NicheWords-The Secret World

I only want to make a short post today, as I'm spending the night on a sofa, and have had my first proper exercise in over six months.  However, considering all the recent fuss about Funcom, it makes sense to engage directly with the studio's current offering.  It's been mentioned before and its name is The Secret World.

(To be honest, there had been better dates)

A so-called Massively Multiplayer Online game, The Secret World takes a different approach to World of Warcraft, in that it's set in the real world, with underlying currents of mystery, conspiracy, and magic.  This is hardly unsurprising; Funcom's previous MMO Age of Conan got a little too close to WoW territory and was absolutely murdered.  Instead, a significant selling point of The Secret World is the story, which is a blessing as the gameplay is apparently not up to much.

(Catwalk)

I say apparently, because I haven't actually played the game - I've just followed it closely, and noticed a few things on the way.  Mostly what I've noticed is how similar it is to Dreamfall and The Longest Journey.  And, more to the point, I can't help thinking that for this reason alone, it would have been better as a single-player game.

If I came clean, I'd admit I don't much like MMOs.  I tried one once - Eve Online, and I got podded (killed) within half an hour.  And that made me realise that, though there's a massive market for competitive play based on how big the numbers on your spaceship are, I'm not part of it.

(You know what they say about men with big spaceships...)

Still, it seems to me that if your main marketable point is story, then the last thing you want is to break immersion - and generally speaking nothing does that more than a temporarily confused person running his avatar around in circles.  Or say, in games like Runescape, any of the mistyped or downright distracting statements that make up public chat.

(Immersion and Lag - the eternal conflict)

Social gaming has a place, but it can taint story and atmosphere.  And for that reason alone, give me The Secret World  without the people.  You've written the lines, and built the world - so change a few codes and shut down your servers.  You can hawk this game as single player on Steam and just watch the money roll in.