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Is there room in the MMORPG market for a challenging game?
sekrog
Member Posts: 261
Okay, I know if this thread catches on there'll be plenty of flamers explaining how a 'game' should just be a 'game', and why ruin a game by making it difficult to master.
There will be those that cry foul when I ask if there's room in the MMO market for a game with a far more difficult death penalty.
And those that whine when I mention that I'd prefer a system where 'to the victor should go the spoils' in PvP.
What would happen if there was no such thing as "NPC's" and quest-givers? If instead, players were offered the opportunity to create their own 'quests', and one way of accomplishing a task would be to hire out lower-level characters to run these monotonous 'errands'...in case there was a need for 10 bear claws or 23 rat tails.
Is there a demand for such a game? Forget the genre for a moment...Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Wild West, Post-Apoc, Comic Book, Piratey, or some other historical backdrop...would anyone buy it? Would anyone PLAY it?
Talk amongst yourselves...
Comments
Sounds Great! Make it so.
For me, all games are challenging.
Actually, I think that is a great concept. I would play it for sure.
I tried it, and didn't come too far. Why? Because there were no quests for low levels at the time. So you were basically screwed. Didn't bother to see if I could advance via classical grind, that didn't seem to fit the purpose somehow.
try EVE if you really want something difficult. PvP, you die and you lose your ship that you worked countless hours on. There are quests but not integral to the game. And most of what you use is player made.
Now, the idea of player added quests is a good one if it is used as additional content (on top of traditional npc quest givers) That could be fun for the makers of the quests and the people trying to complete them.
______________
Mark E. Cooper
AKA Tohrment
Proud member of Damned Souls since 2007.
http://www.damnedsouls.eu
Refer to Face of Mankind for a game like this..
It's crap.
Played so far: 9Dragons, AO, AC, AC2, CoX, DAoC, DF, DnL, DR, DDO, Ent, EvE, EQ, EQ2, FoMK, FFO, Fury, GW, HG:L, HZ, L1, L2, M59, MU, NC1, NC2, PS, PT, R:O, RF:O, RYL, Ryzom, SL, SB, SW:G, TR, TCoS, MX:O, UO, VG, WAR, WoW...
It all sucked.
I think such a game would aim for a small but dedicated community. If the developers would base budgets and staff on that presumption, but make sure the team is very dedicated, the game will manage to carve a niche it can exist in for a long time. It'll never challenge the big games, but it'll bring in some bucks and a good deal of satisfaction. Much like EVE.
I don't want to sound hopelessly naive, but just because the MMORPG game has evolved into something far more 'arcade-like', does that necessarily mean that the pendulum cannot be swung back in the opposite direction? Wouldn't there be a large enough population of players who, if given the choice to play a game with more challenge than the first level of Pac-Man, would gladly try an MMORPG that would enable them to do more than simply mash buttons without the need for a single neuron to fire?
I understand the market as it exists today. I'm only curious if there are enough players out there who would be willing to try something with a tad more challenge and depth than killing 20 Sewer rats, 8 brown bears, or 5 boars...unless of course, they were starving and they needed to find a meal.
I think there is room for a challenging game in this market. Always room for different types of games. Now, would I personally play it? If it has permadeath, probably not. And I'm assuming here, but most people I've met and talked to want a relaxing but fun(mildly challenging experience) with games, so going by this, the target audience for a permadeath game, might be "small" compared to other types.
I'd still TRY it, but my bent is more towards exploration and things like that. Could really care less how hard a game is, but I respect those who want to challenge themselves in any way possible and I would cheer this type of game inventing on.
First of all it has to be said that MMO games do NEED NPC factions for you to hunt and Quest/mission givers, if only for the newbies learning the game. However the idea of palyer made jobs such as collect so many of item A and so amny of item B for so much cash does exist inthe game i play. Its called EvE online baasically the system is like this.
You can set up a corperate job contract ingame where it is posted on the stations Billbourd to be taken up by whoever wants to give it a go. If for example you need a lot of basic ore to amke something cool but dont want to mine the ore as its a boring job you can give it to someone else. If for example you need 1 millioon units of ore to make it good create 2 job sheets aking someone to gather 500k units of ore and give it to you withing a time frame in return for a set reward [set by the maker of the contract].
So this idea of yours does exist in one form at least and as a interesting side note the devlopers are still adding features to it to expand the options.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
METALDRAGON, you're correct, NPC's are necessary in MMORPG's as they exist today.
But, given a revolutionary change in the mechanics of player advancement and gameplay, isn't there the possibility that someone could invent a world where NPC's weren't necessary?
Imagine, for instance, you started the game as a villager in a very small hamlet...or outpost if you prefer Sci-Fi. Instead of going through the same old 'character creation' system, you were thrown into a small group of players that occupy this town. Being new to the 'village' you learn quickly what profession is needed to survive in this town, and you begin to learn this trade in order to survive. Being the adventursome sort, you also determine through various discussions that there are 'threats' exist on the outskirts of the village that need some brave soul(s) to eradicate.
Forget experience...(XP)...forget 'levels'...introduce 'fame and fortune' and skill building instead. Take it a step further, and vary the amount of skill improvement on aptitudes. For example, my character might have a high intelligence, but a low level of manual dexterity. It would stand to reason then, that I would have a much easier time of raising my 'invention' skill than I would my hand-to-hand combat skill...no matter how many times I tried to punch the 'dummy' my skill would remain unchanged.
I don't pretend to have 'the answers' to change the direction we're headed...I'm just tossing out a litmus test to see if I'm stranded on an island of my own thoughts...or if there's a city of players who are looking for a change.