Support NeoGAF

[melchior_]

It seems MMOs without PvE/PvP seek to draw in the interest of the casual gamer, but none of these games have really had the success traditional PvE/PvP MMOs have.
Sims Online was a flop. Despite the PR about how successful 2nd life is, I don't know a single person who plays the game. Do these games get boring too quickly without combat and is combat really such a turnoff to casuals? I don't think it is too much of a deterrent, as a lot of "non-hardcore" gamers play Ragnarok or WoW too. PvE is pretty essential in a MMO for me, as just collecting shit without a goal besides showing off isn't very appealing (which is what all the non combat MMOs seem to consist of). I mean sure those purples look cool, but they also help you kick ass.

 

[golem]

for some gamers sure... look at the people who just performed or crafted in SWG

 

[Insaniac]

animal crossing....

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Not for me.

 

[Bossman]

A Tale in the Desert was pretty fun when I played it.

http://www.atitd.com/

No monster killing, just resource gathering and building different things.

 

[Grayman]

The ones I know of without PVE or PVP (so basically not having a game at all like second life) are skirting even closer than mmorpgs to just being virtual chat rooms. It would be hard to get people to pay to be a part of that.

Having puzzle gameplay would not count as either but that is just a back door into answering the question.

 

[Chrange]

Most people play to overcome obstacles or beat the opposition. How would you do that without conflict?

There's a niche that craft, but I don't know that a MMO - and the resources needed to run one - is really financially viable without drawing from the 'typical' gamer.

 

[Ferrio]

A Tale in the Desert was pretty fun when I played it.

http://www.atitd.com/

No monster killing, just resource gathering and building different things.

Hah, ya that rocked. A pity the game isn't bigger.. and more pleasing on the eyes.

 

[Zoc]

Playstation Home looks like it could be fun, and it's very much in this vein.

I don't have a lot of experience with MMOs, though. The closest I come is Oblivion, which I've been playing lately, and honestly, the combat is the least interesting part of that game. Going around helping people out (or fucking them over), and getting cool loot to put in my houses is great, though.

If I had a lot of friends with PS3s, I can easily imagine visiting their Home houses would be a lot more fun than just using something like Skype.

 

[Windu]

I wouldn't have fun, although I did have a great time being a musician in SWG. Alot of people have fun with just the crafting aspects of some of these games so I'm sure some people would find it fun.

 

[melchior_]

Would a Persona 3 MMO kind of game work? I.e. social network sim that has random generated dungeon for PvE? I guess PvE would be optional but it gives most players a goal at least.

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

WoW is more a chat program than anything, works pretty well

 

[IzumiK]

For me, if there's no point in the game than mindless "fun", it's a dead game to me.

WoW is more a chat program than anything, works pretty well

Wat?

 

[GDJustin]

A Tale in the Desert says yes.

Edit: Beaten! But yeah... many fun hours spent gathering mud in that game, believe it our not.

 

[TomServo]

for some gamers sure... look at the people who just performed or crafted in SWG

As a SWG vet, I can tell you the number of pure entertainers / crafters was next to nil. I was at the top of the crafting game, but I also had a PvP character and a Jedi on the same server and I don't remember anyone in that "non-combat" community that didn't have combat characters.

Even crafting itself had a bit of a combat metagame rolled into it. Competition for resources, crafting enhancements, loot drops, and pricing in general would get pretty heated at times. One of the most hated players on one of the largest servers was a merchant who did nothing but buy up cheap power and resell it.

As for the OP, it may be cliche but e-peen really does rule all in MMOs. As long as there's a way to stratify the player base, making the power gamers feel like they're at an elevated status and giving more casual players something to aspire to, then sure, you can have an MMO without PvE or PvP. That stratification is going to cause conflict though, so you're going to have conflict through metagames (like I mentioned above in SWG crafting).