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» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Discussions About Orson Scott Card » The Ministry of Colonization and MMORPG's.

   
Author Topic: The Ministry of Colonization and MMORPG's.
Will Bellman
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My company is trying to develop moral and virtue centered software without going into cliche. ( either "Bible Trivia" or "Throw Holy Water at Demons" ) One of the ideas we came up with involves missionary/colonization projects in space. The primary goal of this game is for gamers to work together to build, govern and maintain colonies in harsh new environments.

I was thinking about it tonight ( while listening to Shadow of the Hedgemon for the... well... lets just say, not the first time ) and it occured to me that the framework outlined for Starways Congress, the Ministry of Colonization and basic structure the universe takes after Shadow of the Giant would fit perfectly with the game concept. So well in fact it solves some of the basic back story problems we've been having.

I have no idea if this is even remotely interesting to anyone, as this kind of semi-nonviolent massive multiplayer environment has not been tried. I say semi-nonviolent because there will be hunting, gathering and defense from native predators.

I also have no illusions that this is probably not the place for such discussions. However, being a fledgeling startup with no experience with what the "proper channels" are for this kind of discussion, I figured we'd at least give it a try.

I also figured that if there would be interest or useful commentary about the idea this would probably be a good place. As most of the other places we have attempted to discuss such concepts cut us out at moral and virtue, saying this kind of a game just doesn't sell and isn't marketable.

If there is interest, and it would be proper to continue the discussion, I would gladly elaborate on the concept.

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A Rat Named Dog
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egenesis is already adapting another Card work (the Alvin Maker series) into a semi-nonviolent, community-building MMORPG, so clearly, someone thinks it's a good idea [Smile]

Actually, I haven't talked to anyone about that project in a while, so I'm not actually sure about its status ...

Regardless, I'm curious, are you here simply to discuss the idea with Card fans? Or to get into contact with Card himself to discuss licensing the Enderverse for your game?

If the latter, I wonder if it's really necessary, or if it would even be helpful. When people think of "Ender's Game" they think of "kids training for war in space". The later Ender novels don't have the same kind of cultural footprint, and I'm thinking that a game like this might garner more attention by touting its unique mechanics/technology/story, rather than relying on an IP that actually distracts from the primary focus of your game ...

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Will Bellman
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Actually, I am really looking for some discussion on the game itself and it's concept. The basic premise in a nutshell is that Earth begins the colonization of new worlds. We wanted to tie a level of spirituallity into the game that hasn't been done yet...

Games and gaming tend to be a religious free zone. One of the ideas origionally discussed was to give planets, cities, or groups the ability to declare themselves according to several categories, one begin religion. So depending on how the world developed there might be a Catholic section of city, an entire Muslim city or a Hindi world.

We were trying to come up with a concept that would allow for adventure and danger without pitting player against player and making combat the focus of the game.

We have the designs for a complex government model that would allow for everything from a monarchy to a democracy. We wanted to build in some political intrigue as well, with alliances and treaties and so forth.

Further we have also come up with an interface system centered around a modeled laptop, instead of an on screen interface system.

The ideas of the "desk" system, the Ministry of Colonization, colonizing once inhabited worlds, Starways Congress and the idea of culturally uniform colonization ships is just a very nice fit. We haven't moved towards any of these things yet, like I said it was a whim I had last night.

I hear what you are saying about what people think of when they hear Ender's game and this is really not an attempt to key into that. It just seemed like a good fit.

We are very ambitious, in my company. We want to build games that train people to work together and build relatioships. We want to create environments that parents, schools, or youth programs could participate in and be proud to do so.

You might be right, this might not be the best direction to take... but I still think it would be worth exploring.

As far as licensing, legal, questions and all that kind of thing goes, I have absolutly no idea. All I know is that is the design keeps moving in the direction it's going it will end up looking a lot like the later Ender universe. So discussion now might be helpful.

