How often a MMO game surprise us?

Gaming is full of surprises and we should consider ourselves lucky as there are thousands of game developers constantly making new games for us. Ideally this means more surprises and more unique productions. No matter the genre, there is always the attraction of a new game. And then there are first impressions, expectations and surprises. Only a few games meet our expectations each year.

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.

Joseph Addison

 

Surprise is good but not always

Just like J. Addison defines it, everything that is new or uncommon raises a please in the imagination. This is true for new games as well. Think about the gaming news you have read about the most. They are mostly about the new and upcoming games. This excitement to discover a new game is from curiosity. And when the new game is also an uncommon game, that increases your desire to possess it. Then we start dreaming about it. We know what we like in games and we try to dream of this game with the elements that we dig. The result is not always what we desire. Sometimes the outcome is a disappointment. This is more often the case in MMO games. And sometimes the outcome meets or exceeds our expectations. That is one magical moment when the game is released and it is just like you have imagined it to be.

It does surprise us at times. Sometimes, a surprise is great, when a game exceeds our expectations. And at times the surprise is bad, when the game is nothing like we have dreamed of. 

Curiosity and dreams

The curiosity part in case of new games does not last forever. Usually we are fed with a lot of information, text, images and videos right after the announcement of a new game. This is exactly why developers first release teaser media. Teaser image or teaser video to tease your imagination. This causes more curiosity and makes you imagine that the upcoming game is something uncommon and something that you have never seen before.

In reality, only in rare cases, this turns out to be true. Mostly the announced title is nothing you have never seen before. How many unique games do we get each year? Not so many...

Expect the unexpected

That being said, there is also the chance that you might find yourself enjoying a game that you never expected to be worth-playing. This is what I call the "unexpected master-piece". The satisfaction from something you never expected is like a shock. A game that you never thought would keep you playing for than five minutes shocks you with what it has to offer. I remember the last time this happened to me. It was back in 2002. Benoit Sokal's Syberia was an adventure game. Being a fan of adventure games since 90's, 2002 was a year I'd never expect to see an adventure game that would impress me. The game was absolutely a shocker to me with its story-telling and its novel-like script. That is the magical moment you say to yourself "What is this game? Who made this?" and then before you know it, you complete the game before you can catch your breath. I remember playing Syberia all week long and I don't think I even considered playing another game at the time. It was the beauty of the unexpected that kept me from anything but the game for days. 

"Benoit Sokal's Syberia"

MMOs that ignite our imagination

In MMOs this doesn't come often. Say, in 2011, one of the biggest surprises was the announcement of Carbine's new MMO game. It was right before Gamescom and we didn't even know the title of the game. At Gamescom, the name was announced and it (Wildstar) was suddenly one of the most anticipated games of the year. What Carbine did was clever. They knew we would be curious if they didn't even name the game before the announcement at Gamescom. They knew a couple of teaser images were more than what was needed to ignite our imagination. In the end, the whole curiosity and the wish for the unexpected was what made Wildstar one of the most exciting titles at Gamescom.

The thin line between creating curiosity and fulfilling the dreams

Of course, that was not the only thing that kept people imagining and that kept them going after the game looking for more screenshots and videos. The idea of the game and what they offered us was actually good. There is this line between attracting someone's imagination and keeping them imagining and desiring. Once you make them curious, they stay curious until you show them something visual. What they see, then decides whether they will stay imagining and wanting more. Most games fail once they cross that line, a few games continue to keep us dreaming. What Carbine did with Wildstar MMO was the second case, it kept us wanting more and it still does. Until the release date...

Star Wars The Old Republic was definitely the most anticipated game last year. However it was not the type of a game that drives you dreaming about it as we always had something visual about it. Either a new video periodically released on its official site, or a new image that goes on every single website we would visit. (And I'm not talking about gaming sites only!) Sure it surprised with some of the elements we find out about when the game was released at the end of the year but it was still not a game -at least for me- that would keep me dreaming about it. 

As long as we keep playing games, there will always be games that we remember. There will always be games that we look forward to playing. Games that we want the developer to make a new one. And there will be games that come out when we never expected them. Finally, there will always be surprises that fulfill our dreams and imaginations, games that deliver on their promise and those fail to surprise us. Let's hope, in 2012, we see fantastic games that we never have expected to see. Expect the unexpected!

© 2012 - DevilsMMO.com