Basically, I want a list we can show to developers or to copy on threads that talk about features we'd like in our games. Because as recent games have shown us, unless we lobby for features to get put in, we may lose them.
Yeah, it's not like we haven't been screaming our heads off for years trying to get their attention... but this sounds just so new and innovative, it just might work!
Not necessary but to help provide interaction for players in those taverns, guildhalls, or even in their homes, mini-games like checkers, darts, etc.(ie. UO).
Also, merchants that carry appropriate type clothing for the world as well as specialty patterns for crafters. (ie. gowns, tri-corne hats, boots, and then the plethora of housing items like useable chests, benches, canopy beds, player made art, etc.)
I would also like to see hard rules about names as mentioned above, there is nothing immersive about seeing someone or their pet/mount named one/two/three/etc or something obscene. I realize there can be a problem with not getting a name you want because you were late to the party, but just adding the ability to have a second name should fix that.(ie. instead of Willow23, Willow Pendragon).
imagination and willingness on part of players is all that is needed.
We RPed in muds back in the 80s. No reason modern gamers can't figure it out without the devs having to write code for them.
This. And I'd like to add it was easier to imagine the stuff in MUDs because there was no graphics to tell us "NO, SHE'S NOT DRINKING, SHE'S JUST STANDING THERE, FONDLING HER HAIR!"
Sure, you can still RP by emoting everything, including duels if you like, but why do we play graphical MMORPGs if we can do the same in IRC?
Basically you just need a lot of players and a "say" function. There are other things that helps like emotes, guildhalls to spend time in with the guildies and so on but while those are helpful they are not must haves.
If you have npcs in the game they should not be stereotypical npcs who just stand around like in the first Diablo game either, they could at least look alive but MMOs mustn't have npcs. You can also let players run the stores and so in a MMO.
Roleplay is just something you do, props and emotes do help a bit but as long as you can talk with the other people in the world you can always roleplay.
That's a pretty narrow view to roleplaying, really. RP is much more than just sitting in a tavern and chatting. It should involve politics and conflict, too. Hard to do politics if you as a leader of a large guild cannot own even a simple house in the game world, and hard to do conflict if all you can do to resolve it is to either emote-fighting or arranging a match on a battleground, if even that is possible.
Roleplay in table-top RPG's like Dungeons and Dragons involved lots of imagination and acting. You had to "imagine" stuff that today's games provide, such as visuals and action. You "acted" to play in character.
With a computer MMORPG, you do not have to imagine anymore--the server provides the visual and auditory in-game reality for you. All that is left to do is "act", as in "act in character", and really only if you are into roleplay. And the biggest thing you can do to act in character is to select a name that fits with the game you're playing (i.e., "Brulin" the healer instead of "I-heal-you-2" or something idiotic.)
What I feel is inefficient is when computer MMORPG'ers try to "imagine" and just make stuff up that did not happen or is not happening in the game world. I saw some silly GM assign someone the position of "admiral" in the guild navy (a navy that did not exist). Go figure. I guess this in a mental way of their guildmates stroking each other's ego's or something. Was quite silly and unnecessary.
So, tabletop needs "imagination" (no server) and "acting" (in character).
Computer MMORP needs just "acting" (in character), and mostly just for Roleplay servers.
Yes, people can act in a computer game like they do when playing face to face in a pen and paper rpg. The limit is imagination. All the extra stuff like animated emotes are fluff. ::waits for applause::
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
1) group finders with ports to instances - i quit GW2 and SWTOR(launch) in large part because they were missing and I didn't want to go sit somewhere spamming to find a group 2) parallel leveling zones - Being forced to do the same zones(post starter) on alts is a big problem
1) group finders with ports to instances - i quit GW2 and SWTOR(launch) in large part because they were missing and I didn't want to go sit somewhere spamming to find a group 2) parallel leveling zones - Being forced to do the same zones(post starter) on alts is a big problem
1) group finders with ports to instances - i quit GW2 and SWTOR(launch) in large part because they were missing and I didn't want to go sit somewhere spamming to find a group 2) parallel leveling zones - Being forced to do the same zones(post starter) on alts is a big problem
Designated RP servers. please for the love of reason.
My biggest struggle when looking for RP is that fewer games have RP servers (with some of them even merging all servers into one mega-server). As a result, RP communities tend to be a lot more closed off and centered around single locations in the gameworld, acting as an agreed upon RP hub within the respective community. It almost completely eliminates any chance of spontaneous RP in the rest of the game world
Other than that, mechanics that support roleplay
This is a bit of a tricky one, but what I mean is having mechanics in the game that allows players to interact with each other and the game world, beyond just clicking things for a list of commands (trade, inspect, duel, etc.). Give the players some agency in the world, freedom to make stupid and unnecessary decisions, and consequences to remind them that it was indeed a stupid decision. Things like allowing players to attack NPC's, or steal from them, or build their own bases, even wage wars on each other. Suddenly you may end up with a playground that develops it's own player dynamics like EVE online. With that in place, you could actively act out the actual gameplay in-character, without having to be in a "pretend-army" fighting "pretend enemy players" through emotes or something.