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Blayne Bradley
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I suggest looking into Alpha Centuari and Civilization IV and study the government/civics system where instead of say in Civ2 "Hey lets become a Democracy" with certain pros and cons or "lets become a Fundamentalist Regime!" etc etc we have a system where its hey lets have freedom of the press but institute state property and become a police state etc.

Nevertheless I'm thinking you can change these gov't/society charateristics by "evolving" culturally, where its based on what you have accomplished, what time has passed, economy and population.

I'm not sure about technology, I think its best to have either only a very limited involvment with it or have it super invovled with hundreds of branching out techs to diminish importance.

as for the desk system, that'ld be great graphics, have the skin be like a desk with the ability to chat over it and surf the web etc. Though personally I'ld like the ability to play in a window.

But ya the societal evolution thing, check out Asimov he did a great thing during the foundation trilogy with regards with the Foundation.

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TrapperKeeper
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Interesting. I would think your target market for this would be individuals, mostly women, above the age of 35.

Any younger, or male, and they would want the conflict/violence.

There has been a game or two that takes religion into account. I do not quite know how you plan to implement it in the game though. Do you plan to do something like Blayne mentions in Civ 4 or other games where the player would choose a religion that would have an effect on the dynamics of the colony? If so, you would have to be careful not to offend people if say one religion was a clear cut winner over another in game.

There is a game or two out there where the players choices, be they good or evil, effect how the game progresses. For instance, if you want someones property, do you bargain or trade for it or do you simply kill him and take his stuff. That is a morally centered choice rather than religious.

The game Black and White comes to mind.

Another question I have is who is the company you are working with on this? You say its a MMORPG, and that does raise concerns that you may not be able to attract enough people in your target market to play it. The development costs for video games these days are huge, not to mention the added costs of billing and customer service and regular updates for a MMORPG.

There was also a great article regarding MMORPGS in the Novemeber 18th edition of Fortune Magazine. It was called "From Megs to Riches"

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Will Bellman
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Actually the civics mode we have given a lot of thought to. There will be sets of privileges attached to certain territories, cites, groups, etc. The leader can designate out to any object he sees fit... so for example a planet has a single governor. Say that colonies' charter grants the governor supreme authority in the beginning. The governor can establish a dictatorship in which he keeps the sovereign franchise and designates authorities like law enforcement out to his cronies. Or he could bestow sovereign franchise to a constitutional document that grants franchise to all citizens, and then goes on to establish the criteria for citizenship.

We are trying to model the way real authority works in real world situations, instead of some arbitrary model in which a king can be elected or a ruler can push the democracy button and change government styles with the push of a button. The counter balance we are building into the system is that one privilege that all people will be able to have is revolt either individually or as a militant group.

Our thought is that if it's modeled real world enough that each served planet would be it own sociology experiment to a degree. Where as most systems primary authority always goes back to the developers we are trying to build a system that will be run by and eventually taken over by the users. With that degree of control instead of generating a story line it is up to the users to decide the course of the game.

The technology end we are actually trying to develop a feasible system that supports the mod community so that a gamer with some 3d modeling expertise whats to build a specific house type they can. However "leveled" technology we are completely doing away with. The Pac-man styled get the prize and progress to the next level interferes with creativity. For example in a popular online game system, which will remain nameless, a combat flight veteran with years of tactical training and experience will get blown out of the sky by a rank amateur simply because the amateur has been playing the game longer. Tactics and strategy are completely lost in a "leveled" system, except by players of equal level.

...but I digress. I'll close by saying one of the powerful features we are building into the system is laptop or “desk” system. Each user will actually have a login to the “master network” which in reality will be a Unix server. From a command-line or simple interface system they will be able to check mail, control automated assets and check status of their team, city, faction, planet etc.

What's really cool is that when not in the actual game client users will be able to login through a secure shell and access their “desk”. This would give users the ability through the same interface they use in the game to interact with the system. So say there was an election going on and someone wanted to check the status on a lunch break. It would be available.

