Tapping Into The Power Of Collective Gaming
With the number of gamers playing online, why don’t more video games tap into that millions-person collective to achieve something interesting, socially grand or just fun?
Turns out that sometimes they do.
While efforts like Sony’s Folding@Home project, which uses the collective processing power of unplayed Playstation 3’s to research and better understand disease, have been around for years, it wasn’t until recently that console games have started playing around with this idea of collective gaming.
Earlier this month, Battlefield 1943 stormed onto the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. In the first-person shooter, gamers go online to fight it out in World War II’s Pacific. While the game’s premise of World War II battle offered little unique to the genre, there was a twist.
The game shipped with an area locked away from players’ reach. To get to this hidden map, gamers had to collectively kill one another 43 million times. Once the kill count was reached, the map and new game mode becomes available to everyone, for free.
It took just five days on the Xbox 360.
“We were tracking all global kills per a console,” said DICE’s Gordon Van Dyke, the game’s producer. “Every time a kill was made the server would report it.”
Van Dyke used an excel spread sheet and his knowledge of such games to track how long he thought it would take. He came up with three weeks, not five days.
Van Dyke thinks that the Playstation 3 version of the new map, which has to be unlocked separately, will likely hit early next week.
By all accounts the experiment, dubbed a community challenge, was a success. A success not just in terms of tracking the popularity of their game, but in helping to define and build a community among those gamers.
“I’m a big advocate of the community,” he said. “I think (ideas like this) could blur the definition of massively multiplayer online games in particular areas, and build up that community relationship In games like this.”
And the success of this communal achievement has Van Dyke, at least, thinking about including these sort of group efforts in future games.
“I will be working on (upcoming shooter) Bad Company 2, so it’s definitely something we would consider in that game,” he said. “But we are not going to shove it into something else because it was successful for 1943, we want to use it diligently.”
Battlefield isn’t the only, or the first console game to tap into communal efforts.
The Playstaton 3’s Noby Noby Boy, released earlier this year, tracked all players’ efforts in the game, reporting them to a database. The worldwide points were then used to unlock new areas in the game for everyone. It took players months to unlock just two of the game’s extra levels.
Eric Lempel, director of Playstation Network operations and strategic planning, says these sorts of community-driven efforts and rewards are the natural evolution of this generation of consoles. An evolution anchored in online play and masses of gamers.
Lempel points to the PS3’s virtual world of Home as an example of how community and building community has become an increasingly important part of console gaming.
“One of the biggest goals for us is bringing the community together,” he said. “Bringing another level of entertainment to the community.”
Home was recently host to a form of alternative reality game, something that wasn’t fully explained to gamers, but expected them to figure out the clues, the mystery, themselves. By the time the game wrapped up this month, 3.2 million people had visited it and it had 460,000 players.
While the creators of games will likely always be the driving force behind gaming, they’re quickly becoming not the only ones with an important impact on what they make.
Giving a gamer control of the environment in which they play, allowing them to unlock secrets, explore spaces, create new ideas, will inevitably change the nature of this form of entertainment. Perhaps eventually turning the concept of the artist and the audience on its head.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Why is PS3 slacking on this event compared to 360?
It's $15 for PSN users to play BF1943, while it can go up to about $65 (as low as $25*) for XBL users to play the same title.
Yet 360 users destroyed the kill count.
Strange, indeed.
*$15 if you have a free 2 Day card
I wouldn't call this unlock "community driven" or "building community". It's like unlocking a map once the community uses the word "fag" 43 million times.
mcderek3000
@MisterSleep: by the way, this was a line from "What About Bob", which 360 Fanboy was quoting. Goodbye, little star ... I shall miss you so.
@Solome: There was/is a game called Nexus: Kingdom of the Wings made by Nexon, the guys that make Maple Story. It has been going on for years and years and it at least used to do stuff on that scale a few times a year, and they always had lasting effects. Oh, how I miss that game.
@troopzor: the pc version has the same thing, 43 million gets coral sea, someoen will unlock the code though and tell everyone else how to do so.
if not i think pc will achieve it in one day as well, especially if modable servers are allowed(infinite ticket rounds make for break free killing)
and xbox got it in 4 days, friday morning-saturday-sunday-monday-tuesday... morning. it didnt take all day tuesday before it was unlocked.
@'360 Fanboy: What a barf-breath douche-mouth.
@MisterSleep: "Baby steps onto the elevator." -- Bob Wiley
Sorry, I couldn't resist =)
I totally thought the picture was of Demi Moore from G.I. Jane. tsk tsk
mystify94
Photo: Demi Moore as a man?