Many of my buddies who I played FFXIV got me into using the /emote command for my roleplay chat.
I HATED IT at first. It was like...wtf is this? Over time I realized why. The emote chat clearly marked ROLE play speak on Balmung FFXIV. This meant that was for role playing. I noticed it was respected by non role players as well.
So give role players a quick way to enter emotes while chatting "Crim looked at Toddah and winked" can be done in emote language land. I got that later on.
Divide roleplay speak from normal. Give the ability to context the message even.... Anger, happiness, etc
Only thing roleplayers truly need is the ability to communicate. A simple chatbox is what is truly the minimum requirement as there's all ready tons of forums dedicated to roleplay focused on it so it's all ready been proven especially since after all a huge portion of role-play is done through literature and not so much through game mechanics. Just because you don't have the ability to sit on a chair through an emote system doesn't mean a role-player cannot set the scene that his character is in fact sitting in a chair but of course it definitely helps to have a game's support and allow for more visuals to better the role-play experience.
Minimum requirements for me is just factual since of course I prefer having the luxuries of emotes, walking toggle, sittable chairs, interactive combat, big and intricate lore, and so forth but all in all it is very much a player driven thing--usually.
Comments
Yeah, it's not like we haven't been screaming our heads off for years trying to get their attention... but this sounds just so new and innovative, it just might work!
My personal list:
-Fundamentals... -
text... and a way to tint it to make it easier to see actions vs spoken text
-A bit less fundamental-
A deep character creation studio.
Non-combat interactions
-on the nice to have list-
Player event functionality
Venues for play
The ability to set up private instances
- with a high player cap
non-combat animations
This have been a good conversation
Not necessary but to help provide interaction for players in those taverns, guildhalls, or even in their homes, mini-games like checkers, darts, etc.(ie. UO).
Also, merchants that carry appropriate type clothing for the world as well as specialty patterns for crafters. (ie. gowns, tri-corne hats, boots, and then the plethora of housing items like useable chests, benches, canopy beds, player made art, etc.)
I would also like to see hard rules about names as mentioned above, there is nothing immersive about seeing someone or their pet/mount named one/two/three/etc or something obscene. I realize there can be a problem with not getting a name you want because you were late to the party, but just adding the ability to have a second name should fix that.(ie. instead of Willow23, Willow Pendragon).
Sure, you can still RP by emoting everything, including duels if you like, but why do we play graphical MMORPGs if we can do the same in IRC?
Yes, people can act in a computer game like they do when playing face to face in a pen and paper rpg. The limit is imagination. All the extra stuff like animated emotes are fluff. ::waits for applause::
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
1) group finders with ports to instances - i quit GW2 and SWTOR(launch) in large part because they were missing and I didn't want to go sit somewhere spamming to find a group
2) parallel leveling zones - Being forced to do the same zones(post starter) on alts is a big problem
My biggest struggle when looking for RP is that fewer games have RP servers (with some of them even merging all servers into one mega-server). As a result, RP communities tend to be a lot more closed off and centered around single locations in the gameworld, acting as an agreed upon RP hub within the respective community. It almost completely eliminates any chance of spontaneous RP in the rest of the game world
Other than that, mechanics that support roleplay
This is a bit of a tricky one, but what I mean is having mechanics in the game that allows players to interact with each other and the game world, beyond just clicking things for a list of commands (trade, inspect, duel, etc.). Give the players some agency in the world, freedom to make stupid and unnecessary decisions, and consequences to remind them that it was indeed a stupid decision.
Things like allowing players to attack NPC's, or steal from them, or build their own bases, even wage wars on each other. Suddenly you may end up with a playground that develops it's own player dynamics like EVE online.
With that in place, you could actively act out the actual gameplay in-character, without having to be in a "pretend-army" fighting "pretend enemy players" through emotes or something.
I HATED IT at first. It was like...wtf is this?
Over time I realized why. The emote chat clearly marked ROLE play speak on Balmung FFXIV.
This meant that was for role playing.
I noticed it was respected by non role players as well.
So give role players a quick way to enter emotes while chatting "Crim looked at Toddah and winked" can be done in emote language land. I got that later on.
Divide roleplay speak from normal. Give the ability to context the message even.... Anger, happiness, etc
Minimum requirements for me is just factual since of course I prefer having the luxuries of emotes, walking toggle, sittable chairs, interactive combat, big and intricate lore, and so forth but all in all it is very much a player driven thing--usually.