poster - NetGames 2008

D g Kill Points:
Dragon
P i t Loot
L t Distribution
Di t ib ti in
i MMORPGs
MMORPG
Introduction
Recent research has shown that it is not only the act of playing with others that is important in
MMORPG , but
MMORPGs,
b also
l the
h act off showing
h i g off
ff one’s
’ skills
kill to other
h p
players.
l y
B i g skilled
Being
kill d is
i often
f
referred to as being elite.
elite As a character reaches the maximum level in a game,
game further growth in
elitness can mainly be shown through improved equipment.
equipment Acquiring even a single new
valuable
l bl item
i
might,
igh , however,
h
, require
q i the
h cooperation
p i between
b
many
y p
players,
l y , which
hi h again
g i
i t d
introduce
a conflict
fli t between
b t
th players.
the
l
Wh is
Who
i eligible
li ibl for
f the
th loot?
l t?
MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Age of Conan have simple in-game
in game mechanisms for
dealing with loot distribution. These loot distribution mechanisms are, however, typically found
t be
to
b inadequate
i d q t for
f encounters
t requiring
q i i g more than
th 15 p
players.
l y
Th p
The
problem
bl off loot
l t distribution
di t ib ti
in larger groups of players were discovered early by players of EverQuest,
EverQuest and in 1999 the guild
Afterlife created the first Dragon Kill Point (DKP) system to handle loot distribution.
distribution The basic
id behind
idea
b hi d DKP is
i to award
dp
players
l y p
points
i for
f attending
di g boss
b
kill When
kills.
Wh loot
l
i acquired,
is
q i d, the
h
player with the most DKP gets the item in exchange for some or all of this person’s DKP.
DKP The
introduction of the first DKP system has later led to a myriad of related systems,
systems and the
abbreviation ‘DKP’
DKP has become a common label for all of them.
It has
h become
b
a common understanding
d t di g that
th t building
b ildi g a DKP system
yt
i an actt off balancing
is
b l i ga
number of,
of sometimes conflicting,
conflicting requirements and avoiding a set of pitfalls.
pitfalls Even if the
requirements do differ among communities,
communities there are some important basics.
basics We have identified
fi requirements
five
q i
f a well
for
ll balanced
b l
d DKP system,
y
, as well
ll as the
h three
h most common p
pitfalls
i f ll to
avoid
avoid.
Roll DKP
DKP, Cut %
The RDCP system
Th
t
i a loot
is
l t distribution
di t ib ti system,
t
i t d d by
introduced
b the
th authors,
th
th t imposes
that
i
no
restrictions on how guild members earn DKP.
DKP The system rewards players with DKP for in-raid
events like killing bosses and for out
out-of-raid
of raid events such as making potions to other raid
members.
b
It is
i up
p to
t the
th gguild
ild to
t make
k sure that
th t all
ll members
b feel
f l that
th t DKP is
i distributed
di t ib t d in
i a fair
f i
way E.g
way.
E g by rewarding the same level of effort by the same amount of DKP,
DKP and by rewarding
tedious tasks with some extra DKP.
DKP
Wh an item
When
i
d p , all
drops,
ll interested
i
d pplayers
l y toss a dice
di with
i h the
h size
i off each
h pplayers
l y own DKP.
DKP
The winner is the one that rolls the highest number.
number In the case of a tie,
tie the players with the
highest rolls reroll using the same size of the dice as before.
before Notice that a player rolling with a
dice twice the size of another player, has three times the chance of winning an item.
Wh a pplayer
When
l y wins
i an item,
it
th pplayer
the
l y loses
l
pp%
% off DKP.
DKP The
Th size
i off p is
i ggiven
i
i advance.
in
d
E g p could depend on the quality of the item; 25% for rare items and 50% for epic items,
E.g.
items or a
more fine grained calculation of p based on various item statistics could be used.
used Because
on
sto
Di
rti
n
Co
ll
us
io
ion
In f
+
n/a
o
+
n/a
+
+
-
o
+
+
o
o
+
+
+
-
+
o
o
o
o
o
n/a
o
n/a
+
n/a
+
+
n/a
+
n/a
+
+
n/a
l at
Fa
ir
ne
Ra
nd
om
ss
ne
y
ple
xi t
up
ss
nu
Co
m
The five most common loot distribution systems in use today are roll-only,
roll-only bidding,
bidding fixed price,
price
zero sum, and ranking list. Their pros and cons are summarized in figure 1. In a roll
roll-only
only system
th distribution
the
di t ib ti off loot
l t is
i based
b d on the
th randomness
d
off a dice,
di , where
h
th pplayer
the
l y with
ith the
th highest
high t
roll receives the item.
item In a bidding system the players interested in an item have to bid with their
accumulated DKPs,
DKPs and the player with the highest bid wins the loot.
loot A fixed price system
requires
q i
the
h raid
id leader
l d to pprice
i all
ll relevant
l
i
items
i advance.
in
d
Th loot
Then
l
i distributed
is
di ib d to the
h
player with the highest amount of DKPs.
DKPs In a zero sum system the number of points entering
and exiting the system is equal.
equal Whenever an item is looted the number of points equal to the
items value is deducted from the DKPs of the player that receives loot. Then the same number
off ppoints
i t is
i split
plit evenly
ly between
b t
all
ll pplayers.
l y
A ranking
ki g list
li t system
y t maintains
i t i a list
li t off all
ll p
players,
l y
where the player at the top of the list is first in line when loot is distributed.
distributed A player that
receives loot is moved to the bottom of the list.
