Sandbox/Themepark and the next big MMO

Simsu

No MMO is completely linear (themepark) and it would be impossible to create an all themepark MMO. You simply cannot make content faster than people progress through it. The difference between "themepark" and "sandbox" is really a very fine line. In sandbox games from day one you have to choose what you want to do be it raids, pvp, crafting or whatever. People who are self-motivated (or part of groups who are) will have the most fun in open-non linear environments because they will find ways to have fun on their own and don't rely on the game to lead them to fun things. In themepark games you have a linear part of the game (leveling, doing the story arc or whatever) during which the game leads you to things to do and occupy your time with and (hopefully) have fun doing these things. But once you have completed all the linear parts of the game you have to choose what you want to do and find ways on your own to spend your time in ways that are fun for you which is the same as what occurs in sandbox MMOs. In either case if you are cannot, or are unwilling to, find things that make the non-linear parts of the game fun then you're probably not going to enjoy your play time.

As I see it the real problem with recent "themepark" games is that their linear content is fairly limited and they failed to add enough good non linear content for people to do once the linear content has been completed. While the recent "sandbox" games suffer from having no direction for people who aren't highly self motivated to get into the game and meet people who are self motivated and can help the previous to find things to do and have fun.

Looking to the future I think the next big MMO will be a blend both styles and not try to cater too much to one or the other.

 

If you were to ask me what I think it will look like I'd tell you this:

Faction (3+) based PvP/RvR competition with real and clear motivations/penalties for being allied to and fighting against other factions. The guild system effectively creates sub-factions that are open to fight/compete against other sub-factions of the same primary faction but are always strongly driven to fight the other primary factions."My neighbors might not be my ally but those guys across the street are definitely my enemy".

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Player controlled city building/world modifying features that allow players to build their own cities in support/defense of their faction's limited NPC cities. Primary faction allegiance gives reason to fight/compete against the other primary factions while giving guilds (sub-factions) reasons to fight against other guilds for more land/power. City/player housing is completely dynamic with no set city points or restrictions on what can be built within a particular city. However cities are limited to being able to build "castle" and "town" type features. Merchants, quest NPCs, housing, crafting buildings, walls etc. If you want easy access to a mine you need to build your city close to it and then be prepared to defend it.

There is an upkeep/faction tax on cities based on what they have built. And in addition to the taxes/upkeep being based on the size of your city it is also based on the total land controlled by your faction. If you faction owns a lot of land it requires a lot of upkeep and will increase your taxes. If you faction is small and owns little land it requires less upkeep and your taxes will be lower.

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No global banking. If you put it in one bank its only accessible in that bank.

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If merchants are hired and given a place in cities they will sell limited wares that are restocked after a certain period of time. Additionally they will sell items on consignment.

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Siege system allows cities to be attacked 24/7 but only after a 24 hour declaration. Additionally city owners are able to set a "defensive window" where their city is more resistant to attack in order to limit the effectiveness of "off hour" sieges but not prevent them all together. In order to capture a city a certain number of siege damage/destruction must be done to its buildings before its city center can be destroyed/taken over (victory).

Attackers must wager/risk gold equal to the value of the city being sieged. This wager will be returned in full upon a victory, given to the city owners in full upon a loss or can be split in the event of a mutual cease fire before the siege concludes. Attackers who cannot front the entire siege fee can request short term siege loans from their faction who will place a lien on selected assets based on their individual value. If the loans are not repaid in a timely manner your faction will seize and destroy your assets to reclaim their losses.

If you succeed in capturing a city you can choose to keep it for yourself and take on the burden of its taxes and defense or raze it to the ground.

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The faction NPC cities can be sieged and attacked by enemy faction players. These do not require a siege declaration and can be attacked at any time but they cannot be taken over, only destroyed. Be warned that all those faction taxes go to the defense of NPC cities they will not be easy to siege, but your faction will reward you well for your effort.

If an NPC city is destroyed players from that faction may fight to take back the land and rebuild the city by donating gold, resources and items. Your faction will reward you for your generosity.

NPC cities are the only source for crafting and trade for people who do not have their own city.

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City owners will be able to hire faction NPCs to defend their cities. These NPCs require food, housing and most importantly to be well paid. Keeping a few faction NPCs on hand might be worthwhile but keeping an entire garrison will be a costly venture.

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Detailed player crafting for armor/weapons/mounts/housing/cities/siege warfare/etc. This system will allow crafters to become experts in only a limited number of fields (1-2) to prevent one or two people from being able to craft any/every item and effectively being able to support hundreds of people. Guilds will be encouraged to have a high number of very diverse crafters too meet their needs. Additionally the crafting system will avoid unreasonable time sinks to limit one crafter's production (smelt iron, refine it to steel, make bolts/plates/wire and then assemble it).

