What it takes to respect a world "zone"

pencilrick

Was thinking on what it takes for a player to respect a world "zone" and why such zones were respected in earlier MMO's.

1.  Stinging Death Penalty.  Not enough to make you want to quit the game, but enough to ensure players are not stupid or careless.  If dying doesn't sting, then the adrenalin will never get pumping and no zone will be scary (or respected) no matter how good the artwork and ambient sounds are.

2.  Uncertainty.  Not knowing all that is in a zone (unless you have walked every spot in it).  Ex. a hidden cave or quest that goes undiscovered by most.  This creates an atmosphere of mystery and wonder that mapped out zones do not have.

3.  Undercons.  An occasional monster that is much stronger than it appears.

4.  Wandering mobs.  An occasional monster (or group) that wanders the zone and aggroes on unwary players.  This keeps people on their toes.

5.  Safe havens.  Significant only if #1 (Stinging Death Penalty) is in place.  Safe havens give players a feeling of relief which goes in balance with the adrenalin rush of stepping out. 

6.  Day/Night Cycle events.  Perhaps the ghosts come out at night and they are much higher level, or a werewolf spawns on a full moon, or city streets are filled with thieves after dark, etc...

Dafong

Originally posted by pencilrick


Was thinking on what it takes for a player to respect a world "zone" and why such zones were respected in earlier MMO's.
1.  Stinging Death Penalty.  Not enough to make you want to quit the game, but enough to ensure players are not stupid or careless.  If dying doesn't sting, then the adrenalin will never get pumping and no zone will be scary (or respected) no matter how good the artwork and ambient sounds are.
2.  Uncertainty.  Not knowing all that is in a zone (unless you have walked every spot in it).  Ex. a hidden cave or quest that goes undiscovered by most.  This creates an atmosphere of mystery and wonder that mapped out zones do not have.
3.  Undercons.  An occasional monster that is much stronger than it appears.
4.  Wandering mobs.  An occasional monster (or group) that wanders the zone and aggroes on unwary players.  This keeps people on their toes.
5.  Safe havens.  Significant only if #1 (Stinging Death Penalty) is in place.  Safe havens give players a feeling of relief which goes in balance with the adrenalin rush of stepping out. 
6.  Day/Night Cycle events.  Perhaps the ghosts come out at night and they are much higher level, or a werewolf spawns on a full moon, or city streets are filled with thieves after dark, etc...

 

I remember Kelethin actually brought out my vertigo, my fear of heights.  That was true fear of dying in the early days of EQ though cause it was hard to find a corpse.

pencilrick

Kelethin was great.  I never lost a sense of wonder in GFay. It seemed like there was always some part of it I might never know or some hidden quest or something.  This kept it magical to me.

theratmonkey

I like this.

Combine this with a well developed look and feel, and you got yourself something awesome.

 

ChrisMattern

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Originally posted by pencilrick
Was thinking on what it takes for a player to respect a world "zone" and why such zones were respected in earlier MMO's.
1.  Stinging Death Penalty.  Not enough to make you want to quit the game, but enough to ensure players are not stupid or careless.  If dying doesn't sting, then the adrenalin will never get pumping and no zone will be scary (or respected) no matter how good the artwork and ambient sounds are.
2.  Uncertainty.  Not knowing all that is in a zone (unless you have walked every spot in it).  Ex. a hidden cave or quest that goes undiscovered by most.  This creates an atmosphere of mystery and wonder that mapped out zones do not have.
3.  Undercons.  An occasional monster that is much stronger than it appears.
4.  Wandering mobs.  An occasional monster (or group) that wanders the zone and aggroes on unwary players.  This keeps people on their toes.
5.  Safe havens.  Significant only if #1 (Stinging Death Penalty) is in place.  Safe havens give players a feeling of relief which goes in balance with the adrenalin rush of stepping out. 
6.  Day/Night Cycle events.  Perhaps the ghosts come out at night and they are much higher level, or a werewolf spawns on a full moon, or city streets are filled with thieves after dark, etc...

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I have to ask...have you played Final Fantasy XI? Because you've just described it. Exactly.

Dewm1

Originally posted by pencilrick


Was thinking on what it takes for a player to respect a world "zone" and why such zones were respected in earlier MMO's.
1.  Stinging Death Penalty.  Not enough to make you want to quit the game, but enough to ensure players are not stupid or careless.  If dying doesn't sting, then the adrenalin will never get pumping and no zone will be scary (or respected) no matter how good the artwork and ambient sounds are.
2.  Uncertainty.  Not knowing all that is in a zone (unless you have walked every spot in it).  Ex. a hidden cave or quest that goes undiscovered by most.  This creates an atmosphere of mystery and wonder that mapped out zones do not have.
3.  Undercons.  An occasional monster that is much stronger than it appears.
4.  Wandering mobs.  An occasional monster (or group) that wanders the zone and aggroes on unwary players.  This keeps people on their toes.
5.  Safe havens.  Significant only if #1 (Stinging Death Penalty) is in place.  Safe havens give players a feeling of relief which goes in balance with the adrenalin rush of stepping out. 
6.  Day/Night Cycle events.  Perhaps the ghosts come out at night and they are much higher level, or a werewolf spawns on a full moon, or city streets are filled with thieves after dark, etc...

 

I remember playing FFXI you could get maps but it was just of the area didn't show any mobs or anything so unless you had been through the zone enough to know what was there it was pretty intence, And they had a harsh DP. going through one of there zones in the very early stages of the game (west ronfar) and dodging all of the high enemies and then ducking into a "outpost" while I wait for my HP and TP to recharge... Deffinitly exiting.

 

Agree with OP 100%

*crosses fingers that FFXIV will be like this*

pencilrick

Originally posted by ChrisMattern


 

Originally posted by pencilrick

Was thinking on what it takes for a player to respect a world "zone" and why such zones were respected in earlier MMO's.

1.  Stinging Death Penalty.  Not enough to make you want to quit the game, but enough to ensure players are not stupid or careless.  If dying doesn't sting, then the adrenalin will never get pumping and no zone will be scary (or respected) no matter how good the artwork and ambient sounds are.

2.  Uncertainty.  Not knowing all that is in a zone (unless you have walked every spot in it).  Ex. a hidden cave or quest that goes undiscovered by most.  This creates an atmosphere of mystery and wonder that mapped out zones do not have.

3.  Undercons.  An occasional monster that is much stronger than it appears.

4.  Wandering mobs.  An occasional monster (or group) that wanders the zone and aggroes on unwary players.  This keeps people on their toes.

5.  Safe havens.  Significant only if #1 (Stinging Death Penalty) is in place.  Safe havens give players a feeling of relief which goes in balance with the adrenalin rush of stepping out. 

6.  Day/Night Cycle events.  Perhaps the ghosts come out at night and they are much higher level, or a werewolf spawns on a full moon, or city streets are filled with thieves after dark, etc...

 

I have to ask...have you played Final Fantasy XI? Because you've just described it. Exactly.

 

Did not play that game enough to judge it, just a little at release.  Mostly was into EQ, DAOC, etc...

ionlyneedit

I would love to see a world like this come around again. These are some of the things that help a game feel like a world, and not "sanitize for your protection."

Unfortunately, most players now cry their little eyes out when the built-in quest helper is off by a few meters. I can't imagine the temper tantrum that would ensue if they suffered a death penalty due to a random wandering mob that wasn't explicitly displayed in their add-on radar mini-map Dance Dance Revolution raid assistant.