For any sufficiently populated game, the only alternative to heavy instancing is EVE's alternative: to build an open world so massive that the meaningful content is spread so thinly that it is often said there isn't any (and I'm a die-hard EVE fanatic).
I suppose it could be said that there is a second alternative: to divide the community into dozens of servers; but aren't these just large instances? Instances you're forever stuck in and which are even more arbitrarily dividing, at that.
A game the size of EVE with EVE's sandbox philosophy and the density and quality of content of a single-player game like Dragon Age would be phenomenal, I'm sure most of us agree—but if people think The Old Republic is going to be disastrously expensive at $150 million, then this hypothetical product would be apocalyptic.
I'd like to see it some day, desperately, but I'm just saying that we really shouldn't be surprised or discouraged that developers are not clamoring to develop it—or more to the point, publishers to fund it.
How do you do this on the earth with bipedal creatures running or driving around on a plane, instead of in 3d space?
My understand of EVE is it is very hard, if not impossible to box somoene in because you have to surround them in a bubble, so there's always an escape route.
YEs, I'd prefer a solid open world like DaoC instead, but if that's not going to happen, then at least make a solid massive co-op game.
http://www.xsyon.com/about Xsyon Is trying to be a solid open-world mmo; I prefer them too. Cooperative community-centric mmorpgs are more akin to a better made sandboxy game, though there are some like Fallen Earth that are "very" solo centric and pve quest heavy.
The more that the players are given mechanics that allow them to be cooperative and drive community-centric game-play with developmental freedom rather than being nothing more than a character on a leash, lead through a maze of pve quests singularly, and having little outlets of cooperative community-centric game-play other than than, not to mention an environment peppered by instances, the better for the open world design and the worse for the restrictive world design.
YEs, I'd prefer a solid open world like DaoC instead, but if that's not going to happen, then at least make a solid massive co-op game.
http://www.xsyon.com/about Xsyon Is trying to be a solid open-world mmo; I prefer them too. Cooperative community-centric mmorpgs are more akin to a better made sandboxy game, though there are some like Fallen Earth that are "very" solo centric and pve quest heavy.
The more that the players are given mechanics that allow them to be cooperative and drive community-centric game-play with developmental freedom rather than being nothing more than a character on a leash, lead through a maze of pve quests singularly, and having little outlets of cooperative community-centric game-play other than than, not to mention an environment peppered by instances, the better for the open world design and the worse for the restrictive world design.
I'm talking about an actual game. Xyson is not really a game till it releases. THEN we can discuss how wonderful or crappy Xyson is.
Right now it's in the "innovative features, incredible game play, new and immersive!" phase.
Those are great marketing terms, but dont' really mean anything.
I don't mind them changing as long as they define themselves as a separate genre or subgenre. It's like oranges mascarading as bad apples. Once they define what they are and stop screwing up the games I like to play then I'll have no problems with it. Too many times now has it happened where the mmos I used to enjoy have been butchered to suit the new "bleating lamb" majority who couldn't hack it and demanded change.
Better yet maybe we should go and define our own Genre and pull away from this MMORPG crap that it is now. There's an idea....
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
Comments
How do you do this on the earth with bipedal creatures running or driving around on a plane, instead of in 3d space?
My understand of EVE is it is very hard, if not impossible to box somoene in because you have to surround them in a bubble, so there's always an escape route.
but that's not true on a flat surface.
How do you convert EVE to this:
WHile EVE is like this:
Yes it's a very good thing.
Then I withdraw the example of EVE and offer instead Vanguard, Darkfall, Fallen Earth and Mortal Online. It doesn't matter.
http://www.xsyon.com/about Xsyon Is trying to be a solid open-world mmo; I prefer them too. Cooperative community-centric mmorpgs are more akin to a better made sandboxy game, though there are some like Fallen Earth that are "very" solo centric and pve quest heavy.
The more that the players are given mechanics that allow them to be cooperative and drive community-centric game-play with developmental freedom rather than being nothing more than a character on a leash, lead through a maze of pve quests singularly, and having little outlets of cooperative community-centric game-play other than than, not to mention an environment peppered by instances, the better for the open world design and the worse for the restrictive world design.
Horses rock. You fail.
I disagree OP. MMoRPGs used to be co-op, now they're all solo.
I'm talking about an actual game. Xyson is not really a game till it releases. THEN we can discuss how wonderful or crappy Xyson is.
Right now it's in the "innovative features, incredible game play, new and immersive!" phase.
Those are great marketing terms, but dont' really mean anything.
I don't mind them changing as long as they define themselves as a separate genre or subgenre. It's like oranges mascarading as bad apples. Once they define what they are and stop screwing up the games I like to play then I'll have no problems with it. Too many times now has it happened where the mmos I used to enjoy have been butchered to suit the new "bleating lamb" majority who couldn't hack it and demanded change.
Better yet maybe we should go and define our own Genre and pull away from this MMORPG crap that it is now. There's an idea....
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-