Solo Play Versus Team Play In MechScape
Written by mike470

Every gamer has a different style, and it is important for developers to recognize this as they create their game. Many Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) are either focused on team play or solo play, but why not focus on both? It is important for games to try to appeal to all different styles of gameplay, and a major controversy is catering to either solo or team gameplay. While it is hard to speculate on whether MechScape will focus on one or the other, we can take a look at other games and see how they handle this issue.

First, let’s take a look at RuneScape (you may have heard of it ). RuneScape is a very solo-oriented game, as almost all things can be done without assistance from another player; whether a player is killing a monster or cutting down a tree, many things can be done alone. In fact, it is common that someone will try to avoid contact with others, making it so that they are alone while doing a task. For example, let’s say Jimmy is training on a monster. There are many other players killing the same monster, so it is harder for poor Jimmy to get experience. Due to the competition for a monster, Jimmy is forced to switch worlds in hopes of finding one where there are not as many other players killing the monster.

Notice how Jimmy is trying to avoid interaction with other players since they are attacking the same monsters as him, thus making him lose potential experience in the long run. This reason causes other people to want to play alone, and if they choose to play with others they will be punished by gaining less experience than they normally would playing by themselves.

Now, RuneScape does have a few features that encourage team play among players. An example of this would be minigames, which can raise a player’s experience while working together with other players in attempts to meet a common goal. Most of these minigames have been recent, so it seems as if Jagex is trying to encourage team play. In addition to these minigames, there are also monsters that are best defeated with the help of other players, an example being the Corporeal Beast.

While RuneScape is very friendly to solo play, there are other MMORPGs which focus more on team play - an example being World of Warcraft (WoW). WoW has a common feature called raids, which is when a group of players go into the same dungeon in attempts to defeat the ‘boss’ of it. While the number of players necessary can vary from raid to raid, you always need at least one other player to assist you in completing them. Players gain very good experience and significant rewards for completing raids.

Now, there is also solo play in WoW. Players can complete some quests by themselves and receive awards and experience for doing so. While players can level through this, it is common that they will want to go on raids as well. A problem for solo players in WoW is that some items can only be acquired through joining raids with other players. This puts soloing players at a disadvantage, as they are unable to attain certain gear without joining raids. Another issue is that certain quests can only be done by taking part in a raid, which causes issues for solo players.

Since we’ve taken a look at MMORPGs focused on both solo play and team play, we will now speculate upon MechScape. While very little is known about MechScape, there is a quote from Jagex which could prove to be valuable information. In an interview with Mark Gerhard, he says “[MechScape] plays like no other MMO out there, from the mechanics, to how you interact with the other players.” From this quote, we can tell that player interaction is a key part of MechScape’s mechanics and, from first glance, seems like it may be necessary to team up with fellow gamers to succeed in the game.

How MechScape plans to cater to solo players is also unknown. However, one can make the assumption that it may fit solo players well as the game is based off the mechanics from single player 4X Genre games (click here to read more information about the 4X genre).

How do you think Jagex should cater to both solo players and team players? Should one group be treated differently? Share your opinions.


MechScape and Community News


MechScape Q&A Canceled
The MechScape Q&A with Jagex was recently canceled. (Read more)

RuneTek 5
Mod Chris E has described his work on the RuneScape engine upgrades, dubbed "RuneTek 5." It is likely to have ties to MechScape. (Read more)

Display Name Developer Blog
Mod Duncan has gone into more detail regarding how the Jagex-wide Display Name system will work. (Read more)

Previous Issues:
MechScape Post #25: MechScape and the 4X Genre
MechScape Post #24: MechScape and its future competition
MechScape Post #23: Jagex's use of Social Networking Sites
MechScape Post #22: Basics of the Four Playable Species
MechScape Post #21: The Mecherican Dream
MechScape Post #20: Desert City Art Review and New Beginnings Review
MechScape Post #19: Cultural Differences: How they might affect MechScape
MechScape Post #18: The Economy of an MMORPG
MechScape Post #17: Influences on MechScape
MechScape Post #16: MechScape Moderation
MechScape Post #15: The MechScape Environment II

Footnotes
Contributors: Brenden, Dirk, Ren (Content Research Team); Dizzy; Max, MC, mike470, Xela (Writing & Editing Team).
Disclaimer: The views expressed by members of staff do not necessarily represent the view of MechScape World.

