The ‘Map’ and player movement through a MMO environment

With the recent announcement of Heart of Thorns in Guild Wars 2 and feeling a bit bored of my current game library recently, I’ve re installed the ~ 25gb of data and looked to jump back into Tyria.  Unfortunately, this has been met with a minor drawback needing to go through support to reset my password (which thankfully only took a day to resolve as of an hour ago) but after writing this I’m gonna rock up on my Charr Engineer and roam around the newer zones.  I’ve kept up to date with information via a couple YouTube channels (Matt Visual and Wooden Potatoes) so I’m not going in completely dark, but that love for discovery that grabs me in games of this nature is still present for my enjoyment. 

While I’ve been downloading the game over the weekend, I’ve been thinking about the MMO as a ‘thing’ and something that perked my interest is movement; in particular the way in which players interact with the environment in a range of styles depending on the type of player.  To give a rough spectrum, on one hand we have the seasoned player who goes from A to B in a highly efficient manner and the other roams picking up on minor tangents onto their destination.  Situations where this can be apparent are things like auction houses/ trading posts/ markets to banks; trade-skill / crafting profession work areas to banks; resource gathering paths and boss / event trains which can all feature precision down to a tee or a lackadaisical stroll (e.g. Queensdale Champ Train from Guild Wars 2).  As well as the literal movement of the player, content can be calculated in a similar manner as new zones, story arcs and achievement tracks can feature guides on how to min-max content.  I briefly touched on this subject in both “Boundaries and Dungeon Keeper” and “Spatial Awareness Self-reflection” in regards to how we regard ‘space’ and ‘place’ from an architectural through the idea of the ‘map’. 

The concept of the ‘map’ is one of which looks to take note of how we interact with our environment through a series of physical and mental actions.  To give a simple example of this a house may involve walking through the front door and taking off your shoes; sitting down in the living room and looking around at a décor while the TV is playing in the background; having a conversation over a beverage and finally leaving through the same door to continue your day.  Bringing this back to MMO players, this is most apparent during the early stages of content being available where there can be a feeling of a ‘gold rush’ in the air as people dart in multiple ways to explore the environment and complete the present objectives.  Being able to find a spot to sit and watch as the mass of players can be an interesting experience to behold, but if you’re not a MMO player I’d recommend a town centre / city shopping district / out of town shopping centre; with the thrall of shoppers going from shop to shop going about their business. 

Going back into the world of MMOs for me every so often presents itself with a mix of intrigue and optimism; particularly nowadays with having an interest in how we design our environment physically and theoretically to invoke a range of emotions.  My delve back into Guild Wars 2 reflects a more ‘casual’ journey in comparison to the min-maxing of my original playtime, but I’m looking forward to how the game makes me feel in the coming weeks.