Decline of the Open World Experience - Welcoming the Era of Decentralized Terrenes
Increasing Slump of the Open World Population
Ever since the launch of Dungeons and Dragons back in 1974, RPGs have become an integral part of all gaming communities around the world. Possibly the most connected niche of games to technological advances, RPG and Open World Games have been heavily reliant on overturning technical limitations in development. During the 80s, Grand Theft Auto revealed the world of RPG games to the dominant mainstream market, offering a liberating game form to the masses. Since it hasn’t taken long for gamers to adapt and acquaint, lavish feelings of emancipation have become another basic benchmark in the world of gaming.
While open world, free-roaming games haven’t been limited by tenacious area limitations or disruptive loading processes, far more severe yet less visible restrictions were met due to technical difficulties. Cleverly masked technical restrictions alone have been enough of a burden to leave players feeling empty, separated and predominantly dissatisfied. Similarly to an unpleasant user experience, players left with a negative thought are likely to switch game types, which has been proven by statistics in the past two years.
The Illusion of an Immersive World
According to accomplished critics during the early days of modern RPG, when developers create a game with copious amounts of landscape, real time day-night cycles along with random weather patterns and reality-like operating procedures, open world games would have had the complete immersive package. Regardless of realistic nature sets with photo-realistic NPCs, even contemporary open world experiences have reached the limitations of human life itself. The constant urge to improve the niche has resulted in the epic downfall and stalling of the stories themselves; following minor changes in graphics and game sets, storylines have been close to identical if not the same for the past 20 years at least. The idea behind a fully immersive world is to create a true, lasting experience as opposed to a temporary serotonin spike that leaves users in a dissapointment fuelled shell.
Meanwhile open world games are acutely costly to produce, developers have neglected a large untouched user base eager to have their imagination stretched beyond human possibilities. After all, games are played to do what we usually can’t afford to in reality mostly by virtue of finances, morality or danger.
Virtual Worlds Replacing Open Worlds
Comparing it to a dimensional shift, during the the early 2010s ever growing efforts of virtual world developments have begun to surface. Seeing this is at first leap leaving the open world fever in the past, popular games such as Second Life released in 2013 made a real statement about the general direction of RPG advancement. Fundamentally, The Deep leaves behind experiences such as the world of Second Life, which were first to permit freedom of action, redefining the word ‘freedom’ within the digital realm of gaming. Numerous virtual worlds have now pursued a similar path, allowing users unimaginable levels of in-game expression, additionally storylines determined by personal choices.
At once it’s time for a third revolution, by cause of it’s bespoke architected platform, The Deep renders near overwhelming abundance other open world games cannot. Due to running on an open source graphics engine with individually constructed protocols, the omnipresent characteristics of The Deep bring a new meaning to liberty beyond human imagination. Some years ago one would have thought the pinnacle of digital experience was edging closer, however day-by-day technologies such as blockchain allow us to push these experiences further towards mesmerizing emotional territories.
Decentralized Versus Centralized - Less Control is More
Arguably one of the worst decision made by a central virtual authority in our time was by no other than Blizzard. On Feb. 9, 2013, the popular developer triggered a tremendous infrastructural change by allowing cross-game trading in forms of tokens, all the way from World of Warcraft (WoW) to Diablo III. Tokens obtained from in-game auction houses became redeemable for real play time, not to mention in-game purchases within the entire Blizzard Universe. Were there a decentralized economy based on user only consensus, a major pitfall in essence wouldn’t have happened. The Deep is endorsed by a limitless virtual world, eliminating trustlessness on grounds of its decentralized democratic framework. False decisions such as Blizzard’s have irreversible impact with not only damage to operator-trust relationships but the future of the world. As a result of Blizzard’s infrastructural change, multiple forms of token abuse were discovered and exploited in favor of unproportionate real life financial gains.
With the uncommon design of The Deep, a micro-economy is destined to shape conditional to democratic decisions by the users. As many may imagine so, player behaviour in a world so full of expression is profusely unpredictable, nonetheless it’s relative laws will form in consideration of the consensus. In a world like The Deep, game changing decisions such as Blizzard’s would be entirely down to constitutional verdict, as opposed to an inconsiderate, pressured decision by a centralized authority. A decentralized world therefore assures it’s on token value by operating by law of user constent.