2: Only 1 character per server so you dont can do everything yourself.. Either crafting something or some type of fighter.
3: Housing with playerowned shops.
4: Quests made by players. Instead of the "killing 10 boars" that doesnt matter in the gameworld I think that the questst should been set up by the players themself. If a crafter needs hides for the crafting, put it up as a quest somehow with a reward. Would be cool if the npc-controlled citys had a limit of their resourse and when they reaching the bottom the quests pops up to gather in some more. Makes the feeling doing the quests less useless if you are knowing the things you gather actually are beeing used.
5: Woods can be chopped down. Trees can be planted and growing up again. Animals and monsters can be near extinct. Near that is, not entirerly. They pop up less and less frequent the more they are killed and if left beeing alone they come back in numbers again.
6: When you are leaving one of the very few safe npc-controlled towns you have tp choose pvp- or carebear mode. In pvp-mode you can kill other pvp-players and take over/destroy other pvp-players houses. The carebears are nor beeing seen by the pvp-players but the care-bears can see them and the mayhem going on (thats so its beeing easier to see who´s in pvp for the pvp-players.).
7: Those little useless pets you can gather in most modern mmo:s nowadays you can train and let fight against other players pets.
8: Races react differently to other races and gets buffs/debuffs when partying and guilding with eachothers. Certain perks can enhance or eliminate those reactions.
9: To make it more social, you can enter som social attributs and what your toon prefer in other toons. This is more for the roleplaying aspect and does not interfere with the actual gaming.
Well I guess there´s more to add if I think harder but...I´m tired and wont. For now.
Both. My primary skillset is C++/C# but, ironically I'm also a sprite artist, and I work with 3D well in 3dsMax. I am also a web-developer, use MySQL, PHP, etc. I'm using the 3.1 version of XNA as my development platform. XNA makes games for Windows easy. I've sorta gone the back way around all this haha due to my "game writers block" and ended up making an account management system that integrates with PayPal, uses gametime codes, etc, before actually having a finished game. Presently I can run around in the game world and manipulate items, but that's about it. The server manages connections and commits game state changes to a SQL database. I think if I can just commit to design I'll be ready to start creating (more) art content. That's why I'm fishing for input here. I need some sense that I'd be making a game that other people would enjoy and that I'm not just wasting my time. At some point I'll contract help ( I have an artist already ), but I don't want to invest in that without the necessary vision for what this product should be. Anyway.
I'm pretty much consigned to the fact no one makes a mint in this industry anymore, which is just saturated with bad products, so I'm trying hard to approach this from a hobbyist and a gamers perspective. What would I enjoy playing, and if I wrote it, would anyone play it with me?
Sorry but you really are different from every designer I've met, whether it is inside the game industry or out (say CRM designer).
To me a designer is someone who understands 'why' something was designed in a way and what that particular design was created in such a way.
What was the 'big' thing this game/product trying to achieve and how did it do it? Did it succeed? Do I feel XYZ and why? etc.
You haven't really said what you want to achieve nor do you seem to understand how UO appealed to you in the first place.
Was the music choice good? How did the UI interact with the game world to make the player feel like their avator?
Was there enough game mechanics to not bore the player but also not be needlessly complicated?
Once you understand why you feel about UO the way you do and how the game mechanics made you feel that way, you'll be able to use modern technology to make it better (or at least try).
Gdemami - Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Speaking of races, I wonder how important is it to players to be able to roll a non-human character. Is it possible to create a compelling world with common recognition that we are all indeed human? I've always sorta felt that being able to play a gargoyle or whatever somehow demystifies that race / game element. No one Really has any context for knowing what the day in the life of a troll might be like, so it would seem creatively onerous to really roleplay one. It's like my friend Matt could play a troll but he'd still be Matt, and he's not Really fooling anyone in game to think Hey this is a troll.
As an early fan of the Ultima single player series, that game, starting by at least Ultima IV evolved into a human-centric storyline, which followed on to UO. ( Ultima I through III was basically a poorly thought out amalgamation of everything D&D and Tolkien ) I ask the question because I recollect the only times I ever really role-played ... I was human in role. Do people every really have a context for role playing an orc? It's almost a question of how much you project yourself into your character. Some people may roll radically different characters to purposely draw a line and keep them emotionally uninvested in what happens to their character in-game. I think I usually genderbend for that very reason. Personally I can't say that I've ever been a fan of anthropomorphic races ( half-cat, half-dog, half-cow, etc ). I've always felt those were uncreative substitutes and not terribly imaginative. Just my opinion.
I think in sentence, if someone were to ask me to describe my personal character concept, my online persona, I have to confess its always been the glorification of my own ego. Basically ego made God... but always human. When you lay in bed at night and imagine what you could do if you were a bad-ass, I doubt many people think Oh I'd be a Thundercat.
I'm also wondering how much role playing is even important nowadays when so much of the playerbase is barely able to maintain interest in their hobby, much less create content for someone elses' consumption.
Sorry but you really are different from every designer I've met, whether it is inside the game industry or out (say CRM designer).
My problem is that I'm trying to wear ( too ) many hats. Game design is a creative outlet for me, the technical side has always been a means to an end. I know exactly what kind of game *I* would design, what I lack is the confidence that my design would appeal to a broad cross section of todays market. When I look out there I see a phenomenal saturation of crap games, each of which ironically took quite an investment to make. It's important that some foundation for a game be correct from the beginning. Maybe I come across confused because I'm trying to suspend my personal opinion and take a pragmatic approach, thus my original question What do players want (anymore)? What I don't want to do is invest a lot of time and effort reinventing something so narrow, niche and dated that no one but me would want to play it. Though I may be screwed in some respect because I think to be successful you need to be a gamer at heart who isn't burned out to develop your own informed sense of what is "fun".
I would take the conversation for what it is, just a dialogue among players.
I'd like something a lot like classic DAoC mixed with an old AD&D style gameworld mixed with a bit of EQ2. I miss having the extremely complex virtual worlds of the early days of MMOs (when they were still called MUDs). However, I like the convenience of being able to solo if I can't find a group and I like interesting classes, storylines, non-instanced dungeons, etc.
I'm not really one for these MMO-lite games anymore. If it takes me time to get somewhere in a game, then that's worth it, more so that having everything handed to me on a plate. On the other hand, things shouldn't be needlessly tedious either.
I think you're overthinking this. So you're designer so I am assuming that all this questions are asked becasue of your future game yu're creating.
1.So your question : "how much role playing is even important nowadays when so much of the playerbase is barely able to maintain interest in their hobby"?
Well you will have to either answer if by yourself or make some sort of research, by creating pools in various forum and/or topics where ppl will be ased to answer this question. Thing is they are not representative. So one way or another you will have to anser this by yourself.
2. "I wonder how important is it to players to be able to roll a non-human character"?
Imho most players enjoy rolling non-human characters. If they would not they would not roll them but millions of players do when they have a chance. So you can risk a statement it is important.
