Based on Cost-Benefit analysis, its much safer to adventure with a group than solo. One reason is you don't have to work as hard to kill mobs, you don't have to do all the work, and your chances of dying are less because your not the only target. Grouping also gives you individually more killing power. Mmorpgs were designed to be a social grouping event, and it works in your favor to group in mmorpgs to take advantage of leveling faster in groups. Bad groups can hurt your progression, so it behooves any adventurer to not get sucked into groups that suck. There are usually tell-tale signs of bad groups. Groups that split up and fight individually in a dungeon when they aren't solo-experts is one sign. Healers who forget to heal until after the fight is over is a sure way to get people killed.
Your experience points per minute ratio depends dramatically on how successful you are on missions and killing. This can dramatically increase when in good groups.
Math is an important part of how successful your adventuring really is. Number crunching helps the end result. Is it better to wield a a +1 flaming longsword that does 1D6 of flame + 1D8 of dmg +1 dmg for enhancement or a +4 longsword that does 4+1D8? considering the fact that the +4 longsword also has a +4 to hit ratio vs the +1 that only gets +1, it hits 15% more often, making that 1D8+4 dmg happen 15% more likely and probably more worthwhile consistant damage over time. Being able to compare and determine what is better can not only be done thru math, but thru experience by using both weapons. Trial and errior and trying to determine the best path is possible, even if you don't see the math behind the scenes. Some games don't show you the math, but by looking at the end results (are you hitting more often, killing faster), you can determine the optimal DPS route.
I happen to be someone who loves math. I enjoy the number crunching. So deciphering the code is fun for me. I enjoy talking about the above scenerio. Call me twisted. ;0
This response actually emodies what I was going to talk about in response. As many have said, games are programmed, therefore they have maths in them. But, in a long line of RPG tradition (and game tradition), those maths aren't hidden very well. Think about any RPG, and there is a ton of maths. Not just algebra as someone said, there's also a tad bit of statistics.
Heck in Warhammer (tabletop game), people have been using their Math-hammer skills for decades to design the most effective army lists to take advantage of chance and statistics that are built into the game system itself. After all, because most games aren't played directly against a human (and even ones that are), there are synthetic rules built in.
I can see the point that, for some, the numbers aren't hidden enough. But like the quoted poster, I enjoy crunching them and trying to find the most efficent and effective combinations.
MMOs do use more math than needed. There is no reason whatsoever for 20K hitpoints, in D&D you can get up to 300 or so and in Runequest most people average around 11. It doesn't make the game more fun or better, they just use large numbers for the heck of it.
I think OP got a point, MMO mechanics often use more complicated math than needed. There are some exceptions like DDO but most of them use pretty complicated models to count how much damage a hit will give you on a certain opponentdepending on which attack you used, what level both are, armor and magical crap and so on.
I dunno why, someone must belive that higher numbers are more fun than lower, or the weirder ways they use the harder it will be to cheat.
In P&P it usually works like this in the system that even have hitpoints: A longsword (which BTW is a stupid term, it was just called "sword" by the people using them) makes 1-8 damage + a number between -4 and 4 depending on your strenght. In BRP/Runequest you then subtracts the armor (0-8) while in D&D the armor just makes it harder to hit and the damage go straight to your HP.
Warhammer is slightly different, there a weapon usually do 1-6 + your strenght - the opponents toughness, but 0 hitpoints just means all hits beyond that means a roll on the critical table which might hurt or even kill you.
Those mechanics are all simple to understand and easy to use. Most MMOs however want a whole bunch of different attacks and decided that if you have really high numbers you can make the attacks a little more different from eachother.
The weird thing is that almost every single MMO have so similar mechanics, have devs no imagination at all?
I actually agree with the OP, or at least, the point the OP was trying to make. I think.
One of the things I loved about UO was the fact that the math was hidden from the player.
You could have a katana, a GM Katana, or a Katana of Vanquishing. You could use a skill for item identification (surprise, not every character could tell what stats every piece of equipment had) which would tell you a little about the weapon, such as it's damage is weak, normal, strong, etc. but you would never see Katana +5 damage or GM Katana +10 damage.
The really great thing about hiding these types of stats from the players is that people (at least everyone I knew) didn't obsess over having the absolute best gear. Most everyone used GM crafted gear and the really interesting thing is even among GM crafted items the damage output could vary by a pretty large degree.
But most people didn't care! If it was GM it was good enough for the majority I would say.
The other interesting part of hiding this information is that the min/maxers that wanted all of that information had what amounted to a meta-game built into the game where they could spend days or even weeks parsing combat logs and deciphering the almost cryptic information the game gave the players about the equipment.
It wasn't just the gear either, all the skill damage and calculations were hidden from the players too. No floating numbers showing up over people's heads. You actually had to learn how to play your class/character from within the game's context, not just look at the damage numbers.
I'm not sure if introducing a system like this in a new game would be a good idea or not, but I will say I think it will be necessary if a developer does not want to turn the game they are making into a gear grind.