All items will take damage, be is siege or combat related. Repair of all crafted items is possible by those who have the ability to make the item however on all non building type items the maximum durability will be reduced each time you repair it. You will need to replace that armor. Advancement in crafting is based on a skill system (you get better by crafting and certain things are harder than others and require more skill).

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Gathering is possible on all trees/rocks/metal/etc. In fact it will be required to clear an area before you can build on it. There will be two kinds of gathering nodes. First is "normal spawn" nodes that will be the trees and rocks you see throughout the world. These will have longer respawn timers but will respawn to allow for "local gathering". The second will be areas of "spirited growth" meaning mines/forests etc. These have much quicker respawns and a wider variety of resources.

In addition to just gathering the normal spawn nodes can be used defensively around your city. By leaving a certain number of normal spawn nodes you can block access to your city from siege weapons. Attackers would have to clear these nodes to move in their weapons. On the other hand they can be used as cover by the attacking forces.

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There will not be classes/levels/skill progression. Everyone is able to swing a weapon, use a shield, shoot a bow and use basic magic. However...

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The deity system will allow you to pledge yourself to a god who favors a certain style of combat. In return for your devotion this god will show their favor bestowing special powers and abilities on you for as long as you choose to honor that god. For example if you devote yourself to a god whom favors the use of melee weapons you will be given special abilities with those weapons and other increased stats and defenses based on your deity. As long as you use primarily melee weapons you will remain in your god's favor, but if you use an abundance of ranged attacks your god will find shame in your actions and abandon you. This will cause you lose your ability to use the special melee abilities.

At this point you can re-devote yourself to another deity or beg forgiveness from the one that abandoned you. If you truly wish you devote yourself to one deity you may make a blood oath to them. Once you make a blood oath you will no longer lose favor with your chosen deity and your favored abilities will improve slightly but it will cost you in that your non favored abilities will decrease slightly.

There is no leveling up or skill progression to hit harder or get more advanced skills. The only way to get more skills is to travel to your god's shrines throughout the lands and make the proper sacrifices. Once you make the sacrifice you will have the skill and be able to fully utilize it unless you lose favor with your god and they abandon you. Other than using different kinds (better/worse) of weapons a blood oath is the only way to improve your abilities.

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There will be two server types. Normal and Full PvP.

Normal servers will have limited roving faction NPCs that will attack enemy faction players and will try to prevent players of the same faction from fighting. Attacking your own faction NPCs is not recommended as it will hurt your reputation with them and make them want to kill you on sight. Death will lower your armor durability and you will drop all your carried gold which can be retrieved by running back to where you died. If you kill another player you can loot the gold they dropped and when killing players from enemy factions will also be allowed to take a trophy from their skin. These trophies can be sold to your faction NPCs for money and will improve your reputation with them.

Full PvP servers will have limited roving faction NPCs that will only attack players from a different faction. They're not interested in bothering with same faction squabbles. When you die you will drop all of your gold/items/equipment which can be retrieved by running back to where you died. If you kill another player you can loot all of their equipment/gold/items but you will not be able to take trophies. Their items are enough of a reward.

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That's what I'd like to see in an MMO if I ever made one and I think it'd do pretty well.

Loke666

Some good ideas, particularly the one that you have to clear an area and can farm stuff like wood from all trees.

It would work, I would play it. The most important thing anyways for the next big game is fun. Building cities and similar things together is really fun, particularly if the players plan them (not like the pre-built cities of AoC). 

I think that you would have to offer more kinds of gameplay than just combat for the next gen MMO players.

Simsu

Well first thanks for reading it all.

Non combat stuff is tough to come up with... In the game I would make there is crafting, gathering, trading (merchant), city building and politics. A lot of emphasis is placed on the city building and in my mind by allowing dynamic locations with build your own options you open up the possibility of making your own city to more and more people.

Other than the stuff I listed as wanting to have I think you could add some really good story arc quests but you run into the problem of are they worth the investment time to create them when compared to how much playtime each person gets from them. I think if you can just give enough options to get people involved in something, anything, you can forgo most quest systems.

When I was writing up the original post I did want to include some kind of player made quests system but I couldn't think of a good way to get it done and have it still be worthwhile. I think I'd definitely want a purchase order system and a bounty system. Where people could basically put out an order/bounty with their own text/reward and other people could come by a check them, accept the ones they wanted, and then run off to fulfill them. I imagine a trading post in the woods where the city owner has setup a couple buildings with merchants and they work with some crafters who post their wares at the trading post and there is some kind of bulletin board where anyone can come by and post notices, bounties or whatever.

slashbeast

 *sigh* tl;dr would be nice

-Zeno-

You need a Themepark within a Sandbox.  Call it Shadowbane 2 and you have a WoW killer.