The Founder on Guild Wars 2 : Online World is my Faith
ArenaNet's founder Mike O'Brien first came to ChinaJoy in the year 2006. That time, he showcased to China ANet's first product Guild Wars. Six years later, in 2013, he returned to this same stage with Guild Wars 2. He claimed to be excited, but I could detect some mixed emotions from his tone.
"Online world is my faith, Guild Wars 2 is not an MMO"
ANet was founded in the year 2000. Mike O'Brien was one of the three founders. "When we looked at the gaming industry at that time, we realized that the gaming experiences provided by the gaming studios were terrible. There was a lack of connection and interaction between game and player, as well as player and player." And Mike O'Brien believed that these issues would be resolved in an online world some day.
13 years later, when the world is full of all sorts of MMOs, and when most people believe that the MMO market is being invaded by casual and battle arena types of games, Mike O'Brien continues to see many windows of opportunities in the gaming industry.
"With fortnightly updates, we want build a living world."
"Because Guild Wars 2 is not an MMO." Mike O'Brien quips, "it dangerous to label Guild Wars 2 as an MMO." From Mike O'Brien's perspective, when people mention MMO, this is what they think of: you pick a character, you start playing, accepting quests from NPCs, turning in quests, and you repeat similar steps over and over. Surely you don't want to do that, you want a new experience.
"Guild Wars 2 was never intended to be a traditional MMO right from the start. We want to create a living world. When traditional MMO developers add new content and new characters to their games, they only let players experience the same world all over again. They do not inject life into their world."
Guild Wars 2 has now accomplished a fortnightly update schedule. "The pressure is on." Mike O'Brien admits, "but we believe we can do it. A few years down the road, Guild Wars 2 will be a completely different world."
Making Guild Wars 2 multi-platform
The online world that Guild Wars 2 wants to create is not limited to the PC. Not long after Guild Wars 2 launched in the US, ANet started hiring for its mobile teams. "We now have four teams working on mobile apps development." Mike O'Brien explains. Guild Wars 2 has already released some APIs for developers.
This means Guild Wars 2 is allowing developers to work on tools on their own initiatives, including mobile apps and websites, to explore various potentials, such as the world events notification tools.
"We are now working on basic things, such as viewing world events and WvW updates from the mobile end. We'll be adding interactive functionalities next. We may even add various trading posts tools for players in the future. Guild Wars 2's world will become more and more open moving forward." Mike O'Brien is confident about that.
Looking back on Guild Wars 1's failure
Unquestionably, Mike O'Brien and ANet has ambitious plans for Guild Wars 2. But flash back to 2008, we see Guild Wars 1 ceasing operation in China, followed by Korea in 2009, leading to Guild Wars 1's total shutdown in Asia.
On this topic, Mike O'Brien sounded a little depressed. "6 years ago, at this place, I had hoped to bring Guild Wars 1 to players in China, but what happened was that Guild Wars 1 wasn't what chinese players expected it to be."
Upon returning to the US, Mike O'Brien started to think. The way he saw it, Guild Wars 1 game mode was drastically different from other online games that were popular in China and Asia. The asian players could not adapt.
"So I told myself, do not repeat that mistake next time." Mike O'Brien hopes to make Guild Wars 2 an internationalized online game.
People are wary of some forms of microtransactions in Free-to-Play models
When I ask if he felt he was being too stubborn, Mike O'Brien laughs. "ANet has been around for 13 years. There are some things we believe strongly in, including the US version's Buy-to-Play model."
Mike O'Brien believes that people are wary of some forms of microtransactions in Free-to-Play models, which is an unhealthy relationship. 10 years ago, with Guild Wars 1, players approved of the (Buy-to-Play) model, which is why Guild Wars 2 retained the same model.
"For ANet, some things will never change. If we get to build a healthy relationship with the players, it's ok to be a little stubborn." Mike O'Brien is still laughing.
Reporter's Footnote:
Since last year, I've been meeting up with various ANet's members, and interviewing some major figures. It's been emotional. These people have a huge vision, and they all share that same one vision. Maybe they all word it differently, but at the end of the day, they are sending the same message: we're not making an MMO, we're building a world.
To quote Mike O'Brien: "the online world is my faith."