Monster Hunter World: The Lifestyle Game
You know, every time I sit down to write a new script for a game review, or video game topic I want to discuss, I spend way more time than I need to be agonizing over what’s correct, where are my sources, is this topic interesting. Overwhelming, anxiety inducing type shit.
It was the lack of content on my channel, plus that last video which I internally called a “Love Letter” that led me to realize I need to do a better job of making what I want to make. Whatever I’ve been enjoying is something I should tell you about. Yes you, my 10 subscribers who watch my videos, or read my content.
And what, you ask, have I been enjoying so much to the point that I haven’t bothered capturing footage for? That’s right, it’s the smash hit Monster Hunter World, a franchise I never had the pleasure of experiencing earlier because I never owned any Nintendo Products, and my first real handheld was a gen one PSP because I actually thought Pokémon was kind of stupid.
And I have to say, Monster Hunter has really scratched my itch for a game that I can just cuddle up with after a long day, paired with the obligatory chicken and beer on a Friday night when I don’t want to talk to anyone. It’s one of the best progression games on the market today. You start off very weak and nearly naked, as you attempt to hammer at monsters with your puny metal stick. Eventually you hit them for long enough that they do fall.
From there you carve them up and use their parts as resources for better sticks and armor, which allow to fight bigger and bigger monsters. Sometimes you need to fight the same kind of monster multiple times in order to get the parts that you need for that chest piece I’ve been agonizing over. Jesus Christ you stupid dinosaur just die already…
With each new fight you encounter, you can feel the progression, in the moment and over the long term. You get access to harder and harder quests, more locations, tougher monsters, and better materials. You begin to min-max, to specialize, to develop multiple sets to counter and buff your hunter and your midget cat friend as you work to carve up more and more monsters.
It’s an addicting loop that brings immeasurable satisfaction as you continue to play. And when you fight that final boss for the first time and realize the potential that monster can bring to your sets, it just keeps getting better and better.
But wait…
As I continued to pour hours and hours into this game, emotions started to crop up like a gremlin sitting on my shoulder, whispering ever so softly “haven’t we been here before?”. Poking me with a stick of nostalgia, Monster Hunter started to remind me of how much time I spent with an older game that dominated my entire life: the original Destiny.
I started off very weak and naked, as I attempted to clear missions and strikes to with my shitty common weapons. But I eventually cleared them. I collected uncommon and rare loot from bosses, dismantled weaker gear to use as materials to level up my newly acquired gear so I can take advantage of perks to do bigger and bolder missions.
Sometimes I’d find myself farming the same strike or raid multiple in order to get the coveted exclusive loot drops such as my beloved Imago loop or the Doom of Chelchis. I felt the progression, as I got higher and higher light items from raids, as well as more specialized tools from random rolled guns to buff my playstyle (Grenadier & Spray and Play Imago Loop + High Grenade Recharge Rate + Nothing Manacles = A power fantasy wet dream)
I got access to harder and harder missions, more locations, tougher bosses, and better loot. I learned to min-max kind of, to specialize kind of, to get stronger overall most definitely. It’s an addicting loop that brings immeasurable satisfaction as you continue to play, to get stronger. And when you clear that final raid for the first time, and realize the potential that gear brings you in more activities, it gets better and better….
Haven’t we seen this before?
Recently a friend, and veteran of the franchise, told me “this is game you can spend 100+ hours in, and still be scratching the surface”. And it got me thinking about how I consume games personally, and if there are others out there who do the same?
Ask yourself this: what was the last game you completed, and then put down? For me, it was Hellblade. I considered that game done when I completed the story, saw that bittersweet ending, and uninstalled it from steam after 7–8 hours of playing. It’s done. There is no need to go back to it.
Then ask yourself this: what is your main game? The crutch, the game you play when there is nothing else to play, the first game you pick up when it’s finally time to play. Games such as Destiny 2, Fortnite, The Division, and now Monster Hunter World are these comfort games, and we have a name for them: Lifestyle games. It’s a strange term, but I’ll describe it as best I can.
A common thread that comes when describing lifestyle games are “Games as a Service” or GaaS for short. Destiny and The Division are GaaS to the core. Monster Hunter employs the same abstract design found in GaaS games but isn’t quite one due to one major thing: monetization.
Monster Hunter does not employ the same kinds of micro transactions or paid expansions that other games use for long term support. The game fits into the lifestyle mantra by being the game you want to play daily. There is something for you to chase every day you log in. It’s missing almost every single monetization element that puts a smile on Ubisoft’s face, but still adopts abstract design concepts to hook players to make this their main game.
And what this shows is that more and more games are doing this, because companies such as EA and Ubisoft have demonstrated what can happen when you keep players playing your game for a long time. Gran Turismo Sport with its daily mileage rewards, Destiny 2 with its weekly activity list, Monster Hunter and their daily login rewards, Fortnite and the battle pass.
I get it, it’s weird. But this kind of thing happens now with the way we play games. They don’t exist on the console anymore, we bring them with us, in our thoughts, and in our pockets. They exist outside of the disk, from companion apps to Reddit threads, and to understand how we got here, we need to go back in time a bit.