3. Is it possible to create a compelling world with common recognition that we are all indeed human?
I think it certainly is possible. There are/were games which diod create compelling worlds with humans as only race or only playable race.
Anyway what I see as a problem is that you're not sure if you want to create game world build based on what YOU think it should look like or what majority of players think it should look like.
Becasue of IP's like Lotr , Warhammer, Warcraft, D&D , etc most people think fantasy = medieval like world with elves, dwarves, orcs ,etc. Where orcs& goblins are bad , and humans, elves and dwarves are good or most of them are good.
So either you cater to majority and create playable non-human races or do what you think is better and do more oryginal approach by makin humans only playable choice.
Asking even valid questions on forums will not change people opinions in your opinions.
Imho many people role-play as elf, dwarf, vampire, half-orc , hobbit , [insert other race name], etc
It is kinda obvious by knoing how many people choose non-human races to play in p&p games, single player compuiter games and mmorpg's.
That don't mean that with humans as only playable race game cannot be succesful.
I'm an independent game developer ( among other things ) and I just have to ask, what do players WANT nowadays?
I started MMOs with Ultima Online, but to this day I can't say I've really enjoyed playing anything else.
And of course if I went back to UO, the magic is no longer there, so speaking for myself I think I'm competing with my own nostalgia for something that just cannot be recreated.
It's no longer novel to simply be "online" with other people in a shared environment.
It's very difficult from a developers point of view to determine what is "fun" when you're burned out.
I know what I HATE, but I have trouble envisioning what kind of compelling and immersive experience that *I* want from a game anymore that would also appeal to others and earn revenue.
It's a crappy place to be if game development is your main skill set
Off hand I'd say I can appreciate sand box environments where the game play is emergent, non-linear, non-theme park, where the GM's aren't stormtroopers, secondary markets are accepted, where the game is more than just combat and PVP, and where the game world itself is more granular / atomic and interactive. But beyond that, I'm split on cartoonism versus realism, or what kind of novel features can be done that havent already been implemented elsewhere.
Curious what others thoughts are for their ideal game.
what players want is no different then what humans have wanted in the last 10,000+ years... if developers UNDERSTAND what M.Multiplayer.O.RPG stands for, then they can work their way back to what made MMORPG's successful in the 1st place.
humans are social animals. thats really about as simple of an answer as you can get.
I like where this thread starts and some of the comments too.
I think OP, you make the right start: Given the modern prevalence of online/virtual services that clamor for our precious (gaming) time, why do people need/want/wish to play mmorpgs? As a developer/designer are you adding anything by creating another or the next mmorpg, to the ones already released and the ones currently in development?
You ask the question but then are eager to get on with developing the mmorpg, without really giving an answer to the above!
As you say, what made MMO initially interesting was suddenly playing in a free environment online with loads of other players. The initial benefits were great: Novel being the primary one. However I'd say the best potential reason for mmorpgs is that human intelligence can replace AI and that potential is manifestly much higher. What we've seen however is the continued control of player-player interactions to the point individual player-interactions are very limited. This is to avoid causing dependence on other ppl, to avoid ppl ruining other ppl's gaming fun, to avoid ppl ruining the running of the game.
In fact, you could say the potential for ppl online is reduced to that of the level of a large pack of untrained dogs barking and growling and scuffling with each other and generally doing their best to chew up the furniture! That has caused game designers to put ppl on leashes during their online gaming time without really solving the problem, but only preventing it (at least in most mmorpgs).
So what's missing, using that analogy, imo, is basic rules for conduct between ppl that train ppl's online gaming behavior. That does not mean it restricts, but it allows for more interactions within contexts... if it succeeds... more open and possible gameplay in a social context of cooperation and conflict that should infuse these marvellous online worlds eg UO.
There you have it, if you can create your mmorpg with that above sentence in mind, you'll be able to answer that initial question, I think? You can go about adding the details of how to implement such a system, but that is exactly where your job begins and it informs every, single subsequent decision you make from concept to gameplay to monetization, to why you think it is worthwhile making another/the next mmorpg.
I want everyone to attack me no mather what. The odd thing is that Diablo 2 didnt have much rewards for killing players but everyone ruined for everyone. In most MMOs, noone bothers to kill eachother. If i try killing a person, 5 people will jump on me and kill me to save him.
I want bosses to have some extremely rare drops. Every raid boss should have like a 0.1% chance to drop for example a megarare rune that can craft the most unique weapon ever. This would flood the forums with QQ but i dont care. Just ignore em all, its not funny anymore when most MMOs everyone got the same gear.
I want the world to be alive. Outworld elite areas with PvP required to farm mats to create raid/pvp stuffs, anything. I want to keep instanced raids and pvp instances but make the world important too. I mean come on, why leave the world after you quested?
I want MMO to be MMO once again. I dont want to solo farm up to level 60, i want alot of group quests with unsoloable elites. Elites that requires a tank, a healer and a DPS.
I want classes to have different roles. For example in GW, a DPS class could spec to heal, DPS, DOT, CC, debuff, whatever they wanted too. This is what fails most MMOs sadly cause its waaaay too few tanks and healers. Then im asking myself why even bother multiclassing when they dont bother balancing the game at all? If they actually tried it, it would work till some noob finds a bugged spec but a hotfix and its done.
I want the end level zones to be positive. ATM most MMOs end zones are negative and boring due to being ashes, fire, darkness. Why not make it a jungle with big dinosaurs and floating islands? Diablo 2 were like this, a dark Diablo place but it changed to a snowy end world which made atleast me enjoy going around there.
I want some parts of MMOs to be F up somehow. Like in diablo 2 nightmare and hell last world where enemies from the first worlds comes once again with 500% attack speed, armor, life and 5 new dangerous abilities. This could replace the boring elites that just goes around.
I want MMOs to be filled with dangerous stuffs such as big giants crushing you. Vanilla WoW had t-rexes, TBC had fel reaver, WOTLK had those giants and rares but Cata didnt really have one, maybe those big underwater fish bosses but they never touched me.
I know its impossible to put all the options in a game but atleast let the world be alive lol. (Im not saying all MMOs have dead worlds ofc! )
I'm an independent game developer ( among other things ) and I just have to ask, what do players WANT nowadays?
I'm afraid that most of them want something that cannot be delivered--making MMOs fresh and new for someone who's been playing them for many years. You see a LOT of Jaded and Ennui/Burnout on this forum.
People tend to forget the flaws and problems with their First Game (whatever it was), but they remember the awe factor and how great that game was to play. Of course it was great, they were doing something new and there's always some excitement to that.
You can't give that back to them. All you can do is make the game you want to make and put your heart into it.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I have spent lots of time playing MMOS, 10 years and counting and spent lots of free time on gaming forums. I have arrived to the conclusion that players themselves do not know what they want. All the things they constantly demand even if somehow take shape of an MMO it is ignored and neglacted till it gets to the verge of closing.
