I'm cracking up at the "parents killed, seeking revenge" storyline bit. You are all definitely spot on about that I myself am guilty as charged.
Honestly, I think the way MMOs start you off kind of encourages that kind of storyline development. I mean, you just pop into the world, a full fledged adult, no family or ties of which to speak, ready to go kill those orc pawns for no reason.
This gives me an idea for a game tutorial. Picture this:
You spawn in. Along with your character, the game spawns for you a one-room cottage, complete with parents, in a designated player housing area near one of the major cities. In the little cottage are everything a new player needs: basic clothes, maybe a wooden sword and shield or bow and arrow, food, etc. It could also function as an inn and your first spawn point. One of your parents could be an NPC escort/guard, following you around the newbie wilderness, teaching you stuff, and killing mobs that are about to kill you. They would be the "tutorial givers", similar to the computer in EVE. Around level 15, your parents decide you are big enough that you can go off on your own. You can also turn off parent escort prior to that if you wish. But boom, you have instant player housing (albeit a tiny house with only basic items) and a guard that follows you around and teaches you to play the game. If the game is PVP, they could help low-level players from being ganked by higher level players. The parents should also be killable, though, but only by higher leveled players and give a large negative faction hit, unless the killers are from an opposing faction.
You can add other stuff to this too, like making your character visibly grow from a child to an adult from levels 1-15, then just level normally from there.
This way, everyone can start with a quasi-normal childhood, and things can develop from there. A good RP base.
The Greyhammer Timeline (Games Played > 1 month)
1999 >-- Everquest -- Dark Age of Camelot -- Everquest -- Anarchy Online -- Everquest -- Star Wars Galaxies -- Final Fantasy XI -- Everquest -- World of Warcraft -- Everquest 2 -- EVE Online --> 2006
Playing Navy Field (www.navyfield.com) and waiting for Vanguard.
I don't know what eclipse was like but crafter setting up their shops and decorating them happened on every server and I know on the servers I played on most of them would not have called themselves 'roleplayers' or been called that by the 'roleplaying' communities. The same goes for player cities, the fun of them was setting them up and decorating and having your guild or communities city but again that wouldn't have been called roleplaying by the roleplayers I was talking about. As for the state of MMOs and the future I agree with the OP on that part. I can't think of any future ones coming that isn't just a bland copy of WoW. All level/class based, all about combat and nothing else.
As for the state of MMOs and the future I agree with the OP on that part. I can't think of any future ones coming that isn't just a bland copy of WoW. All level/class based, all about combat and nothing else.
Well that's a fair enough critique of my post, point taken certainly .
But I'm not sure you got the point of my earlier post. When I think of it, I'm not really sure how many people I knew would have called themselves direct roleplayers, if any at all for that matter but that's why I mentioned "natural roleplaying" earlier.
People didn't have to go out of their way to get into the environment, it just kinda happened. Their wasn't many "though art's" "thee's" and ye old high horse speaking, people could be themselves and still stay in character. And it was fun to do it because it wasn't hard and you could relate to your character. This is what I was trying to exlain.
And for the your view of the future of MMO's, well that's your oppinion of course, it's a little bleak but who am I to argue. I tend to have a more positive outlook because I see so many great things happening.
Hopefully at some point in the future you'll get into a game that re-inspires you.
I used to roleplay quite a bit in MMOs, but the constant negative feedback by other players finally frustrated me to the point where I don't even play an MMORPG today. I was the kind of roleplayer that created really bizarre characters with really fun, interesting stories that drove the character forward. And every now and then I'd create someone who was just ridiculous so others would be able to experience the fun.
Some examples:
1. Ultima Online (little sarbonn): Was the birth of "little sarbonn", who at the time was quite well known as the young sorceror who was trying to figure out his place in the grand scheme of things. The evolution of this little guy was so much fun because it was on Siege Perilous (a more pvp enriched server), and he would constantly wander into dangerous territory, find pkers and try to engage them in very exploratory conversations about the meaning of life in Britannia. Much of his adventures were humor, and I had a web site dedicated to his adventures that received a MASSIVE amount of traffic.