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Will Bellman
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In response to Trapper Keeper:
------------------------------

That the response we get form most of the investment people we've talked to. Everyone wants us to produce GTA or Everquest. The reason given is market share and that the young male games want violence and mayhem, but look at the video game market is there anything else?

In our research, which involved getting into alot of game systems and playing, we saw several interesting things:

1. Most players ignored the MMORPG storylines.
2. There was significant time put into the "building" areas of the games. In one of the games that allows the formation of towns and user groups the building of these towns and user groups seemed to be the focus of the system for a lot of people. These people were multiple ages, granted most were over the age of 15, but then our target market is College and beyond.
3. Across the board users complained about the tight control maintained by the developers.

The religion aspect we are implementing in several degrees:

Firstly, we plan on a "Theology" path in the game system. In that a gamer could choose to be something like a religious leader or an advisor.

Secondly we are trying to gear things so that gamers are going to have to help each other so that society progresses. This actually comes in from an experience that I had in one of the game systems where someone actually recruited me off the "street" for their team and gave me a small fortune in items and various things. When I asked why he said "if I treat you well, and you treat others well is makes the game more fun." If that's not lessons in morality in action I don't know what is.

Finally just giving support for people to declare religious affiliation, I think, is a big deal. Again, things are so white washed in the business world it's scary for anyone of the slightest religious inclination. We've had a lot of doors closed on us before we get farther then "We're a Christian-based company..."

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TomDavidson
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I want a MMORPG based on skill, so that I'm not penalized for only being able to play five hours a week.
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Eva Scrye
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Hmm, I've never heard of this 'Tale in the Desert' game, but apparently it's very good (IGN gave it a 8.9/10). Perhaps that was before I payed attention to MMORPGs.

While I'm a combat-junky, I think there's a huge market for games like this. Just look at Sims, it doesn't have any violence at all (and just a bit of sexual innuendo), and it's extremely popular.

I would offer my services to the project, but I rather doubt I actually *have* any skills you guys could use ^_-. How about some moral support then?

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TomDavidson
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quote:
Just look at Sims, it doesn't have any violence at all (and just a bit of sexual innuendo), and it's extremely popular.
You'd think so. But "The Sims Online" was a miserable failure.
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Penta
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quote:
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:
Just look at Sims, it doesn't have any violence at all (and just a bit of sexual innuendo), and it's extremely popular.
You'd think so. But "The Sims Online" was a miserable failure.
Yeah. And that's why I shake my head at this project.

Combat is an essential in an RPG, because:

1. People are competitive creatures.

2. The easiest way to compete is combat.

3. Most people go on to MMOG stuff to blow off steam.

Combat is a quick way to do that.

4. Without it, creating conflict in a way that is at all fun is *hard*.

And then there's the issue that, frankly...

Combat is fun. In a way social situations can't replace.

Plus, it's space. Space, combat...It seems so natural.

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cheiros do ender
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quote:
2. The easiest way to compete is combat.
...
4. Without it, creating conflict in a way that is at all fun is *hard*.

Gambling is fun, competitive, easy, addictive and violence free.
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BaoQingTian
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quote:
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
I want a MMORPG based on skill, so that I'm not penalized for only being able to play five hours a week.

I'm with you on that one Tom. It's sad when some 12 year old (or jobless 20 year old mooching of mom and dad) who spends over 50 hours a week on the game can just dominate based on sheer time played--Diablo II: LOD comes to mind.

Then again, I'm probably not part of the ideal market segment. World of Warcraft for example, makes their bread and butter off the people out there that do want to spend most of their free time playing online. I just want something I can hop in and play when it suits me and then pop out just as easily so I have time for the flesh and blood people in my life. So unfortunately I end up playing games in the Counterstrike genre where I can hop in, play for a while, and just press quit. How well I do depends on my skill, not with how many thousands of magic find Baal runs I've done [Wink] If they come up with a MMORPG that I can do that with, I'm sold.

