10-13-2009, 10:40 PM
Rather than ask how many people solo I think we should ask *why* they solo, which is to say, why they are doing something in the game that nobody else is doing or helping them with in any way.
For example, you never really played "solo" in Planetside or World War 2 Online. The whole game is built around team goals so you might be solo in the sense that you aren't grouped with anyone but you're still working with some other people towards something in particular.
I think the soloer issue isn't so much an issue of people prefering solo play, it's simply what you get when the game hands you nothing but personal goals.
Ideally, you want team objectives which can technically be accomplished solo but realistically result in groups of players working together. e.g., maybe capturing the base just involves pushing a button and standing there for 15 minutes, which anyone can do solo, but more likely it's going to be a PvP rumble between two teams with a lot of PUG action. Or maybe you need to hack and slash your way through the forest to reach this objective, and you can kill everything solo, but it's a lot better when 15 other random people show up to work towards the same goal.
We need team goals that either replace or at least overshadow the current RPG solo goal system.
For example, you never really played "solo" in Planetside or World War 2 Online. The whole game is built around team goals so you might be solo in the sense that you aren't grouped with anyone but you're still working with some other people towards something in particular.
I think the soloer issue isn't so much an issue of people prefering solo play, it's simply what you get when the game hands you nothing but personal goals.
Ideally, you want team objectives which can technically be accomplished solo but realistically result in groups of players working together. e.g., maybe capturing the base just involves pushing a button and standing there for 15 minutes, which anyone can do solo, but more likely it's going to be a PvP rumble between two teams with a lot of PUG action. Or maybe you need to hack and slash your way through the forest to reach this objective, and you can kill everything solo, but it's a lot better when 15 other random people show up to work towards the same goal.
We need team goals that either replace or at least overshadow the current RPG solo goal system.