If it was a sandbox then yes.I would refuse to play a western MMO and have to do raids and instances.Gimmie something along the lines of a better pre cu SWG in a wild west setting and im all in.
I've played Spellborn. It was released a bit weird, because it certainly had very good features, still it was unknown to the masses.
I've played Darkfall. It was released without any security. Hacks and exploits were very common. Plus the Devs made all kind of promises which they could not live up to.
I've played Age of Conan. It just didn't feel right after the first 20 levels.
I will play any mmo, as long as they offer me enough content and keep their promises.
Well done Dan.. I can alot of that taking place in the wild west.. Good work on your post.. I guess I can see the game being more skilled base like SWG pre-CU was, and not class based.. Afteral, logically one has to became well trained using a pistol and/or rifle before becoming a Bounty Hunter, or hired Gunslinger.. Just make sure there we have thousands of clothing options from boots to hat, and horses..
Imagine "training" your horse as well.. You get a preset one from a NPC, and once it's yours, you can train it over time to have more endurance, top speed and weight it can carry.. YES.. endurance.. Horses can't run non-stop 24/7.. Once your horse tuckers out, it slows down to a trot until it gets some rest.. So, if you are an Outlaw, there is always a chance the BH, Sheriff or posse chasing you has better top speed, or longer endurance.. btw, maximum weight carry effects endurance as well.. This could be alot of fun
Larsa.. When I was talking about PvE.. I'm thinking along the lines that people can do errands for NPC's.. rather it be simple delivery missions or "go for" missions.. However, I can see people going after NPC bandits that live out in the wilderness.. Random spawn locations at various camps.. The PvE mission could be as simple as the town poster wanting someone to capture and bring back 1 person wanted for cattle rustling.. or whatever.. Other quest could be the local NPC wanting more horses of a certain type to sell.. So off you go to find such, rope it and bring it back.. You could even end up having raid type missions that require a big posse to get the big boss (Dr Loveless) would be an exmple, out of his stronghold.. I think going with a fun fictional wild west could work..
Depends. If it would be like WoW with a western mod: no thanks. If it would be sandboxy, like start a ranch whereever you like, or start digging a mine wherever you like: yes, probably.
Brainstorming a way you could do a western and make it fun. Got a few ideas that could make it work in an MMO setting. I think the best way is to not favour those with lower latency. Although if it turns out that speeds for broadband increase in the future, a more TPS oriented approach may be taken.
As of right now I think the most challenging part would be designing the combat to not only be fun but intuitive and customizable. If anything I don't think the wild west lends itself to be a very customizable type of game, unless you decide to kick some Will Smith Wild Wild West customisation into it in which case the game would become slightly more scifi wild west or steam punk wild west.
But I've thought of a few things that might work and I feel a game like this would be enjoyed by quite a few.
What will they use to heal you ask? Bandaids, spirits/ alcohol and food.
Brainstorming a way you could do a western and make it fun. Got a few ideas that could make it work in an MMO setting. I think the best way is to not favour those with lower latency. Although if it turns out that speeds for broadband increase in the future, a more TPS oriented approach may be taken.
As of right now I think the most challenging part would be designing the combat to not only be fun but intuitive and customizable. If anything I don't think the wild west lends itself to be a very customizable type of game, unless you decide to kick some Will Smith Wild Wild West customisation into it in which case the game would become slightly more scifi wild west or steam punk wild west.
But I've thought of a few things that might work and I feel a game like this would be enjoyed by quite a few.
What will they use to heal you ask? Bandaids, spirits/ alcohol and food.
I think I agree.. I think to avoid a niche enviroment we need to stay away from twitch based FPS format.. I was thinking tho, how could we handle combat? One step is to eliminate the "auto" shot ability, and line of sight does apply.. So if your target is behind a door, rock or whatever and LoS is an issue, you cant' shoot.. Firing a weapon a person will have to use a hotkey.. People will have to remember too that weapons do run out of ammo and reloading isn't just a simple click..(I would plan on 30 seconds to reload) I would however allow for auto fighting when it comes to knife fights or hand to hand brawling..
