That is a really interesting idea and it is one that can springboard onto many others. Exploration is awesome, it is one of the reasons I got into MMORPGs, so I could explore and play a role in a persistent world with others in it. You mentioned combat but only for the sake of fighting, not leveling. One way fighting could be interesting and dynamic, but still remain entertaining without levels, could be if players could interact with the environment around them in a fight. Through much exploration of the world people will find out on their own how to make makeshift spears and by whittling down tree branches with a knife they find or creating a torch by lighting the end of something on fire. I think this way there is still the sense of role playing but people will use their own creativity and intelligence to solve problems in their travels.
Nice concept but people want to get paid for their work with leet items. They want to make sure all that grinding pays off!
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
it would be an awesome idea but like others it would be a finacial failure. Not to many people want to invest in a MMORPG and not expect somthing like wow. Sounds like a cool idea for a Indy game, now if only i knew C++ or some other language i would love to get into a project like that. But not a whole lot of room for a game to make money off of.
I think this is more or less an urge to want the rpg put back into the mmorpg - where the game isn't based so much about combat encounters and half-arsed quests whose only objective is to add a timesink to the game.
I think the OP's idea is fantatic. There seems to be a lot of posters who like to equate fast paced action with combat. Well, they aren't equivalent. I can envision several action systems that are not related to fighting in fact.
As one example, racing. One component of an exploration game could involve players reaching a target faster than other players. You can still have action, you even have PvP, but there's no combat.
I leave the rest of my examples for my fellow readers to discover.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
The OP's idea sounds like it would be a lot of fun. Let's face it: for those of us not interested in playing a game 24/7, or who have no interest in grinding levels, there is little to draw one to an MMO aside from exploration, which usually gets put by the wayside in the search for ever-more-efficient leveling/equipping/etc. If the emphasis was just on finding something interesting or cool, perhaps with a groovy token for the player when they find it to show off to their friends (along with stories of 'how he got in my pajamas I shall never know'), I could see the game drawing in a very genial crowd.
No gankers, no griefers, no farmers, no competition beyond who has a better story to tell of the awesome thing they saw. I would like to see an upgradeable homebase of some sort that somehow changed based on where you've been and what you've done, maybe changing the player's avatar as well, but I could really see this game reminding players that games should be fun, rather than work that you pay for.
I, for one, hope that somebody or other makes a game like this and it succeeds at least long enough for me to pay for it and try it out.
The world is desperate for an MMORPG-exploration experience. Meaningful exploration, literally the discovery of "new" islands each month, etc. would be fascinating. You would have to develop your character, and crew, to the point you are able to travel great distances.
It should be a part of, not separate from, an MMORPG. It should be an entirely new dimension, as you said, of the MMORPG features.
We want to travel, explore... bizarre and astonishing worlds. We already did "quest" (a) and then did quest (b) and now are geared-up to raid three nights a week. We have all been there, and done that. And hardly anyone even wants to do it, anymore. We want to explore... we want to travel in unknown parts of a world.
Originally posted by declaredemer We want to travel, explore... bizarre and astonishing worlds. We already did "quest" (a) and then did quest (b) and now are geared-up to raid three nights a week. We have all been there, and done that. And hardly anyone even wants to do it, anymore. We want to explore... we want to travel in unknown parts of a world.
I've said it before, but I think that at some point, we're really going to need some thing new. I don't just mean a new skin or the same old shit with a slight twist, I mean an MMO that actually leaves you baffled and awed when you first log in.
Obviously no one wants to play this type of game because the exact game you mentioned, Myst Uru Live went down the tubes due to too few people playing.
aside from that i'd say the closest to decent exploration in any MMO would be a massive game world with moderate detail (not too much in a compact space and not too little (lots of 'white space')).
closest i have come to that is Vanguard
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds -Solid non level based game -Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
I would definetly try a game like that... especially with a multi-theme concept. Usually players switch on and off between games soley because of the theme, but put them all together and you'd draw a lot of players to the game.
Of course, the difficulty of monsters I don't really agree with. Maybe if monsters didn't have levels but had a suggested rating based on how many players it would take to kill it. For example a worm would be labeled, 1PS, for 1 Player Suggested, and a dragon would be 6PS.
Another cool feature would be something similar to the Tome of Knowledge in Warhammer Online. However, instead of it being filled out for you, you would have to talk to an NPC in the village, a local, that can tell you about the town or place, and you yourself fill out the journal.
