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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Why Some People Play MMOs Alone
SamuraiWindu
Member
I just watched a talk from GDC called “The Loner: Why Some People Play MMOs Alone”. 
https://youtu.be/b2l2ZxNhCSg
The speaker, Damion Schubert, lists ten types of loners and talks about the needs these players have.
Loner 1: “The new kid in town”
Most players starts this way. Every MMORPG needs other people to interact with throughout the leveling experience. AoC caters to these players by associating leveled content with the node system and encouraging players to commit to a node as it develops. These players may also benefit from systems that help them join a guild or opt into group content without needing to be in a guild. We have already seen hints of this with node sieges and the rolling PvP zones of the caravan system.
Loner 2: “The Daria”
This type of loner may not want to group up, but finds other players good fun anyway. The concentration of players through the node system caters to these players.
Loner 3: “The Sociopath”
These players oppose the social norms of the community for entertainment. AoC caters to these players by allowing open world PvP, and solves for the problems these situations can create by employing the Corruption system. Damion suggests that one way to decrease griefing behavior is to increase feelings of empathy by somehow reminding the griefer that real people are being affected by their behavior. He also says that “some people will never learn and you should not be afraid of expelling them from your environment at the first sign that they prove that they cannot be salvaged.”
Loner 4: “Mr. Lunch at His Desk”
These players have limited time to play and may not be able to use a headset. They need solo content that they can get into quickly.
Loner 5: “The Introvert”
These players enjoy playing by themselves and if they do group up, prefer not to initiate contact. Damion suggests that there are extroverts who like to recruit other players, so developers should provide the tools to allow the extroverts to recruit the introverts, and the introverts will be relieved that they don’t have to be bothered recruiting other players. Introverts will benefit from tools that allow them to reach out to other players passively for things like joining a guild, such that they won’t feel rejected if they don’t succeed.
Loner 6: “The Adrift”
These players used to be part of a group but their social circle collapsed. The job of the developer is to set up the rebound relationship as fast as possible to get the player back to playing the game that they want to. AoC caters to these players by offering two distinct social circles in the forms of guild membership and node citizenry. If a player’s guild collapses or their node is destroyed, they have the other social circle to fall back on.
Loner 7: “The Unworthy”
These players may want to join in on group content, but feel that they are not good enough. Although many of the systems in AoC are yet to be fully revealed, it seems that AoC caters to these players by allowing any player to participate in caravan raids/defense and in node sieges. Node sieges in particular promise to allow players of all levels to participate through their objective based victory conditions.
Loner 8: “The Vacationer”
These players want solo content in the game to escape from real-world responsibilities or even in-game social pressures.
Loner 9: “The Commitment-Phobie”
These players choose to play alone because they think other players are idiots. They may have tried raiding or the like, but it took too long to get started or the experience was bad in some way. They may have been scared off by guild drama or incompatible guilds. Damion describes being in a guild is like being married to about 40 other people, and it only takes one bad guild experience to color a player’s relationship with the whole game. Damion suggests that you can never make guild drama go away, but you can help people find compatible guilds or compatible servers.
Loner 10: “The Garbo”
These players just want to play alone.
Damion notes that being alone is not the same as being lonely. Developers should seek solutions for players feeling lonely, but not for being alone. It seems that AoC will do a good job of catering to many of these players. Two types of loners that may need to be addressed are the Introvert and the Commitment-Phobie.
https://youtu.be/b2l2ZxNhCSgThe speaker, Damion Schubert, lists ten types of loners and talks about the needs these players have.
Loner 1: “The new kid in town”
Most players starts this way. Every MMORPG needs other people to interact with throughout the leveling experience. AoC caters to these players by associating leveled content with the node system and encouraging players to commit to a node as it develops. These players may also benefit from systems that help them join a guild or opt into group content without needing to be in a guild. We have already seen hints of this with node sieges and the rolling PvP zones of the caravan system.
Loner 2: “The Daria”
This type of loner may not want to group up, but finds other players good fun anyway. The concentration of players through the node system caters to these players.
Loner 3: “The Sociopath”
These players oppose the social norms of the community for entertainment. AoC caters to these players by allowing open world PvP, and solves for the problems these situations can create by employing the Corruption system. Damion suggests that one way to decrease griefing behavior is to increase feelings of empathy by somehow reminding the griefer that real people are being affected by their behavior. He also says that “some people will never learn and you should not be afraid of expelling them from your environment at the first sign that they prove that they cannot be salvaged.”
Loner 4: “Mr. Lunch at His Desk”
These players have limited time to play and may not be able to use a headset. They need solo content that they can get into quickly.