Now back to the shooting combat.. shooting while moving reduces your chances of hitting your target, and if your target is moving your chances are reduced.. SO even as far as the computer is concern.. If you are chasing someone, the odds of you actually hitting your target depending on distance might only be 10% or less.. If you have a six shooter, you might be in big trouble if you have to reload... lol However if you are lucky to land a couple or few shots on your target, you dont' actually kill him, but incompacitate him.. They will out of commission for atleast 1 minutes, unless someone comes and gives medical attention.. To avoid people "camping" incompacitated targets, the person can choose to "release" and spawn back at the closest INN with a debuff on them..
The percentage chance of you hitting your target is based on movement, target moving, and skill level of combat.. Therefore a person with 30 levels or 30 points into pistols have a better chance of hitting their target then a newbie..
Originally posted by Leagolx Originally posted by lizardbones I probably wouldn't want to play an authentic western simulation. You would have to ignore too many things about the old west in a game to make it commercially viable or socially acceptable; killing Indians en mass to own the land, hanging people because they were black or Chinese, role of women in society, etc. I would be shocked and amazed if 'Monster Play' as an Indian ever made it into any game. If you were going to modify any of that to fit in with a modern outlook (women as the law in the old west for instance), you may as well revise all of it.
Now, if you're talking a Wild, Wild West with some revisionist history, sure, I'd be happy to play that.
well it could be north or south type times or cowboys and indians but the problem is both settings would be so offensive to some people and itd be very hard to find investors and would there be aiming because then your begging for aim botting.
Just having Indians as a playable faction wouldn't make it offensive. It's the bit where you call them bad guys or monsters. They were essentially fighting for the preservation of the their culture. Suddenly all these people were showing up, putting up fences on the land and boxing them in, telling them they could no longer ride or hunt on land they had been riding and hunting on for ten thousand years.
Most of the people who were settling in the west did not have it as their goal to kill Indians and take their land along with wiping out most of their culture. They were broke and the government "gave" them a plot of land. Or an intermediary company gave them a plot of land to work off. They could either work the land or end up indentured servants for the rest of their lives.
You could have a very interesting and compelling storyline to go with the game. You just have to decide how historically accurate you want to be. Do you want to be Historically accurate, or be Western Movie accurate?
Finally, where does Kung Fu fit into all of this?
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
NO NO NO.. no David Caradine.. Oh wait.. We could use him as a raid boss for a posse to go after.. Ok, I'm game.. lol
PS.. you know , the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Indians NOT being a PvP class, but a playable class or skill ike any other.. The storyline ability would be tremendous.. Keep "monster" play to "OUTLAW" only for those Billy the Kid wannabes..... Wait, I like that idea too.....
Skill based a la SWG where you can take a little of this, a little of that. If you want to be a cowboy driving your herd to market and then gamble with the money you've earned with a better than even shot at winning more you just kick some points into the correct slots.
One thing I would flip flop though would be the PvE aspect to a Pvp one (and this is from a non-Pvp'er). Something like I've heard EVE is.
The towns are your safe zones (well as safe as the local 'government' lets it be) and outside of town it gets rougher. Along with this you could use a good / bad rep scale. Become too bad and you can't show your face in certain towns with the towns safety zone extending farther afield as it grows (i.e. St. Louis big safety zone, Deadwood small if any zone). Become more 'good' (like the various famous lawmen) and the safe zone increases if you sign on as town marshal.
I'd also add in a Leadership or Charima skill block. The more points you put into it and the higher your 'level' the more henchmen you can hire. For the Army it would be a Pvt having none, a Cpl. with 1, a SGT with 4. For a Rancher it would allow them to have cowpokes and bigger ranches. An Outlaw his gang.
Combat; no auto fire. You have to aim and hope you hit.
You could still have PvE missions as they would be Army patrols, deliver X number of cattle to Y. Cull the local wolf population or supply meat to the town / Army post.