No maps would be a cool idea as welll. Well, no premade maps anyway, but if you could make your own based on landmarks you find and mark down.
I'd probably play a game like that in a heartbeat as long as it was developed properly with developers and a company I could trust to not change the game completely.
I think an exploration based MMO would only work if the content was player created. For example, an MMO in which players are able to create their own super-unique worlds (that are also super-detailed, not just glorified spreadsheet numbers) from the ground up and the point of the game would be to explore or conquer as many of these other worlds as you can.
Was that Myst Online game a bit like this? Only you discovered stories as well as places. That kind of thing would work. If there are things to discover - an ongoing story. I meant to try Myst Online but it seemed a bit half-conceived and the subscription/registering set-up was confusing..
Well if there is one game that screams exploring like i loved so much in MORROWIND is AGON the game world from Darkfall.
Its huge no instance or load screens at all you have scret dugeons underwater worlds huge underground caves many scret chests its many islands to find with scret places, its one big EXPLORING WORLD.
But you must endure offcorse the free for all pvp if you cant take that then game is not for you.
For me a game like morrowind with great quests and a 3D engine and grafhics ala Darkfall would be great for pveers.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009..... In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Personally, I would love to play an MMO based around exploration. However it will never happen for several reasons. 1: Community restriction: Severely niche market. The fact that 98% of people won't play it unless it has some form of gear grind of pewpew, the remaining 1.9% would play and then complain about it. 2: Tech Restriction: There would be no realistic way to keep the content fresh. They would need a quick and easy way to expand on the world and add more things, and make the game world change all the time, or within the first week a handful of people will stay up 24/7 and map everything to a god damn database which would essentially ruin an exploration based game. It's not quite as interesting when everything has already been explored a hundred times over. In regards to single player, it's much more viable concept, but it's not explored all that much due to the first reason. That, and single player exploration games just feel lonely because ultimately, you can never share the discoveries with anyone else. Noctis is kind of cool in that it has a star map and people can share discoveries amongst themselves which lends a sense of community, but no such thing really exists in any of the current sandbox exploration type games ala X3 and such .
EDIT: Actually, EQ2 is pretty decent for exploration surprisingly. Lots of content and collections. Not really in the same scope as what we're talking about, but still.
exploration game, no leveling....sounds like myst...
Not really, unless you're talking about Myst online. Myst itself was practically on rails and even so with the Online as you can't really explore, just go through a chain of puzzles that lets you into the next area. If the puzzles didn't basically act like "progression locks" it would be a great exploration game. As far as I'm aware though, the game got tanked. It was picked up by someone I think, but they're not actively developing it as far as I know, so what's there is what's there.
And just because it doesn't have leveling doesn't mean it can't have some kind of statistic based tracking that gives players a desire to keep exploring. Perhaps unlockable titles based on number of types or things you've explored. Maybe give you a house or something that you can take items found on discoveries and place on display. Things like that.
I was actually looking for an adventure only game and ran into this site, lol. I dont want to play grinding or lvling games no more, not only am i kinder over-run on them, but they are very addictive, due to their nature. Just went through that with WOW for over a year and a half. I want a game where i can just have fun, where i can escape to, on a super shoe string budget and not feel compeld or committed to having to play it consistantly, but only as i wish.
The game could have different play choices, which you can switch to at any time. There could be a choice where your avator can just explore, great fantastic places. There could be a choice where you can built on and have your army fight other players army, etc, etc. In this way you can vary your game play as you see fit and not be totally controlled by one specific game play.
This type idea reminds me of what a Tomb Raider Online would be.. Exploration and maybe even finding ways to using the environment to progress into other areas. I think it coudl be fun if done right.. I hate thinking that all successful games all have to be about the same type features. Combat as a feature is great, but I think its way over done and having a bit more balance could be as successful if done right. Even a sandbox type game wouldn't have classes or leveling but there would be ways of progressing your character even if just to become a better explorer or to use tools that could get to further areas. I can even imagine a crafting system in a game like this. If the game world could be modified by the players to build bridges or elevators or devices that could help progress them to further places.. Then it could become quite interesting.
Unfortunately I think most developers are too busy right now trying to take money away from Blizzard so they're all off thinking of ways to dubplicate WOW without making it look like a clone but yeah.. I like your idea for the most part..