Loner 5: “The Introvert”
These players enjoy playing by themselves and if they do group up, prefer not to initiate contact. Damion suggests that there are extroverts who like to recruit other players, so developers should provide the tools to allow the extroverts to recruit the introverts, and the introverts will be relieved that they don’t have to be bothered recruiting other players. Introverts will benefit from tools that allow them to reach out to other players passively for things like joining a guild, such that they won’t feel rejected if they don’t succeed.
Loner 6: “The Adrift”
These players used to be part of a group but their social circle collapsed. The job of the developer is to set up the rebound relationship as fast as possible to get the player back to playing the game that they want to. AoC caters to these players by offering two distinct social circles in the forms of guild membership and node citizenry. If a player’s guild collapses or their node is destroyed, they have the other social circle to fall back on.
Loner 7: “The Unworthy”
These players may want to join in on group content, but feel that they are not good enough. Although many of the systems in AoC are yet to be fully revealed, it seems that AoC caters to these players by allowing any player to participate in caravan raids/defense and in node sieges. Node sieges in particular promise to allow players of all levels to participate through their objective based victory conditions.
Loner 8: “The Vacationer”
These players want solo content in the game to escape from real-world responsibilities or even in-game social pressures.
Loner 9: “The Commitment-Phobie”
These players choose to play alone because they think other players are idiots. They may have tried raiding or the like, but it took too long to get started or the experience was bad in some way. They may have been scared off by guild drama or incompatible guilds. Damion describes being in a guild is like being married to about 40 other people, and it only takes one bad guild experience to color a player’s relationship with the whole game. Damion suggests that you can never make guild drama go away, but you can help people find compatible guilds or compatible servers.
Loner 10: “The Garbo”
These players just want to play alone.
Damion notes that being alone is not the same as being lonely. Developers should seek solutions for players feeling lonely, but not for being alone. It seems that AoC will do a good job of catering to many of these players. Two types of loners that may need to be addressed are the Introvert and the Commitment-Phobie.
4
Comments
Market place - some games that has no AH system, forces the solo player to interact. Even if its for a small limited time, the solo player interacts with others and looking for their needs.
World chat - even as a solo player - people like their teas. He/she may not chat but will read to hear the gossips, news, rumors. Also if action has consequences, reputation matters - the solo player see that stuff in display on world chat and eventually will also be weary of said individuals - so while not interacting much they still interact in a global sense, as most people don't want to deal with bad reputation people.
They absolutely should not cater to these types of people. Players like this are missing the point of the game.
If you can find enjoyment as a solo player in AoC that is cool. You do You. You should not however expect the DEVs to spend any time catering to such a niche play style. The game has a extremely social vision. A lot of us are here because of that vision.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
World chat is bad. I have yet to find a single world chat that isn't spammed with gold sellers.
World chat would also make subterfuge much harder.
Lets say my guild wants to make a surprise attack against a certain note. Having people tell in world chat that 150 people are currently moving towards the note is a kind of give away.
On topic i find myself in some of the categories Even thou im part of a Guild already. AoC does an amazing job to solve a lot of the problems MMORPGS had in the past 10 years.
They just have to keep in mind that MMO means Massive Multiplayer not Singelplayer with optional multiplayer.
I will start watching active local guilds while leveling. Watch how their members interact in local and world chat. How they act when running a PUG. I visit their recruitment thread and web site. I will only be interested in guilds with less than 50 members. By the time I reach level cap I will have a short list (2-3) that I will offer my services too. Then I will interview their leadership to make my final decision.
Even if Intrepid made a RP server for like-minded people to get along, many players would go for the erotic roleplay, which I'm totally against because it's too mindless and makes me wonder how old are they.
Pretty sure you're taking this point the opposite way it's intended. Developers absolutely SHOULD design things to help lonely people. These are not people that necessarily WANT to play alone, but often a game might not have its systems designed well enough such that these people can find a group of people that they fit with.
For example, a game might support a guild system, but the functions within the game to search for and filter guilds might be really bad. For 99% of players, this isn't too much of a problem; they either already have a guild, or they have friends that play that invite them to a guild, or they join one of the casual guilds that throw invites to anyone unguilded they see, etc. But that doesn't mean that the actual game systems themselves are giant steaming trash fires and should be improved.
If a player actively WANTS to be alone, then no, the developers should not necessarily cater to them in an MMO. Having some features that are solo-friendly is fine, but MMOs are meant to be played socially, and should be designed as such.
Same! And it's not for the lack of trying, I'm just really bad at making friends due to me being a terrible garbage person, so I'm looking forward to a game that will force encourage people to group up with me.
At least my dog likes me.. if food is involved.
You misunderstand. It is not a niche play style. It is also a stepping stone to playing in a group.
I don't misunderstand at all.