And there would be no reason Indians couldn't be a playable race since they too could make use of the rep scale.
Much of it would depend on the time frame you picked. If you went with the Mexican or Civil War you could add a different faction and allow for larger groupings and big battles. Post Civil War would work too but take away some of the conflict areas.
you could have it so the historical things did happen but at some point diveate from what actually happened and have something that unites the indians and cowboys or outlaws or whatever like zombies not saying zombies but something or another military force that is hellbent on destorying them all.
If your going to ban the trolls please for our sake ban the Fan Boys too.
I wouldn't, personally. American history/culture has never been fascinating enough to me to get into that genre. People riding around on horses kicking up dust and shooting each other. Bleh. We're still doing that now. Not much has changed. Except for the horses. Though I did get to pet one pulling a little Amish lady while she was busy doing other things. I crept up and ninja hugged it then ran away before she could glare at me.
But anyway...
I don't see many western-ish console games either. It's a untapped market but I wonder if that's because it's an uninteresting one. Usually whenever people think of an MMO with guns they lean towards cyber punk/mecha. People like big guns and glowing Guyver-esque armor, I guess.
EDIT: BTW, I saw The Warrior's Way a couple of days ago. That's not typical Western fair, but I ~would~ play an MMO like that.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Being a fan of the Wild West since I was a kid I think an Old West game would be great. Having played a number of P&P Western based RPGs I have the following concepts that I feel would be viable.
"Weird West" - there is an RPG called Deadlands which was a horror themed Western where the Indians opened a path to the happy hunting grounds during the Civil War. This allowed Spirits to manifest in the real world, the dead come back to life as harrowed souls, and grat calamities like an earthquake sending California into the sea. The advantage of this setting would be PvE wouldn't be limited to humans and animals.
"Boomtown" - sandbox style without classes so it would be skill based. players would start in a city and head west as pioneers, or in a village if Native American. groups of players could form up townships or villages to create 'guilds' and even forts. gameplay would be based on both territory control and survival.
unique aspects I believe could be the need for supplies either player crafted or 'shipped' from the east. weapons and ammunition. clothing, tools would have to be brought in while food could be supplied by hunters or maybe a cattle drive. The only 'loot' in the game would be gold. Also, encumbrance could be real to facilitate the need for pack animals and wagons.
Combat, would be the most complicated part lacking the holy trinity. Some kind of hybrid between FPS and skill based system. But inlcuding weapon malfunctions , ammunition supply and reloading, and actual draw speed if possible.
"Apocalypse" - a lot of people like Fallen Earth, and I think Fallout Online could be awesome if it ever gets past the funding and lawsuit phase. Firefly / Serenity setting or Traveller RPG could also be neat as a space frontier setting. These settings also give great freedom in regards to NPCs and lore / content.
Anyh00, I think Red Dead Redemption's success would give AAA developers an inkling that a Western themed MMO may be viable. Especially if SW: TOR is succesful, storybased MMOs could have some future in the market even if not based on a succesful IP.
I have to disagree with all of you complaining about the historical vs nonhistorical reason that people wouldn't play this type of mmo. I agree that shady and underhanded things were done to the American indians by the settlers. As usual, history is written by the winners. I have no doubts if you set a MMO in the 16th Century in seas around Spain, England and Portugal you would find that some people's feathers might get ruffled.
Who cares. Political correctness doesn't concern me. Is the game fun? I personally think Indian tribes would encompass a number of factions i.e, Apache, Comanche, Sioux. I also believe you could have the American Settlers based on some other theme such as where they were from...Irish=good farmers, English=bad teeth, German=good craftsman. Whatever.
Certain Settlers could establish non aggression with certain tribes, as they actually did. If an "alliance" of mixed indian/settlers joined together to wage war on other indians or pure settler villages, so be it. Historically once the Settlers had more people, better technology, etc...expansion and devastation was inevitable. So what...in this game..that timeline would branch off as indians/settlers formed pacts to survive.
