Wild West MMORPG

Kwon

 Long time member, first time poster, so be gentle...

Why not an old west MMORPG? There is so much that can be done the potential is amazing. Law men and out laws, the gold rush, traveling snake oil salesmen, big city folk, stage coaches, railroad tycoons and bandits, etc.

The premise for unbelievable crafting and trade depth is almost unrivalled. But what would really be interesting is the class system. You could be a bandit, lawman, business owner (brothels?), gold miner, farmer, CATTLE HERDING!, soldier, tribesman, politician, it really is endless.

Quests and missions would be very diverse depending on your class. A bandit naturally would be asked to rob stage coaches or moving trains with precious cargo. A lawman conversely would be charged with stopping them. Maybe a gold miner would have a mining system that mirrors SWG’s where you could stumble upon a hot vein and lay claim to and defend it, set up a mine that can operate when your offline. A cattle herder would have a mission that required him to deliver X amount of cattle to a certain location with all sorts of perils in between by a certain time. Man so much could be done!

I think the potential is endless. There could be “hero” characters like Jesse James, Sitting Bull, Wild Bill, Daniel Boon, etc.

I would play this game, would you?

Kwon

 

grandpagamer

I hadnt thought about it but the thoughts about crafting and occupations you mention are interesting. The potential for roleplaying in a game such as this would be good as well.

jmillerdls

Sounds great, obviously.  Would be interesting to see how developers screw it up.

GTwander

I think there is totally a place for it; but in a genre where people will hang on a game based on setting alone, a western has to be the least popular of them all. "Niche" is not even the right word to use here.

ThomasN7

A sandbox wild west mmo would work great.

Scrogdog

Sounds good to me, though I think the design would have to be less dungeon-centric than your average mmo.

 

It might be interesting for it to have an FPS element to the combat system as well, like Fallen Earth.  That would make being a "quick draw" much more meaningful.

Kwon

 Pony Express, Player built cities and towns, a player based government with elections.  I think if done right a game like this would draw a ton of interest.

Koujow

 Is it sad that I was excited by the idea of being a cattle herder?

Kwon

 I KNOW!  Thats why i put it in caps!

grandpagamer

I loved the HBO series Deadwood. A mining camp like that would be great also.

robert4818

 My opinions.

1.  Alternate World/History.  This frees up the developers to branch out from what's already happened.  An alternate world would be preferable, as it allows you to avoid the already present big names (Wyatt Earp, etc.)  Also, you need to be careful in the portrayal of the indians, as its too easy to stereotype them.

2.  Gambling is a must!  But ideally the card table would be free-form, as opposed to a sit-down pre-made poker game.  This way the players are able to make their own stakes, and own game variants.  Basically sitting down at a saloon table to play cards should offer the same amount of freedom as sitting down at your own table to play cards.

3.  Open world PVP, Bounty Hunters, and an Outlaw system.  Outlaws should have a harsher death penalty in the game than non-outlaws.

4.  Classless system.  People in the old west jumped sides of the law more times than a fleas on a dog.  Many people tried many different positions out there in the west, from lawman to prospector to outlaw, all in one lifetime.

5.  Varied Terrains.  The old-west is much more than the deserts shown in many of the the old westerns.  There were the woods of missouri, coast-line of California, Deserts of Arizona, and Mountains of colorado.  

Ilvaldyr

My thoughts on a Wild West MMO (in general).

1. Good RP setting; everyone loves cowboy hats and calling people "varmint".

2. Poor avatar variety. You'd obviously have to be human.

3. Limited combat variety. No magic or technology.

4. Potential racial insensitivity issues. Stupid, I know .. but it's a stupid world.

5. Wouldn't support trinity mechanics. Good or bad, depending on your view.

I personally think that the setting is too limited to provide a rich and varied themepark MMORPG experience. A sandbox/virtual world model would have a better chance if the developer concentrated on resource acquisition and territorial claim as the primary "guild vs guild" metagame. Similar to EVE.

Torik

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr


My thoughts on a Wild West MMO (in general).
1. Good RP setting; everyone loves cowboy hats and calling people "varmint".