Interesting..... I would love to see Jagex incorporate a lot more teamwork into MS, but still making it so you can do a lot of stuff by yourself. However, I really don't want to see them driving away teamwork in certain places. I can't think of any example of that in MS (mostly because it isn't out), but the one in RS mentioned in the article is a good description. I think that they shouldn't make it necessary to work together in MS, but they shouldn't have parts where working together will hinder you. I also think that there should be an upside to working on a team, maybe better rewards, or rewards that you can only get from working on a team (kind of like: you're not going to get a drop when you go solo the CB, but you might if you team it).

very intersting, thanks for writing:D

Nice post.

I myself am more into Solo (Nerd does not equal social lol). Atleast I know when I die it's my fault and not some dude who forgot to heal me :P.

Though I like some Team-based stuff aswell... =/

Anyway I hope it's better balanced than (your examples) RuneScape & WoW.

Nice post MC, And all the writting and research teams!

I`d be welcoming this, I prefer games which are team based, like World of Warcraft. With guilds, partys, dungeons and it makes things nice when you get to help and be helped by other players.

I can`t see Jagex taking away the Solo aspect though... Just my thoughts though, Which are probably all rubbish!

For myself I would prefer both solo play and team play. Many of the reasons are is that when someone is just starting out in a game they aren't going to really have many friends or know many people. So solo play would be good for learning how to use you character fluently. So when they start needing team play they have a number of friends to choose from and they can then pick the best one for the job or maybe they were even asked for something they were just about to do anyways.

I prefer being for of a hybrid for both. For team oriented games, I never really trust someone is going to hold my back unless it is a clan members or someone friend that I have had for a bit. This is mainly because people don't look out for others like they should sometimes. In FPS games, teams are commonly set against each other and each team basically play independently. The one thing I've noticed however is that when one team starts working together it becomes a flop as I would way. That team will basically camp around the spawn area because players are working together while one person from the other team is trying to take out four or five people in that one area.

So what I do is I'll play solo unless I noticed one player is watching out for me or following me. Maybe watching my back. I'm surely going to do if for the other player and increase our chance to become likely to have a many kills before we die. I'll even watch players' backs if I'm behind them, and I've saved many asses by doing it.

Now I really hope MechScape will have both sides to it because I will certainly want to work with friends and clan members. The idea of group playing is exactly what clans are based on. If a game is completely solo dependent a clan couldn't survive very well or last at all unless it just turned out to be a group of friends and such.

I also feel that punishing players who work together through experience or some other means is a horrible thing. RuneScape does this for when your training and I hate it. Of course having too many players work together as a punishment get experience is something everyone could deal with but punishing a player if two or more people show up? Common!

Remember though that MechScape will not have any experience. It is promoted by something else. I'm thinking technology and your effect on the world (through how NPC see you [even players maybe]). Technology today is very group oriented, it is not a solo project. Without the works of over millions of scientists we would not have computer like we have today or be thinking about alternative fuel sources. We might still be in the iron age still. Science is a very big social experiment. (Oh, and I just had an whole class on how science was a social experiment so it must be a team aspect!)

Good job Mike. I really like team play, teamwork just really appeals to me. So I hope they have alot of it in MS.

Like someone said before me, a strong solo stage for lower levels and teamplay for the high-level or 'endgame'.
Solo just doesn't appeal to me very long

You said: “[MechScape] plays like no other MMO out there, from the mechanics, to how you interact with the other players.” From this quote, we can tell that player interaction is a key part of MechScape’s mechanics and, from first glance, seems like it may be necessary to team up with fellow gamers to succeed in the game.