If someone is offended or takes offense to how indians or cowboys would be portrayed, then don't play. Give each tribe of indians and "faction" of settlers different bonuses on character creation and be done with it. Possibly give bonuses to grouping with only other indians or settlers, if the developers are looking for "authenticity".
I always thought that Darkfall made a mistake by allowing ARAC as the norm. It didn't need to be RvR, but Orcs and Elves shouldn't be friends, no matter what. Just my 2 cents.
Playing: BF4/BF:Hardline, Subnautica 7 days to die Hiatus: EvE Waiting on: World of Darkness(sigh) Interested in: better games in general
You guys overthink stuff to death. No wonder all the mmos coming out are so bad, if the devs are listening to the masses and the masses think like half the nitwits throwing political correctness at the game idea in this thread.
Other than World of Darkness and possibly The Secret World...I would play a western MMO as soon as it came out. I find western themed games are fantastic and Rockstar not releasing RDR on PC a huge mistake. I don't own a console and won't therefore I have never got a chance to play it.
So yes I would buy it instantly. If it was a sandbox, it could easily be what I waste all my freetime on.
I agree. I'd at least try a Western based MMO. I'd prefer it to be a sandbox style game, though, which I think would fit with the genre a little better.
I have to disagree with all of you complaining about the historical vs nonhistorical reason that people wouldn't play this type of mmo. I agree that shady and underhanded things were done to the American indians by the settlers. As usual, history is written by the winners. I have no doubts if you set a MMO in the 16th Century in seas around Spain, England and Portugal you would find that some people's feathers might get ruffled.
Who cares. Political correctness doesn't concern me. Is the game fun? I personally think Indian tribes would encompass a number of factions i.e, Apache, Comanche, Sioux. I also believe you could have the American Settlers based on some other theme such as where they were from...Irish=good farmers, English=bad teeth, German=good craftsman. Whatever.
Certain Settlers could establish non aggression with certain tribes, as they actually did. If an "alliance" of mixed indian/settlers joined together to wage war on other indians or pure settler villages, so be it. Historically once the Settlers had more people, better technology, etc...expansion and devastation was inevitable. So what...in this game..that timeline would branch off as indians/settlers formed pacts to survive.
If someone is offended or takes offense to how indians or cowboys would be portrayed, then don't play. Give each tribe of indians and "faction" of settlers different bonuses on character creation and be done with it. Possibly give bonuses to grouping with only other indians or settlers, if the developers are looking for "authenticity".
I always thought that Darkfall made a mistake by allowing ARAC as the norm. It didn't need to be RvR, but Orcs and Elves shouldn't be friends, no matter what. Just my 2 cents.
Investors care about polictal corectness though and parents wont be buying their children a game thats hammered on cnn or any other news station 24/7 for its use of small pox blankets as a skill. In all seriousness a western mmo at best would appeal to a small group of people and would not be developed by a larger corperation and would probably suffer from the same problems darkfall and mortal online do. They are great games in theory but their companys lack the resources to polish their ideas to a playable level so they only appeal to a small crowd of people.
If your going to ban the trolls please for our sake ban the Fan Boys too.
historical? probably not. with a bit of exotic mystery? probably yes.
incidently, me and my friends used to play western-themed role-play. it was mostly freeform homebrew system. a mish-mash of western tropes, from Wild Bunch to Django and Leone.
Im actually suprised that no mmo company has tried the theme. I think it would work considering there is so much to go by. As for classes you could go the sandbox wy and have open classes or you could go the more traditional route and have more of a tank class, dps class, buffer class and healer. Though I think traditional classes would be hard to incorporate in. Except for dps obviously and a buffer class would much like a captain in lotro (minus the peon). Tanks and healers would be the hardest class to get right. As a healer you would have to be a medic of some sort. Tank being not bad as you could wield a shotgun and have heavy armor type gear. I could also see a gadget class who works with western style gismos like tnt, mechanical steam robots (lol ok maybe not robots).
Basically, that one of the many reasons no one has tried it. It's possible, but no one knows how to go about it. I mean, what would be a raid boss?
