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10:23 pm
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When in doubt, blow shit up.
Submitted to NASA this evening: (Thanks for the head's up, Dinah!)
Eight Steps to The Stars:
How NASA Can Make A Successful Massively Multiplayer Online Game
By B.J. West
When I first read that NASA was requesting input from the public on a planned massively multiplayer online game (MMO), my initial excitement was off the chart. It’s a topic near and dear to my heart. Not only have I been obsessed with space exploration since I was born, but I have spent the majority of my professional life creating computer games.
I was originally hired at Maxis (makers of SimCity and the best selling computer game of all time, TheSims) to work on SimMars, a sprawling simulation of Man’s colonization of Mars from first landing to terraforming. It was only due to the economic myopia of our parent corporation, Electronic Arts, that SimMars was terminated before it could reach an enthusiastic audience. In the years since then I’ve written several unproduced design proposals for realistic space games and virtual experiences based on the history of the manned exploration of space. In short, I’ve put a lot of thought into the topic.
But as I read the preliminary materials NASA has published, a crushing disappointment set in. Starting with the very questions they are asking, it sounds like the MMO NASA is considering will be about as exciting and inspirational as a PowerPoint presentation.
NASA states that the target audience for the game is “students in their teens in both high school and college” and will “help players develop and exercise a skill set closely matching the thinking, planning, learning and technical skills increasingly in demand by employers.”
Wow. That may well be the least exhilarating mission statement I’ve ever encountered. It’s typical of the problem NASA has been fighting with since it’s inception; that the skills required to design, build and manage a technical undertaking as huge and complex as the exploration of space are not the same as the skills required to communicate the grandeur, beauty and raw adventure of the high frontier.
The phrase “massively multiplayer” implies only one thing: lots of people, all at once. It’s the holy grail of the gaming industry right now, with millions of man-hours and billions of dollars being spent to divine the magic formula that will draw as many people as possible into a shared virtual space to interact with each other. Having worked on TheSims Online myself and having watched from afar the development of many of the big MMO games going now, I believe that it’s safe to say that being able to “tinker with chemical reactions in living cells” and “practice operating and repairing expensive equipment” are not going to make for an online gaming experience that will compel your average teen to spend countless hours online, or inspire them to pursue a career in space exploration.
Which is not to say that a scientifically realistic game about the exploration of outer space couldn’t be astoundingly entertaining and inspirational as well as educational. It quite frankly infuriates me when the people who create space games and movies feel the need to contradict real world science or introduce formulaic extraterrestrial threats or space warfare to make any story set off world exciting. It’s totally unnecessary; the hard reality of space exploration is dramatic as hell. The dangers inherent in the space environment are terrifying, the technical challenges and risks faced by those who would venture forth into the void are enormous, and the potential rewards are, simply put, beyond our wildest dreams.
In sharp contrast, NASA’s first effort to begin developing virtual worlds to attract would-be astronauts is already sounding about as dramatic and exciting as filling out a 1040 form. And no wonder; the synopsis for the MMO program states:
The RFI submitter is expected to address:
1. How a NASA-based educational MMO should be designed.
2. How a NASA-based educational MMO should support both formal and informal education efforts.
3. How a NASA-based educational MMO should connect to current and future NASA missions.
4. How NASA career opportunities exploration and significant STEM* learning experiences would be incorporated into the design a NASA- based educational MMO.
5. How a NASA-based educational MMO game play would be engaging for all participants.
*STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
Any experienced gamer will instantly notice that they’ve put the absolutely most important point last. If the game isn’t fun, nobody will play it, and that will render all other objectives totally moot.
So rather than submit a formal proposal per NASA’s request, I think it’s more important -- and hopefully more useful -- to offer my less-than-humble opinion on eight things I believe NASA will have to do to make their proposed game fun and exciting enough to draw in a “massive” amount of players.
* * *
1: It’s About People, Not Science.
People play games to experience things that they can’t do in real life, either because they are too dangerous, too difficult, or entirely not possible. If I am hungry to learn more about science, I already can. I can watch PBS, I can surf the web, I can read books or I can take classes. Those things are easily within my reach. What I can’t do is strap in to a rocket for liftoff, float in microgravity or set foot on another planet. Sure, science is the vitamin NASA needs to sneak into the breakfast cereal, but visceral human drama is the sugar coating that will get people to eat it in the first place.
2: Make It Dangerous.
The exploration of space is fraught with life-threatening danger at every step. The environment outside of our comfy atmosphere is deadly. While the vehicles used to reach space represent the pinnacle of human technology, they still use highly volatile fuels, and any malfunction can result in a spectacular catastrophe. The fact that men and women still choose to face those risks underscores the value of the goals they are pursuing.
Acknowledge the danger. Embrace the danger. Celebrate the danger. It’s the stuff of high adventure, the raw material that heroes and legends are carved from, the magic that gets your heart beating fast and hard.
NASA’s history is measured as much by it’s tragedies as it’s triumphs. While it’s understandable that NASA has tried very hard to divert the public’s attention away from such heart-breaking losses as the Apollo 1 fire, the Challenger explosion and Columbia breaking up on re-entry, these disasters are a part of the cost of the undertaking, and the very stuff that makes a gaming experience exciting.
If there’s no risk, than there’s no sweetness to victory. It is crucial that NASA find the courage to get over the shame of failure and openly acknowledge what a perilous undertaking space exploration is, or be forced to settle for a mediocre gaming experience.
3: Make It Social.
There is absolutely no point to making a game multi-player unless the basic game mechanic requires the players to interact with each other. Either get them to cooperate towards a shared goal or compete against each other (or even better, both) and not just some of the time, all the time. Give the players the means to express themselves, to brag about their victories, to tease each other about failures, and to discuss strategies for the next challenge.
4: Make It Big.
Few people really understand the sheer magnitude of the distances between worlds. Seeing a diagram of the solar system drawn on a chalkboard is informative, but hardly awe inspiring. Give the players numerous ways to viscerally experience for themselves the vastness of the universe. Make it possible to compare the human scale to the planetary scale to the galactic scale, to the cosmological scale. Show them just how vast the distance between stars is, and then give them the motivation to want to cross it.
5: Show Me, Don’t Tell Me.
Classic NASA presentation usually involves placing an artifact in a diorama and putting a plaque in front of it to tell you what you are looking at. It’s the most boring way possible to teach anybody anything. Don’t think museum, don’t think orientation, think simulation.
6: Failure Is Not Only An Option, It’s Necessary.
With nearly everything NASA does, it’s crucial to do everything possible to foresee every conceivable failure and take any action necessary to prevent it. That’s a great recipe for a successful mission, but not for an entertaining game.
If you want to really teach somebody how to do something, present them with a challenge to achieve a task, give them the resources necessary to achieve it, but little explanation how to do it. Set the player up for failure and reward them when they do fail. Failing should be just as entertaining as succeeding, but should also provide clues as to why the players failed and what they might do to do better next time. This will encourage experimentation, and make the game fun even when the players aren’t doing well. Also, when they finally do succeed by figuring it out for themselves, they’ll have a feeling of personal achievement and can take credit for the win.
7: Embrace The Past, Embrace The Future.
NASA seems determined to try and focus the public’s attention on their present programs, and while that’s understandable, it’s not exactly compelling. Today’s NASA has plenty to be proud of, but “doing very well considering the resources we have to work with” isn’t much of a rallying cry.
The heady times of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Programs are dripping with symbolism and pioneer spirit that can be tapped into to get people excited. The astronauts of the past make up a collection of dramatic heroes and role models not generally found outside of fiction or sports. Likewise, the potentials of the future are awe inspiring, with visions of outward expansion in our solar system, technological innovation, and the pursuit of furthering human knowledge, wisdom and experience.
Without the epic past and future of the space adventure to provide context, the current state of the space program seems disappointingly pedestrian.
8: Rise Above NASA culture.
In my eyes, this is the big one, the deciding factor that will make or break NASA’s MMO game. The level of bureaucracy at NASA is positively legendary. The NASA mindset is a natural result of the real work they do, juggling the Herculean feats of technology required to explore space, squeezing every last ounce of performance out of highly dangerous materials while still trying to guarantee human safety, and all the while playing the political and public relations games necessary to secure funding from a skeptical and fickle congress.
But that same mindset is the exact opposite of the one required to create fun and exciting games. Creating a game that passes through numerous oversight committees and is signed off by every department manager in the organization will result in a totally non-threatening, non-embarrassing and ultimately boring science fair exhibit that will only appeal to a handful of die-hard space fans, and even then only for occasional viewing.
If NASA wants to grab their stated target audience and hold their attention long enough to appeal to their sense of wonder enough to motivate them to seek a career in science – no small feat – it is utterly imperative that the game not bore them to tears on first exposure. I can guarantee that any game that fits that description is going to make someone in the NASA hierarchy scream “We can’t do that!!” And you have to go ahead and do it anyway.
* * *
And that’s it. That’s all NASA has to do to come up with a successful massively multiplayer online game. Sure, numerous game companies have tackled this very quest for many years now, and most of them self-destruct pursuing this dream.
But how many of them have put men on the moon?
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If they promise to hire you as a developer, I'll promise to buy a year's subscription right off the bat. :)
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/66593190/13919974) | | From: | ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tymcode |
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| Date: | January 29th, 2008 08:48 am (UTC) |
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| | Exactly as blunt as it needed to be | (Link) |
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Nice finish.
You know, they'd be idoits to by pass you as a resource.
Damn it, think outside the box, NASA... how do you think the Sims managed to eat up more time than I care to admit with their game.. never mind others.
It's this reason that I avoid things like WOW.
Perfect.
Man, I hope they're paying attention.
That was full of awesome. I'm going to put it up on Massively.com tomorrow -- watch for it.
| From: | (Anonymous) |
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| Date: | January 31st, 2008 06:54 pm (UTC) |
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| | Could be... | (Link) |
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It's possible the folks behind this with NASA don't know anything about MMOs and aren't going to pay any attention to blogs, message boards or input that doesn't come from huge game companies.
Or they could be out there on the web reading this right now and paying attention and thinking this is exactly the kind of input they are hoping for.
We may never know:)
Daniel Laughlin
NASA Learning Technologies
Wow, you give me reason to hope! Feel free to contact me if you feel like talking about anything I said. I'm not a developer -- hell, I don't even work in the industry anymore -- but I do know a thing or two about games, and would love to see NASA's MMO turn into something that a space junkie like me could get addicted to as badly as others are to World of Warcrack. |
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