All the things they constantly demand even if somehow take shape of an MMO it is ignored and neglacted till it gets to the verge of closing.
Because pretty much every single forum is 90% full with a disilusioned, jaded and burned out vocal minority. Most players that still enjoy the games are busy playing and having fun, not bitching on forums. As someone wanting to make a successful game, listening to those forums is the worst thing you can do.
I have spent lots of time playing MMOS, 10 years and counting and spent lots of free time on gaming forums. I have arrived to the conclusion that players themselves do not know what they want. All the things they constantly demand even if somehow take shape of an MMO it is ignored and neglacted till it gets to the verge of closing.
They just want something different. A half-million different definitions of different, but when it is partially delivered with various new ideas, they're still burnt out and it can't ever be good enough.
A lot of them seem to want a game built for a rugged individualist designed to prove their superior gaming skills, that would be a downright terrible game for everyone else to play. Grindfest or gankfest or some other form of gaming sadomasochism, a game where only the two-percenters are happy and screw everyone else. You can't run a business that way and make a profit.
Various narrow definitions of the perfect game, perfect for only a very narrow portion of the player base.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I find that most of the things that make an MMO gamer are what they are receiving. A game they can complain about and a place they can do the complaining. BADABING, you have any standard MMO (name one) and an enabler like MMORPG.com and you have the makings of a happy gamer.
It seems what players want and what developers want to give players are almost completely different, for example; devs love making themeparks, players want more freedom than a fixed themepark path but are constantly given themepark games.
Why aren't MMO's a grand adventure? Is the goal really to feel like we are paying for the privelege of picking up some NPC's dry cleaning?
THIS ^^^^^.
I want the ADVENTURE back. That is all. Pure and simple. If that one thing was taken care of I could forgive a lot of other things being wrong, missing, tired, whatever, but the adventure.....must return to MMOs. And I am not some idiot NPC's slave girl either. I have had way past enough of those kinds of quests.
sadly...and I'm saying this without trolling...how can you have adventure with youtube and strategy guides everywhere? in order to stay on pace with the other adventurers, you cant afford not to follow the available tools or you're excluded. Sure you can have your adventure alone but...is that really mmorpg-esque?
Read: Single Server Games
I've read it. now back to my question, how do you handle external information that's available?
In a single server game where the environment changes in an unpredictable fashion, this would ultimately not be a concern. Once an event is completed (or at least an event high enough in magnitude that somebody would want to put it on Youtube), the game world reacts and changes, and by then, a guide would do no good.
That's the problem with a) multi-realm games and b) static game environments. Take WoW for example. You want to complete the Onyxia quest chain? Easy, just go look it up. However, by my standards, once you discover and defeat Onyxia, she's gone for good. But what's to stop players on other realms from still going on Youtube and getting a quick-guide? Create a single server. Then it really is a one-time event. Bam. And yea, on a totally different note: even if you do have repeatable content, if it plays exactly the same way every time, something's wrong with your design.
@Jusomdude: In my original post I specify that having all players on a single "realm" is more important than having them all on a single "server." I could honestly care less about loading screens if it means I'm sharing a single world with every other player. Plus, if you use shards, you could feasibly supply more support for highly populated areas such as Orgrimmar. The purpose of having every player on the same realm is to make the world of game actually meaningful. By current standards, if you defeat a raid boss, it means absolutely nothing. It's been done before on another realm, maybe even on your own. Where is the prestige in that? That's why, when sh*t goes down in EVE, it goes down for everybody. It affects the game world permanently for every player.
Players want another hill on their rollercoaster of disappointment-hope-disappointment. Even if you make the perfect game, it will be bashed to bits by gamers. It's what we do.
To the OP: I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. I've been a programmer all my life, although I struggled with C++ (an array of pointers that points to pointers?). So, while I'm rusty with some of the coding for that language, I've written several tiny games just for the experience of creating them. I consider myself a decent writer, and I have a good understanding of number generation systems. If I can be of help, send me a PM.
Anyway, one thing I see lacking in MMOs is long term goals. Something that your character knows about at the start, and slowly makes their way towards, encountering obstacles and such along the way. An example would be Fallout 3. Very early on, you are tasked with finding your father. But to do that, you have to go through ........ And then later, you're given another long term task.
This adds a sense of progression MMOs are lacking.
Other bits:
- I want to feel powerful, I don't want to be challenged in the slightest by one or a few trash mobs. If I encounter a couple of equal level nobody minions, I want to destroy them. I don't want to slowly whittle them down in a battle for which the outcome is already known, and then do that again five thousand times. Leave the challenging fights for the bosses or mini-bosses.
- Lots of freedom of creation and character growth; don't have classes, have experience equate to points that can be placed into a variety of useful skills. This leads to meaningful choices and more individualized builds.
- Make it a mix of themepark/sandbox. Have quests, and make it obvious where my character is intended to eventually head to, but also give me the freedom to go wondering off and find some interesting little nooks and mini-quests.
- Make crafting complex and full of options; example: when creating a sword the crafter could select one of ten possible materials to use for a blade, each of which would add different bonuses. And then the same for the crosspiece, and then the same for the hilt, etc. Then end result being a very individualized item.
- Make travel fast or make it meaningful; holding down the W key for 5 or 10 minutes is boring. Let me get there quickly (at least after the first trek), or make the trip interesting.
- Either make multiple playstyles equally viable (grouping/soloing/pvp'ing), or unapologetically focus on one of them. I think many MMOs make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people, and wind up with lesser versions of everything, satisfying no one.
I was gonna write up a long list of things I want in a MMO, but instead I figured I'd just share this, since it covers everything.
Dunno about you guys, but this is what I want... It's a post from a new developer talking about what they plan for their game to be. Lets hope they stick to their plan!
As Forsaken Studios creative director, I have the honor of helping focus the teams efforts and influencing the overall design of our game and its mechanics and systems. No small task, nor is it one I take lightly, but it is one that I believe warrants an introduction of myself to the community, and a briefing on the goals and aim of the project, as well as what I will do to help ensure this game is the one that so many of us have been waiting for.
You probably noticed I said "us". That is because I myself am a long time gamer, having spent more than 15 years of my life playing MMOs of all kinds. Theme-park, sandbox, PvE, PvP, you name it, I've probably tried it. I have been in dozens of guilds and clans, and led my share of them. I've been a fairly quiet, mostly positive, presence in many game communities over the years, and if I were to tell you my screen names many of you would probably recognize one or two of them, particularly those of you from some of the newer games out there. But I digress; my point is that I am, and have been for quite some time, one of you. I have been up well into the morning and late to work because of games that I fell in love with, and communities that demanded my response to that one last post before I run out the door. Most importantly though, I am a father of three children, and I have a life that demands my attention outside of my monitor from time to time. That gives me an understanding of what 'casual' gamers are looking for and need, no matter how 'hard-core' of a gamer I might want to be. All of that combined gives me an excellent perspective for understanding where the players, you guys, are coming from when you discuss what it is you want from a game. I plan to put that experience with the games and the communities to good use and help develop a game, the game, that you will love, even as you curse us for making you late to work or miss hours of sleep.
