Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Should mmorpg gameplay be influenced by environment/weather change?
Eronakis
Member UncommonPosts: 2,249
The title says it all really. But I'll delve deeper so everyone can see the vision I see.
When a character travels through an arctic region. What conditions could take place to possibly hinder the character in a moderate fashion to achieve the immersed sence of danger from the environment alone? Perhaps, a character would need flint, and wood in the inventory to build a fire, to simulate that the character is being warm. Say for for melee characters, damage taken would increase by a nominal amount against the character. Also, because of the cold weather, maybe the weapon dealing the damage would also take a nominal hit of item durability as well. As for casters, what if because of the cold weather there would be a slight decrease of cast time to all spells. Of course, maybe certain casters could perform a buff in which would protect characters from a particular environmental hazard.
What if a character travles through a desert region? What sort of conditions would take place for that particular region? I would assume the character would need a substantial amount of water in their inventory. Maybe water usage would double? Perhaps, fatigue would play a major roll in a arid region. Where mana or stamina points would decrease more frequently for both caster and melee characters.
Weather effects is a feature that isn't used as much in modern mmos nor older mmos. I would assume weather effects would bog down server resources. Anyways, what your character is in a plane region doing a quest. For a good 15 minutes there is a torrental downpour. Heavy rain could decrease the range of spells and perhaps accuracy rate of the collision of weapons to mobs.
Those are three things that I just thought of the top of my head. I personally would enjoy something like this to immerse your self further in those weather or environmental conditions.
***If you chose Maybe A different implmentation, please post your differnt design than what the OP has***
Comments
Having to have water or stay warm is sort of like a "The Sims" or Minecraft sort of thing in my opinion. So the game would have to be more like those types of games.
I loved and hated Dark Age of Camelot's implementation of night and rain storms. It would fog up and rain so hard that you can't see or get dark at night and be hard to see even with your torch. It was pretty awesome.
WoW's rain is nice but it's too quiet and pleasant. I'd love MMORPGs to implement an actual thunderstorm where the wind blows in one direction making you walk slower or faster depending which way you are walking and make it harder to see and with loud rain environmental noise and thunder.
Maybe even 1 out of 100 chance that some player in the storm gets struck by lightning and dies!
That game sounds boring to me.
In order to travel through deserts and arctic this and that and have to use campfires and survival tools the world would have to be big enough to be empty and boring. Sounds like you want an empty world apocalyptic survival game.
I do like the idea of weather having effect on movement and such tho.
Jeremiah 8:21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief.
Join me on Twitch Facebook Twitter
Umm I think you misinterupted it wrong lol. These are features in mmos. Not a singular game lol.
Yes, imo weather/environment should have an impact. In fact, thats how i pictured MMOs before i got into them, so I got a bit dissappointed there.
singleplayer RPGs will do it first, since they are usually ahead of MMOs in most areas.
Once a singleplayer RPG gets that feature in, where the environment/weather means something then MMOs are other companies will take notice and copy it.
Unreal World has something like that. Depending on the environment you are in, you lose more energy/stamina. Or depending on the weather, you tire faster/get hungrier faster/thirstier faster. Winter comes and if you aren't prepared with wood/food/water...then you are dead. Unreal World is similar to Haven and Hearth (but singleplayer), but a lot more advanced, with not as good of graphics. Only game I know of that takes advantage of weather/environment though. Well outside of games making rain/fog/darkness making it harder to see...but thats kind of minor really.
Check out my nature/animal/relaxing music channel on Youtube!
My game channel on Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/vendayn
Keeping my character fed, making sure he has enough water, telling him to use the toilet, and telling him to put on a hat before he leaves the house so he doesn't catch a cold sounds much too domestic for the RPG genre. I'd rather keep it out of the game entirely, so I can focus on the adventure.
I want to play the hero; I don't want to babysit the hero.
Have you played Wow? Everytime you buy food and drink and use your character to regain mana and hp, that is technically baby sitting your character too. Single player rpgs you are the hero. Everyone who playes mmorpgs are potential heroes. So maybe the mmorpg genre is not the genre for ya.
