Twisted Metal multiplayer “might” include ranks and unlockables, says Jaffe

With most online games nowadays, there is some sort of level-up or ranking system for players that keeps them playing online. Usually leveling up unlocks new weapons, new features, or something that comes at the players benefit in their next online match. David Jaffe has said that he “may” include this for PS3‘s upcoming Twisted Metal.

“So it seems there are LOTS of peps who want leveling up and unlocking for the new Twisted Metal. Fair enough. We may do this (still deciding aspects of that system). BUT for me I find it very interesting that key reasons people bring up for wanting it are things like ‘so I don’t get bored’, ‘pushes me to keep playing beyond the first month’, ‘I like to collect things’, etc,” Jaffe said in a Twitter update.

Jaffe sympathizes that adding these elements may take the players off the core game and rather have them focus on ranking up online.

“It’s almost liken the game equivalent of preservatives for food, designed to keep the game from going bad after just a few weeks. But just like food, it doesn’t seem to matter if these preserving agents fuck up the core product or takes something away from the core product (in the case of food, the valuable nutrients inherent to the basic food before all the chemicals go in are sometimes removed/reduced; in the case of games the fun inherent in the core design can get diluted and/or reduced as a player is taking his mind off the core game and staying focused on the meta goal of acquiring rank and goodies and such).”

He goes on to explain that leveling up may remove some of the strategy the game requires if you’re of a higher level than your opponent.

“To me it seems like they are saying, “I like chess but it’s be better if I could rank up and earn new pieces’. That may be the case but to me it dilutes the fun of trying to out-think your opponent and stay 2-5 steps ahead because you now have this higher/meta goal that can take your focus from the core experience.

“I get 100% why people love it and I get how it’s good business in many ways to include it. Just trying to decide if it ends up hurting the core game at a fundamental level.”

We’ll see how everything turns out come Twisted Metal‘s 2011 release.