Let me add that these are the goals and intended end results that I am shooting for, for the game, not necessarily a promise that the game will be like this. Rather this is my personal promise to you all that I will do everything I can to guide the project towards these and other similar goals and how I envision it in my mind. We however have a long road ahead of us, and there are obstacles and technical limitations that we can not predict waiting for us around every corner. I ask for your support, understanding, constructive criticism, and most importantly your suggestions to help us make the game better for everyone.
First and foremost, I want to belay any fears or concerns that we, like many open pvp sandbox style games out there, will be focused solely on combat. Combat is great, but we are well aware it is not the only element of great games. It is of course an important feature of the game, and we are absolutely going to do our best to ensure that it is smooth, intuitive, and fun. However, harbor no doubts, it will not be all our game has to offer. You will not be playing a game that is built around combat, where it is the entire point and purpose of playing to either battle or support battles and endless or pointless wars.
It is my goal to provide players with a rich and fulfilling economy in which every item is created or handled by players. That massive economy will play a part in not only players personal adventures, but also player founded cities as well as NPC cities. I intend for it to feel like, finally, the NPC's are living in your world for once, and not the other way around. When we say we're giving you the sand and tools to make what you want of the world, we're not kidding, and your fellow players and the NPCs will be effected by what you do with those tools. Even if it means a cities population starves or emigrates to somewhere that will better meet their and their families needs, leaving a veritable ghost town behind. The crafting system we have planned is one of the most daunting tasks we have ahead of us, and not just because we made a single profession have tens of thousands of options that result in only a handful of items actually being useful. Instead, it is because we are taking our time to ensure that every item has a purpose, a value, and is actually useful. Say good bye to lists of filler crafting items to raise up your professions skills to get to the useful items at the bottom of the list, and say hello to professions that, from beginning to end, are useful, needed, and not only a viable play-style, but a deep and fulfilling one. Whether your calling is to be a shipbuilder, an engineer, architect, doctor, apothecary, alchemist, miner, forester, hunter, farmer, brewer, tailor, jeweler, smith, fisherman, chef, or carpenter you will find your profession is as important to the game world as the next, with everyone having a purpose and role to fill that is kept in demand by a well balanced economy and realistic world. That, to me, is how a player driven economy should be.
Territory and politics are not forgotten either, and are in fact some of our most commonly discussed topics within the team. I am personally working on territory systems presently that I hope will not only give players the ability to stake and shape their claim on the world, but build it into a kingdom or remain as a small city-state that keeps to themselves at their leisure. No more 3am alarm clock raids on enemies territories to take advantage of time zone differences, the territory system has features planned to ensure that wars are not won in an odd hour raid, but through tactics, attrition, and skill, with the needed support of strong economies and logistics. Expand your borders by force, trade, or political dealings, and defend your own with walls, defensive towers, outposts, keeps, castles and fortresses and npc guards patrolling under your orders. Enlist player run mercenary guilds to serve in your guard forces, militia, or army, if you can afford them. Set and enforce every law as you wish in your land instead of abiding by laws set by the NPCs. Raise taxes to make your coffers swell in preparation for war or expeditions into the unknown, or lower them to promote growth and try to steal citizens from your neighbors. Bear your lands heraldry on your shields, cloaks, and flags identifying yourself as a defender of your lieges honor or raise a rebellion and fly your own flag as you vie for control of the capitol. Enter into negotiations for peaceful terms and trade agreements or enact embargoes and close your borders to your neighbor under the penalty of death. These are just some of the choices, the options, the possibilities that I hope to bring to you. War and endless PvP need not be the only answer, not when we offer so many tools for you to make the world what you want, and I assure you, that is just a glimpse of my goals.
What if the mundane is not for you? What if you don't fancy yourself a farmer nor a warrior? Well, perhaps exploration suits you, and we have you covered there as well. With a massive world planned, multiple continents each being a unique world in their own right, separated by unforgiving oceans that hide countless islands and uncharted areas that you could find yourself lost in due to navigational errors or relentless storms. More of a scholar? No problem! Hidden throughout the entire world we will have relics of the old world for you to search for, gather, and study. It's not just an egg hunt though, as items you find may change the course of the world, unlock new skills or recipes for crafting, reveal details to help you find lost areas of the world, or explain how to defeat a legendary beast that is ravaging your homeland... in a unique language that you have to collect pieces of and use your brain to decipher. Don't bother with google though, it's not a real world language, nor does it draw influence from one! You never know, you might uncover the secret to a new magic spell in some lost ruin that might bring you riches on the player controlled market that you've only dreamed of. Be cautious however, you never know when that simple cave you're wandering into might turn out to be the home of an ancient evil.
So the bit about magic caught your attention did it? The magic system we'd like to unleash is something that I have never seen in my MMOing 'career' before. It brings to light the fact that magic is useful for more than just roasting opponents. Utility and versatility is a magi's bread and butter. Make no mistake though, a magi is not to be trifled with. They have the ability to build and customize their own spells with the components that they gather and keep in their spell books, allowing them to create truly devastating spells that are so powerful it is as likely to rip them apart as it is to turn you into a pile of ash... or just light the candle next to you and laugh as you pee your pants. They are not all powerful however, they have limits, and in fact magi sometimes face hardships beyond what the average person could imagine as a punishment for what disciples see as blasphemy.
What's a disciple? Well, don't worry, it's not a class. I would never dare ruin such a dream by boxing players into set roles and skill sets. It's just one more path a player can choose to walk down. In this path, players devote their lives to the worship of a deity in return for gifts and aid. Often in the form of magic which the disciple can call down to aid them or others, or smite the wicked... or the pesky good guys. However, the deities have all vanished from the heavens somewhere in the midst of the main plot and it will take incredible determination, dedication, a lot of followers, and likely some good old fashioned sacrifices to summon an old god back to their rightful place where they can look down over us pitiful mortals. Players also will have the ability to create their own religions and attempt to gain enough support from others to actually will a new god into existence. Deities are fickle though, and disciples will need to work to earn their newly summoned gods favor. You, after all, don't control the deities actions, so be careful what you wish for, especially if your newly summoned deity has a twisted sense of humor.
About that plot. Just because this is a sandbox style game doesn't mean there is no main story line. In fact, the entire world is the way it is because of a story that stretches over thousands of years that all lead up to the point in time where you enter the world and help decide the course of the story from there on. Will you be a hero, a villain, or maybe just the farmer in the middle of no where tending your crops praying that whatever that group of adventurers that just ran by to do doesn't stir up more trouble for your crops. The main story is just one single piece of the massive puzzle, as there are countless off-shoots of lore and history in the works for you to enjoy and partake in, as well as dynamic events planned to occur randomly, based on certain requirements being met, or by the discretion of a team dedicated solely to making the world seem alive and forever changing.