2. Ultima Online (a ghost): I had a thief character named "a ghost", who produced the reputation of "the greatest thief in Britannia". What peop;le discovered after time was that she was a thief specifically of library books. Her lair had wall to wall stolen library books, and her adventures, on the little sarbonn site, were humorous interactions as she was chased by people because she flagged herself by stealing library books. I had a thing going for awhile where I ended up with screen shots of some of the most notorious pkers of that time yelling "Hey, she stole my library book!" with a ghost running away from them. People loved being part of the fun fiction that brought.
3. Everquest (Ickythiez Tootight): An iksar monk who was addicted to mind buffs. During a mind buff from an enchanter once, he discovered that the iksar were really being oppressed, and he created a revolution, but then the mind buff went away, and he went back to eating insects. But he suspected that there was something more to life than insect eating, so he constantly spent his life trying to achieve a higher intellect, so he could find a way to free the Iksar from their captivity. Unfortunately, while stupid, he couldn't remember why he was seeking intelligence in the first place.
4. Star Wars Galaxies (Marisha Darkknight): A ranger who was mistress of survival skills but too frightened to ever really leave the sight of a major city. She spent months on the outskirts of Anchorhead, creating little towns with her tents, that she would call Anchorhead II. A traveler gave her a little tiny robot who acted as mayor of the city, and she had a baby dewback that acted as her first citizen. People would constantly stop by and "become members" of her little city, as she would go on and on about how the mayor of the real Anchorhead was trying to suppress her attempts at creating a viable city. She said he was being funded by "the Empire corporations", and she was the only true rebel that existed in this galactic civil war, that was really all about the freedom of independent cities like hers.
5. Star Wars Galaxies (Cellphone Guy): A total joke. He would run into the middle of huge pvp battles and yell: "Can you hear me now?" /pause "Good!"
6. Star Wars Galaxies (Wine Hofet): (you have to understand how people write profiles in these games to undestand this guy) After his father was killed by the Empire and resurrected by the Rebels, but accidentally killed again by Jabba the Hutt who saved his mother from the Rebels because she was friends of the Empire, his family on his mother's side were all wiped out by the Rebels, minus his great uncle who was actually killed by the Empire, and his family on his father's side was tricked by the Empire into believing it was really the Rebellion, before the Legion of Cantinas killed half of them and saved the other half. (the description goes on for about two pages of text).
7. Dark Age of Camelot (Grawwl): A large troll who lost his mommy and spent the rest of his life trying to find her. He had an invisible kobold for a friend, and he was constantly arguing with him about whether or not he needed to lose weight and was eating the right foods.
8. World of Warcraft (Kreital): Knitter of Ogrimmar. Having killed every enemy creature he could find, Kreital realized that true service only comes from a knitting needle.
Originally posted by Greyhammer I'm cracking up at the "parents killed, seeking revenge" storyline bit. You are all definitely spot on about that I myself am guilty as charged. Honestly, I think the way MMOs start you off kind of encourages that kind of storyline development. I mean, you just pop into the world, a full fledged adult, no family or ties of which to speak, ready to go kill those orc pawns for no reason. This gives me an idea for a game tutorial. Picture this: You spawn in. Along with your character, the game spawns for you a one-room cottage, complete with parents, in a designated player housing area near one of the major cities. In the little cottage are everything a new player needs: basic clothes, maybe a wooden sword and shield or bow and arrow, food, etc. It could also function as an inn and your first spawn point. One of your parents could be an NPC escort/guard, following you around the newbie wilderness, teaching you stuff, and killing mobs that are about to kill you. They would be the "tutorial givers", similar to the computer in EVE. Around level 15, your parents decide you are big enough that you can go off on your own. You can also turn off parent escort prior to that if you wish. But boom, you have instant player housing (albeit a tiny house with only basic items) and a guard that follows you around and teaches you to play the game. If the game is PVP, they could help low-level players from being ganked by higher level players. The parents should also be killable, though, but only by higher leveled players and give a large negative faction hit, unless the killers are from an opposing faction. You can add other stuff to this too, like making your character visibly grow from a child to an adult from levels 1-15, then just level normally from there. This way, everyone can start with a quasi-normal childhood, and things can develop from there. A good RP base.