@Kira773: Not to mention have hundreds of thousands of battles happening at once. And the game is much faster paced than actual combat.
But an interesting observation nonetheless.
I totally thought the picture was of Demi Moore in G.I. Jane.
SudhamayiMus
I hope they hold this sort of competition again for when the PC version comes out :D
troopzor
@Firelance: But we were able to respawn
Kira773
This article just shows off how stunted developers are when it comes to using online capabilties for something new and interesting. There are millions of interesting ways to leverage stat-tracking and player-to-player connectivity in interesting and creative ways and the best thing the industry comes up with is global achievements that unlock levels. Pathetic...
GilbertJapanties
Gamers united. 43,000,00 kills in 5 days. World War 2, 73 million casualties. Take away the civilian deaths, you got only 25 million military deaths. That's over a time span of 6 years. We did it in 5 day. *chuckles*
Firelance
@Solome:
If only WoW could be that interesting all the time. :/ That sounded like a lot of fun, really.
@Solome:
thsoe events were both bogus, people forgot about them as soon as they were over, lol at you thinking allies and horde declared peace. Back when that island dropped me and my guild reinvented world pvp for the carebears that polute the game.
anduin1
"why don't more video games tap into that millions-person collective to achieve something interesting, socially grand or just fun?" Sounds too much like communism to me, but since it's going to be fun...okay. I would so buy this Battlefield game if I could be assured that there would be more and more content released for it.
@Solome: I think the implication in the article that this is atypical for console gaming (vs. PC), but your point is still valid. Seems almost like the concept of an "MMO Liteâ„¢"; kind of a vaguely cooperative endeavor slyly snuck into normal gameplay.
Baby steps, I guess.
@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!:
Hahaha agreed.
The person that applies racking up 46 Million Kills towards something constructive is a rare person indeed.
This would be interesting if they did assorted other collective community achievements. For example, what if you had a game that required 60 million kills per 100 dollars donated to a charity by the company/sponsors event?
@nukee:
Calling this kind of thing a "teamwork oriented experience" is a bit of a misnomer, I think. No one is really working together here, they are just doing what they would have done anyway, except perhaps with a little more motivation, but it is not like they are playing any more cooperatively, they are simply playing more.
If I declare that I am going to kill myself when the U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 5,000, then I am not helping the opposing factions to cooperate, except maybe marginally if they really, really hate me for some reason.
BigManMalone
They did this with WoW when they released the third 40 man instance in classic WoW, Ahn'Qiraj, and also again to an extent with the release of The Sunwell, in the first expansion.
With the opening of the gates of AQ, it required a massive amount of resources to be collected for the war effort. It ended up literally taking over a month before anyone was able to step inside the new instances. On my server, people held raffles for turning in the supplies needed to a specific person and then they shelled out gold and rare items. It was amazing to see the community come together to get all the materials turned in as fast as possible. Cease Fires were even called for between the Horde and Alliance. Hell, you even got the negative side when one infamous guild held the gates opening ransom when they had the power to open it. Was that bad? Yes, but it was a different experience that was not initially offered.
These types of community involvement goals are amazing for a game. Of course, it should be thought out and implemented correctly or it could have dangerous side effects that can ruin the game.
Solome
@Life Between Naps: I was more speaking for the BF example specifically, and not really addressing the others.
I just lost two paragraphs of comments by clicking outside the box. Anyway, answering the question: I think it's because it will happen one way or another. But it's an interesting idea, and could be improved from "overall number of kills".
They could have some vehicles or something worthy locked for each faction, and when each team achieves a certain number of victories, it's unlocked.
It's still guaranteed to be achieved and would incentive a bit of teamplay until they unlock them.
salaminizer
@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: Also, I'm a writer. I, admittedly, have dramatic tendencies.
^_^
@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!:
I think it's applicable to things greater than just shooting people.
While the BF: 1943 example really is just counting kills, things like Folding@Home show that gamer solidarity can be utilized for the "greater good", so to speak.
I'm not implying that we can bring down governments (although I'm sure a "Gamer Movement could have an impact), mind you, I'm just saying that gamers CAN be mobilized.
@mzo: That would be one hell of a Mexican Standoff.
@Thirok: Imagine a WW2 game where you play the entire WW2 simultaneously.
The WW2 game to end all WW2 games, every battle, bomb, plane, everything leading up to a eventual allied victory!
Unless the allies suck I guess...