Speaking of the world being alive, lets not forget the creatures of the world. From the simple critters scurrying past your feet to hide beneath a bush, to the herbivores struggling to survive and migrating to find food and water. Even the predators that follow and track their prey will seem real, especially if it is you they are hunting. There is, after all, a reason fences and walls were invented. Just because you are in your village doesn't mean you're safe from the hungry hunter. I haven't even mentioned the multitude of legendary creatures, but there will be a variety. Some will lie in wait, hidden away from the world except for when they need to eat, or breed... Others may actively hunt other creatures, or even players, attack villages and possibly even castles. Someone really should track that beast down that keeps destroying your neighbors farm, but are you going to do it without an army? Maybe it's better to just post in on the taverns notice-board and see if some group of heroes are up to the challenge. Might want to do something about it soon though, as the population of NPCs in the city is dwindling, they're all scared and leaving for safer pastures. Yep, that's right, I even want the NPC's to react to the world around them, and ask for your help if they have no where else to turn. Don't worry though, no exclamation or question marks over their heads, you will actually have to socialize, if that's your thing, to find out if someone needs help or has a task that needs doing. Just don't take too long getting back to your estate, you know what they say about the mice when the cats away. Someone needs to keep those slaves, servants, and hirelings in line. You did remember to restock their food and water stores, make sure they had the materials and tools they needed before you left to drag your gladiator off to the city arena to try to make some gold off his blood right? Lets hope the new guards do better at keeping vermin and beasts out of your mine this time, it took days to clear them out and clean up the blood and bones of the last work force you lost. Ah... the simple joys of a game world that seemingly lives and breathes.
I honestly could go on for several more paragraphs, but I think it's best to leave some things for later. Having said all that, this is my vision, my take on that game I and so many others have been looking for. It may take a while yet, but you have my word, it will be worth the wait especially if I have anything to say about it. So if you share my interest in the game that I just described, you enjoyed the bits of my vision of what this game should be, then you have found the right place. Just don't blame me when you're losing sleep or are late to work!
I certainly hope this little post gave you a bit of insight into my vision and the sort of goals that I have set for the team. Most importantly I hope that it helped clear up any assumptions or rumors about what we're intending or what the game is all about. I look forward to seeing this community develop with your help and support, and please, spread the word about what we're trying to accomplish here."
If we're talking "most players", just look at what most players are playing. They're playing the MMORPG with the most polished and well-executed combat, with lots of varied content. When combat is the most frequent activity in a game, failure to make it fun results in a failed game.
If we're talking "players" (ie any damn fool with an opinion) then all of these suggestions are valid.
But if we're trying to narrow things down to ideas which make sense -- ideas which will entertain a lot of people -- then a lot of the opinions professed in this thread are dangerous niche dead-ends. Granted, depending on the scale of game made a niche might not be a bad idea since niches typically have less competition.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
It's the same as with nearly any human activity. Let's take swimming. There are a certain number of people who want to swim competitively. They enjoy the challenge.
The you have a much larger group of people who just want to splash around in the pool.
And then you have another still sizeable group who just want to lounge by the pool while others swim.
If you want to know what players want, which of these types of people are you asking about? People who like a challenge? People who don't like a challenge? People who are just hanging out?
It makes all the difference. But generally speaking, the more the challenge, the less people you find who are interested.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I am also a game dev, and currently working on a mmorpg. However, I am also designing a new gaming console/ add on (Havent decided yet) to run it on, and its virtual reality. I have a few connections that I'm sure you could use, ie; progammers, artist, other devs. I would like to get some input from an outside source. just im me
My ideal MMO, which I will admit is slightly nostalgia fueled, would be something like Runescape, my first MMO. I want an open world sandbox mmo, that while having some sort of a story, doesn't completely quest lock you. Runescape had quests and gave you a list of every quest available. The player then decided if they want to go do those quests or not. Each quest had a story and most of the quests felt like they fit into the overall game world. The game was highly adventure driven. There wasn't really anything that told you to go to a certain area, you would just travel there looking to level. Also, Runescape had a ton of things to do that weren't just questing and grinding. Now breaking off of Runescape a little, I would like to see a game without levels (that actually works), where (back to RS here), like Runescape, has instead different abilities that you can train like magic, strength, health, defense, etc. Then, I would also like those abilities to not really have a cap. (bringing in my asian MMO background) I like the fact that with hard work, you can turn out to be better or stronger than others at something. Lastly, in addition to minigames, open world pvp, structured pvp, and some sort of stable in game economy where people are free to make money, there has to be a hefty crafting system where customization and experimentation is possible.
Comments
Here´s my dream mmo:
1: Skills instead of classes. Something like UO.
2: Only 1 character per server so you dont can do everything yourself.. Either crafting something or some type of fighter.
3: Housing with playerowned shops.
4: Quests made by players. Instead of the "killing 10 boars" that doesnt matter in the gameworld I think that the questst should been set up by the players themself. If a crafter needs hides for the crafting, put it up as a quest somehow with a reward. Would be cool if the npc-controlled citys had a limit of their resourse and when they reaching the bottom the quests pops up to gather in some more. Makes the feeling doing the quests less useless if you are knowing the things you gather actually are beeing used.
5: Woods can be chopped down. Trees can be planted and growing up again. Animals and monsters can be near extinct. Near that is, not entirerly. They pop up less and less frequent the more they are killed and if left beeing alone they come back in numbers again.
6: When you are leaving one of the very few safe npc-controlled towns you have tp choose pvp- or carebear mode. In pvp-mode you can kill other pvp-players and take over/destroy other pvp-players houses. The carebears are nor beeing seen by the pvp-players but the care-bears can see them and the mayhem going on (thats so its beeing easier to see who´s in pvp for the pvp-players.).
7: Those little useless pets you can gather in most modern mmo:s nowadays you can train and let fight against other players pets.
8: Races react differently to other races and gets buffs/debuffs when partying and guilding with eachothers. Certain perks can enhance or eliminate those reactions.
9: To make it more social, you can enter som social attributs and what your toon prefer in other toons. This is more for the roleplaying aspect and does not interfere with the actual gaming.
Well I guess there´s more to add if I think harder but...I´m tired and wont. For now.
Sorry but you really are different from every designer I've met, whether it is inside the game industry or out (say CRM designer).
To me a designer is someone who understands 'why' something was designed in a way and what that particular design was created in such a way.
What was the 'big' thing this game/product trying to achieve and how did it do it? Did it succeed? Do I feel XYZ and why? etc.
You haven't really said what you want to achieve nor do you seem to understand how UO appealed to you in the first place.
Was the music choice good? How did the UI interact with the game world to make the player feel like their avator?
Was there enough game mechanics to not bore the player but also not be needlessly complicated?
Once you understand why you feel about UO the way you do and how the game mechanics made you feel that way, you'll be able to use modern technology to make it better (or at least try).