You don't need a raid boss in every MMO do you? There are games like UO used to be where the world was for of a simulation. You have other goals. . a western game would be best (in my opinion) as a sandbox. . or hybrid like FE.
Also as a comment to the OP. . having "indians" as a "Monster Play" option might offend a few people. If they were included as a playable option for normal play as well. . maybe not so much. . and why can't a white guy be a "monster" in a western MMO?
I say Allow PvP anywhere with major penalties. . ie. . a guy wins at cards you can shoot him. . but you won't make it out of town.
I have to disagree with all of you complaining about the historical vs nonhistorical reason that people wouldn't play this type of mmo. I agree that shady and underhanded things were done to the American indians by the settlers. As usual, history is written by the winners. I have no doubts if you set a MMO in the 16th Century in seas around Spain, England and Portugal you would find that some people's feathers might get ruffled.
Who cares. Political correctness doesn't concern me. Is the game fun? I personally think Indian tribes would encompass a number of factions i.e, Apache, Comanche, Sioux. I also believe you could have the American Settlers based on some other theme such as where they were from...Irish=good farmers, English=bad teeth, German=good craftsman. Whatever.
Certain Settlers could establish non aggression with certain tribes, as they actually did. If an "alliance" of mixed indian/settlers joined together to wage war on other indians or pure settler villages, so be it. Historically once the Settlers had more people, better technology, etc...expansion and devastation was inevitable. So what...in this game..that timeline would branch off as indians/settlers formed pacts to survive.
If someone is offended or takes offense to how indians or cowboys would be portrayed, then don't play. Give each tribe of indians and "faction" of settlers different bonuses on character creation and be done with it. Possibly give bonuses to grouping with only other indians or settlers, if the developers are looking for "authenticity".
I always thought that Darkfall made a mistake by allowing ARAC as the norm. It didn't need to be RvR, but Orcs and Elves shouldn't be friends, no matter what. Just my 2 cents.
Investors care about polictal corectness though and parents wont be buying their children a game thats hammered on cnn or any other news station 24/7 for its use of small pox blankets as a skill. In all seriousness a western mmo at best would appeal to a small group of people and would not be developed by a larger corperation and would probably suffer from the same problems darkfall and mortal online do. They are great games in theory but their companys lack the resources to polish their ideas to a playable level so they only appeal to a small crowd of people.
Comments
If it was a sandbox then yes.I would refuse to play a western MMO and have to do raids and instances.Gimmie something along the lines of a better pre cu SWG in a wild west setting and im all in.
Darkfall - Sick
Earthrise - Sick
I've played Spellborn. It was released a bit weird, because it certainly had very good features, still it was unknown to the masses.
I've played Darkfall. It was released without any security. Hacks and exploits were very common. Plus the Devs made all kind of promises which they could not live up to.
I've played Age of Conan. It just didn't feel right after the first 20 levels.
I will play any mmo, as long as they offer me enough content and keep their promises.
Well done Dan.. I can alot of that taking place in the wild west.. Good work on your post.. I guess I can see the game being more skilled base like SWG pre-CU was, and not class based.. Afteral, logically one has to became well trained using a pistol and/or rifle before becoming a Bounty Hunter, or hired Gunslinger.. Just make sure there we have thousands of clothing options from boots to hat, and horses..
Imagine "training" your horse as well.. You get a preset one from a NPC, and once it's yours, you can train it over time to have more endurance, top speed and weight it can carry.. YES.. endurance.. Horses can't run non-stop 24/7.. Once your horse tuckers out, it slows down to a trot until it gets some rest.. So, if you are an Outlaw, there is always a chance the BH, Sheriff or posse chasing you has better top speed, or longer endurance.. btw, maximum weight carry effects endurance as well.. This could be alot of fun
Yes, a wild west mmo or a night of the living dead online would be great.
Larsa.. When I was talking about PvE.. I'm thinking along the lines that people can do errands for NPC's.. rather it be simple delivery missions or "go for" missions.. However, I can see people going after NPC bandits that live out in the wilderness.. Random spawn locations at various camps.. The PvE mission could be as simple as the town poster wanting someone to capture and bring back 1 person wanted for cattle rustling.. or whatever.. Other quest could be the local NPC wanting more horses of a certain type to sell.. So off you go to find such, rope it and bring it back.. You could even end up having raid type missions that require a big posse to get the big boss (Dr Loveless) would be an exmple, out of his stronghold.. I think going with a fun fictional wild west could work..
Depends. If it would be like WoW with a western mod: no thanks. If it would be sandboxy, like start a ranch whereever you like, or start digging a mine wherever you like: yes, probably.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
Brainstorming a way you could do a western and make it fun. Got a few ideas that could make it work in an MMO setting. I think the best way is to not favour those with lower latency. Although if it turns out that speeds for broadband increase in the future, a more TPS oriented approach may be taken.
As of right now I think the most challenging part would be designing the combat to not only be fun but intuitive and customizable. If anything I don't think the wild west lends itself to be a very customizable type of game, unless you decide to kick some Will Smith Wild Wild West customisation into it in which case the game would become slightly more scifi wild west or steam punk wild west.
But I've thought of a few things that might work and I feel a game like this would be enjoyed by quite a few.
What will they use to heal you ask? Bandaids, spirits/ alcohol and food.
This is not a game.
I think I agree.. I think to avoid a niche enviroment we need to stay away from twitch based FPS format.. I was thinking tho, how could we handle combat? One step is to eliminate the "auto" shot ability, and line of sight does apply.. So if your target is behind a door, rock or whatever and LoS is an issue, you cant' shoot.. Firing a weapon a person will have to use a hotkey.. People will have to remember too that weapons do run out of ammo and reloading isn't just a simple click..(I would plan on 30 seconds to reload) I would however allow for auto fighting when it comes to knife fights or hand to hand brawling..
Now back to the shooting combat.. shooting while moving reduces your chances of hitting your target, and if your target is moving your chances are reduced.. SO even as far as the computer is concern.. If you are chasing someone, the odds of you actually hitting your target depending on distance might only be 10% or less.. If you have a six shooter, you might be in big trouble if you have to reload... lol However if you are lucky to land a couple or few shots on your target, you dont' actually kill him, but incompacitate him.. They will out of commission for atleast 1 minutes, unless someone comes and gives medical attention.. To avoid people "camping" incompacitated targets, the person can choose to "release" and spawn back at the closest INN with a debuff on them..
The percentage chance of you hitting your target is based on movement, target moving, and skill level of combat.. Therefore a person with 30 levels or 30 points into pistols have a better chance of hitting their target then a newbie..
Just having Indians as a playable faction wouldn't make it offensive. It's the bit where you call them bad guys or monsters. They were essentially fighting for the preservation of the their culture. Suddenly all these people were showing up, putting up fences on the land and boxing them in, telling them they could no longer ride or hunt on land they had been riding and hunting on for ten thousand years.
Most of the people who were settling in the west did not have it as their goal to kill Indians and take their land along with wiping out most of their culture. They were broke and the government "gave" them a plot of land. Or an intermediary company gave them a plot of land to work off. They could either work the land or end up indentured servants for the rest of their lives.
You could have a very interesting and compelling storyline to go with the game. You just have to decide how historically accurate you want to be. Do you want to be Historically accurate, or be Western Movie accurate?
Finally, where does Kung Fu fit into all of this?
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
NO NO NO.. no David Caradine.. Oh wait.. We could use him as a raid boss for a posse to go after.. Ok, I'm game.. lol
PS.. you know , the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Indians NOT being a PvP class, but a playable class or skill ike any other.. The storyline ability would be tremendous.. Keep "monster" play to "OUTLAW" only for those Billy the Kid wannabes..... Wait, I like that idea too.....
Please, someone just make the Deadlands MMO so I can die a happy man ;p
Danbacca's thoughts pretty much mirror my own.
Skill based a la SWG where you can take a little of this, a little of that. If you want to be a cowboy driving your herd to market and then gamble with the money you've earned with a better than even shot at winning more you just kick some points into the correct slots.
One thing I would flip flop though would be the PvE aspect to a Pvp one (and this is from a non-Pvp'er). Something like I've heard EVE is.
The towns are your safe zones (well as safe as the local 'government' lets it be) and outside of town it gets rougher. Along with this you could use a good / bad rep scale. Become too bad and you can't show your face in certain towns with the towns safety zone extending farther afield as it grows (i.e. St. Louis big safety zone, Deadwood small if any zone). Become more 'good' (like the various famous lawmen) and the safe zone increases if you sign on as town marshal.
I'd also add in a Leadership or Charima skill block. The more points you put into it and the higher your 'level' the more henchmen you can hire. For the Army it would be a Pvt having none, a Cpl. with 1, a SGT with 4. For a Rancher it would allow them to have cowpokes and bigger ranches. An Outlaw his gang.
Combat; no auto fire. You have to aim and hope you hit.
You could still have PvE missions as they would be Army patrols, deliver X number of cattle to Y. Cull the local wolf population or supply meat to the town / Army post.
And there would be no reason Indians couldn't be a playable race since they too could make use of the rep scale.
Much of it would depend on the time frame you picked. If you went with the Mexican or Civil War you could add a different faction and allow for larger groupings and big battles. Post Civil War would work too but take away some of the conflict areas.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
you could have it so the historical things did happen but at some point diveate from what actually happened and have something that unites the indians and cowboys or outlaws or whatever like zombies not saying zombies but something or another military force that is hellbent on destorying them all.
If your going to ban the trolls please for our sake ban the Fan Boys too.
I wouldn't, personally. American history/culture has never been fascinating enough to me to get into that genre. People riding around on horses kicking up dust and shooting each other. Bleh. We're still doing that now. Not much has changed. Except for the horses. Though I did get to pet one pulling a little Amish lady while she was busy doing other things. I crept up and ninja hugged it then ran away before she could glare at me.
But anyway...
I don't see many western-ish console games either. It's a untapped market but I wonder if that's because it's an uninteresting one. Usually whenever people think of an MMO with guns they lean towards cyber punk/mecha. People like big guns and glowing Guyver-esque armor, I guess.
EDIT: BTW, I saw The Warrior's Way a couple of days ago. That's not typical Western fair, but I ~would~ play an MMO like that.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Nope, very few people will play it, trust me.
A Multypleyer game ala Battlefield with Western setting yes.
A MMORPG no
Highly depends on the setting.
If it is in the North American setting...no.
If it was in somekind of Firefly or pseudo-fantasy setting, yes.
Being a fan of the Wild West since I was a kid I think an Old West game would be great. Having played a number of P&P Western based RPGs I have the following concepts that I feel would be viable.
"Weird West" - there is an RPG called Deadlands which was a horror themed Western where the Indians opened a path to the happy hunting grounds during the Civil War. This allowed Spirits to manifest in the real world, the dead come back to life as harrowed souls, and grat calamities like an earthquake sending California into the sea. The advantage of this setting would be PvE wouldn't be limited to humans and animals.
"Boomtown" - sandbox style without classes so it would be skill based. players would start in a city and head west as pioneers, or in a village if Native American. groups of players could form up townships or villages to create 'guilds' and even forts. gameplay would be based on both territory control and survival.
unique aspects I believe could be the need for supplies either player crafted or 'shipped' from the east. weapons and ammunition. clothing, tools would have to be brought in while food could be supplied by hunters or maybe a cattle drive. The only 'loot' in the game would be gold. Also, encumbrance could be real to facilitate the need for pack animals and wagons.
Combat, would be the most complicated part lacking the holy trinity. Some kind of hybrid between FPS and skill based system. But inlcuding weapon malfunctions , ammunition supply and reloading, and actual draw speed if possible.