2. Poor avatar variety. You'd obviously have to be human.

3. Limited combat variety. No magic or technology.

4. Potential racial insensitivity issues. Stupid, I know .. but it's a stupid world.

5. Wouldn't support trinity mechanics. Good or bad, depending on your view.
I personally think that the setting is too limited to provide a rich and varied themepark MMORPG experience. A sandbox/virtual world model would have a better chance if the developer concentrated on resource acquisition and territorial claim as the primary "guild vs guild" metagame. Similar to EVE.

 

EVE is pretty much Wild West in Space.

Skarothlock

I'll run the brothel

All you varmint's had better treat my girls real nice like... and pay... or the next thing you'll be kissin' is my shot gun!

 

Skaroth

mrllama254

I think it could also be cool to have a wild west setting, but with improved technology for weapons or the combat, I would just see revolvers and pistols getting kind of boring after a while. 

robert4818

 Maybe its time for the Weird West of Deadlands?

Scrogdog

Whew.

 

For a minutre there I thought you were going to suggest "World of West".

 

Game-Wolf

i like wild west movies so i would try a wild west mmo... i remember when red dead revolver came out for the ps2 i thought it was a good game..

Izure

I would like to see this, as long as it is all or mostly player driven.

 

Like we can build our own towns, with casinos/brothels/shoot ranges for shooting contests/ rodeo riding/bull riding/boxing/duels.

 

I would like it to be a open pvp. And have darkfall type combat, but obviously more realistic then darkfall.( slower sprint)

FPS is a must for this type of game. Then your town can go to the other towns and cause havoc, and destroy stuff or possible even take it over.

 

And you could build houses in the middle of nowhere like SWG, and have your own ranch.

Economy would be the #1 thing in this game IMO, Say in a player town, they have a bank, well how much is in the bank, and how did it get there, how much will the bank robbers take if they steal it. When money starts disappearing into NPC's and stuff, that is my biggest let down of all mmorpgs.

 

Also What type of mobs/missions/quests will there be in this game. I Think it will be a good idea to make a Wild West MMORPG with a twist, like monsters from saturn came and attack, or something of that sort. God I miss SWG PRE -CU  FCK U SONY!

lawnmowerman

 I'm yer huckleberry.

 

Serriously...someone make this game now!

 

 

 

Just to add....as a bandit one of the quests could be that thing they do in the movies where one of the banditos is about to get hung, so homeboy rides in there and shoots the rope , they kill everyone and ride out guns blazing. 

Wanted posters.

Buffalo hunting , with crafting from hides, meat etc....finally crafting that would actually make sense.

Blacksmithing would be another craft that would actually finally make sense.

stagecoaches!

 

 

Dude, you got my wheels spinnining, this game could rock.

hothnogg

http://frontier1859.com/mmorpg/

just needs funding

Kwon

 Well, they would need to be creative, obviously killing cows and rattlesnakes would be pretty low on my fun scale to grind.  The exp system would have to be class and action driven in some super creative yet not boring way.  Or, like many have said there needs to be an alternative reality twist.  I'm not against that, but I think there is enough (with some creativity) to make on based on real life and still be fun.

 

A bounty hunter would be amazing in this game.  Imagine being the player elected sheriff in a town and you need to gather a posse to chase down a player bandit or group of bandits?  Thats fun, no matter what you are into.

djazzy

I'd be all for it. Fallen Earth, while not set in that type of world, is sort of like a wild west mmo. Well at least it gives me that wild west vibe anyway. For a scifi wild west I would kill for a well made Firefly mmo. Anyway, the ideas are out there, perhaps somebody will make one (blizzards new mmo perhaps?).

pencilrick

A sandbox MMO Western would be great.  The only question is, Pilgrim, do any around here have the sand enough to play it?  Because if these WOW players... are all you got... they don't look... tough enough to... stomp a stringy jack rabbit.

somonekilwow

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Originally posted by Game-Wolf
i like wild west movies so i would try a wild west mmo... i remember when red dead revolver came out for the ps2 i thought it was a good game..

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great game, a new one is coming out in march or so and it's supposed to be more rpg like with a giant world.

Greyhawk4x4

Thanks to the genius of the late Gary Gygax The IP already exists, all someone has to do is develop an MMO from it.

I have been waiting a looong time for someone to do it