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Blayne Bradley
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Well, combat may or may not be implemetned, you could get some kind of space stuff in ont eh strategy level. But then you infringe on some of MY idea's so I frown upon you. [Big Grin]
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Orson Scott Card
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About religious elements in games: I doubt it will ever work, for the obvious reason that whereas none of the players are likely to be international spies/ghost-killing heroes/etc., so it's all wish fulfilment, the moment you have any portion of the game that overlaps with existing real-world religions, you will (a) offend those who think you don't treat their religion (or someone else's) fairly, and (b) offend those who think you favor someone else's religion at the expense of their own, and (c) offend those who don't find their own set of beliefs represented and thus feel excluded.

None of these aspects of religion-in-games would help a game make more money, and would gravely risk keeping it from making as much as it otherwise might. So ... who will back it?

Furthermore, what is gained? While I give my characters a religious life in my novels, that's because their beliefs, their consciences can all be explored in some depth. I'm not doing Catholicism per se, I'm doing the faith of Ela or Quim. It become individual.

But in a game, it is impossible to explore the deep conscience, the individual reservations and eccentricities of characters. In short, REAL religious life is impossible to represent. All that is within reach is superficial and stereotypical (unless you stop the game cold for a character disquisition). It becomes unplayable.

So ... better to leave it out....

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Will Bellman
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As to competition and combat:
-----------------------------
One element is to bring in various form of predatory creatures on the planets that are impossible for a single gun wielding gamer to take down. Like say a hostile (carnivorous) armor plated Brontosaurus. There will also be the need to hunt... "Hunting" is a very popular pastime on many of the popular MMORPGS games.

I agree with Penta that combat is fun and exciting and I have no problem with it. However I don't think that anyone will suffer from a lack of combat based titles if one small game company makes an MMORPG that's not combat based. I'm not suggesting this as a market trend or anything, simply trying to come up with an alternative game type.

There will be player vs. player conflict in the game, but it will be the kind resolved through means other then a rocket launcher to the face.

As to skill based vs. level/time junkies:
-----------------------------------------

We are definitely moving in this direction. The level system is very divisive, I believe. It reminds me a lot of the old arcade games where the only possible way to progress the story line was through quarters.

Level system implementations I've seen so far are design to take so long that one has to literally dedicate entire days if not weeks to move along... and there is always some enticement to get to that next level some, nifty reward that never turns out to be worth the effort.

One counter measure is when it comes to things like engineering, the construction process will be tailored to aptitude. We hope to be able to provide a means of building base materials and having the engineers figure out what to do with them. The better an engineering knowledge a player has the better structure they will be able to build because they know how to build structure that last.

The combat countermeasure, we hope, will be the fact that in order to be successful one has to plan and coordinate their team. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to explain "fields of fire" to people and they still insist on running in front of teammates weapons.

We also want to setup a system that rewards people for mentoring new players. The new player interested in crafting will be sought out and taught by a master craftsmen within the system. Or soldier, or engineer, or whatever. There is very little incentive built into to games that call people to be mentors, except by their own volition.

On Space Combat and Strategy
-------------------------

This is an area that is planned, but hasn't been discussed further then it will be in a later release. In all probability in our MMORPG, space flight will be more travel and commerce based, rather then combat.

Personally, I grew up on Wing Commander. I would love to see a well done space combat game along those lines. Fleets moving through the void, wings of fighters on carriers patrolling... That would be cool, and to have the ability to fly as a wing member, leader, commander, or boat captain. *sigh*

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Will Bellman
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Well, I think, that one thing we definitely have to rethink is including any kind of religious ideal or identity into the system.

Originally, the thought was not money related at all. The idea was to allow people to express their spiritual nature as a facet of identity. Character creation in the MMORPG's has a lot to do with identity and people seemed ready enough to identify with the pseudo-religions found in both sci-fi and fantasy. In discussions, it grew from there.

There does seem to be a lot of resistance in this area and from both religious and non-religious people. Much food for thought.