Non sequitur! From this quote, the only thing which can logically be assumed is that there will be interaction between players. Anything beyond that is pure speculation, and should not be presented as anything but that.

I gonna love this unreleased game more & more! In RuneScape there aren't to many things to do together with getting the greatest stuff and in WoW it's just all raiding to get the best of the best stuff. If Mechscape is both that would be awesome! And Jimmy you choose as name next time Darryl Awesome post this! Very interesting.

I did both in RS, so I expect I'll do both in MS, depends how it's set out.

I'll be happy if teams are'nt required for everything and are'nt healer reliant so you wait half an hour or more for a class that attracts snobs with God complexes that will probably just leave in 1 minute when they mess up.
I like player interaction, I just don't like waiting long times to do something because the developers force it on you (Final Fantasy Online!).

Jagex makes gameplay with team members really easy and boring. I hope they could implement a more complex team playing game system and a more detailed and isolated solo system as well.

Team-oriented games are so much better, it is more realistic and how the real world works. It brings more involvement into the game amongst player interaction and stops autobots in some form too.

I'd like to hope MechScape has more team based things, that actually work well, unlike RuneScape. Solo play can be fun, but I'm sick of it, thanks to RuneScape.

A lot of it falls on RuneScapes terrible chatting and communication systems. It'll be interesting to see what Jagex do.

I hope MS has things for groups and solo. I personally think it's stupid that you are able to solo the Runescape bosses. One thing WoW does right is its team based activities.

Ok, this is just me.

I think Jagex would be better off if they made the game sort of like WoW in this way. They should have the game be able to be played with a group or with out one. It seems really lame to only have one or the other. I sometimes like to be able to do things my self, and not need to gather a huge party to do a simple task, but i also would like the option to grab a teem and go together in a task i couldnt do my self. I think that tasks you need to do as a group shouldnt be able to be soloed. That is soooo lame :p

Anyway, yea.

Puppychow

Interesting, I believe that the Mechscape community will be similar to runescape, which should include its own, "official" forums as well. We will just have to wait and see. ;)

QFT!

I can't see why they can't have both either. We could have Areas where you could be alone doing your solo things like money making, the odd killing ect:
And have areas that demand teams like huge bosses that require 20-50+ teams to take down.
It's always more fun when your with a team of friends anyways tbh. 2 player+ ftw!


I'm sure we will end up with a MSOF when it arrives... Hopefully it will be alot friendlier then RuneScape's forum...

I'm more of a team player person, like the company and competition.

( [HO] From the Eurogamer Interview on the 30th)

I prefer team-oriented or PvP play more than solo.

I get a large sense of satisfication when a group I'm in works like a well-oiled machine to take down enemies against odds. When I used to play WoW, most groups I would be in would try to avoid getting extra mobs in, because it makes fights more manageable and easier. I constantly played with a few friends, and we'd always try and get large groups, because it was a lot more fun. It was a very good feeling when we took down five groups at once. Seeing us bring them down and take bosses down with general expertise was a feeling I've yet to match in other games.

PvP is fun, because it's not scripted. It brings in a highly unpredictible variable and takes a lot of different tactics to be successful. Large scale battles in BF2 is another feeling I've yet to match. That game is all about team vs. team battles. If you aren't in a squad, you're going to suck. When you squad up and kick ass, it's just amazing. If you can get all thirty-two players on your team to squad up, battles can last a very short time (or a very long time if you're evenly matched). Seeing you and your squad mates take down enemy tanks, squads, and capture points brings a large sense of pride.

Solo play is fun, don't get me wrong, but in the end I ultimately prefer team-based or multi-player based games or part of games.

I would love to see less solo-play in runescape. I mean, once in a while i'll find a great funny group of people woodcutting, or something, and it'll be a great time then, but afterwards its all alone again. It would be nice if MechScape made it so that you could do either or. So, say task is to do x thing. It could require another player to join along, creating other strategies, or go solo and have fun doing that, never being hard on it has to be solo or teambased.