D&D 4E 4E and MMORPGs

[Quartz]

I've seen a number of disparaging comments about 4E becoming more like a MMORPG. I have to say that I'm all for it. "It's like Warcraft Online^TM but face-to-face and cheaper" could be a key selling point. If you've got a group of players, how much would an annual subscription to WWO cost you all? Compare that with the cost of the core 4E books.

 

[Harr]

Yep, I agree, and I suspect that this is precisely the point of view the vast majority of potential players out there (ie people who have never and will never post anything in an online forum) will hold: "You mean it's like WoW meets a board game? Like we can play that same type of game, but in our living room, having some beers and in front of each other, instead of in front of a computer in separate houses? Awesome, let's try it!"

In point of fact, this is how I talk to people about D&D, and how I have recruited quite a few great players that are lots of fun to play with, that would never have given the game a second look otherwise.

I also suspect that WotC knows this and has already verified it objectively to a greater degree than anybody without their resources of money and manpower ever could.

 

[Halivar]

The face of roleplaying, from a mechanic-perspective, is changing. It just so happens that D&D is no longer on the avant garde of RPG mechanics. This isn't a tragedy; just as MMORPG's built themselves on what D&D built, D&D has every reason to incorporate those mutations that are beneficial and fun.

Slashdot posed questions to the WotC community manager, and I got this in:

It appears (to me, at least), that many of the new rules-changes mirror popular MMO's like WOW. How much influence do the designers derive from video games; and, to the extent that D&D 4th resembles WOW, is this a conscious effort to reach the MMO-generation of gamers with table-top role-play?

The response:

Just as the design teams of most computer games draw on their experiences with Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop games, we look to other games for inspiration and innovation. Many of us in RPG R&D play or have played MMOs and other computer games. Some of the lessons we learned about gameplay on those platforms have helped us craft a better tabletop RPG, both for current D&D players and for potential new players who either haven't yet tried D&D or haven't found previous iterations of the game to their liking.

WotC is a company that learns from the success of others. That's a good thing, IMHO, though I distrusted it at first.