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If anyone knows how to make a good MMO, it’s Raph Koster.
Namely, features from “sandbox-y games” like RuneScape and EVE Online just aren’t seen that widely.
“In many ways, [Breath of the Wild] plays like a one-player sandbox MMO.
“We see that as a really large open space that isn’t being served.”
But what does Playable Worlds' “truly alive world” look like?
“Our water flows.
Every tree is actually an AI that can grow, can spread.
Forests can burn down and grow back, and they respond to the seasons.
The water even erodes the river banks, and the river banks collapse over time.
“There isn’t anything else out there like it, I don’t think,” says Koster.
Things like this are already happening to the players testing Stars Reach.
This won’t happen if they’re being regularly visited, and new planets can always be discovered.
“The map isn’t fixed,” says Koster.
“It’s always changing in response to what players do.”
If they don’t, offers Koster, then “they should.”
I try thinking in a horizon of decades.”
Personally, he’s already got me on board with the mere idea of crafting a little asteroid home.
In the meantime, be sure to check out our roundup of thebest MMORPGsfor something to play right now.