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Speaking of races, I wonder how important is it to players to be able to roll a non-human character. Is it possible to create a compelling world with common recognition that we are all indeed human? I've always sorta felt that being able to play a gargoyle or whatever somehow demystifies that race / game element. No one Really has any context for knowing what the day in the life of a troll might be like, so it would seem creatively onerous to really roleplay one. It's like my friend Matt could play a troll but he'd still be Matt, and he's not Really fooling anyone in game to think Hey this is a troll.
As an early fan of the Ultima single player series, that game, starting by at least Ultima IV evolved into a human-centric storyline, which followed on to UO. ( Ultima I through III was basically a poorly thought out amalgamation of everything D&D and Tolkien ) I ask the question because I recollect the only times I ever really role-played ... I was human in role. Do people every really have a context for role playing an orc? It's almost a question of how much you project yourself into your character. Some people may roll radically different characters to purposely draw a line and keep them emotionally uninvested in what happens to their character in-game. I think I usually genderbend for that very reason. Personally I can't say that I've ever been a fan of anthropomorphic races ( half-cat, half-dog, half-cow, etc ). I've always felt those were uncreative substitutes and not terribly imaginative. Just my opinion.
I think in sentence, if someone were to ask me to describe my personal character concept, my online persona, I have to confess its always been the glorification of my own ego. Basically ego made God... but always human. When you lay in bed at night and imagine what you could do if you were a bad-ass, I doubt many people think Oh I'd be a Thundercat.
I'm also wondering how much role playing is even important nowadays when so much of the playerbase is barely able to maintain interest in their hobby, much less create content for someone elses' consumption.
What do I want?
I want what was taken from me and morphed into mediocrity to be sold to mainstream as generic garbage.
My problem is that I'm trying to wear ( too ) many hats. Game design is a creative outlet for me, the technical side has always been a means to an end. I know exactly what kind of game *I* would design, what I lack is the confidence that my design would appeal to a broad cross section of todays market. When I look out there I see a phenomenal saturation of crap games, each of which ironically took quite an investment to make. It's important that some foundation for a game be correct from the beginning. Maybe I come across confused because I'm trying to suspend my personal opinion and take a pragmatic approach, thus my original question What do players want (anymore)? What I don't want to do is invest a lot of time and effort reinventing something so narrow, niche and dated that no one but me would want to play it. Though I may be screwed in some respect because I think to be successful you need to be a gamer at heart who isn't burned out to develop your own informed sense of what is "fun".
I would take the conversation for what it is, just a dialogue among players.
I'd like something a lot like classic DAoC mixed with an old AD&D style gameworld mixed with a bit of EQ2. I miss having the extremely complex virtual worlds of the early days of MMOs (when they were still called MUDs). However, I like the convenience of being able to solo if I can't find a group and I like interesting classes, storylines, non-instanced dungeons, etc.
I'm not really one for these MMO-lite games anymore. If it takes me time to get somewhere in a game, then that's worth it, more so that having everything handed to me on a plate. On the other hand, things shouldn't be needlessly tedious either.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
@jackie28
I think you're overthinking this. So you're designer so I am assuming that all this questions are asked becasue of your future game yu're creating.
1.So your question : "how much role playing is even important nowadays when so much of the playerbase is barely able to maintain interest in their hobby"?
Well you will have to either answer if by yourself or make some sort of research, by creating pools in various forum and/or topics where ppl will be ased to answer this question. Thing is they are not representative. So one way or another you will have to anser this by yourself.
2. "I wonder how important is it to players to be able to roll a non-human character"?
Imho most players enjoy rolling non-human characters. If they would not they would not roll them but millions of players do when they have a chance. So you can risk a statement it is important.
3. Is it possible to create a compelling world with common recognition that we are all indeed human?
I think it certainly is possible. There are/were games which diod create compelling worlds with humans as only race or only playable race.
Anyway what I see as a problem is that you're not sure if you want to create game world build based on what YOU think it should look like or what majority of players think it should look like.
Becasue of IP's like Lotr , Warhammer, Warcraft, D&D , etc most people think fantasy = medieval like world with elves, dwarves, orcs ,etc. Where orcs& goblins are bad , and humans, elves and dwarves are good or most of them are good.
So either you cater to majority and create playable non-human races or do what you think is better and do more oryginal approach by makin humans only playable choice.
Asking even valid questions on forums will not change people opinions in your opinions.
Imho many people role-play as elf, dwarf, vampire, half-orc , hobbit , [insert other race name], etc
It is kinda obvious by knoing how many people choose non-human races to play in p&p games, single player compuiter games and mmorpg's.
That don't mean that with humans as only playable race game cannot be succesful.
what players want is no different then what humans have wanted in the last 10,000+ years... if developers UNDERSTAND what M.Multiplayer.O.RPG stands for, then they can work their way back to what made MMORPG's successful in the 1st place.
humans are social animals. thats really about as simple of an answer as you can get.
I like where this thread starts and some of the comments too.
I think OP, you make the right start: Given the modern prevalence of online/virtual services that clamor for our precious (gaming) time, why do people need/want/wish to play mmorpgs? As a developer/designer are you adding anything by creating another or the next mmorpg, to the ones already released and the ones currently in development?
You ask the question but then are eager to get on with developing the mmorpg, without really giving an answer to the above!
As you say, what made MMO initially interesting was suddenly playing in a free environment online with loads of other players. The initial benefits were great: Novel being the primary one. However I'd say the best potential reason for mmorpgs is that human intelligence can replace AI and that potential is manifestly much higher. What we've seen however is the continued control of player-player interactions to the point individual player-interactions are very limited. This is to avoid causing dependence on other ppl, to avoid ppl ruining other ppl's gaming fun, to avoid ppl ruining the running of the game.
In fact, you could say the potential for ppl online is reduced to that of the level of a large pack of untrained dogs barking and growling and scuffling with each other and generally doing their best to chew up the furniture! That has caused game designers to put ppl on leashes during their online gaming time without really solving the problem, but only preventing it (at least in most mmorpgs).
So what's missing, using that analogy, imo, is basic rules for conduct between ppl that train ppl's online gaming behavior. That does not mean it restricts, but it allows for more interactions within contexts... if it succeeds... more open and possible gameplay in a social context of cooperation and conflict that should infuse these marvellous online worlds eg UO.
There you have it, if you can create your mmorpg with that above sentence in mind, you'll be able to answer that initial question, I think? You can go about adding the details of how to implement such a system, but that is exactly where your job begins and it informs every, single subsequent decision you make from concept to gameplay to monetization, to why you think it is worthwhile making another/the next mmorpg.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Pretty much everything diablo 2 got.
I want a dangerous world = world pvp.
I want everyone to attack me no mather what. The odd thing is that Diablo 2 didnt have much rewards for killing players but everyone ruined for everyone. In most MMOs, noone bothers to kill eachother. If i try killing a person, 5 people will jump on me and kill me to save him.