Personally I would love to see a new game be released where the maths were hidden from the players, but I'm weird.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
Well as others have mentioned before, mmos have always been focused around math, but I think the OP and maybe others miss how things were executed, mainly through a 'strengths' and 'weakness' system. Main older mmos had classes perform absolutely terribly in certain areas/types of content and excel in others. Unfortunately, as others have also mentioned before, due to 'balancing' 'math' ended up dominating probably because many people preferring playing one class to others and just would not do particular content if their class wasn't good at it. Plus, from a development perspective, its 'faster' to make content that everyone can do vs particular types of content that only a select few can perform well. Its pretty much just the execution that has changed, not the actual numbers themselves.
Well, technically math could be applied to almost everything.
When I was in High School I went to drop Advanced Math as I was going to be majoring in Music. My advisor tried to convince me to keep it as "music is all about math."
As someone who completed 6 full time years and two part time years for a Music Degree (changed my focus a few times) I can tell you that I never really "used math."
We did look at the Golden Mean and of course you have to use simple fractions for counting time but that's about something else.
All video games certainly use coding and I suppose a coder could respond to how they use math.
I'm sure math is needed to calculate umpteen things. I'm fairly certain that most video games keep math out of the hands of the player unless the player actively searches for it and uses it. Some people are into that.
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I might be wrong but I think the OP was talking about the meta build craz in MMOs these days. If you want to get in this raid you need to where this piece of gear that gives you 1.0 more damage.
Comments
This response actually emodies what I was going to talk about in response. As many have said, games are programmed, therefore they have maths in them. But, in a long line of RPG tradition (and game tradition), those maths aren't hidden very well. Think about any RPG, and there is a ton of maths. Not just algebra as someone said, there's also a tad bit of statistics.
Heck in Warhammer (tabletop game), people have been using their Math-hammer skills for decades to design the most effective army lists to take advantage of chance and statistics that are built into the game system itself. After all, because most games aren't played directly against a human (and even ones that are), there are synthetic rules built in.
I can see the point that, for some, the numbers aren't hidden enough. But like the quoted poster, I enjoy crunching them and trying to find the most efficent and effective combinations.
MMOs do use more math than needed. There is no reason whatsoever for 20K hitpoints, in D&D you can get up to 300 or so and in Runequest most people average around 11. It doesn't make the game more fun or better, they just use large numbers for the heck of it.
I think OP got a point, MMO mechanics often use more complicated math than needed. There are some exceptions like DDO but most of them use pretty complicated models to count how much damage a hit will give you on a certain opponentdepending on which attack you used, what level both are, armor and magical crap and so on.
I dunno why, someone must belive that higher numbers are more fun than lower, or the weirder ways they use the harder it will be to cheat.
In P&P it usually works like this in the system that even have hitpoints: A longsword (which BTW is a stupid term, it was just called "sword" by the people using them) makes 1-8 damage + a number between -4 and 4 depending on your strenght. In BRP/Runequest you then subtracts the armor (0-8) while in D&D the armor just makes it harder to hit and the damage go straight to your HP.
Warhammer is slightly different, there a weapon usually do 1-6 + your strenght - the opponents toughness, but 0 hitpoints just means all hits beyond that means a roll on the critical table which might hurt or even kill you.
Those mechanics are all simple to understand and easy to use. Most MMOs however want a whole bunch of different attacks and decided that if you have really high numbers you can make the attacks a little more different from eachother.
The weird thing is that almost every single MMO have so similar mechanics, have devs no imagination at all?
I actually agree with the OP, or at least, the point the OP was trying to make. I think.
One of the things I loved about UO was the fact that the math was hidden from the player.
You could have a katana, a GM Katana, or a Katana of Vanquishing. You could use a skill for item identification (surprise, not every character could tell what stats every piece of equipment had) which would tell you a little about the weapon, such as it's damage is weak, normal, strong, etc. but you would never see Katana +5 damage or GM Katana +10 damage.
The really great thing about hiding these types of stats from the players is that people (at least everyone I knew) didn't obsess over having the absolute best gear. Most everyone used GM crafted gear and the really interesting thing is even among GM crafted items the damage output could vary by a pretty large degree.
But most people didn't care! If it was GM it was good enough for the majority I would say.
The other interesting part of hiding this information is that the min/maxers that wanted all of that information had what amounted to a meta-game built into the game where they could spend days or even weeks parsing combat logs and deciphering the almost cryptic information the game gave the players about the equipment.
It wasn't just the gear either, all the skill damage and calculations were hidden from the players too. No floating numbers showing up over people's heads. You actually had to learn how to play your class/character from within the game's context, not just look at the damage numbers.
I'm not sure if introducing a system like this in a new game would be a good idea or not, but I will say I think it will be necessary if a developer does not want to turn the game they are making into a gear grind.
Personally I would love to see a new game be released where the maths were hidden from the players, but I'm weird.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo