I got to thinking about why I feel caught between this boredom and apprehension. It's not because I like modern warfare more than retro 80s warfare more than WWII warfare more than treehouses that defy Newtonian physics warfare. It's really that, at the end of the day, it's same-stuff-different-map.
Change the map all you want. The story is still the same, isn't it? Here comes the ever-shrinking circular border of gas/fire/wind/tachyons. Time to run toward the center where sixty-five people are waiting to snipe you. If you're lucky enough to make it into a good hiding spot, your reward is to run for the next winnowing of the real estate.
So, while much ink has been spilled over cheating in shooters, the unspoken goblin frustrating battle royale players of every stripe is the degree to which luck plays into winning. It's better to have the favor of the circle gods than the meta loadout.
That's a more important principle than I think a lot of people realize. In the player's view of a battle royale "story," there are only a few potential endings:
1. We won! My team and I prevailed! Did you see that? I can't believe that just happened!
2. Stupid aim-botting $&#@!
3. Dude, we landed in the worst spot possible. We were screwed from the get-go.
4. Just wasn't our day.
Experience #1 likely makes up less than 10% of average player experiences. And even then, it's notable that the phrase "I can't believe that just happened" is uttered on a LOT of streamers' win vids. They are expressing disbelief in their triumph because their volume of experience tells them it's not a reasonable conclusion to the game story. In other words, it's exciting but not satisfying. Not the outcome we want for the player.
I get that there are all kinds of explanations rooted in psychology that explain why players continue to say "just one more round" time and time again after having experiences 2-4. And while that's good for a game's popularity and earnings, it boils down to establishing a relationship between the game and the player like a rat on a wheel. Keep running and eventually some cheese will drop. Meanwhile, to keep the player motivated between wins, here are some mini-missions, new weapons, and little accomplishments to pick up along the way. All of this is introduced through some cinematics to hype new guns, skins, map areas, and the like.
This is how narrative is abused in battle royale games. Everyone knows that narrative is there to create an emotional conduit between the game-player and the gameplay. In battle royale that emotional conduit is narrowed to "excitement to collect new stuff." No further emotional connection is sought, let alone pursued.
And while that's a successful model now, battle royale games should be looking to the future now. Because nothing stays popular forever just by putting fresh paint on well-worn concepts (looking at you, MMORPGs of the early 2000s).
So the problems I see with the current state of battle royale are:
1. The story of the player experience is wearisome and frequently discouraging.
2. There's nothing to make players feel invested in the game world.
And just for good measure...
3. Cheating is all over the place.
And this got me thinking about how narrative could solve a LOT of problems in the battle royale genre. Here's my pitch.
Turn the wheel into a maze. Instead of telling everyone to get closer, tell them to escape.
Now the dynamic changes from "be the last one standing" to "don't be the last one left inside."
I think this creates a ton of dynamics to heighten the player experience.
1. Player choice now has a lot more influence on player outcomes than random circle changes.
2. The story is more complex. The player isn't killing to kill. They're killing to achieve an ultimate objective.
3. By making the win condition slightly more complex than "kill all the things," you put a huge dent in cheating.
4. The idea of escape is a fountain of story narratives that can take you beyond "stop the apocalypse," "stop the communist terrorists," or "win World War II."
I've seen some games already play with this idea. Closest to it is Hood: Thieves and Legends. The idea is that a team of four players select their class and then try to steal a treasure from a castle guarded by NPCs. Meanwhile, an opposing team is trying to do the same thing. You go in, grab the loot, and then hold an escape area until you get out. All the while you can be pursued by NPCs and the other team. The mechanics and class-leveling (or lack thereof) keep it from working, but the idea is there.
Fall Guys has done an outstanding job of putting the idea to work. Sure, there's randomness to a lot of the play spaces, but it doesn't rob me of feeling like I own my decisions.
I think that forcing people to find a way out is an exciting dynamic. Instead of a military backdrop, you can have scientists in a facility, or astronauts on a space station, or (my personal favorite) elite criminals pulling off a heist. Get in, get a required item for escape (key, money, air supply), and get out.
I'd offer that this narrative framework also might put a dent in cheating. Your standard lock-ons, aim-bots, and wall hacks would probably be great at helping you kill other players, but what's the relative value of that when reducing the in-game player count only brings you closer to being the last one left inside?
Best of all, you have a natural out for map overhauls. Instead of nuking the world, you have already opened an escape hatch to somewhere new. Do the scientists get out of the underground facility, only to find themselves on a sprawling sealed-in military compound? Do the thieves find a new city? Do the astronauts fly to a new space station? These all feel like natural lead-ins that enable you to shift environments, change out weapons, and permit new skins without turning your thinly-veiled Crimean conflict into a gang war between the Judge Dredd and a guy in a clown suit.
Let's face it, the success of Westworld is based on the two questions it constantly asks you - "how will they get out?" and "what will they do after they get out?" If it works for HBO, it could absolutely work in a game.
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