Mixing player skill levels

Sometimes, I like a good, challenging experience in a game, working together with like-minded players who have learned and practiced how to most efficiently play the game. I like to take on something that's a little too hard, and push my limits together with the rest of the group, and share in the rush that a group victory creates.

But in playing an MMO, skill is not my only criteria for making friends. I tend to gravitate in general to seeking out groups I know to be reasonably competent or interested in becoming better players. But sometimes, I like somebody because they make me laugh, and they fit in well with our guildchat, and enjoyably contribute to party chat. Maybe questing through the level grind was more tolerable because they were around for socialization.

Then, there are friends-of-friends. A guildmate convinces his childhood friend to start playing the game for the first time, and the childhood friend joins the guild. We try to include the newcomer, because we like the first friend, but longtime friendship is no guarantee of play style.

And family-of-friends. A mature guildmate, moved away from home years previously, finally convinces a parent to play. The parent gets into the game, but doesn't care for high-pressure activities. Another guildmate hears her 13-year-old nephew is interested and gets him to play on the same server. He makes a valiant effort to figure out what's going on and how to fit in to the group, but he's not as quick on the big picture strategy of the boss fights, yet.

Solutions

So, how can we make games that empower the people who just want to tag along and hang out together with the people who want to seek out challenges and push their limits?

I've talked this one over with Jeremy, who has ideas about letting the skilled players generate extra bonuses to help the less skilled players, which I think is a good idea. A "catch-up" buff that helps a weaker player to be more effective, but doesn't give much bonus to a skilled player who is pushing the edge, could go a good ways to helping solve the problem.

I also like to see different kinds of tasks in a fight. All of the tasks must be accomplished, perhaps each by one or two people, but some are harder than others, or more challenging to learn. Think of the Flame Leviathan fight in WoW: each player gets to ride in a particular type of vehicle and operate different kinds of machinery.

Personal achievements, mixed in with group achievements: sometimes, you'll have the group that is full of like-minded, serious players who enjoy a group challenge, but sometimes, there's only a couple of those and several who are present because they like the first couple. Make some options for each case. Whole group pushing; individual accomplishment; one or two individuals enabling the achievement for the group. (WoW does have a variety of these in its current incarnation, which is nice.)

Flexible group makeup: Make it possible for people to play in the styles they enjoy. If there's a harder or higher stress role, don't make it vital to have 3 or 5 of that type of player in a 10-person group to get through the content. Or, allow people to try it out but rotate out of the job before getting burnt out.

Avenues for private practice and learning: It's rough to learn how to heal or tank or crowd control for the first time at a high level in a live group setting. If individual failure means doom for the group, there needs to be a way for players to learn how to do it right at their own pace, if they want to branch into new personal skills.

Caveat

I don't think these ideas stand as absolute rules. There is some value in the experience of patiently trying to learn how to work together as a group, consciously distributing roles based on who can handle them best, failing together and finally succeeding through communication and practice. Players who aren't as skilled can learn to become more skilled, and when we help them get there, there's that shared pride in accomplishment. But I think it's still valuable to keep an eye on how to enable players to play with whatever friends they have playing the same game, regardless of their respective skill levels.