Because the Internet
Take a look at your SNES classic over there. Read me the list of games it has. The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, Starfox 2. The majority of these titles are designed to be consumed once. They are designed to bring the player on an adventure and close that adventure with an ending. The launch of the game is the finish line.
This was due to how games were sold and distributed at the time. No one bought games digitally, because no one could. It didn’t exist. We could not share a controller with our buddy in California over dial-up. If a game shipped with a bug, it shipped with a bug, and there was no way to easily patch it with resorting to a recall and replacement which sounds nightmarish for any publisher. Content for games could not be added, patched, or tweaked once the game was delivered to the public.
This began to change as the internet became more prevalent across the world. Halo 2 can be considered one of the major milestones, where online content creation, distribution, and developer support was more easily accessible and reliable. Halo 2 cemented Xbox Live as a legitimate service for consumers on how to play, purchase, and consume games, and by the time the next generation rolled around, things really began to take off.
As the PS3/360 era came to light, companies began to experiment more with digital distribution. Not everyone who bought a PS2 or GameCube had internet connectivity built into the console, but the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii made such infrastructures standard and accessible. Online storefronts started appearing, allowing the consumer to purchase video games for the PC or Console of choice.
What was initially seen as a way to add post launch support or free content, became the hot new revenue stream publishers were chasing, and the new way developers can really support their game post launch. Subscription models, DLCs, Booster Packs, microtransactions, Season Passes, the dreaded EA Online Pass, and now: Loot Boxes.
These would evolve to shape the games they’ve been designed to bolster past the initial finish line and inspire upcoming games like Destiny or The Division to be games that last for years. This puts to today. Most of the press loves talking about the monetization of GaaS, and the future it brings consumers, for the good and bad.
Enter: The Lifestyle Game
What’s important to remember is the rise of digital accessibility allowed games to evolve to these longer experiences. For that I refer to Extra Credit’s wonderful video on what is a Lifestyle Game. I encourage you to check out the video linked in the description, but I’ll quickly highlight the three things they mention, and use Monster Hunter as the example.
First, is having Robust Social Elements. This can be achieved in a few ways. Clan Support, Friends list, matchmaking, etc. The key is having that social interaction be meaningful that it allows that connection to extend outside of the game. For example: you’re tasked with defeating Zora Magdaros. You post the quest on the board, get yourself buffed up and check your weapons. Zora’s pretty big, so you start to struggle as you realize time is running short. Out goes the SOS flare. Other hunters check in, realize you’re hunting Zora. And they all start to trickle in. Eventually you complete the objective with help, collect your loot, and head back to camp.
You check your notifications. One of the hunters sent you their guild card. “Let’s hunt together sometime.” You join their squad. You meet other hunters, veterans of the game. They start giving you pointers and tips. PSN party chat is a nightmare so you get an invite to their Discord. People make plans to group up and hunt together. You find yourself daydreaming in class the next day about how you plan to take down diablos, when you get a DM from the squad. “I got the Kirin quest. I heard you needed some parts for that chest you were aiming for. Meet up after school?”
The second is Post Launch Content. It relies more on the developer to keep giving players reasons to play once the main story is over. DLC, Booster Packs, Map Packs, Content Patches, Sandbox Tuning, Multiplayer Support, and much more. Every few weeks or so, the special quests rotate out of Monster Hunter, and allows hunter to collect exclusive timed gear. Around launch, you could collect the watcher set for the Palico. Now you can be Ryu from Street Fighter. Who doesn’t want to shoryuken a Great Jagras? Creating reasons to play, goals for players to chase, and incentives to keep grinding for one more hour is a crucial part of making a lifestyle game.
Finally, the game needs to be deep enough for it to occupy players outside of the game. The example I gave above, about Billy making some friends inside the game so that he starts to think about what to do next when not playing the game, is a perfect example. Billy gets consumed by the game. Billy is new to this, he’s learning all of this as he goes. The tutorials are these simple text boxes, that doesn’t tell him anything about what goes with what, or where to get what part. You think Billy actually likes to read? He’s a millennial gamer, reading wastes time, I’ve got a dinosaur to slay.
He consults Reddit, he spams the vets in Discord with questions, he pops multiple SOS flares. He watches YouTube videos on various weapons and armor sets. What do you mean the insect glaive is deeper that just buffing your damage and armor? It changes your combos? The game didn’t tell me that!? This is incredible!
Again. It’s very important to remember that Monster Hunter World is not a GaaS. Games as a service are designed to do one thing: make money by maintain the player investment for years. The design decisions found in lifestyle games echo loud and clear in GaaS games but have that monetary twist to push it over the edge.
In an interview with Metro UK, the developers have gone on record that the game will receive post launch support via free DLC and content. But it will end. It’s not intended to be the same as say, Ubisoft’s approach: Season Passes, microtransactions, DLC Operators, and more. Even though the post launch plan draws real similarities, the lack of monetization as well as the intent that post launch content will end does enough to remove itself from the full definition GaaS encompasses. What is this, Destiny?
It’s also good to remember that lifestyle games are incredibly loose. Rather than being confined to a certain genre, any game can become a lifestyle game. Those three principles can apply to your favorite genre, and with enough player investment, can be the only game your audience ever plays.
