I like cake. Sure, I do have to confess that most of the time, I’m a pie guy. But every so often, the idea of cake is one that I find quite intoxicating. And I’m not picky either. Yellow cake, chocolate cake, pound cake – I like them all. Some people, however, are a bit picky. They want their angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries. They want their chocolate cake with just the right amount of layering and fudge chips.
You can, by the way, get yourself some cake after you read this post. I am an admitted enabler, after all.
Imagine that MMOs are like cakes and the players are like the people who want to buy them. Everyone has an idea of what the cake is supposed to come out like, and everyone wants certain things in their cake as opposed to others. Some people prioritize their MMO confection with things like PvP, story, engaging quests, fun group play, and cool dungeon crawls. Others feel that the taste and texture of their MMO baked good are important. It has to have choices. It has to have explosions. It has to have pets. It has to have lasers. Or maybe it doesn’t have to have any or all of those things.
People call me a silly little optimist, but there’s no greater optimist in the MMO world than a player who’s drooling over the cake of their choice. They see a picture, or a tease, or a thought, and visions of things that are most certainly sexier than the age-old sugar plum dance in their heads. They imagine a world in which the cake they eat is good every day they take a bite, and every month they decide to purchase one. They think about a cake loaded with so many features and so much complexity that it would put the masters of Ace of Cakes or Cake Boss to shame.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with this. Actually, I think it’s an awesome thing that people have the imagination to think of their game experience in such a way. In some cases, the imagination is fully realized and customers run off with the MMO cake of their choice and end up being happy, slightly fatter cake consumers for years.
That being said, the developer, ultimately the baker of the cake, always has a vision of their own. And sometimes, it doesn’t quite align in the same way the MMO cake eater envisions it to be. It’s interesting because I think that bakers have their own brand of optimism to bring to the table. They have a vision of how their cake is going to look, what it’s going to have, and what it will taste like. They have access to the ingredients and the kitchen, sure, but there’s still a sort of idealism that goes into what decisions the baker makes.
More often than not these days, the idea of the right MMO cake doesn’t align between baker and eater. I don’t think that really has to be the case, though. The baker of an MMO cake can use community tools, feedback, and overall buzz and attention to shape and modify their recipe to be appealing to their customers. Sure, layering the whipped cream of a feature like PvP on the top might seem nice, but if the eaters want it spread throughout and within, they should be open to that idea. The eaters of an MMO cake can be understanding to the things the baker can do when making their creation – and even if it doesn’t taste quite like they imagine, they can be open to the possibility of new experiences. Yeah, maybe you really wanted to have strawberry-combat on your cake and you got blueberry-fighting instead, but aren’t you the least bit interested in what blueberries might taste like? I know I would be.
All I’m saying, other than to try to make all of my readers fatter by eating cake, is that flexibility and optimism when eating, especially when it comes to an MMO where the recipe can and does change, is always a good thing. Everyone, whether they bake the cake or eat the cake, can learn from this lesson – especially considering the fact that people should realize that unless you’re a cake-hater, eating the cake is always a pleasurable and fulfilling experience.
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