Cutscenes in MMOs
One thing many videogames have are cutscenes. These are animations which convey plot and dialog to the player without the player having any form of input or control over the results. Cutscenes can be a great deal of fun if they are well prepared, but the shine wears off if the cutscene is viewed repeatedly. To prevent player frustration with seeing the same cinematic video or dialog repeatedly many games provide a means to skip the cutscene.
In single player games this should never be controversial. The player advances to a certain point which triggers a cutscene. The player then should be able to skip the cutscene and continue to advance further into the game without stopping to view a cinematic which he may already have scene or which he has no interest in seeing. This isn't always the case. Some games, for example Ninja Gaiden 2, have unskippable cutscenes. This is frustrating on multiple levels. The most obvious is that it takes control away from the player over their experience. Many videogames are about freedom: choosing or finding your approach to solve the problems presented in the game. Another level is that dying immediately after a cutscene, say before a boss battle, results in the player having to view the cutscene a second time, or a third, or fourth, etc., depending on the number of deaths the player has suffered.
Since there is only the preference of one player to consider in a single player game, including the capability to skip a cutscene is not only a good thing, but it should be considered the norm. While there is an argument to be made about preserving the artistic integrity of the game, as a simple matter of wanting the player to come back and play the game a second time or to purchase a sequel or other future products made by the same developer leaning towards offering the player greater freedom and control over the experience is ideal. Subjecting someone to repeated, often long, and unskippable cutscenes placed in a manner such that the cutscene lies between a checkpoint and a difficult encounter is simply unconscionable.
Having established some background for cutscenes in single player videogames, we come to a more controversial topic: the presence of cutscenes in multiplayer games. I argue that they should be skippable, just as sensible single player games have skippable cutscenes.
When first doing content in a multiplayer game, it is similar to a single player game. Most, if not all, players will want to see the cutscenes to absorb the plot, to watch any interesting things that the characters might do, and generally take in the full experience. This alone would seem to argue that a cutscene should not be skippable: it is likely, especially in massively multiplayer games, that there will be someone in the team or party who has not witnessed a particular cutscene before.
Multiplayer games, and from here that term will serve as a shorthand for massively multiplayer games such as World of Warcraft, have encounters in them which allow for tens of players to work together to defeat a common enemy or overcome an obstacle. Placing a cutscene in such an environment pauses the gameplay of that same number of people.
An example in the Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game named City of Heroes is the cutscene which loads at the beginning of the Behavioral Alteration Facility Trial (BAF). This cutscene lasts for over a minute*. BAF requires 12 and can accommodate up to 24 players. For a full group of 24 players, BAF collectively uses 30 minutes of time. This may be a good thing for a multiplayer game's developers as that is 30 minutes of time for which they don't need to give players new things to do. From the player's perspective, beyond the first time the cutscene is viewed, where it can effectively deliver it's plot content, it becomes nothing but a time sink. No in-game currency or progress can be earned during the cutscene. Every BAF trial wastes 15 to 30 minutes of time during which players could be instead playing the game and enjoying themselves.
I have witnessed a constant stream of complaints related to this example cutscene. Some complaints are that it is too long. Others, a minority, relate to one of the characters' costumes.
The costume in question.
One reality of multiplayer games is grinding, during which the players repeatedly perform a task to try and earn rewards in as swift a manner as possible. BAF is frequently repeated over the course of a day in order to receive the rewards several times. While five minutes of time wasted per day for a single player may not be a significant amount, the cumulative time spent watching this one cutscene by the thousands of players going through this trial adds up quickly. If 5% of City of Heroes's player base of around 100,000 active accounts performs a BAF trial a single time per day on average, that's ten hours of potentially productive time absorbed doing something many if not all of the players agree they would rather not need to do.
If a developer cares about players in a multiplayer game enjoying their time in the manner they choose to spend it, it behooves the developer to make the cutscenes skippable. It may be that the developer is benighted enough to believe that their artistic vision is more important the enjoyment of their player base. It may also be the case that the developer believes that timesinks are a key element of gameplay, rather than actual gameplay being the key element to gameplay. To both of those latter ideas, I firmly disagree. Choice, flexibility, variety, and freedom are the best ways to hook players, not arbitrary restrictions and timesinks.
Those players who have not yet seen a cutscene should still be able to see it if they want - indeed any player who wishes to see the cutscene again should be able to. Instead of a mechanism by which any player can interrupt and skip the cutscene, perhaps only the group's leader should be able to. Then the decision lies with the players, where it can empower their play experience and contribute constructively towards their individual enjoyment of the game. Ultimately that's what games, multiplayer or not, are about: the enjoyment of the players.