Comments
That is a really interesting idea and it is one that can springboard onto many others. Exploration is awesome, it is one of the reasons I got into MMORPGs, so I could explore and play a role in a persistent world with others in it. You mentioned combat but only for the sake of fighting, not leveling. One way fighting could be interesting and dynamic, but still remain entertaining without levels, could be if players could interact with the environment around them in a fight. Through much exploration of the world people will find out on their own how to make makeshift spears and by whittling down tree branches with a knife they find or creating a torch by lighting the end of something on fire. I think this way there is still the sense of role playing but people will use their own creativity and intelligence to solve problems in their travels.
Which FF Character Are You?
Nice concept but people want to get paid for their work with leet items. They want to make sure all that grinding pays off!
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
it would be an awesome idea but like others it would be a finacial failure. Not to many people want to invest in a MMORPG and not expect somthing like wow. Sounds like a cool idea for a Indy game, now if only i knew C++ or some other language i would love to get into a project like that. But not a whole lot of room for a game to make money off of.
I think this is more or less an urge to want the rpg put back into the mmorpg - where the game isn't based so much about combat encounters and half-arsed quests whose only objective is to add a timesink to the game.
I think the OP's idea is fantatic. There seems to be a lot of posters who like to equate fast paced action with combat. Well, they aren't equivalent. I can envision several action systems that are not related to fighting in fact.
As one example, racing. One component of an exploration game could involve players reaching a target faster than other players. You can still have action, you even have PvP, but there's no combat.
I leave the rest of my examples for my fellow readers to discover.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
The OP's idea sounds like it would be a lot of fun. Let's face it: for those of us not interested in playing a game 24/7, or who have no interest in grinding levels, there is little to draw one to an MMO aside from exploration, which usually gets put by the wayside in the search for ever-more-efficient leveling/equipping/etc. If the emphasis was just on finding something interesting or cool, perhaps with a groovy token for the player when they find it to show off to their friends (along with stories of 'how he got in my pajamas I shall never know'), I could see the game drawing in a very genial crowd.
No gankers, no griefers, no farmers, no competition beyond who has a better story to tell of the awesome thing they saw. I would like to see an upgradeable homebase of some sort that somehow changed based on where you've been and what you've done, maybe changing the player's avatar as well, but I could really see this game reminding players that games should be fun, rather than work that you pay for.
I, for one, hope that somebody or other makes a game like this and it succeeds at least long enough for me to pay for it and try it out.
The world is desperate for an MMORPG-exploration experience. Meaningful exploration, literally the discovery of "new" islands each month, etc. would be fascinating. You would have to develop your character, and crew, to the point you are able to travel great distances.
It should be a part of, not separate from, an MMORPG. It should be an entirely new dimension, as you said, of the MMORPG features.
We want to travel, explore... bizarre and astonishing worlds. We already did "quest" (a) and then did quest (b) and now are geared-up to raid three nights a week. We have all been there, and done that. And hardly anyone even wants to do it, anymore. We want to explore... we want to travel in unknown parts of a world.
I've said it before, but I think that at some point, we're really going to need some thing new. I don't just mean a new skin or the same old shit with a slight twist, I mean an MMO that actually leaves you baffled and awed when you first log in.
Answer:
skill based- so u can make virtually any char
kingdoms- some crazy clashes of npc hired armys
guild kingdoms- take over land for RESOURCES and use the resources to build up their kingdom
this is cool stuff^
adventuring would just be a sick part of a world like this
play:LoTRO status: dragging
tried: WAR, FFiX, WoW, Guildwars, Silkroad, Vanguard, AoC, Sword of the New World
Obviously no one wants to play this type of game because the exact game you mentioned, Myst Uru Live went down the tubes due to too few people playing.
http://mystonline.com/en/about/
Check it out. It will be open source soon. Meaning you can host your own servers and such.
Myst?
aside from that i'd say the closest to decent exploration in any MMO would be a massive game world with moderate detail (not too much in a compact space and not too little (lots of 'white space')).
closest i have come to that is Vanguard
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
I would definetly try a game like that... especially with a multi-theme concept. Usually players switch on and off between games soley because of the theme, but put them all together and you'd draw a lot of players to the game.
Of course, the difficulty of monsters I don't really agree with. Maybe if monsters didn't have levels but had a suggested rating based on how many players it would take to kill it. For example a worm would be labeled, 1PS, for 1 Player Suggested, and a dragon would be 6PS.
Another cool feature would be something similar to the Tome of Knowledge in Warhammer Online. However, instead of it being filled out for you, you would have to talk to an NPC in the village, a local, that can tell you about the town or place, and you yourself fill out the journal.
No maps would be a cool idea as welll. Well, no premade maps anyway, but if you could make your own based on landmarks you find and mark down.