"Apocalypse" - a lot of people like Fallen Earth, and I think Fallout Online could be awesome if it ever gets past the funding and lawsuit phase. Firefly / Serenity setting or Traveller RPG could also be neat as a space frontier setting. These settings also give great freedom in regards to NPCs and lore / content.
Anyh00, I think Red Dead Redemption's success would give AAA developers an inkling that a Western themed MMO may be viable. Especially if SW: TOR is succesful, storybased MMOs could have some future in the market even if not based on a succesful IP.
I have to disagree with all of you complaining about the historical vs nonhistorical reason that people wouldn't play this type of mmo. I agree that shady and underhanded things were done to the American indians by the settlers. As usual, history is written by the winners. I have no doubts if you set a MMO in the 16th Century in seas around Spain, England and Portugal you would find that some people's feathers might get ruffled.
Who cares. Political correctness doesn't concern me. Is the game fun? I personally think Indian tribes would encompass a number of factions i.e, Apache, Comanche, Sioux. I also believe you could have the American Settlers based on some other theme such as where they were from...Irish=good farmers, English=bad teeth, German=good craftsman. Whatever.
Certain Settlers could establish non aggression with certain tribes, as they actually did. If an "alliance" of mixed indian/settlers joined together to wage war on other indians or pure settler villages, so be it. Historically once the Settlers had more people, better technology, etc...expansion and devastation was inevitable. So what...in this game..that timeline would branch off as indians/settlers formed pacts to survive.
If someone is offended or takes offense to how indians or cowboys would be portrayed, then don't play. Give each tribe of indians and "faction" of settlers different bonuses on character creation and be done with it. Possibly give bonuses to grouping with only other indians or settlers, if the developers are looking for "authenticity".
I always thought that Darkfall made a mistake by allowing ARAC as the norm. It didn't need to be RvR, but Orcs and Elves shouldn't be friends, no matter what. Just my 2 cents.
Playing: BF4/BF:Hardline, Subnautica 7 days to die
Hiatus: EvE
Waiting on: World of Darkness(sigh)
Interested in: better games in general
You guys overthink stuff to death. No wonder all the mmos coming out are so bad, if the devs are listening to the masses and the masses think like half the nitwits throwing political correctness at the game idea in this thread.
Let it be a game.
I agree. I'd at least try a Western based MMO. I'd prefer it to be a sandbox style game, though, which I think would fit with the genre a little better.
I'd definitely try it, though.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Investors care about polictal corectness though and parents wont be buying their children a game thats hammered on cnn or any other news station 24/7 for its use of small pox blankets as a skill. In all seriousness a western mmo at best would appeal to a small group of people and would not be developed by a larger corperation and would probably suffer from the same problems darkfall and mortal online do. They are great games in theory but their companys lack the resources to polish their ideas to a playable level so they only appeal to a small crowd of people.
If your going to ban the trolls please for our sake ban the Fan Boys too.
Western mmo? Heck yeah, all the elements are there for a good mmo. Warring factions, fast travel (trains), generations of source material, mounts.
The Professions are already waiting to be played, gunfighter, doc/medicineman/healer, blacksmith /crafter.
Think it could be a great game if done right, and by done right, I mean not an 18 month cryptic disaster.
historical? probably not. with a bit of exotic mystery? probably yes.
incidently, me and my friends used to play western-themed role-play. it was mostly freeform homebrew system. a mish-mash of western tropes, from Wild Bunch to Django and Leone.
You don't need a raid boss in every MMO do you? There are games like UO used to be where the world was for of a simulation. You have other goals. . a western game would be best (in my opinion) as a sandbox. . or hybrid like FE.
Also as a comment to the OP. . having "indians" as a "Monster Play" option might offend a few people. If they were included as a playable option for normal play as well. . maybe not so much. . and why can't a white guy be a "monster" in a western MMO?
I say Allow PvP anywhere with major penalties. . ie. . a guy wins at cards you can shoot him. . but you won't make it out of town.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
Hip hip hoooooraaaaay!!!