None of this would have a heavy weight when your character would be in those zones. Just a moderate survival tactic to make gameplay more interesting and immersive.
I can see where the slippery slope ends. To be fair, I don't like playing the SIMS for exactly this reason. He simply did nothing but annoy me having to pee and having to work. It was boring. It never lasted.
I think that before they could ever add weather they would need to make the environment more of a factor. For example, I'm a BIG fan of implementing either a speed up on roads or a slow down off road. I don't believe you should be able to run through a swamp the same speed as across a plain. I feel that swimming need to start of weak and slow and build up progressively. No one starts as a Michael Phelps. Those SMALL things are interesting mechanics that keep players actually PLAYING vice just running haphazardly across the land.
I've played lots of MMORPGs, including WoW, and the need to eat and drink can be annoying on occasion. I find the less of it I have to do, the more fun I have. And in the typical MMORPG, it's kept to a minimum - just enough to give an occasional break from the action. It's a far cry from what you're suggesting.
Your statement that "maybe the mmorpg genre isn't for (me)" is ludicrous. Just because I like the games the way they are, and don't like your suggestion to add an annoying subsystem, I must not like MMORPGs? How does that make any sense?
Starting at the beginning:
1Q: Should MMOs have weather effects? A: Yes clearly they would be a positive addition, they add atmosphere and immersion eg snow in the Mountains and changing conditions to replicate a world that changes.
2Q: Should those weather effects affect how players interface with the world? A: Yes, eg above a fog would be provide mystery and danger and perhaps a false step off a cliff or a blizzard wakes up an event nearby that only occurs during those conditions (eg GW2) OR as in RvR pvp provides factions with the opportunity for a Keep attack or ambush or anticipation of such.
3Q: Should the weather effects affect individual gameplay? A: Maybe, depends how it is implemented. Perhaps a blizzard or a burning sun in the desert could sap energy/reduce movement rate unless prepatory measures were taken or prolonged exposure without shelter every so often etc? It could add another layer of challenge/puzzle/preparation as long as it is NOT inane micromanagement.
So definitely 1 and 2 and maybe 3 if it adds to gameplay eg preparations before crossing that Mountain Range then it could add to the interaction with the gameworld imo.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Guild Wars 1 had poisonous water in undead infested swamps. Standing in it gave players health degeneration. I guess that's a really basic one.
There are many types of players. I suppose your the guy who wants to be in combat all the time. Which is fine. I enjoy that a well. Well in todays mmos, when you log into a server, your logging into a lobby or a game, not a world. I don't think it would be an annoying subsystem at all because it creates immesion and different survival tactics. It wouldn't be a main concert something you'd have to pay attention to once in a while. Something to add challenge. It's obvious that we enjoy polar mmo design concepts and mechanics.
You didn't really want an answer to your question, did you? You just wanted people to agree with you.
I could see some instances where weather effects changing gameplay could be interesting and fun. I would like it more in the way it effects certain skills. In a lot of games monsters have weaknesses, such as monsters in cold regions are weaker against fire magic and monsters in desert regions are weaker against cold skills. An interaction such as that specifically with the environment and not just the creatures would be nice. If you are in the middle of a blizzard using a water based spell could also deal additional ongoing cold damage for instance because of the water freezing. Cold skills could just be more powerful in cold environments also or have a lesser mana cost due to it being easier to create a icewall or whatever in those condtions. Obviously if you are fighting something strong against those skills they would still probably not be the best thing to use, but it could be interesting.
I really would not be that interested in having to carry extra food and water to the desert though unless the game automatically made me eat or drink and deducted it from my inventory when I needed it, as well as let me easily restock at the random oasis in case I didn't quite plan ahead well enough.
Umm not not really. This thread is open for disagreement and agrement. I was essentially defending my stance as you were yours. Nothing more.
A change in landscapes cause of the weather would be nice, tho hard to implement i guess. Im not so sure about negative effects on a character as a result of bad weather tho. Perhaps something like different areas only reachable during part of seasons cause of flooding, cold weather etc.