I like this idea a lot, it is similar to one I've toyed around with in my head for a long while. But why stop having the character at level 15, why not keep aging them? If people don't want to be level 70 and look like they are 70, for example, there could be some "fountain of youth" quests if they don't want to look old. But anyways. Let's get together and build it! Heh heh!
Now, where'd I put that "Building MMORPGS for Dummies" book...
The Greyhammer Timeline (Games Played > 1 month)
1999 >-- Everquest -- Dark Age of Camelot -- Everquest -- Anarchy Online -- Everquest -- Star Wars Galaxies -- Final Fantasy XI -- Everquest -- World of Warcraft -- Everquest 2 -- EVE Online --> 2006
Playing Navy Field (www.navyfield.com) and waiting for Vanguard.
Originally posted by Tyoka So I come to this site to look at the future for MMOs, and all I see are "best PvP ever!" or "new innovative combat system!" or "make a guild with your friends, because, you know, you can't do that in EVERY other MMO out there!" Does anyone else feel this way?
Loved the quote there because it is all too true. Just a month ago gave up on a WoW RP server, especially since I was spending too much time raiding and I couldn't do anything else to advance my character in the game.
Never a D&D player, but I miss the old feeling of playing a game of Shadowrun in the good old days or the early days of AO when it still had a decent RP community on RK2. Kind of just game hopping right now and I've been dissappointed ever since Mythic announced shutting down Imperator. Atriarch is the only thing on the horizon that looks interesting to me as a roleplayer. Tried Ryzom but it wasn't anything it advertised itself to be and is working towards being another ganker's paradise. A lot of other roleplayers these days talk about NWN2, and I've debated giving it a try.
But E3 is here so maybe at least we can hope for some kind of encouraging announcement.
I'd say that the next big MMO would be Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. You can literally render your character to be anything you want, whether it be the local thug or the mysterious inquisitor. It is very "oldschool" (EQ), but it also has a mature community that respects (and usually joins in with) roleplayers. It also features player owned towns, houses, boats, etc. Which make the game world bendable by the players. (But you can't just build anywhere, there are specified lots in which you need to purchase)
When you create a character, you choose which race, class, diplomacy class, crafting class, and harvesting class you want. All of these together define your character and how he/she interacts with the world. When you interact with NPCs, you are using your diplomacy class. Fighting monsters, you use your Adventuring class. And so forth.
Originally posted by EQiscool6563 I'd say that the next big MMO would be Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. You can literally render your character to be anything you want, whether it be the local thug or the mysterious inquisitor. It is very "oldschool" (EQ), but it also has a mature community that respects (and usually joins in with) roleplayers. It also features player owned towns, houses, boats, etc. Which make the game world bendable by the players. (But you can't just build anywhere, there are specified lots in which you need to purchase)
When you create a character, you choose which race, class, diplomacy class, crafting class, and harvesting class you want. All of these together define your character and how he/she interacts with the world. When you interact with NPCs, you are using your diplomacy class. Fighting monsters, you use your Adventuring class. And so forth.
The fact it is very 'old school' means it is limiting its playerbase alot. Not that many players are willing to sit around on a boat for 1 hour and then throw in the forced teaming to do much of anything. It could do well but its not going to be the next big thing.
As a side point I really hate those 'fighting class, diplomacy class, crafting class and harvesting class' systems where you can master all of them without any limit being enforced on the others for getting really good at one. Like its possible for someone to be so talented to be a master of each of those but someone else can't just be a two combat professions. Actuelly I jsut hate class systems
Originally posted by shae But I'm not sure you got the point of my earlier post. When I think of it, I'm not really sure how many people I knew would have called themselves direct roleplayers, if any at all for that matter but that's why I mentioned "natural roleplaying" earlier. People didn't have to go out of their way to get into the environment, it just kinda happened. Their wasn't many "though art's" "thee's" and ye old high horse speaking, people could be themselves and still stay in character. And it was fun to do it because it wasn't hard and you could relate to your character. This is what I was trying to exlain.
Well I do think the setting up your shop and house and city were all alot of fun so "natural roleplaying" is something I enjoyed and like. It was the roleplaying community who called themselves 'roleplayers' who used it as an excuse to act like jerks, the RP community revolving on cybering and the others using it as cover I dislike (all the slavers, rapests and worse that made up every third roleplayer in SWG I saw).
/sigh. Just finished reading this entire thread. I can empathize with so many of the posters.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the RP aspects of SWG during the first year or so. Granted, the people willing to RP were not great, but they were out there. I started a community on Sunrunner halfway between Mos Eisley and Anchorhead - took several minutes to run there from either city. For whatever reasons, this led to the city being populated by mostly mature players. I guess the time-distance problem just didn't appeal to the "instant gratification" folks. All the better for us!
Let's go to what I think is the root of the problem. We can poke and prod all we want at game mechanics and game systems. However, in ANY game system with communication mechanics people can RP if they want to.
I think the root problem is more basic - it's societal. We are educating and raising entire generations of children expecting instant gratification. Our educational systems, entertainment and news media do nothing to encourage imagination or independent thinking. Is it any wonder these folks have no interest - and in perhaps are even incapable - of roleplaying as we know it?
it annoys me very greatly that in swg "Soandso spends years of training and finally achieves becoming a jedi padawan to" "the entire world has become jedis"
that was very hard to do
and the parents thing im also a lil guilty cuz i thought i was being original when i used it =/ guess not
(FABLE)
changed it tho from my character's parents attempt to kill there own child believing him to be a demon with the help of there village and the character slaughters all of them and becomes a loner driven mad by guilt for what hes done.
Originally posted by Tyoka Like a lot of you probably, I was one of those kids who came home from school and drowned myself in fantasy(games, certain TV shows, making my spiderman and power ranger action figures act out dramatic scenes, usually involing combat). Anyway, when I finally got my hands on this amazing thing called the internet, my first experience was role playing in chat rooms. Very pathetic role playing, but role playing nonetheless. After awhile this evolved to me playing Ultima Online. That game took up all of my time, I would do my homework the next day before school simply because I didn't want to miss a moment of my "life" on UO. Well, after most of the player run servers on UO died, and after living other "lives" on FFXI, EQ, and many other MMOs(that weren't nearly as good as UO), I'm stuck on WoW. It's an ok pass time, but this game, nor any of the other modern day MMOs are making me want to throw my life away on them. That's probably a good thing, but my point is it's become so boring. So I come to this site to look at the future for MMOs, and all I see are "best PvP ever!" or "new innovative combat system!" or "make a guild with your friends, because, you know, you can't do that in EVERY other MMO out there!" What happened to the role playing? Even DDO has no role play value in it, it's just a combat focused game that resembles DnD. My most memorable moments were on player ran servers on UO that focused on role playing. Now it seems like everything is just putting a new face on the level-grinding-hit-stuff-with-a-sword-or-a-fireball. I think if Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Ultima Online had a baby, or like...ran into each other and somehow fused into one, I would be happy. Does anyone else feel this way?
sorry, not much time right now to read the entire thread, so someone might have said this by now.
Have you tried wow's RP-only servers? I personally haven't becaseu I don't have the patience to restart a character, but from I read in their RP forum FAQ, they have strict standards for their RP servers:
What is the difference between a PvE server and RP server? -A PvE server is one in which you simply play the game as a game, leveling and looking for loot. An RP server is different only in the fact that you are required to Role-Play as your character.If you are caught going Out-Of-Character too often and in the wrong ways you can, and probably will be reported for it.
However strict they are with that "rule" I do not know.
Originally posted by War_Dancer Originally posted by EQiscool6563 I'd say that the next big MMO would be Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. You can literally render your character to be anything you want, whether it be the local thug or the mysterious inquisitor. It is very "oldschool" (EQ), but it also has a mature community that respects (and usually joins in with) roleplayers. It also features player owned towns, houses, boats, etc. Which make the game world bendable by the players. (But you can't just build anywhere, there are specified lots in which you need to purchase)
When you create a character, you choose which race, class, diplomacy class, crafting class, and harvesting class you want. All of these together define your character and how he/she interacts with the world. When you interact with NPCs, you are using your diplomacy class. Fighting monsters, you use your Adventuring class. And so forth.
The fact it is very 'old school' means it is limiting its playerbase alot. Not that many players are willing to sit around on a boat for 1 hour and then throw in the forced teaming to do much of anything. It could do well but its not going to be the next big thing.
As a side point I really hate those 'fighting class, diplomacy class, crafting class and harvesting class' systems where you can master all of them without any limit being enforced on the others for getting really good at one. Like its possible for someone to be so talented to be a master of each of those but someone else can't just be a two combat professions. Actuelly I jsut hate class systems
Ummm... No. The sphere system DEFINES your character, you don't have your blocky class systems with separate kinds of characters. Diplomacy classes are how you INTERACT with NPCs, Adventuring classes are how you kill NPCs. Crafting is how you make items (completely optional, but in the case that you get bored with adventuring...), Harvesting is required for Crafting, as you can't craft without resources. Do you seriously think that Sigil is trying to make EQ 1.2 with Vanguard? Because they have proven to us how unique the game will be. There are no 1 hour boat rides, instead you can build your own boat and sail the seas yourself! You see a distant island? You could sail up to it, and explore what is on the island! Sometimes it will be a plot of land for sale, it could be covered with creatures to fight, caverns to explore, or maybe just a quiet place to watch the sun set! Old school doesn't mean sitting in a spot for an hour, it means a virtual world, an adventure, with more risk vs. reward than timesink vs. reward. What Sigil is doing is keeping the fun "oldschool feeling" of the game, while replacing the old timesinks with fluff, and keeping the content hardy. EQ classic was a niche game, but it still made about 2 million subscriptions in it's peak. If you take the basic idea of EQClassic, and rework it into something much better, you get Vanguard. Vanguard literally was #1 on the hype list at Gamespot because it is developed enough to speak for itself, although it quickly dropped down to #4. This leads me to something else...
You, sir, are completely incorrect with all of your ignorant assumptions about a game with devs that have already clarified the opposite.
mmorpgs of late have been really disappointing. WoW was the best one imo but unfortunately, it doesn't last long past lvl 60 unless you're a grind/raid whore.
it seems like every other game out there is meant for grinding - basically any mmorpg made by NCSoft is a grindathon, EQII is just boring, FFXI is a grindfest, DDO is too small and limited, DAOC used to be good before it lost its population, Guild Wars is just PVP crap, and most of the others aren't even worth mentioning or are just more grindfests or boring.
Originally posted by Tyoka Like a lot of you probably, I was one of those kids who came home from school and drowned myself in fantasy(games, certain TV shows, making my spiderman and power ranger action figures act out dramatic scenes, usually involing combat). Anyway, when I finally got my hands on this amazing thing called the internet, my first experience was role playing in chat rooms. Very pathetic role playing, but role playing nonetheless. After awhile this evolved to me playing Ultima Online. That game took up all of my time, I would do my homework the next day before school simply because I didn't want to miss a moment of my "life" on UO. Well, after most of the player run servers on UO died, and after living other "lives" on FFXI, EQ, and many other MMOs(that weren't nearly as good as UO), I'm stuck on WoW. It's an ok pass time, but this game, nor any of the other modern day MMOs are making me want to throw my life away on them. That's probably a good thing, but my point is it's become so boring. So I come to this site to look at the future for MMOs, and all I see are "best PvP ever!" or "new innovative combat system!" or "make a guild with your friends, because, you know, you can't do that in EVERY other MMO out there!" What happened to the role playing? Even DDO has no role play value in it, it's just a combat focused game that resembles DnD. My most memorable moments were on player ran servers on UO that focused on role playing. Now it seems like everything is just putting a new face on the level-grinding-hit-stuff-with-a-sword-or-a-fireball. I think if Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Ultima Online had a baby, or like...ran into each other and somehow fused into one, I would be happy. Does anyone else feel this way?
yep, World of Warcraft lacks both rp and pvp I want at least one of them preferably both of them but it really has neither rp or pvp. I'd like to see them both work together DnL looks like my next best hope, meanwhile note my signature im developing ideas in the open on how to improve upon the existing MMOs Feeel free to join the site and help us develop ideas got two key rules anything you post up the public forums=public knowledge we have no controll of, and no flaming/trolling. Anyways Im crossing my fingers about DnL
Ex: WoW player Working on Black Ice Games' game design team as a Lead game designer, as well as technical animator to build portfolio games. http://www.nationofshadows.net/BlackIce/
Comments
I'm cracking up at the "parents killed, seeking revenge" storyline bit. You are all definitely spot on about that
I myself am guilty as charged.
Honestly, I think the way MMOs start you off kind of encourages that kind of storyline development. I mean, you just pop into the world, a full fledged adult, no family or ties of which to speak, ready to go kill those orc pawns for no reason.
This gives me an idea for a game tutorial. Picture this:
You spawn in. Along with your character, the game spawns for you a one-room cottage, complete with parents, in a designated player housing area near one of the major cities. In the little cottage are everything a new player needs: basic clothes, maybe a wooden sword and shield or bow and arrow, food, etc. It could also function as an inn and your first spawn point. One of your parents could be an NPC escort/guard, following you around the newbie wilderness, teaching you stuff, and killing mobs that are about to kill you. They would be the "tutorial givers", similar to the computer in EVE. Around level 15, your parents decide you are big enough that you can go off on your own. You can also turn off parent escort prior to that if you wish. But boom, you have instant player housing (albeit a tiny house with only basic items) and a guard that follows you around and teaches you to play the game. If the game is PVP, they could help low-level players from being ganked by higher level players. The parents should also be killable, though, but only by higher leveled players and give a large negative faction hit, unless the killers are from an opposing faction.
You can add other stuff to this too, like making your character visibly grow from a child to an adult from levels 1-15, then just level normally from there.
This way, everyone can start with a quasi-normal childhood, and things can develop from there. A good RP base.
The Greyhammer Timeline (Games Played > 1 month)
1999 >-- Everquest -- Dark Age of Camelot -- Everquest -- Anarchy Online -- Everquest -- Star Wars Galaxies -- Final Fantasy XI -- Everquest -- World of Warcraft -- Everquest 2 -- EVE Online --> 2006
Playing Navy Field (www.navyfield.com) and waiting for Vanguard.
Well that's a fair enough critique of my post, point taken certainly
.
But I'm not sure you got the point of my earlier post. When I think of it, I'm not really sure how many people I knew would have called themselves direct roleplayers, if any at all for that matter but that's why I mentioned "natural roleplaying" earlier.
People didn't have to go out of their way to get into the environment, it just kinda happened. Their wasn't many "though art's" "thee's" and ye old high horse speaking, people could be themselves and still stay in character. And it was fun to do it because it wasn't hard and you could relate to your character. This is what I was trying to exlain.
And for the your view of the future of MMO's, well that's your oppinion of course, it's a little bleak but who am I to argue. I tend to have a more positive outlook because I see so many great things happening.
Hopefully at some point in the future you'll get into a game that re-inspires you.
Important Information regarding Posting and You
I used to roleplay quite a bit in MMOs, but the constant negative feedback by other players finally frustrated me to the point where I don't even play an MMORPG today. I was the kind of roleplayer that created really bizarre characters with really fun, interesting stories that drove the character forward. And every now and then I'd create someone who was just ridiculous so others would be able to experience the fun.
Some examples:
1. Ultima Online (little sarbonn): Was the birth of "little sarbonn", who at the time was quite well known as the young sorceror who was trying to figure out his place in the grand scheme of things. The evolution of this little guy was so much fun because it was on Siege Perilous (a more pvp enriched server), and he would constantly wander into dangerous territory, find pkers and try to engage them in very exploratory conversations about the meaning of life in Britannia. Much of his adventures were humor, and I had a web site dedicated to his adventures that received a MASSIVE amount of traffic.
2. Ultima Online (a ghost): I had a thief character named "a ghost", who produced the reputation of "the greatest thief in Britannia". What peop;le discovered after time was that she was a thief specifically of library books. Her lair had wall to wall stolen library books, and her adventures, on the little sarbonn site, were humorous interactions as she was chased by people because she flagged herself by stealing library books. I had a thing going for awhile where I ended up with screen shots of some of the most notorious pkers of that time yelling "Hey, she stole my library book!" with a ghost running away from them. People loved being part of the fun fiction that brought.
3. Everquest (Ickythiez Tootight): An iksar monk who was addicted to mind buffs. During a mind buff from an enchanter once, he discovered that the iksar were really being oppressed, and he created a revolution, but then the mind buff went away, and he went back to eating insects. But he suspected that there was something more to life than insect eating, so he constantly spent his life trying to achieve a higher intellect, so he could find a way to free the Iksar from their captivity. Unfortunately, while stupid, he couldn't remember why he was seeking intelligence in the first place.
