I was thinking if a MMO game without combat would be possible. I found an interesting experiment called Seed, but it failed. My partner Tom wondered if Second Life would be an example, but SL isn’t really a game, is more like a social environment, much more like a 3D version of IRC or Orkut. A Tale in the Desert seems to be a good candidate.
Let’s face it, MMO combat is nonsense. Traditional video-game RPG combat is nonsense. To evolve, you have to kill things like pigs, zebras, dinossaurs, giant lizards and angry mushrooms to evolve. Why is that? Come on, even if you lived in the Middle Ages, you wouldn’t kill a dog in the street or a deer in the woods just to become more powerful. 
The reason is that such a level system is still based on the old Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition Experience Points (XP) model - kill the beast, get stronger. But this system was created in the 70’s, for tabletop games to fill young men afternoons. Since then, a number of other RPG books have created much more meaningful gameplay and experience systems - even the present 3th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
Well, so, what’s next? Seed failed. All the mainstream MMOs are combat-centered on the old D&D model. Why a non-combat, or maybe just non-combat-centered MMO would succeed? For the same reason casual games succeeded: there is an enormous amout of people out there that simply want some non-violent fun on their spare times. Some people are even investing on “Casual MMO” projects for the years to come, but I believe one already exists: it is NeoPets.
October 14, 2007 at 8:30 pm
I have been looking for a non-combat MMO for the past several months. I played ATITD and enjoyed it very much, until things were made so difficult as to be monotonous and then the addition of the disease which made the necessary socialization difficult and so made the game frustrating and no longer fun. Trying to find a suitable replacement has proven to be VERY difficult
November 2, 2007 at 2:53 am
Yes, investors don’t seem likely to put money on anything different than WoW.
February 13, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Actually, I found this article a while back about people who play WoW as pacifists. Seemed like an interesting concept.
February 13, 2008 at 7:00 pm
That was an interesting read. Just as interesting as reactions of people in comments. Some of them are so blind-sighted (or maybe involved in the game) they can’t give credit for such an original idea.
February 13, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Yeah… those comments on the story were really sad. I guess pacifism is just too radical an idea for some people. On the bright side, I read through his blog and saw that he’s been developing a following, so it’s nice to see people who “get it”.
I’m no developer, but I would love to see a game where the point is to go about your business, doing no harm while you collect coins and just try to get to the end of the level. For example, a Super Mario game where the “goombas” just passively walk by — unless you attack them… and then they gang up on you or something equally silly. A small, 3 level Flash game or something that deconstructs violence and gives you a score based on well you avoided killing the natives. More like an art game than anything serious, although an entire MMO based around the concept of sharing and helping seems neat. A simulation of a karma-based economy? I wonder how far that would go…
February 14, 2008 at 1:15 am
I think you have a point. Considering all click-management games - “Diner Dash and the thousand Clones” - gravitates around the “run a successful store of ” concept, you might well have audience for a non-violence, economic-centric MMO. But first someone will have to prove the concept could work with a small indie project, before convincing investors to grasp the risk and invest their dollars.