Destiny, Social Gaming, Shared World, and Numbers

by RC , UK, Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 12:59 (3973 days ago) @ Cody Miller

You seem to be dead set against most RPGs in general, so I'm not sure how many you've actually played.

In some of them, it isn't as simple as just 'grinding past' a given set of enemies since the enemies can universally scale with you. The leveling mechanics are a way to pace out extra abilities and customisation for a range of reasons. In fact Joe Staten pretty much says this is what they're doing. Aiming down range comes first: leveling second.

Absolutely though, the interaction over a game though the box over the internet is less social than sitting on the same couch or the same room.

However, I think Bungie is approaching it from the opposite direction: rather than assuming the default to be a golden age of LAN parties and split-screen, they're accepting the current default and trying to bring more socialisation to it.

So they've done away with the split between 'campaign' and 'multiplayer.' A player doesn't have to make the choice to try to find players through a menu option or through switching game mode. It just happens, whether they want it or not. Just an automatic presence of other people in the world around you. You can ignore them or you can tag along and experience something together.

The player is a Guardian - and they're all special in the world of Destiny to the AI population whether they're amazing ones or lame ones because they do the things the AI characters generally don't do. It's a fantasy. The players aren't the entire population of the universe: they are just the Jedi order.

Gonna run out of content? Purely original areas and quests, sure. But it isn't just about consuming the content and then tossing it aside. If they nail the combat, killin' aliens in an only slightly variated way will still be fun any day of the week. Obviously, like Halo they don't even EXPECT everyone to stick around after the 'main quest' or whatever is done.

And there is always PvP.