4. Star Wars Galaxies (Marisha Darkknight): A ranger who was mistress of survival skills but too frightened to ever really leave the sight of a major city. She spent months on the outskirts of Anchorhead, creating little towns with her tents, that she would call Anchorhead II. A traveler gave her a little tiny robot who acted as mayor of the city, and she had a baby dewback that acted as her first citizen. People would constantly stop by and "become members" of her little city, as she would go on and on about how the mayor of the real Anchorhead was trying to suppress her attempts at creating a viable city. She said he was being funded by "the Empire corporations", and she was the only true rebel that existed in this galactic civil war, that was really all about the freedom of independent cities like hers.
5. Star Wars Galaxies (Cellphone Guy): A total joke. He would run into the middle of huge pvp battles and yell: "Can you hear me now?" /pause "Good!"
6. Star Wars Galaxies (Wine Hofet): (you have to understand how people write profiles in these games to undestand this guy) After his father was killed by the Empire and resurrected by the Rebels, but accidentally killed again by Jabba the Hutt who saved his mother from the Rebels because she was friends of the Empire, his family on his mother's side were all wiped out by the Rebels, minus his great uncle who was actually killed by the Empire, and his family on his father's side was tricked by the Empire into believing it was really the Rebellion, before the Legion of Cantinas killed half of them and saved the other half. (the description goes on for about two pages of text).
7. Dark Age of Camelot (Grawwl): A large troll who lost his mommy and spent the rest of his life trying to find her. He had an invisible kobold for a friend, and he was constantly arguing with him about whether or not he needed to lose weight and was eating the right foods.
8. World of Warcraft (Kreital): Knitter of Ogrimmar. Having killed every enemy creature he could find, Kreital realized that true service only comes from a knitting needle.
My blog:
http://www.littlesarbonn.com
Let's do it!
Now, where'd I put that "Building MMORPGS for Dummies" book...
The Greyhammer Timeline (Games Played > 1 month)
1999 >-- Everquest -- Dark Age of Camelot -- Everquest -- Anarchy Online -- Everquest -- Star Wars Galaxies -- Final Fantasy XI -- Everquest -- World of Warcraft -- Everquest 2 -- EVE Online --> 2006
Playing Navy Field (www.navyfield.com) and waiting for Vanguard.
Loved the quote there because it is all too true. Just a month ago gave up on a WoW RP server, especially since I was spending too much time raiding and I couldn't do anything else to advance my character in the game.
Never a D&D player, but I miss the old feeling of playing a game of Shadowrun in the good old days or the early days of AO when it still had a decent RP community on RK2. Kind of just game hopping right now and I've been dissappointed ever since Mythic announced shutting down Imperator. Atriarch is the only thing on the horizon that looks interesting to me as a roleplayer. Tried Ryzom but it wasn't anything it advertised itself to be and is working towards being another ganker's paradise. A lot of other roleplayers these days talk about NWN2, and I've debated giving it a try.
But E3 is here so maybe at least we can hope for some kind of encouraging announcement.
19 Races
17 Adventuring Classes
4 Diplomacy Classes (with subclasses)
10 Crafting Classes
6 Harvesting Classes
When you create a character, you choose which race, class, diplomacy class, crafting class, and harvesting class you want. All of these together define your character and how he/she interacts with the world. When you interact with NPCs, you are using your diplomacy class. Fighting monsters, you use your Adventuring class. And so forth.
The fact it is very 'old school' means it is limiting its playerbase alot. Not that many players are willing to sit around on a boat for 1 hour and then throw in the forced teaming to do much of anything. It could do well but its not going to be the next big thing.
As a side point I really hate those 'fighting class, diplomacy class, crafting class and harvesting class' systems where you can master all of them without any limit being enforced on the others for getting really good at one. Like its possible for someone to be so talented to be a master of each of those but someone else can't just be a two combat professions. Actuelly I jsut hate class systems
/sigh. Just finished reading this entire thread. I can empathize with so many of the posters.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the RP aspects of SWG during the first year or so. Granted, the people willing to RP were not great, but they were out there. I started a community on Sunrunner halfway between Mos Eisley and Anchorhead - took several minutes to run there from either city. For whatever reasons, this led to the city being populated by mostly mature players. I guess the time-distance problem just didn't appeal to the "instant gratification" folks. All the better for us!