Playing alone is niche in the context of games that are intended to be massively multiplayer.
MMORPG developers don't need to go out of their way to cater to a handful of adult babies who are afraid to use words to communicate with other humans. The drive to get better gear has always been enough to get people out of their shell. If not, then they need help beyond what developers could provide.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
I disagree with you completely that world chat is bad. It absolutely has its perks and needs to be in game. You got tattled on? Fine. Change your target to that player. Very likely that the person telling on you is a citizen or member of that node/guild in power. No need to silence players for any reason as it adds to the underlying vision of social interaction that is drawing a majority of us here.
Gold seller spam is an issue. We will have live GM's. I hope they are smart enough to just chat ban these players or perma ban them when the account is clearly a bot.
On topic as well, I agree with @Vhaeyne . They should not have to cater to such a small group of players. IMO, we are wanting to play an MMO. If a player has social anxiety, this is absolutely not the game for them (and I HATE using this statement on these forums). People have their own issues. Everyone does. I am cognitive and respectful to those issues regardless of how silly or serious I find them but at the end of the day, this is a game. There is no reason to change core values so that we can make "X" players feel better.
@Ravel it is indeed very weird for a human being to sign up for a monthly subscription to a game in the MMORPG genre, where the developer has explained how socially interactive the game will be and still expect them to develop the game with mechanics that promote solo play consistently. You want to defend a siege 1v1? You want to be left alone when grinding because you're not in the mood to be ganked by a roaming party of raiders? You want to roleplay as Shrek and yell at everyone to get out of your swamp? I don't understand.
"Solo" in "mmo" = trash.
One won't be able to get into some parts of the game that require socializing that's for sure, so what ? If one's fine with this then it's all good.
And if one's not fine with this then one picked the wrong game for sure.
You're going a bit too far with you "solo = trash" stuff my friend
As the video states several times, solo is not that same thing as single player.
Solo means outside of a formal group. Solo players can be very social in MMORPGs - they just don't want to join a group or raid.
As for world chat, I'm pretty sure we won't have world chat. Right? That would easily be abused. If someone sees you/your caravan somewhere they could alert their discord and without fast travel it would take ages, but if we had world chat they could just oust you in world chat and everyone and their dog will show up.
A straw man argument. Nice.
I suspect solo is a necessary part of most mmorpg's. As far as I know you can anly do without it in mostly lobby type of mmo's. Let's hope that part of AoC will not be trash.
It’s like a buffet, sometimes I feel like mashed potatoes sometime I don’t, but they are there whenever.
In that analogy, world chat is like sauerkraut, one taste and you remember why it’s fucking terrible. 🤮😬
Nice.
Ok, so if people hearing Steven clarifying what an mmorpg is, still go on about their "fears as a solo player" then there is no point in furher addressing their concerns.
There will only be so much you can do solo. If you dont like it go make your own game. The world doesnt owe you anything and people are not decorations for your pleasure.
Other players will fight you if you are in their way and they will exclude you if you dont contribute.
This link should be the first reply to any topic with the world solo in its title.
Any other reply is fluff.
I played ESO with 1 character for 5 years 100% solo. Never once did I felt that I couldnt clear any content or get a set that I needed. The game was so easily.
Zero depth. Zero quality.
Never playing an mmo like that again. Waste of time.
There’s a bit of a range when it comes to solo players, and while I agree they shouldn’t pander to the group that wants to complete all content without every having to communicate with another human, it is definitely beneficial to have content that people can either do by themselves or just in a regular pick up group.
AoC definitely seems to be on the right track tho, and has plenty of ways to kind of force you into a community naturally. Even if a player never joins a guild, basically everyone will get node citizenship, and all of those solo players will want to protect that city they call home to facilitate their soloing activities whether that’s free holds, religions, markets or that dungeon that they’ve painstakingly figured out how to solo. Solo players will want to contribute to nodes so they get buildings they want added to the node. Just from the core concepts it sounds like Intrepid will give solo players large amounts of activities to participate in, and even in some cases with barely having to communicate with someone.
Ah you found resonance with this line...
Developers absolutely should not help lonely people. If you can't speak up and say: "LFG Dungeon" then you need help that the developers cannot give you.
It says "Risk Vs Reward" right on the front page of Ashes because Ashes is a competitive open world MMORPG. There is little room for hand holding in a competitive environment. It is sink or swim.
Which is why I stated that the drive to get better gear and participate in more content should be enough for a "lonely" player to speak up and let people know they are looking for a group.
If you can't handle being social in a social game, then you are in the wrong place. If you are not good at games and don't like dying, then maybe dark souls is not the game for you.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
Do you want to have a real conversation, or you want what to play games?
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.