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Eva Scrye
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I think it would be manageable to include religious elements, if they were worked in very stylistically. That is, you can't be overt about any possible intention to *convince* someone of something. After all, MMORPGs are quite possibly the worst form of evangelization ever considered.

But I'll assume that wasn't quite your intention.

But I think Mr. Card has a point, even though I don't quite agree with him. I think if the game included an entity similar to, say, the Catholic Church (although you could never call it that), but that held most of the same tenents, it could be worked in as a force in the game-world, but not the *source* of the game-world.

But, needless to say, you're in very dangerous territory indeed.

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Blayne Bradley
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Well, as in Civ4 religion had no benefit at all except the ability to see through the line of sight of another countries city (if you founded that religion) and granted additional happiness and culture. How that religion affected your nation was up to which civics you chosed to implement, such as freedom of religion, organized religion, theocracy, paganism, etc. Instead of creating religions to serve some spiritulistic trend just make it so that players can simply create their OWN religion and if they're culture is good enough can spread to other cities and planets inorder to make those planets friendlier to you, increase your culture, etc etc.
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TrapperKeeper
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Card basically stated a bit more elegantly what I was saying earlier. But thinking about it a bit more brings up another thought.

When you are reading a book, you think about the character. Be it Ender, Quim, Ela whatever. When you are playing a RPG however, the Character becomes you.

You dont say, Sorall needs to raise his blacksmithing to 300. You say, "I need to raise my blacksmithing" It is a matter of identity, the character becomes you.

With that in mind, if you were to include religious elements, they could not have an effect on the gameplay, but only on the identity of the character. I assume the characters in the RPG are going to be humans, so you could buy yourself a cross to wear, or a budha doll for your home.

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Penta
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My thoughts:

Try to think up a backstory first.

Next, as far as features:

1. My dream is to bring the roleplaying of a MU* into the graphical sophistication of an MMORPG.

2. Add into that space...Look at something like the old-style Elite series; That, accounting for the fact that players shouldn't need to buy hardware like a joystick, would be a great space system. Trading is easy...Just grab someone who paid attention in a basic sequence of college macro- and micro-economics courses. I would be skeptical of allowing player control of *both* the means of production and trading vessels, too.

Fleet control (as you mentioned) is perfectly possible...Just make sure one isn't called upon to fly and fight a ship while ALSO doing big picture tasks.

3. Let us walk around planets and space stations. One thing MU*s have taught me is that planetside RP is different from space station RP, and both are different from shipboard RP and inter-ship RP. Let us fully use them as play environments.

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Will Bellman
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RE: Religious Elements
----------------------

The idea was definitely not to be used as an evangelization tool. I figured the religious element would start out superficially, but then as the MMORPG grew one element that might grow from distinguished characters, identified with religious beliefs, is dialog. The aim is not to convert people one direction or another, but the hope was that maybe through playing together, people with different religious backgrounds might come together a bit. One of the fears however, even within the team, is that because of it's virtual nature people might simply sign on and start executing people by affiliation.

RE: Back story
-------------

That's what led me here in the first place. Not trying to brag but if you can think of something to do with a computer I can make it happen ( I started coding when I was seven ). When it comes to story and plot lines I am not so great. I can take a basic idea and flush things out, but writing an original story has never been a talent of mine.

Every time I try to be original I end up sounding like a pale imitation of one of the books or stories that has had an impact on my life. I'd rather do someone else's idea smashingly then to be a second hand knock off.

RE: Space and Fleet Combat
--------------------------

It's a great idea, and one that I would really like to see done. That being said, it may be too ambitious to do both the planet based colonization/missionary game and the space game. One barrier we always run into is the transition from space to land based. You always end up with some arbitrary landing sequence.

Graphically it's very difficult ( though not impossible, I think the Google Earth project might have an interesting jump in that area ) to build a Space to Land simulation the distances between are huge. The only one I've ever seen even attempt it, in a game format, is the Universal Combat line... I think their initial game was something like Battlecruiser Gold. You could actually pilot a star cruiser, land it on a planet or take a small landing craft down to the planet, disembark and perform military missions. Kind of neat, but had some severe limitations.