I'd probably play a game like that in a heartbeat as long as it was developed properly with developers and a company I could trust to not change the game completely.
I think an exploration based MMO would only work if the content was player created. For example, an MMO in which players are able to create their own super-unique worlds (that are also super-detailed, not just glorified spreadsheet numbers) from the ground up and the point of the game would be to explore or conquer as many of these other worlds as you can.
LEGO Universe
You don't get exp for doing stuff you get bricks, to make your own stuff, and you can make things with other people.
Was that Myst Online game a bit like this? Only you discovered stories as well as places. That kind of thing would work. If there are things to discover - an ongoing story. I meant to try Myst Online but it seemed a bit half-conceived and the subscription/registering set-up was confusing..
Well if there is one game that screams exploring like i loved so much in MORROWIND is AGON the game world from Darkfall.
Its huge no instance or load screens at all you have scret dugeons underwater worlds huge underground caves many scret chests its many islands to find with scret places, its one big EXPLORING WORLD.
But you must endure offcorse the free for all pvp if you cant take that then game is not for you.
For me a game like morrowind with great quests and a 3D engine and grafhics ala Darkfall would be great for pveers.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Personally, I would love to play an MMO based around exploration. However it will never happen for several reasons.
1: Community restriction: Severely niche market. The fact that 98% of people won't play it unless it has some form of gear grind of pewpew, the remaining 1.9% would play and then complain about it.
2: Tech Restriction: There would be no realistic way to keep the content fresh. They would need a quick and easy way to expand on the world and add more things, and make the game world change all the time, or within the first week a handful of people will stay up 24/7 and map everything to a god damn database which would essentially ruin an exploration based game. It's not quite as interesting when everything has already been explored a hundred times over.
In regards to single player, it's much more viable concept, but it's not explored all that much due to the first reason. That, and single player exploration games just feel lonely because ultimately, you can never share the discoveries with anyone else. Noctis is kind of cool in that it has a star map and people can share discoveries amongst themselves which lends a sense of community, but no such thing really exists in any of the current sandbox exploration type games ala X3 and such .
EDIT: Actually, EQ2 is pretty decent for exploration surprisingly. Lots of content and collections. Not really in the same scope as what we're talking about, but still.
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!
exploration game, no leveling....sounds like myst...
Not really, unless you're talking about Myst online. Myst itself was practically on rails and even so with the Online as you can't really explore, just go through a chain of puzzles that lets you into the next area. If the puzzles didn't basically act like "progression locks" it would be a great exploration game. As far as I'm aware though, the game got tanked. It was picked up by someone I think, but they're not actively developing it as far as I know, so what's there is what's there.
And just because it doesn't have leveling doesn't mean it can't have some kind of statistic based tracking that gives players a desire to keep exploring. Perhaps unlockable titles based on number of types or things you've explored. Maybe give you a house or something that you can take items found on discoveries and place on display. Things like that.
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!
I was actually looking for an adventure only game and ran into this site, lol. I dont want to play grinding or lvling games no more, not only am i kinder over-run on them, but they are very addictive, due to their nature. Just went through that with WOW for over a year and a half. I want a game where i can just have fun, where i can escape to, on a super shoe string budget and not feel compeld or committed to having to play it consistantly, but only as i wish.
The game could have different play choices, which you can switch to at any time. There could be a choice where your avator can just explore, great fantastic places. There could be a choice where you can built on and have your army fight other players army, etc, etc. In this way you can vary your game play as you see fit and not be totally controlled by one specific game play.
Skipper
Only in your opinion.
I won't play such a game.
This type idea reminds me of what a Tomb Raider Online would be.. Exploration and maybe even finding ways to using the environment to progress into other areas. I think it coudl be fun if done right.. I hate thinking that all successful games all have to be about the same type features. Combat as a feature is great, but I think its way over done and having a bit more balance could be as successful if done right. Even a sandbox type game wouldn't have classes or leveling but there would be ways of progressing your character even if just to become a better explorer or to use tools that could get to further areas. I can even imagine a crafting system in a game like this. If the game world could be modified by the players to build bridges or elevators or devices that could help progress them to further places.. Then it could become quite interesting.
Unfortunately I think most developers are too busy right now trying to take money away from Blizzard so they're all off thinking of ways to dubplicate WOW without making it look like a clone but yeah.. I like your idea for the most part..
The link takes you to the game, not a thread. Tell me, tell me lol. I want to read it.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests