Journeys with Jaye

My Workout Bike is an MMO

Last winter at my gym, they ordered up a bunch of new workout bikes, and I dutifully hopped aboard to give them a try.  Call it a beta test, if you will.  They bought them from Expresso, a company that makes workout cycles with a twist – you select a route to travel, and then watch as your little avatar mimics your frantic pedaling along the routes, which range from nice, flat speedways, to windy, steep mountain peaks.  Interestingly enough, there are also games that you can select, which ask you to cycle around a field trying to collect shapes, or coins, or yes, even dragons.

But before I could actually workout, I had to select a user ID and a password.  (Starting to sound familiar?)  After a few tries I came up with one that wasn’t taken and off I went.  I won’t go into detail about my actual session, but let’s just say that the town of Fruitdale could really use a few traffic lights.

Course completed, I hopped off and looked for a way to sign out.  On my screen, however, was a big breakdown of my performance – times, rpms, heartbeat, etc.  And next to that was a breakdown of how I did against everyone else who selected that route.  So while I thought I was just pedaling against the fake bikers on my screen, I was actually biking against the people on my left, and right, and down the street, and around the world.  And the next time I do that route, I’ll also be biking against myself, and my previous performance.  I won’t go into detail on my stats, but let’s just say that I didn’t ever want to go back to the town of Fruitdale.

Now, I know that my workout bike isn’t really an MMO, but lately, it sure does resemble them!  As games strive to become more solo friendly, they end up altering social gameplay.  Instead of directly interacting with each other, players are now engaging in parallel play.  We’re like babies in a playgroup – all sitting together on the play mat, but each doing his own thing.

Free Realms, for example, is a lot like my workout bike.  When I log in to the game, there are many other players around me (5 million so far!), but I have practically no direct interaction with any of them, apart from the occasional flash mob dance party.  The vast majority of the player population seems to be there to engage solely with the content.  Just a quick glance at the various mini game lobbies is proof.  Kart racing, demolition derby, and more recently, soccer, are lots of fun and very popular, but people overwhelmingly choose to compete against the AI competition rather than face each other directly in the lobbies.

Above:  The Dares playing in Free Realms.  Is this multiplayer?

I really enjoy playing Free Realms, so I’m certainly not condemning this style of gameplay.  It’s a refreshing change to be able to log in, play a few mini games, buy a cute little hot dog costume, and call it a night.  But does the game end up nudging the pendulum too far towards solo play, and away from the one thing, multiplayer gameplay, that makes MMOs unique?  You could essentially take Free Realms and stick it on a console, without having to many any real changes.

Many other games have strayed into this territory as well.  Give me the name of a level-based, diku style MMO, with WoW solo quest gameplay, and you’ve just experienced my bike (minus the pedaling and sweat).  You are #10 on the questing leaderboards?  I’m # 23,750,238 on the Speedway route.  You unlocked the achievement “Leeeeeroy?”  I unlocked “Marathoner.”  You earned 875 reputation?  I burned 197 calories.  Yes, these games are fun, but are they really MMOs?

These days, I don’t harbor as much resentment towards Fruitdale, although I refuse to believe that someone can do that route in less than 8 minutes – I smell a hack.  I’m secretly pining for the day that my little bike avatar can wield my EQ2 swashbuckler epic, but I’m not holding my breath.  Sadly, Expresso is trying to fend off rumors of its untimely demise.

…maybe my workout bike really is an MMO…

Posted by jayernh under Uncategorized | Comments (2)