* Timing the cutscene with a stop watch resulted in a time of 1 minute and 16 seconds.
In single player games this should never be controversial. The player advances to a certain point which triggers a cutscene. The player then should be able to skip the cutscene and continue to advance further into the game without stopping to view a cinematic which he may already have scene or which he has no interest in seeing. This isn't always the case. Some games, for example Ninja Gaiden 2, have unskippable cutscenes. This is frustrating on multiple levels. The most obvious is that it takes control away from the player over their experience. Many videogames are about freedom: choosing or finding your approach to solve the problems presented in the game. Another level is that dying immediately after a cutscene, say before a boss battle, results in the player having to view the cutscene a second time, or a third, or fourth, etc., depending on the number of deaths the player has suffered.
Since there is only the preference of one player to consider in a single player game, including the capability to skip a cutscene is not only a good thing, but it should be considered the norm. While there is an argument to be made about preserving the artistic integrity of the game, as a simple matter of wanting the player to come back and play the game a second time or to purchase a sequel or other future products made by the same developer leaning towards offering the player greater freedom and control over the experience is ideal. Subjecting someone to repeated, often long, and unskippable cutscenes placed in a manner such that the cutscene lies between a checkpoint and a difficult encounter is simply unconscionable.
Having established some background for cutscenes in single player videogames, we come to a more controversial topic: the presence of cutscenes in multiplayer games. I argue that they should be skippable, just as sensible single player games have skippable cutscenes.
When first doing content in a multiplayer game, it is similar to a single player game. Most, if not all, players will want to see the cutscenes to absorb the plot, to watch any interesting things that the characters might do, and generally take in the full experience. This alone would seem to argue that a cutscene should not be skippable: it is likely, especially in massively multiplayer games, that there will be someone in the team or party who has not witnessed a particular cutscene before.
Multiplayer games, and from here that term will serve as a shorthand for massively multiplayer games such as World of Warcraft, have encounters in them which allow for tens of players to work together to defeat a common enemy or overcome an obstacle. Placing a cutscene in such an environment pauses the gameplay of that same number of people.
An example in the Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game named City of Heroes is the cutscene which loads at the beginning of the Behavioral Alteration Facility Trial (BAF). This cutscene lasts for over a minute*. BAF requires 12 and can accommodate up to 24 players. For a full group of 24 players, BAF collectively uses 30 minutes of time. This may be a good thing for a multiplayer game's developers as that is 30 minutes of time for which they don't need to give players new things to do. From the player's perspective, beyond the first time the cutscene is viewed, where it can effectively deliver it's plot content, it becomes nothing but a time sink. No in-game currency or progress can be earned during the cutscene. Every BAF trial wastes 15 to 30 minutes of time during which players could be instead playing the game and enjoying themselves.
I have witnessed a constant stream of complaints related to this example cutscene. Some complaints are that it is too long. Others, a minority, relate to one of the characters' costumes.
The costume in question.
One reality of multiplayer games is grinding, during which the players repeatedly perform a task to try and earn rewards in as swift a manner as possible. BAF is frequently repeated over the course of a day in order to receive the rewards several times. While five minutes of time wasted per day for a single player may not be a significant amount, the cumulative time spent watching this one cutscene by the thousands of players going through this trial adds up quickly. If 5% of City of Heroes's player base of around 100,000 active accounts performs a BAF trial a single time per day on average, that's ten hours of potentially productive time absorbed doing something many if not all of the players agree they would rather not need to do.
If a developer cares about players in a multiplayer game enjoying their time in the manner they choose to spend it, it behooves the developer to make the cutscenes skippable. It may be that the developer is benighted enough to believe that their artistic vision is more important the enjoyment of their player base. It may also be the case that the developer believes that timesinks are a key element of gameplay, rather than actual gameplay being the key element to gameplay. To both of those latter ideas, I firmly disagree. Choice, flexibility, variety, and freedom are the best ways to hook players, not arbitrary restrictions and timesinks.
Those players who have not yet seen a cutscene should still be able to see it if they want - indeed any player who wishes to see the cutscene again should be able to. Instead of a mechanism by which any player can interrupt and skip the cutscene, perhaps only the group's leader should be able to. Then the decision lies with the players, where it can empower their play experience and contribute constructively towards their individual enjoyment of the game. Ultimately that's what games, multiplayer or not, are about: the enjoyment of the players.
* Timing the cutscene with a stop watch resulted in a time of 1 minute and 16 seconds.