Rant: Editable Maps!

One of my biggest issues so far with every MMO I’ve ever played is that they don’t allow you to edit the game map.  Seriously, wtf is the big deal with allowing players to add their own notes or mark locations on game maps?  It doesn’t seem like a very complicated feature to add to a game.  Is there some secret reason I’m unaware of that this hasn’t become a standard feature in games?

While most games mark important areas on the map for you, showing you where towns, landmarks or other important areas are, they don’t give enough details.  For instance in Warhammer Online, they have icons on the map to show you camp sites, towns and War camps, but no details on what NPCs are at these locations.  I was looking for a skill trainer, walked 5-10 mins to the nearest camp only to find no skill trainer.  Some camps have them others don’t, so why the hell can’t I add a note to my map saying “No Trainer” so that I know next time.  Instead I’m forced to memorize locations on every map in every game I play.  That’s a LOT of information to have to memorize and as most people I can’t do it and end up wasting my time traveling somewhere that doesn’t have what I need.

This was even a bigger issue in LOTRO which didn’t mark quests on your map, instead just gave you vague directions on where to go.  However many times you would need to go back to that person or area and would have to find it all over again because there was no marking on the map.  (Looks up to the sky shaking hands) WWHHHHHHYYYY!?  I just can’t wrap this around my head as why we as players can’t edit maps.

So this is a call to all developers to allow us to edit the game maps, add notes and mark locations.  We know you like to frustrate players as much as possible, but if you do this we won’t bitch about something else for at least 5 mins.