11 lessons in innovation

[lucasjung]

I just read a very interesting article that outlined eleven lessons that Blizzard has learned about innovation from their experience making games, especially WOW:

http://innovation.freedomblogging.com/2008/04/04/11-innovation-lessons-from-creators-of-world-of-warcraft/

Now, before the flames start shooting, I am well aware that nobody involved with PS wants a WOW clone.  This article is not about making the next WOW, it is a collection of general advice useful to any innovator.  While PS and WOW are very different in many important and significant respects, they are both still MMORPGs, and Blizzard are indisputably the most successful MMORPG developers in the world.  Smart people listen carefully when the top talents in their field offer up advice.

Some of these 11 lessons are very business-oriented (especially #11: offer employeessomething extra), but most of them have immediate relevance.  However, even #11 might be useful to to the PS community: just as modern businessmen find valuable business lessons in The Art of War and The Book of Five Rings, we can all probably pull something useful out of each of these 11 points.  Unfortunately, like much of the advice in The Art of War and The Book of Five Rings, these points are also very general and sometimes obvious, which lessens their usefulness.

[Under the moon]

McDonalds is the most successful restaurant chain ever. Does not mean it is good for you. They are just very good at selling crap to the masses. Same for Blizzard.

Not a flame.

[Karyuu]

I'm rather fond of Blizzard myself - WoW's art style and their practices as game developers are things I follow closely. (And their Making Of DVDs are a great watch, FYI - a lot of talk on how much thought goes into little details, from art to settings to music.) Since they do cater to the masses, they can't take too many risks with their games to create something completely innovative and unprecedented. They have a different target audience than PS, and one is not necessarily better than the other; it's not a matter of McDonald's and Subway. We certainly can take lessons from Blizzard's success, since they're in the same industry in the Big Picture, and had to have done many things right to keep the attention of the public after all this time. The lessons in the link apply to any game company, really. Thanks for the read.

[lucasjung]

McDonalds is the most successful restaurant chain ever. Does not mean it is good for you. They are just very good at selling crap to the masses. Same for Blizzard.

...they do cater to the masses...it's not a matter of McDonald's and Subway.

I think that, if one is going to use a food analogy, a much better comparison would be:
WOW = Starbucks
PS = local neighborhood coffee shop
It's still suspect but, as they say,all analogies are.

BTW, I've never played WOW; I looked at it, but it wasn't really my style (PS, on the other hand, is).

[Under the moon]

PlaneShift caters to tea-drinkers.

I do agree with what is said in the article, but it is all common sense to me, and how I already think. Blizzard aims for the biggest audience with their games, and goes with the lowest common denominator of players when doing so. Planeshift has a specific target audience instead, most of which do not fit the WoW demographic.

We just need to be sure WoW's big shiny numbers do not distract us from the goal. I honestly hope PlaneShift never becomes as 'successful' as WoW in the numbers game, as know there are not that many decent players out there. If we can get even 50% of our target audence, that would be a staggering number for this project.

[hitancrias]

The best text I've read about RPG design so far: http://mu.ranter.net/theory/

[Sangwa]

McDonalds is the most successful restaurant chain ever. Does not mean it is good for you. They are just very good at selling crap to the masses. Same for Blizzard.

Not a flame.

Indeed.

But it does mean that MacDonalds is an example to follow if you want a successful restaurant chain. ^^

We just need to be sure WoW's big shiny numbers do not distract us from the goal. I honestly hope PlaneShift never becomes as 'successful' as WoW in the numbers game, as know there are not that many decent players out there. If we can get even 50% of our target audence, that would be a staggering number for this project.

We have to be realistic, of course, but I don't think that targetting big numbers is a bad idea, as long as there is a way to guarantee good game quality... Much like Blizzard can achieve.

Nice lessons to be followed closely.

[Shami]

PlaneShift caters to tea-drinkers.

nobody told me this! I HATE TEA 

[Zan]

I'm with Karyuu on this one. Blizzard makes some very good games. Their artwork is amazing, their game videos and graphics are very good and even the music sets the mood for the games perfectly. Blizzard games all have a good background history and storyline, the Warcraft series have a huge storyline behind them (which I actually read for the most part, yes ).

The only downside of games like WoW is that Blizzard obviously has to appeal to the masses. They need to make profit and the big bucks not in the pockets of a handful of roleplayers. They're in the bank accounts of the parents of teenage kids that want to p0wn ur ass wth PvP yea!1!!

I'm a minority (probably practically by myself ) so I'll never enjoy a game that wants to be appealing to majority groups as much as said groups.