RDCP
Roll
Bidding
Fi d Price
Fixed
Pi
Zero Sum
Ranking List
ss
rt
po
ag
us
- inflation
- collusion
- distortion
di t ti
Bo
- stimulate usage
- bonus support
- low
l complexity
pl ity
- randomness
- fairness
Pitfalls:
s:
ula
te
Requirements:
equ e e s:
St
im
Ab t t
Abstract
O off the
One
h major
j reasons for
f playing
l i Massive
M i Multiplayer
M li l
O li Role
Online
R l
Playing Games (MMORPGs) is the possibility to show off your abilities
to other players.
players The more rare your equipment is,
is the higher is the show
off value of your character.
character And because rare items are hard to find
cooperation
p
between several pplayers
y is often required.
required
q
This introduces a
conflict
fli t between
b t
th pplayers,
the
l y , and
d a wayy to
t distribute
di t ib t loot
l t is
i necessary.
y
W introduce
We
i t oduce
d
the pproblem
the
obble ooff loot
loot ddistribution
dist ib
butio in
i MMORPG,
MMORPG
O G, aand
d we
suggest and
d give
i
a preliminary
li i
evaluation
l i
off a new and
d improved
i
d
Dragon Kill Points system.
system
Sven Arne Reinemo
Sven-Arne
Reinemo,, svenar@simula.no
svenar@simula no
e
Ernst Gunnar Gran
Gran,, ernstgr@simula.no
ernstgr@simula
g
no
’ ’ = Good,
’+’
G d ’o’
’ ’ = Average,
A
g ’-’
’ ’ = Poor
P
Fig 1.
Fig.
1 Pros and Cons of different DKP systems
players lose a percentage of their DKP when winning an item,
item players with very low DKP will
get items for close to free.
free To avoid “free”
free loot a minimum loss (ML) value should be used.
used ML
iss a p
predefined,
ede ed, minimum
u aamount
ou t o
of DKP tthat
at a w
winningg p
player
aye w
will lose.
ose. W
Whatever
ateve iss g
greatest,
eatest,
th p
the
p%
% DKP or the
th ML,
ML will
ill be
b subtracted
bt t d from
f
th winning
the
i i gp
players
l y DKP.
DKP The
Th size
i off ML will
ill
depend on how the players earn DKP.
DKP It should be set high enough to reflect the value of the
items won, but still low enough to only come into action for players with low DKP. The
i t d ti off ML implies
introduction
i pli that
th t a p
players
l y DKP might
ight drop
d p below
b l
zero,, therefore
th f
ap
player
l y with
ith
negative DKP will not be eligible for more loot until DKP is once again above zero.
zero
A summary
y off the
th p
preliminary
li i y evaluation
l ti off the
th RDCP system
y t is
i g
given
i
i figure
in
fig
1 While
1.
Whil RDCP
might be the most complex system,
system the required DKP management could be handled by inin
game logics.
logics In all other respects RDCP scores well.
well The inclusion of randomness together with
the
h p
p%
% DKP cut p
prevents hoarding
h di g and
d lets
l the
h RDCP system
y
b l
balance
the
h treatment off regular
g l
and casual players.
players Furthermore,
Furthermore the use of p% cut reduce inflation.
inflation RDCP also provides
support for bonuses,
bonuses and players can not influence the price of items,
items thus avoiding the pitfalls
of collusion and distortion. The RDCP system seems to be the one system that is best able to
satisfy
ti fy the
th requirements,
q i
t while
hil still
till avoiding
idi g the
th common p
pitfalls.
itf ll Further
F th user studies
t di off the
th
RDCP system remains,
remains however,
however as future work.
work
“Running
Running a guild is like running a business in a very real sense
sense. However,
However instead of holding a
paycheck over someone
someone’ss head to get them to cooperate you have to deal with intangibles like loot
and DKP.
DKP ”
S
Sparc,
WoW
W W player,
l
“Either
Either we use a DKP system or we can
can’tt raid.It
raid It’ss that simple.
simple ”
C
Custos,
GM,
GM L
LotRO
RO player
l
“Many
Manyy gguilds have been disbanded and dissolved due to loot arguments.
arguments
g
”
http://www.wowwiki.com/Create_a_DKP
Loot example
pl
“All gguilds
ild hhave to
t use a DKP
K system
y t to
t control
t l loot.
l t I'm
I' G
GM off myy gguild,
ild, I have
h officers
ff
ffi
andd stuff,
t ff,
ff
everyday
ryd y on myy server
r r I see gguild
ild disband,
di b d split
plit andd stuff
t ff because
b
off DKP.
DKP My
My guild
g ild lost
l t a lot
l t off
members cause DKP.
DKP ”
Vahkagarvah, WoW player
http://www.blotslauget.org/
O i ’ L
Onyxia’s
Lair
i – a 40
40-man att maximum
i
level
l l iinstance
t
iin th
the original
i i l release
l
off World
W ld off Warcraft
W
ft
"Th guild
"The
g ild is
i going
g i g to
t disband
di b d iff DKP
K is
i nott ffixed
fix d by
by 8am
8 US East!"
E t!"
Marok,, EverQuest2
Q
player
p y
h //
http://www.addictguild.com/
ddi
ild
/
A 24-man raid encounter by
y the guild
g
Addiction in Age
g of Conan