Mini Games in MMOs - New Dimensions of Gameplay

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Mini games rarely attract much attention, so there is certainly no definitive history of them. So I am speaking mainly from personal experience in almost 20 years of game development.

Threshold RPG was brought online June 11, 1996. Opened to the public in basic, playable form, the game had classes, gear, and areas to explore. With the basics covered, what was my next goal? Was it more content? More classes? More gear? No. Mini games. I immediately started working on a deck of cards with which people could play 5 card draw. I soon followed with in-game chess boards, some dice for playing craps, and a variety of other mini games.

13 years later, people still play 5 card draw with that deck.

That is a testament to the fun and longevity of mini-games.

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In some ways this is a very strange question. What makes combat so great? What makes games great? For that matter, what makes FUN great? The question itself begs so many other questions that I almost cannot answer it. I am reminded of Physicist Richard Feynman when he was asked why magnets repelled each other. The question is so core to our understanding of the universe, that asking "why" is an almost impossible question.

Mini games are great because they are fun. They are repeatable. They are social. They give people a variety of things to do. They make people feel like the game is a world, rather than just a fancy sandbox. As I once wrote in my blog, Muckbeast:

We have tons of mini-games in Threshold and people love them to death. Trial Arcanus (laser tag), Fishing (and ours is actually mini-gameish, it isn’t just cast, wait 10 seconds, retrieve), Saber Dueling, Quail Hunting, carnival games, Snowball fights, Snowman building, Foo’s Chit, and more. Most of the mini-games have no “benefit” as far as xp, loot, or anything like that. They are just fun. That’s why mini-games are awesome. They are a fun activity you can do with your in-game friends while you hang out and socialize.