One limitation, and it's not a fault of the developers, is a control system that can move from gravity to null gravity. A ship will behave drastically different in space then it will in an atmosphere with gravity.

I think a ship/fleet based combat strategy game is a great idea, as long as it stays in space... Like the old Wing Commander series. However, the Star Trek idea of "beaming" down to a planet might be interesting...

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Rakeesh
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Actually Tom, there are RPGs out there that don't penalize you for having that long per week to play...well, not exactly anyway. They do reward players who do play obscene amounts of time, though, and since you're playing along with them, I suppose it amounts to the same sort of thing.
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TrapperKeeper
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World of Warcraft doesnt penalize you at all.
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Sid Meier
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WoW actually is the first RPG ive seen where ts worth it to do the quests.
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A Rat Named Dog
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Planetside was skill-based, and it was pretty fun, but it was all PvP competition with little to no roleplaying or story to speak of.
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TomDavidson
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quote:
World of Warcraft doesnt penalize you at all.
This isn't true. Because even in WoW, if you play four hours a week and your friend plays forty hours a week, EVEN IF HE SUCKS AT THE GAME, he will rapidly outpace your development. Because, even in WoW, the only real coin of the realm, the only real currency, is the time spent playing the game. Everything else is meaningless. (That's why munchkins in MMORPGs calculate everything in terms of the real-world play time it takes to achieve a given goal.)

This is, then, why I don't play MMORPGs. Because any loser with no social life or responsibilities can hit the level cap in a month or two, unless the game's creators have taken steps to address that "problem" through ridiculously exponential "scaling" of the experience ladder. It's meaningless, and cheapens the experience.

I'd play a MMORPG that awarded experience ONLY for completed quests, or even not at all.

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T_Smith
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See, the no combat thing isn't actually true. I could play a game completely lacking in combat and violence, but I want power. Its the power that a character has that I want. I could play a game of political interest in a mmorpg, so long as I had an oppurtunity to control things.

As I stated in some other thread a while ago, it would be hard to do over all and be interesting. I mean, "I'm a level 12 barrell maker, and if I make 12 more barrells I go up to level 13, which means I can make barrels at twice the rate!" It just doesn't work. However, something like 'I am working for/running a chain of hotels, and am competing against so and so chain of hotels in this community, and if I am better at such and such skills, I will gain more money to use to have my company grow and be able to buy x things."

Or, more closely to religion: "I have made x number of converts, and I've done x number of service, I am now a bishop in this new community and can control all my followers to commit mass suicide on April the 12th." Joking about the mass suicide thing. As I said, it's just very hard to do a community based mmorpg and be interesting. It can be done, I'll admit. My personal feeling is that an Alvin Maker mmorpg would bomb unless it had a totally different feel than the books (if you want to know why, I'll explain why).

Again, ultimately, people want power in mmorpgs. They want control. No one is going to be a librarian unless it led them to a position of power. No one is going to be a construction worker, unless they get to boss people around and fire them if they suck.

I believe, Will, that your game does have promise (although, if you include religion, it's going to be a very heated). I personally would like to play, but its all a matter of how long it can hold my attention for. You sound as if you have thought it out to the point where it is interesting.

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Bokonon
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Tom, D&D Online is only going to award experience on quest completion... It'll be interesting to see how it pans out.

-Bok

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Will Bellman
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You are absolutley right T_Smith!

That's alot of the thought that goes into the current design. If I hop on to a game system and it has a fantastic cityscape that the developers built, there might be, depending on artistic value some attention grabbed there in. However, if I am a colony administrator, and when the game started is was a level plain with a couple of guys and a shovel but now there is a thriving cityscape then there is a sense of *ownership*.