Let's go to what I think is the root of the problem. We can poke and prod all we want at game mechanics and game systems. However, in ANY game system with communication mechanics people can RP if they want to.
I think the root problem is more basic - it's societal. We are educating and raising entire generations of children expecting instant gratification. Our educational systems, entertainment and news media do nothing to encourage imagination or independent thinking. Is it any wonder these folks have no interest - and in perhaps are even incapable - of roleplaying as we know it?
it annoys me very greatly that in swg "Soandso spends years of training and finally achieves becoming a jedi padawan to" "the entire world has become jedis"
that was very hard to do
and the parents thing im also a lil guilty cuz i thought i was being original when i used it =/ guess not
(FABLE)
changed it tho from my character's parents attempt to kill there own child believing him to be a demon with the help of there village and the character slaughters all of them and becomes a loner driven mad by guilt for what hes done.
Have you tried wow's RP-only servers? I personally haven't becaseu I don't have the patience to restart a character, but from I read in their RP forum FAQ, they have strict standards for their RP servers:
What is the difference between a PvE
server and RP server?
-A PvE
server is one in which you simply play the game as a game, leveling and looking
for loot. An RP server is different only in the fact that you are required to
Role-Play as your character. If you are caught going Out-Of-Character too
often and in the wrong ways you can, and probably will be reported for it.
However strict they are with that "rule" I do not know.
-virtual tourist
want your game back?
The fact it is very 'old school' means it is limiting its playerbase alot. Not that many players are willing to sit around on a boat for 1 hour and then throw in the forced teaming to do much of anything. It could do well but its not going to be the next big thing.
As a side point I really hate those 'fighting class, diplomacy class, crafting class and harvesting class' systems where you can master all of them without any limit being enforced on the others for getting really good at one. Like its possible for someone to be so talented to be a master of each of those but someone else can't just be a two combat professions. Actuelly I jsut hate class systems
Ummm... No. The sphere system DEFINES your character, you don't have your blocky class systems with separate kinds of characters. Diplomacy classes are how you INTERACT with NPCs, Adventuring classes are how you kill NPCs. Crafting is how you make items (completely optional, but in the case that you get bored with adventuring...), Harvesting is required for Crafting, as you can't craft without resources. Do you seriously think that Sigil is trying to make EQ 1.2 with Vanguard? Because they have proven to us how unique the game will be. There are no 1 hour boat rides, instead you can build your own boat and sail the seas yourself! You see a distant island? You could sail up to it, and explore what is on the island! Sometimes it will be a plot of land for sale, it could be covered with creatures to fight, caverns to explore, or maybe just a quiet place to watch the sun set! Old school doesn't mean sitting in a spot for an hour, it means a virtual world, an adventure, with more risk vs. reward than timesink vs. reward. What Sigil is doing is keeping the fun "oldschool feeling" of the game, while replacing the old timesinks with fluff, and keeping the content hardy. EQ classic was a niche game, but it still made about 2 million subscriptions in it's peak. If you take the basic idea of EQClassic, and rework it into something much better, you get Vanguard. Vanguard literally was #1 on the hype list at Gamespot because it is developed enough to speak for itself, although it quickly dropped down to #4. This leads me to something else...
You, sir, are completely incorrect with all of your ignorant assumptions about a game with devs that have already clarified the opposite.
mmorpgs of late have been really disappointing. WoW was the best one imo but unfortunately, it doesn't last long past lvl 60 unless you're a grind/raid whore.
it seems like every other game out there is meant for grinding - basically any mmorpg made by NCSoft is a grindathon, EQII is just boring, FFXI is a grindfest, DDO is too small and limited, DAOC used to be good before it lost its population, Guild Wars is just PVP crap, and most of the others aren't even worth mentioning or are just more grindfests or boring.
Ex: WoW player
Working on Black Ice Games' game design team as a Lead game designer, as well as technical animator to build portfolio games.
http://www.nationofshadows.net/BlackIce/