Quests for Non-Achievers

2006/07/11

I don't think I'm just being cynical if I observe that there seem to be a lot of people who do prefer their quests mindless. For a lot of people, puzzle-solving is tedious at best and incredibly frustrating at worst... and those are not things you want people feeling when they're paying to be entertained.

These Achiever gamers are mostly interested in accumulation. They’re not much interested in quests as puzzles or stories; they just want quick and easy ways to get more stuff. So I believe the simple task that isn't connected to anything probably has to stick around in MMORPGs. The question is whether that kind of quest is enough.

I don't believe it is. Certainly there are a lot of people who prefer Do and Have over Think and Feel -- but that still leaves a lot of gamers whose enjoyment comes from opportunities to express their Thinking and Feeling. If the Do/Have crowd deserve quests, so do the Thinkers and Feelers.

The question is, how do you implement that? What's the difference between a Having quest and a Feeling quest? Is it even possible to characterize quests as being primarily about Having or Thinking or Feeling?

Well, let's try it. Here's my shot at listing some of the most common quest types, and attempting to characterize each one. This list and the associated classifications aren't intended to be definitive; feel free to suggest changes.

Do Kill      a mob (PC, NPC, creature)

Do Destroy         an object (item or structure)

Do Visit    a known location

Do Escort an NPC from one location to another

Do Deliver items to a specified player character or NPC

Do Transport      items [or player characters] to a specified location

Have Obtain a specified item

Have Exchange       items for items or items for money

Think Find    a mob, object or world feature whose location is unknown

Think Craft   a particular kind of object, possibly with certain stats

Think Unlock a sealed container

Feel Heal    a specified injured or sick mob

Feel Buff    the stats or capabilities of a specified mob

Bearing in mind that this is tentative, it looks pretty lopsided, doesn't it? It's even worse if you think I'm being generous in suggesting that healing and buffing quests are primarily about Feeling, or that finding something is primarily a Thinking (puzzle) quest.

If these are the usual kinds of quests, and few of them satisfy Thinking and Feeling playstyles, then what would be good examples of Thinking and Feeling quests? Do Thinking quests just mean puzzles? If so, what kind of puzzles work best in a MMORPG? If not, then what other kinds of quests might a Thinker enjoy?

And what about Feeling quests? What kind of quests would be satisfying to those gamers who like MMORPGs for the emotional responses and personal relationships generated by game worlds? "They should tell a story" doesn't seem like a complete answer to me, since any of the quest types listed above could be used to help tell a story. Or are there other quest types I failed to list that are particularly effective at storytelling?