I want bosses to have some extremely rare drops. Every raid boss should have like a 0.1% chance to drop for example a megarare rune that can craft the most unique weapon ever. This would flood the forums with QQ but i dont care. Just ignore em all, its not funny anymore when most MMOs everyone got the same gear.
I want the world to be alive. Outworld elite areas with PvP required to farm mats to create raid/pvp stuffs, anything. I want to keep instanced raids and pvp instances but make the world important too. I mean come on, why leave the world after you quested?
I want MMO to be MMO once again. I dont want to solo farm up to level 60, i want alot of group quests with unsoloable elites. Elites that requires a tank, a healer and a DPS.
I want classes to have different roles. For example in GW, a DPS class could spec to heal, DPS, DOT, CC, debuff, whatever they wanted too. This is what fails most MMOs sadly cause its waaaay too few tanks and healers. Then im asking myself why even bother multiclassing when they dont bother balancing the game at all? If they actually tried it, it would work till some noob finds a bugged spec but a hotfix and its done.
I want the end level zones to be positive. ATM most MMOs end zones are negative and boring due to being ashes, fire, darkness. Why not make it a jungle with big dinosaurs and floating islands? Diablo 2 were like this, a dark Diablo place but it changed to a snowy end world which made atleast me enjoy going around there.
I want some parts of MMOs to be F up somehow. Like in diablo 2 nightmare and hell last world where enemies from the first worlds comes once again with 500% attack speed, armor, life and 5 new dangerous abilities. This could replace the boring elites that just goes around.
I want MMOs to be filled with dangerous stuffs such as big giants crushing you. Vanilla WoW had t-rexes, TBC had fel reaver, WOTLK had those giants and rares but Cata didnt really have one, maybe those big underwater fish bosses but they never touched me.
I know its impossible to put all the options in a game but atleast let the world be alive lol. (Im not saying all MMOs have dead worlds ofc!
)
Yawn
I'm afraid that most of them want something that cannot be delivered--making MMOs fresh and new for someone who's been playing them for many years. You see a LOT of Jaded and Ennui/Burnout on this forum.
People tend to forget the flaws and problems with their First Game (whatever it was), but they remember the awe factor and how great that game was to play. Of course it was great, they were doing something new and there's always some excitement to that.
You can't give that back to them. All you can do is make the game you want to make and put your heart into it.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Fortunately this is not what [most] players want, and even more fortunately the developers know that.
I have spent lots of time playing MMOS, 10 years and counting and spent lots of free time on gaming forums. I have arrived to the conclusion that players themselves do not know what they want. All the things they constantly demand even if somehow take shape of an MMO it is ignored and neglacted till it gets to the verge of closing.
Because pretty much every single forum is 90% full with a disilusioned, jaded and burned out vocal minority. Most players that still enjoy the games are busy playing and having fun, not bitching on forums. As someone wanting to make a successful game, listening to those forums is the worst thing you can do.
They just want something different. A half-million different definitions of different, but when it is partially delivered with various new ideas, they're still burnt out and it can't ever be good enough.
A lot of them seem to want a game built for a rugged individualist designed to prove their superior gaming skills, that would be a downright terrible game for everyone else to play. Grindfest or gankfest or some other form of gaming sadomasochism, a game where only the two-percenters are happy and screw everyone else. You can't run a business that way and make a profit.
Various narrow definitions of the perfect game, perfect for only a very narrow portion of the player base.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I find that most of the things that make an MMO gamer are what they are receiving. A game they can complain about and a place they can do the complaining. BADABING, you have any standard MMO (name one) and an enabler like MMORPG.com and you have the makings of a happy gamer.
I self identify as a monkey.
It seems what players want and what developers want to give players are almost completely different, for example; devs love making themeparks, players want more freedom than a fixed themepark path but are constantly given themepark games.
In a single server game where the environment changes in an unpredictable fashion, this would ultimately not be a concern. Once an event is completed (or at least an event high enough in magnitude that somebody would want to put it on Youtube), the game world reacts and changes, and by then, a guide would do no good.
That's the problem with a) multi-realm games and b) static game environments. Take WoW for example. You want to complete the Onyxia quest chain? Easy, just go look it up. However, by my standards, once you discover and defeat Onyxia, she's gone for good. But what's to stop players on other realms from still going on Youtube and getting a quick-guide? Create a single server. Then it really is a one-time event. Bam. And yea, on a totally different note: even if you do have repeatable content, if it plays exactly the same way every time, something's wrong with your design.
@Jusomdude: In my original post I specify that having all players on a single "realm" is more important than having them all on a single "server." I could honestly care less about loading screens if it means I'm sharing a single world with every other player. Plus, if you use shards, you could feasibly supply more support for highly populated areas such as Orgrimmar. The purpose of having every player on the same realm is to make the world of game actually meaningful. By current standards, if you defeat a raid boss, it means absolutely nothing. It's been done before on another realm, maybe even on your own. Where is the prestige in that? That's why, when sh*t goes down in EVE, it goes down for everybody. It affects the game world permanently for every player.
Players want another hill on their rollercoaster of disappointment-hope-disappointment. Even if you make the perfect game, it will be bashed to bits by gamers. It's what we do.
To the OP: I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. I've been a programmer all my life, although I struggled with C++ (an array of pointers that points to pointers?). So, while I'm rusty with some of the coding for that language, I've written several tiny games just for the experience of creating them. I consider myself a decent writer, and I have a good understanding of number generation systems. If I can be of help, send me a PM.
Anyway, one thing I see lacking in MMOs is long term goals. Something that your character knows about at the start, and slowly makes their way towards, encountering obstacles and such along the way. An example would be Fallout 3. Very early on, you are tasked with finding your father. But to do that, you have to go through ........ And then later, you're given another long term task.
This adds a sense of progression MMOs are lacking.
Other bits:
- I want to feel powerful, I don't want to be challenged in the slightest by one or a few trash mobs. If I encounter a couple of equal level nobody minions, I want to destroy them. I don't want to slowly whittle them down in a battle for which the outcome is already known, and then do that again five thousand times. Leave the challenging fights for the bosses or mini-bosses.
- Lots of freedom of creation and character growth; don't have classes, have experience equate to points that can be placed into a variety of useful skills. This leads to meaningful choices and more individualized builds.
- Make it a mix of themepark/sandbox. Have quests, and make it obvious where my character is intended to eventually head to, but also give me the freedom to go wondering off and find some interesting little nooks and mini-quests.
- Make crafting complex and full of options; example: when creating a sword the crafter could select one of ten possible materials to use for a blade, each of which would add different bonuses. And then the same for the crosspiece, and then the same for the hilt, etc. Then end result being a very individualized item.
- Make travel fast or make it meaningful; holding down the W key for 5 or 10 minutes is boring. Let me get there quickly (at least after the first trek), or make the trip interesting.
