In the last six months there has been on-and-off discussion about Player vs Player (PvP) in MMO’s, such as this blog post at Hardcore Casual recently. Rarely have these discussions delved deeply into the topic of the needs and wants of PvP players (Broken Toys comes close). Alongside that, there has been little thought put into analysing the divergent types of PvP player present in the community. To lump all PvP players together in a single group is a quick way to disaster.

I’m going to overly generalise here and do a simple split into two groups that sit at the extreme ends of the scale. I’m deliberately ignoring other groups and group overlap for now. These two groups are used as a simple example, with the goal being to provoke thought and introduce a topic I will pursue in future blog posts.

The first extreme I’ll look at I’m labelling the “Competitive” group. You’ll find them mostly playing in separated arenas, either 1v1 or in small teams, though not always. The second is the “World” group. They have a preference for open world PvP and are generally found pursuing a form of PvP that can cause significant disruption to others.

The Competitive segment of the PvP community wants to be able to play a form of PvP where they know that their own personal skill and/or team skill is what counts. If at any point they feel that they are fighting against the game, and not their player opponents, then you have a failure for this group of players. Enjoyment comes from beating the other player, or losing a close-fought encounter. It does not come from beating the game, and it doesn’t come from beating the snot out of someone because the game gave you the win on a golden platter. I’ll discuss this more in depth in my next post, however in brief I believe firmly that for these players it is an absolute design no-no to use such things as unlocking systems or to force long grinds to obtain top-tier gear.

The World PvP community will generally be found in games with open world PvP. These players get a significant part of their PvP enjoyment out of victories that cause disruption of some sort. For some it’s deliberately malicious, while on other occasions it’s simply caused by the game design. In general, if the game is helping them achieve their goals because they’ve spent more time, are a higher level or have access to items/abilities others don’t then they will likely be happy. Unfortunately the type of PvP game design that allows these players to flourish will generally also scare away those who are on the receiving end more often than not.

So getting back to my point, it’s important that when designing a PvP system there is a need to identify the type of PvP you are intending to implement and never forget that there is no a single, unified, PvP community. Rather, there is a diverse range of player types present in that community just as there is a diverse range of player types within a PvE community. A PvP feature that is designed without considering which type, or types, of PvP player it is aimed at is a feature that is highly likely to fail.

Personally, I’ve never really enjoyed or been drawn to open world PvP. Largely because I fit firmly in the Competitive type I discussed above: I get my enjoyment out of winning or losing a match that started on a level playing field. I have a competitive streak and I thoroughly enjoy small team (4-8 player) competitive / arena PvP. In a few days I’ll come back to this topic and focus on some of my thoughts on what to avoid when designing a game with a competitive PvP feature.