Muckbeast

On June 11, 1996, I brought Threshold RPG fully online for the first time. I generated my first couple characters to make sure everything I had created was working. The game was playable, though it did not have a tremendous amount of content. It had a handful of “zones” and your character class (guild) options consisted of: fighter, mage, thief, cleric, and psion. With so many possible things to code, and so much in need of creation, what was the first thing I created at that point? A mini-game. I coded a deck of cards for playing 5 card draw.

Why Are Mini-Games So Awesome?

I will answer that question with a question (which is weird, since I’m the one asking the original question in the first place). Why is combat so awesome? If you really thinkg about it, combat is just an elaborate mini-game. People sure like combat, don’t they? So why wouldn’t they like other types of mini-games as well? Well… they do! They love them. We have tons of mini-games in Threshold and people love them to death. Trial Arcanus (laser tag), Fishing (and ours is actually mini-gameish, it isn’t just cast, wait 10 seconds, retrieve), Saber Dueling, Quail Hunting, carnival games, Snowball fights, Snowman building, Foo’s Chit, and more. Most of the mini-games have no “benefit” as far as xp, loot, or anything like that. They are just fun. That’s why mini-games are awesome. They are a fun activity you can do with your in-game friends while you hang out and socialize.

Why Don’t More MMOs Have Mini Games?

Because they’re stupid? Ok, I’m being glib.  I don’t think other developers are stupid. I think a lot of them are creative geniuses.  But I do think they get in a rut and focus on doing what has already been done. They see combat and raiding and maybe crafting, and they duplicate those. Sometimes they put their own little spin on those features and think they are being special or unique.  But every single time one of those games comes out, people complain about getting bored of “the grind.”  They aren’t having fun on a day to day basis. When they login to their favorite game, they immediately know they have one thing to do: kill stuff.  Doing the same thing all the time is boring, but even more disheartening is when you know you don’t have any other options. If there were alternative fun things to do people would login and do them. And whenever they did go off to fight/grind mobs, it would be the result of an actual choice – not simply a default action.

So in conclusion: mini-games are awesome. Wise developers spend time creating them even when it seems like there are more “important” types of content to work on.

(This was originally a two part blog post. Here’s the second part)

In 17 years of making online games I have rarely been disappointed with the results of a good mini-game. With almost no exceptions (I cannot even remember one off the top of my head), every mini-game I have ever put significant effort into has resulted in massive player enjoyment. Perhaps I need to turn this into more of a question than just praise for mini-games in order to entice a little more commenting! Read on for some specific questions you can answer.

What Makes a Mini-Game Good?

1) A good mini-game is a break from other types of content in the game, not a gateway or barrier to continuing the game. If players don’t like the mini-game, or if they are bad at it, they are going to get very annoyed fast. People commonly look at mini-games as somewhat frivolous, extraneous aspects of the overall game. If something so “minor” (in their eyes) blocks them from enjoying the “real game”, they are going to get angry fast.

2) A good mini-game is fun in its own right, regardless of (and preferably without) any reward. There is too much focus nowadays on the rewards. Making every game into a glorified skinner box is a huge step backwards in game design. I should blog about this topic on its own at some point, but for now I’ll simply leave it as this: the point of mini-games is a distilled bit of pure fun. If your mini-game is only fun because of the reward, delete it and start over.

3) A good mini-game attracts multiple players to the same location so the game becomes a social activity. See my Players Are Content post for more details, but the fact is other players are your best source of unlimited content. If you give players more ways to have fun with each other, you dramatically extend the longevity of your game.

What Are Some of Your Favorite Mini-Games?

I think Trial Arcanus in Threshold is an excellent mini-game . It fits all three of the above criterion. It is not required for access to any other content. It is fun in its own right. It gathers a LOT of players to one place, and it encourages socialization before, during, and after.

Arcomage was an amazingly cool mini-game from Might and Magic 7 and 8. It was so well received that it was eventually released as a stand alone game. There is even an open source project to simulate the game online: MArcomage.