Why is fishing so popular and common in MMOs?
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Regular readers here know I am a huge fan of mini-games in MMOs. I think MMOs utterly fail to make appropriate use of this type of entertainment. One notable exception is fishing. Fishing is a very common feature in MMOs, and it tends to be extremely popular.
In Threshold RPG, fishing is an extremely popular activity for players. It is a fun way to obtain food for free, and a lot of entertaining socialization happens at the same time. There are fishing leagues, a place to donate fish for the hungry (new players), etc.
Runescape has detailed fishing contests and a generally well designed fishing system.
What is it about fishing that motivates developers to code it as a game system? Why do players enjoy it so much?
My theory:
1) Developers code it so often because they know players enjoy it. Also, they enjoyed fishing in games they played, so they want to implement it as well.
2) Players like it because it is a way to feel “busy” while hanging out and chatting with other players.
NOTE: Because of factor #2, any developer coding a fishing system should make sure the system does not require too much active input from the players. You should make sure they have plenty of time to actually chat.
Allow me to be the cynical one this time:
3) Fishing is a timesink in real life as well, so it’s a highly cost-effective form of content to keep players paying their subscriptions.
I think WoW fishing and similar fishing are popular because…
- it is a lottery. People love games of chance that just offer more or less “win” and no risk involved.
is much more satisfying than to slice some flesh from a dead mob or buy it from a NPC.
- it is not combat. It is hunting.
- hunting fish
- it can be done as well all alone and also as a social experience. I started a mass angling event in the river south of Orgrimmar during a city raid
- this means it can also serve as some kind of fun and profitable mini game while waiting for someone/something
- the best thing is the close connection to cooking. Fishing has a real purpose, you get buff food and you create it yourself.
- it is the most complex and advanced of the gathering professions that are usually very simplistic in Wow (e.g. mining, though I like that, too). I would even say they are underdeveloped, while fishing is a nice alternative to the mob loot based economy. This is a bit hard to explain, I hope everyone understands where I am coming from.
- interaction with the world. Ultima Online had so much more with it, WoW makes the world a pretty to look at wallpaper, and everything you can click or kill is some NPCs.
I can imagine a lumberjacking system for housing. Different kind of trees, rare tree spawns (hehe), combine that with carpenter skills and so on…
I think fishing shows designers that COMBAT alone does not make a world great. Let players do something with the world they live in.
I think the appeal is largely that most fishing systems are very passive. You don’t need to move around the world searching for herbs, ore, skins, wood, whatever. You can fish while chatting. Fish while doing things in another window, starting dinner, straightening the house, playing with the dog… But, even with so little attention/effort, you are getting -something- done in game and earning either small bits of money or food or points/skills. That is the explanation as far as I can reason out. It’s not like huge fans of BassPro console games or professional fisherman are flocking to MMOs for their ultra-mega fishing sidegame. It’s just something easy and passive that lets you do other things while still accomplishing something (regardless of how significant the gain is).
Fishing is also interesting in terms that you can do it everywhere, but that it still gives players the option to do something special.
Case in point, fishing for a certain kind of fish for certain buff food, the “pools” and best spawns for this kind of fish are say in Howling Fjord for instance.
But you can also go for coins at the fountain in Dalaran or just go fishing on a lone ice floe without going for special spawns.
It really depends on the type of game you’re trying to make. Far as I’m concerned, some MMOs/MUDs have no need or want of passive timesink type activities. Sci-fi MMOs with guns for example tend to draw players that want to be active constantly – timesink type code is at best a waste of time.
Agreed though it’s good if you’re trying to have a serious social/chatroom side to the game.
Wouldn’t quasi-active things like fishing or bewjeweled or mini-game of choice -help- an ADD type player? Certainly the more things there are to do or occupy attention, compulsive need to click or ‘win’ something, whatever there are coded the more likely players are to stay logged in? Socialize?
I don’t think mini-games are exclusively ‘good’ or worthwhile only for games or communities who want a heavily social or friendly atmosphere.
The way mini-games are implemented on Threshold is a rarity…they really are there to enjoy and maybe earn something minor. Good number of MUDs and every MMO I’ve seen it never works that way. Players demand “progression” from every activity, usually in a unique form and soon you need to mini-game to PVP or raid.
I should revise my statement then. Unless you’re willing to buck the trend and have fishing/mini=games remain enjoyable non required diversions then don’t put them into any game that isn’t completely social/progression oriented aka WOW/LOTRO ect
I guess I’m a freak. I play wow quite regularly. The highest fishing skill I have obtained on any of my three 80s and three other 70s I’ve yet to feel like leveling…. is about 30. I’ve never leveled cooking, either. I have been in an Arena exactly two times to see them when they first came out. I only BG/pvp at all if my friends need some help. I raid just fine without mini-games.
I was not much in Arenas either and BGs are a bit on the monotonous side for me, too.
I also believed fishing to be an utter waste of time, as I always wanted something to do. But catching certain fish and cooking buff food has almost become a must have for me over time.
Fishing is no longer so tedious to level, it goes hyperfast, give it a try.