I'm talking to you, game designers, and you developers, and you too artists.
Seeking the following:
- gigantic, open environments with lots of room to stretch our legs and explore.
- comprehensive crafting system.
- player-driven economy.
- pvp that has a purpose.
- if you must have factions, MORE THAN 2 PLEASE. Good vs. Evil is not only cliche'd, it's terrible for an mmo experience.
- freedom to make mistakes... we're not babies, let us die, let us spec completely weird ways and regret it.
- classic art style. We don't need to have a giant rotating chain-saw-sword-guitar to feel good about ourselves...
- a questing system that does not insult our intelligence. Make questing difficult, but worth the effort. We want to feel like our character has had a personal goal in life, and it is the driving force in his "story". We don't want to murder innocent flora and fauna for the amusement of some random npc... we want there to be a real purpose to every quest we undertake.
- dynamic world events, dynamic loot... you know what? just try to be more dynamic wherever possible. Nothing we do should feel spoon-fed or repetitive.
- give us new content at least once every 6months. I don't mean a full-on expansion, but give us a new dungeon, a new explorable zone, SOMETHING to add diversity to the world over time.
- we want housing. I shouldn't have to explain why, but I will because so many games ignore this feature. We want a place to call home within our world, it makes the world seem more like an actual world... are we to believe that there are 1000s of people running around homeless? We want to be able to decorate our house, store stuff in our house, and display trophies of our adventures.
- we want an intuitive, and customizable interface. Not just the look, but custom layouts and addons as well.
- we want a fluid control system, that makes us feel free to jump and run and climb in the world.
- we want gameplay that requires skills, not luck, or bugging out to succeed. Don't just make something impossible because it's the last piece of content in the game and you don't want people to finish it.
- we want a variety of races that have their own unique cultures, advantages, and pitfalls. [edit: added this one to the list, thanks arakail!]
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Now, I know there have been games that have met some or almost all of these requirements, but there seems to be less and less choices out there for people who want a really in-depth experience, and more games that cater to the "casual player" which is game-design-speak for "so easy a caveman could do it". This is a call to action for game devs to get back to the wild wild west approach to mmos that really made us fall in love with a game.
What other features would you say game devs need to be focusing on for future games? Add to the discussion! Let's see if we can't make those designers' ears perk up a little.
ghost, while I can appreciate the simplicity of your post, it EVE does not have all the things I mentioned (though it does have many of them).
But as you say it covers most of them, and to my mind the most important of them. Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that it is only the indie developers who are producing (or attempting to) produce the kind of mmos that cover the bases you have mentioned. That being said it's pretty obvious that there is going to be limitations, as by their very nature, indie companies can't afford to roll out all the things you want.
For all the 'QFE's' and yahoos you have and will get in this thread, the sad fact is that the majority of mmos players simply want 'polish' and something to max their credit cards on. Developers will pander to this cash cow and as such EVE is the best bet you are going to have with that kind of 'alternative' wishlist.
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
It amazes me that so many devs gloss over crafting and player economy when making their shiny new mmos. And you end up with some half-assed crafting system thats nothing more than a drag n drop with a timer on it. it takes zero thought, the player has zero influence on the quality of theitems, zero customization options, and to add insult to injury, most of the items are worthless at endgame anyway.
I want this to happen..with an Elder Scrolls MMO. Seriosuly those guys at Bethesda have the potential to create an environment that could pretty much fulfill your wish list.
OT; just whats going on with Elderscrolls anyway?.../off to make a new topic
Well most of that was tried in Vanguard but people follow hype and name and numbers.If Blizzard released the exact same game even with no bug fixes it would have a large player base.
The fact is that the majority,if you pay attention to people in your guild of whatever game/linkshell they ONLY care about speed leveling.They really couldn't care less how it is done or why,they couldn't care less if there is even a living breathing world,they just want EASY mode leveling.If the game came out with a 500% xp bonus the entire server would be all over it.
Game design is SOO bad it is still following the routes of SINGLE player design,this is the true flaw of MMORPG game design.
Game design needs to find a reason to lose levels and start utilizing "AGE" meaning you race to old age you die and lose everything.You race through levels you should lose that chance at gaining valuable experience,you might gain an age level,but little actual experience.
Experience SHOULD equal experiences,not doing fetch me tasks for NPC's to gain a level.The whole MMORPG design is watered down to a meaningless single player design,with end game raiding for gear.There SHOULD be a reason to enjoy EACH and every "age" level.Who in real life are in a hurry to age?Why should it be any different in gaming?