Psychologically, for me anyways, these collective gaming features make me feel like I'm contributing to something bigger than myself. Which serves as extra motivation. There is a sorta lonely desperation that comes when I'm playing a offline single player games. I just think to myself, "here I am leveling up a character that no one will ever see, or know of their accomplishments, or be affected by in anyway."
Didn't use to be an issue until I started playing MMOs and online shooters.
AncientUnknown1
@Life Between Naps: Your honestly giving that much more gold then is there.
It's not incalculable power when united for a common cause, just a lot of dudes who wanted to shoot people. Although, it's more poetic the way you say it, albeit slightly misleading...
World of Warcraft does this from time to time, with their AQ and Sunwell unlocking events. But really, that's a whole 'nother beast.
I really like these ideas though, I hope they're around to stay.
Good editorial. It's cool we've come this far where the community works towards a common goal. It'll be interesting to see when/how online gaming expands to include a more teamwork oriented experience. Hopefully MAG will open the door to large multiplayer based gaming.
nukee
I'm not sure I'm sold on the concept, yet. Noby Noby Boy seemed more of a novelty proof-of-concept than anything, and while I admittedly didn't take part in the Battlefield party, I can't see it as anything more than a marketing gimmick. Yes, it's great that the content is free, and I'm certainly not complaining about any of it -- provided the game is fun enough WITHOUT the additional content.
Maybe what I'm looking for is more of a creative edge, where it feels less like a dangling carrot and more of an integral part of the game. Even though everyone efforts are being added to the collective goal, things like level unlocks seem almost tacked on.
I'd love to see a collective effort system much more detailed, where the world is built up bit by bit and piece by piece based on specific unlocks, almost like Team Fortress 2's system (pre-randomness), or CoD4. Like, say, the new area is unlocked, but everyone has to pitch in and "build" the level and buildings piece by piece by "reusing" scrap metal from crashed planes.
The idea of unlockables gained through concerted, or uncoordinated, effort is cool, but I don't think it will lead to many earth-shattering innovations. It will be similar to handheld-to-console connectivity: just one branch of gaming's future, not a major evolutionary pathway for the medium.
BigManMalone
Good editorial, Brian.
The only thing I have an issue with is that Noby Noby Boy actually unlocked its two levels relatively QUICKLY, considering the game tracked the actual distance between the Earth and the Moon (or Mars) in order to unlock it. That's a lot of meters.
Collective gaming is one of those things I'm generally not very interested in, considering my total lack of faith or trust in other human beings, but it's always interesting to see what happens when people get together to work on something.
"Van Dyke used an excel spread sheet and his knowledge of such games to track how long he thought it would take. He came up with three weeks, not five days."
Lines like that go a long way toward illustrating the (literally) incalculable power that gamers have when united in a common cause.
I've run similar events in the past, requiring my communities to band together to achieve a common goal, but it's good to see this on a far larger scale.
It's pretty amusing that gamers can be encouraged to work together...
...by blowing each other apart.
Excellent article, Mr. Crecente.
@Thirok: Also a pipe dream, unfortunately.
mzo
If only we could have the server power to have all those people killing each other at once on one map. Now THAT'S collective gaming.
Thirok
I love these sorts of communal goals. It makes me feel like I'm really contributing to something, even if my contribution by itself is insignificant.
kylenalepa
I don't think that Battlefield's case is "collective gaming" per se. I doubt many gamers went "hey guys, let's all get together and rack up 43 million kills so we get this sweet map!" It's more about people just playing the game more than anything.
RockyRan
@The Red Comet: Have you had to spawn and then get to the other side of the map?
On PC this will probably take around a day or so :P
@Archaotic: Except they added Multipliers to the distances after a while to unlock Mars.
Firemane
@GoonerVance: It's the longest and darkest 5 minutes of a man's life. o.O
I'm sorry if it's been mentioned (Too lazy to read) but crap does this guy look like a freaking left4dead zombie! ammirite?! lol.
new_age_soldier
First, Gordon is Associate Producer, Patrick Liu is Producer of BF1943.
Also they said it'd take about 10 days if you watch Inside Xbox interviews with the two about how long they thought it'd take.
DwarfyP
I don't want to rain on the parade but didnt noby noby boy's effort fail? It came short so they unlocked the extra levels anyway?
Didn't the Transformers 2 DS game tie-ins do something similar? I don't know much about the game but I remember Kotaku doing a post or two about whether "Autobots" or "Decepticons" version-owners were "winning."
Diablo 2 has something like this. Every time a specific number of SOJs(unique ring) have been sold to the vendor special bosses will spawn in some games that drop really good loot.
Ryoji