Even people who don't necessarily want the top control, who like myself would rather be a Lancelot or a Bean ( to stay within the present realm ), want to feel like they are a part of the world. When there is a quest to recon a newly discovered island I want to be the guy *giving* the quest and directing the flow of game play.

That's the whole point most of the MMORPG's go the direction the developers want to take. I want to see a system led and directed by the users.

I don't know if anyone remembers a Microsoft game called Allegiance, but I remember being on an early beata test team. In the begining there was a clan who called themselves the Belters, who got so good at the game they became undefeatable. The developers built a new faction into the game, called the Belters, that not just complemented the Belter playing stile but added a new set of challenges and complications that pushed the group even harder.

That's what I want to see. A game system that reflects the people playing it. That's what we are aiming for.

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VetaMega
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Chekc out SIMS, SIMCITY, The MOVIES, CREATURE ISLE, and BLACK & WHITE. I believe you're audiance would consist of mostly men. Women don't have as high of an interest in this stuff. As for the combat element, Blizzard and Civilization games should be interesting to look at. Indeed you should have different Factions and Nations - each with individual elements. Maybe you should also include different species, with totally different rules on construction and behavior. A mini RPG mode would also be recommended. Something within TRIBES, HALO, QUAKE. One thing I would recommend is to make the game as 'real life' as possible. There should be elements of disease,poverety, and justice and depending on how well you manage them, your army would do better and get cheaper prices and more recruits. And please, one bullet is all that is needed to kill a man, not five thousand. It all really depends on what type of game you want. However know this, the most importent aspect of a game is its story and plot. If you are going to do inter-species, make each species like a charactor in a book. Develop them, give them different traits on unity, government system, emotion control, that are both greater and worse than humans, though make each an alternative to our society. People like it when you give them a differnet view of how the world works.
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Blayne Bradley
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Don't forget ot have diplomacy implemented in some form... *walks off...*
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A Rat Named Dog
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quote:
I'd play a MMORPG that awarded experience ONLY for completed quests, or even not at all.
Then you'll want to check out Dungeons and Dragons Online, Tom [Smile] Once it ships, that is.
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Rakeesh
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Tom,

That's not true, just speaking from my experience. I played more than average, yes-after awhile, that is. But even then I was routinely defeating player-characters who obviously had much better gear and massively more playtime than I did. I could tell sometimes just by looking at the player-character, and other times by reviewing the combat after the fact.

There are two coins. Time played and skill playing. The trouble is, though, that "time played" can translate into "godlike items of ass-kickery" as well as gobs and gobs of money translated into all the expensive potions and knick-knacks.

Put `em together, you've got Batman. But take away some element of the skill, and you've still got a guy with cool gear and gobs of money-the guy, no less, who has the friends online right this freaking minute to come lay the smackdown on you, and the time to stop what he's doing and follow you. You're being penalized, but only relative to other players.

But it still ends up being a grind, eventually.

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Mason11987
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@TrapperKeeper

"Interesting. I would think your target market for this would be individuals, mostly women, above the age of 35.

Any younger, or male, and they would want the conflict/violence."

I have to completly disagree with this, and I believe it's been said by others here already but this demographic for a non-violent expansionist kind of game is REALLY off the mark.

Civ 4 for PC has been rated the best PC game by ign.com (one of the largest video game websites there are) and by gamespy.com (an affiliate of ign.com, another huge site), and civ 4 while having war in it, is NOT a violent game by any means. And if you take into account the fact that the majority of gamers are in their mid-20s and male, (for example, most of the editors from those two sites) then it would be QUITE likely that a game like that would be liked. It just would need to be advertised first of all, and fun to play second of all. Violent games like GTA aren't fun to play because you shoot people, they are fun to play because they are good games, violence only sells games to a very small minority, good gameplay sells to almost everyone.

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Blayne Bradley
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Luckily, for a game that will be in the MMORPG market with Sim City/Civilization characteristics I'm optimistic myself, though I doubt fleet combat will b implemented but it would be fun. Oh well back to Eve Online.
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