There is EASY solutions like turning off xp ,have certain skills/aspects increase with age ,while others decrease.Example you would be wiser with age,but less dexterity/agility ect ect.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I think you're confusing age and experience a little.... many people are in a hurry to train their skills, which can happen fast or slow regardless of the aging process. What you're suggesting would mean that each person's personal chronometer could be sped up or slowed down... This would mean that someone who was a child could be an adult as quickly as they desired, which is not realistic in my opinion. That being said, adding an aging system in a game is doable, provided that everyone ages at the same rate. The problem with that is that if you go on vacation for a couple weeks, you might miss the best part of your character's childhood .
experience is training, something one actively does. aging is passive, one cannot control the aging process. I would like to see some sort of age/appearance progression, but I don't know if it's essential to include such a feature. It'd be pretty neat to create a fresh-faced young warrior and by the time you're done leveling, you'd have a seasoned and scarred older warrior.
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Go find another hobby.
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Occasionally Play: Champions, Pirates of the Burning Sea, WOW, EVE ONLINE
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Ghost
ghost, while I can appreciate the simplicity of your post, it EVE does not have all the things I mentioned (though it does have many of them).
But as you say it covers most of them, and to my mind the most important of them. Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that it is only the indie developers who are producing (or attempting to) produce the kind of mmos that cover the bases you have mentioned. That being said it's pretty obvious that there is going to be limitations, as by their very nature, indie companies can't afford to roll out all the things you want.
For all the 'QFE's' and yahoos you have and will get in this thread, the sad fact is that the majority of mmos players simply want 'polish' and something to max their credit cards on. Developers will pander to this cash cow and as such EVE is the best bet you are going to have with that kind of 'alternative' wishlist.
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
Good List.
It amazes me that so many devs gloss over crafting and player economy when making their shiny new mmos. And you end up with some half-assed crafting system thats nothing more than a drag n drop with a timer on it. it takes zero thought, the player has zero influence on the quality of theitems, zero customization options, and to add insult to injury, most of the items are worthless at endgame anyway.
STOP with the horrible crafting engines please!
I want this to happen..with an Elder Scrolls MMO. Seriosuly those guys at Bethesda have the potential to create an environment that could pretty much fulfill your wish list.
OT; just whats going on with Elderscrolls anyway?.../off to make a new topic
Bah, what am i saying. You want this.
could this be griefers paradise? Its certainly a paradise for some of the worlds social pariahs
Guild Wars 2 may do it for me...
"Everyone dies. It is how one lives that matters."
Artemis Entreri (R.A. Salvatore)
"P.S. MAKE NO DEALS WITH THE WOLF." -Durzo Blint-
"But, there is one they fear.
In their tongue, he is Dovahkiin -- Dragonborn!" -Game of the Century-
Well most of that was tried in Vanguard but people follow hype and name and numbers.If Blizzard released the exact same game even with no bug fixes it would have a large player base.
The fact is that the majority,if you pay attention to people in your guild of whatever game/linkshell they ONLY care about speed leveling.They really couldn't care less how it is done or why,they couldn't care less if there is even a living breathing world,they just want EASY mode leveling.If the game came out with a 500% xp bonus the entire server would be all over it.
Game design is SOO bad it is still following the routes of SINGLE player design,this is the true flaw of MMORPG game design.
Game design needs to find a reason to lose levels and start utilizing "AGE" meaning you race to old age you die and lose everything.You race through levels you should lose that chance at gaining valuable experience,you might gain an age level,but little actual experience.
Experience SHOULD equal experiences,not doing fetch me tasks for NPC's to gain a level.The whole MMORPG design is watered down to a meaningless single player design,with end game raiding for gear.There SHOULD be a reason to enjoy EACH and every "age" level.Who in real life are in a hurry to age?Why should it be any different in gaming?
There is EASY solutions like turning off xp ,have certain skills/aspects increase with age ,while others decrease.Example you would be wiser with age,but less dexterity/agility ect ect.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I think you're confusing age and experience a little.... many people are in a hurry to train their skills, which can happen fast or slow regardless of the aging process. What you're suggesting would mean that each person's personal chronometer could be sped up or slowed down... This would mean that someone who was a child could be an adult as quickly as they desired, which is not realistic in my opinion. That being said, adding an aging system in a game is doable, provided that everyone ages at the same rate. The problem with that is that if you go on vacation for a couple weeks, you might miss the best part of your character's childhood
.
experience is training, something one actively does. aging is passive, one cannot control the aging process. I would like to see some sort of age/appearance progression, but I don't know if it's essential to include such a feature. It'd be pretty neat to create a fresh-faced young warrior and by the time you're done leveling, you'd have a seasoned and scarred older warrior.