Bidaux: Accessibility is key for MMOs

Thomas Bidaux, NCSoft's director of product development, has underlined the importance of accessibility when creating massively multiplayer games.

In an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz, he outlined the two ends of the spectrum with respect to virtual worlds - the theme park, which is more structured, and the sandbox, which is more open-ended.

In order to be successful, an MMO needs qualities in both areas, and over time Bidaux stated that the two will see more crossover.

"A sandbox is the ultimate time drain, people will spend years playing a game if they can do anything in it. On the other hand, if you want them to start a game, you need to have that theme park element too."

"But over time I think in the genre there'll be more and more theme parks that have high-end sandbox content, and more sandbox games that will have theme park entry levels, so there will be conversion."

He also outlined the four key areas that differentiate online games from offline ones, and explained that it's important to develop each of them.

"Firstly you have access to the client, so you can make your game evolve, and patch it. You have multiplayer, so have people connecting with one another, you have co-op, PvP, and so on. You have persistence, so you have the data on the server, and you can leverage this data and have things happen in real time. And the fourth thing is the business model - you have access to the credit card of the user, in theory, or SMS or whatever."

"For the past twenty years the business model has been about the box, and you sell that box. But people don't even think about that as a business model - they don't have that in their mind. Now, online opens up a lot of different things. You can monetise things differently, and online allows to access to information, you can unlock contents or features on demand."

Part one of this interview is available now, and part two will be published next week. Thomas Bidaux will present a keynote speech at this year's Virtual Worlds Forum, taking place later this month as part of the London Games Festival.