange defines everything that is wrong with the idea of crafting in current MMORPGs:
(from http://www.massively.com/2008/10/24/swtor-classes-part-2/)

You can't talk about classes in particular, but are you going to include anything in the game that isn't combat oriented? Smugglers, tradesmen, that sort of thing.

Gordon: We will definitely have crafting.
Rich: The core classes we'll start off with will be based off or heroic, combat oriented experiences ... Star Wars, right? We are going to have crafting, because that's a big part of MMOs. We're going to implement crafting in a way that 'feels' right for Star Wars. For the longest time we struggled with that. You know, crafting at its heart is not really what the universe is about. But one of the designers came up with a great idea, which I can't talk about because it's not implemented yet, of how to incorporate crafting into Star Wars without forcing a hero to do something that's very non-heroic.

This highlighted text captures the abject idiocy of game developers everywhere. what they really mean is:

We haven't found a way to incorporate crafting in any meaningful way into our very limited understanding of what a heroic story/game is, and so we leave it as an afterthought, and it never gets fully developed, and no one is motivated to solve this problem.

Many games have tried, and every one I have tried has fallen miserably short in terms of making crafting meaningful and fun. Here is a list of mistakes that keep recurring in every MMO to date:

1. Focusing too heavily on loot items does not encourage players to get involved in crafting. Often, the items crafted by players in no way compare in power or versatility to readily available loot items. This further limits the will of the player to sit down and craft. Who wants to spend valuable game time making items that no one wants?

2. Crafting is treated like combat (another broken system), such that in order to achieve a high level of skill, one must grind out thousands of useless items. Without getting off track talking about how boring combat is in MMOs, it is important that the IDEAL MMORPG contain minigames that require both player skill and character skill to accomplish the task. This is true of both combat and crafting.

3. Crafting does absolutely nothing to involve the player--all too often, crafting items forces the player to sit and watch a loader bar over. and. over. and. over. ad infinitum, ad nauseam. No one wants to sit and click the same button over and over all night. This automatically places the players who specialize in crafting in the "I am more capable of withstanding horrendous boredom" camp. See above, mini-games are the answer. A set of keystrokes, or typed commands, or some other way to involve the player in creating items. This necessitates keeping the player from having to repeat the game 100s of times to achieve a decent skill. One way to do this is to have a sliding scale for the number of items created on each successful passage of the minigame.

4. Crafted items are listed in readily available databases, such that one is further bored to tears, because you know that in order to make UBER-Widgets, you have to craft 10000 widgets, 1000 intermediate widgets, 1000 advanced widgets, etc. In order to make crafting interesting, there has to be an element of mystery to the process. What happens if I make this out of wood instead of copper? Copper instead of steel? Additionally, the types of items one can create are cookie-cutter, and offer no distinction from items crafted by another player. The Ideal MMORPG will allow players to customize their items, either through ready-made templates, or through open source 3D drafting software, such as that inherent in "Second Life." Of course, this necessitates tightening the EULA so that created items can be kept in theme with the MMO (i.e., no hot pink phalluses of whomping).

5. Current MMOs focus WAY to heavily on the "everyone must be able to become a hero" philosophy, and not enough on the "everyone must be having fun all the time" philosophy. Statements like the one above capture that. Part of the fun in an MMO is attempting to flesh out a character, and find his niche. Of course, no one wants to be a peon data entry clerk, and the Ideal MMORPG should not force someone to be so, but most current MMOs respond to this by giving every player a "hero in a box" formula, such that no achievement has any real meaning. All you have is an avatar with shiny clothes, and you have no meaningful connection with the character you created.

6. (Probably the most important) Economies in MMOs are not equipped to add incentive to crafting in any way. There is no way to create a hero-quest style MMORPG without some kind of economy. How can one rise "against all odds" when there are no real odds? I found this to be true when I played Asheron's call and Star Wars Galaxies. No matter how skilled I became at making something, I could never sell it, because someone was always willing to run through town dropping them on the ground for free. The ideal MMORPG will make players cautious about how they spend their hard-earned gold and loot. As a result of having a stable economy, the works of player-crafters will be central to the daily workings of all members of the server community. NPCs in towns should be selling only player-made items. Scarcity and difficulty should be factors inherent in the player's daily struggle in game. Choosing to do one thing over another should have real consequences. In this way, heroism can result from simply surviving a day in game, and craftsmen can join the ranks of heroes by creating items that helped people survive. (if you craft arrows and bows, and a town manages to survive a zombie onslaught because you were able to create enough in time, you are a hero!).

Crafting, it turns out, is central and essential to making the Ideal MMORPG work. It is the basis for the game's community, and automatically encourages players to form relationship. Unfortunately, too many MMORPGs leave it on the editing room floor, or add it as an afterthought, because they really don't understand how economies work, and thus, can not create them in an MMO.