- Either make multiple playstyles equally viable (grouping/soloing/pvp'ing), or unapologetically focus on one of them. I think many MMOs make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people, and wind up with lesser versions of everything, satisfying no one.
I hope this helps. Good luck.
I was gonna write up a long list of things I want in a MMO, but instead I figured I'd just share this, since it covers everything.
Dunno about you guys, but this is what I want... It's a post from a new developer talking about what they plan for their game to be. Lets hope they stick to their plan!
--------------------------
Found at http://www.forums.forsakenstudios.com/index.php > The Vision (must register to read it)
By Rob Steele Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:51 am
As Forsaken Studios creative director, I have the honor of helping focus the teams efforts and influencing the overall design of our game and its mechanics and systems. No small task, nor is it one I take lightly, but it is one that I believe warrants an introduction of myself to the community, and a briefing on the goals and aim of the project, as well as what I will do to help ensure this game is the one that so many of us have been waiting for.
You probably noticed I said "us". That is because I myself am a long time gamer, having spent more than 15 years of my life playing MMOs of all kinds. Theme-park, sandbox, PvE, PvP, you name it, I've probably tried it. I have been in dozens of guilds and clans, and led my share of them. I've been a fairly quiet, mostly positive, presence in many game communities over the years, and if I were to tell you my screen names many of you would probably recognize one or two of them, particularly those of you from some of the newer games out there. But I digress; my point is that I am, and have been for quite some time, one of you. I have been up well into the morning and late to work because of games that I fell in love with, and communities that demanded my response to that one last post before I run out the door. Most importantly though, I am a father of three children, and I have a life that demands my attention outside of my monitor from time to time. That gives me an understanding of what 'casual' gamers are looking for and need, no matter how 'hard-core' of a gamer I might want to be. All of that combined gives me an excellent perspective for understanding where the players, you guys, are coming from when you discuss what it is you want from a game. I plan to put that experience with the games and the communities to good use and help develop a game, the game, that you will love, even as you curse us for making you late to work or miss hours of sleep.
Let me add that these are the goals and intended end results that I am shooting for, for the game, not necessarily a promise that the game will be like this. Rather this is my personal promise to you all that I will do everything I can to guide the project towards these and other similar goals and how I envision it in my mind. We however have a long road ahead of us, and there are obstacles and technical limitations that we can not predict waiting for us around every corner. I ask for your support, understanding, constructive criticism, and most importantly your suggestions to help us make the game better for everyone.
First and foremost, I want to belay any fears or concerns that we, like many open pvp sandbox style games out there, will be focused solely on combat. Combat is great, but we are well aware it is not the only element of great games. It is of course an important feature of the game, and we are absolutely going to do our best to ensure that it is smooth, intuitive, and fun. However, harbor no doubts, it will not be all our game has to offer. You will not be playing a game that is built around combat, where it is the entire point and purpose of playing to either battle or support battles and endless or pointless wars.
It is my goal to provide players with a rich and fulfilling economy in which every item is created or handled by players. That massive economy will play a part in not only players personal adventures, but also player founded cities as well as NPC cities. I intend for it to feel like, finally, the NPC's are living in your world for once, and not the other way around. When we say we're giving you the sand and tools to make what you want of the world, we're not kidding, and your fellow players and the NPCs will be effected by what you do with those tools. Even if it means a cities population starves or emigrates to somewhere that will better meet their and their families needs, leaving a veritable ghost town behind. The crafting system we have planned is one of the most daunting tasks we have ahead of us, and not just because we made a single profession have tens of thousands of options that result in only a handful of items actually being useful. Instead, it is because we are taking our time to ensure that every item has a purpose, a value, and is actually useful. Say good bye to lists of filler crafting items to raise up your professions skills to get to the useful items at the bottom of the list, and say hello to professions that, from beginning to end, are useful, needed, and not only a viable play-style, but a deep and fulfilling one. Whether your calling is to be a shipbuilder, an engineer, architect, doctor, apothecary, alchemist, miner, forester, hunter, farmer, brewer, tailor, jeweler, smith, fisherman, chef, or carpenter you will find your profession is as important to the game world as the next, with everyone having a purpose and role to fill that is kept in demand by a well balanced economy and realistic world. That, to me, is how a player driven economy should be.
Territory and politics are not forgotten either, and are in fact some of our most commonly discussed topics within the team. I am personally working on territory systems presently that I hope will not only give players the ability to stake and shape their claim on the world, but build it into a kingdom or remain as a small city-state that keeps to themselves at their leisure. No more 3am alarm clock raids on enemies territories to take advantage of time zone differences, the territory system has features planned to ensure that wars are not won in an odd hour raid, but through tactics, attrition, and skill, with the needed support of strong economies and logistics. Expand your borders by force, trade, or political dealings, and defend your own with walls, defensive towers, outposts, keeps, castles and fortresses and npc guards patrolling under your orders. Enlist player run mercenary guilds to serve in your guard forces, militia, or army, if you can afford them. Set and enforce every law as you wish in your land instead of abiding by laws set by the NPCs. Raise taxes to make your coffers swell in preparation for war or expeditions into the unknown, or lower them to promote growth and try to steal citizens from your neighbors. Bear your lands heraldry on your shields, cloaks, and flags identifying yourself as a defender of your lieges honor or raise a rebellion and fly your own flag as you vie for control of the capitol. Enter into negotiations for peaceful terms and trade agreements or enact embargoes and close your borders to your neighbor under the penalty of death. These are just some of the choices, the options, the possibilities that I hope to bring to you. War and endless PvP need not be the only answer, not when we offer so many tools for you to make the world what you want, and I assure you, that is just a glimpse of my goals.
What if the mundane is not for you? What if you don't fancy yourself a farmer nor a warrior? Well, perhaps exploration suits you, and we have you covered there as well. With a massive world planned, multiple continents each being a unique world in their own right, separated by unforgiving oceans that hide countless islands and uncharted areas that you could find yourself lost in due to navigational errors or relentless storms. More of a scholar? No problem! Hidden throughout the entire world we will have relics of the old world for you to search for, gather, and study. It's not just an egg hunt though, as items you find may change the course of the world, unlock new skills or recipes for crafting, reveal details to help you find lost areas of the world, or explain how to defeat a legendary beast that is ravaging your homeland... in a unique language that you have to collect pieces of and use your brain to decipher. Don't bother with google though, it's not a real world language, nor does it draw influence from one! You never know, you might uncover the secret to a new magic spell in some lost ruin that might bring you riches on the player controlled market that you've only dreamed of. Be cautious however, you never know when that simple cave you're wandering into might turn out to be the home of an ancient evil.
So the bit about magic caught your attention did it? The magic system we'd like to unleash is something that I have never seen in my MMOing 'career' before. It brings to light the fact that magic is useful for more than just roasting opponents. Utility and versatility is a magi's bread and butter. Make no mistake though, a magi is not to be trifled with. They have the ability to build and customize their own spells with the components that they gather and keep in their spell books, allowing them to create truly devastating spells that are so powerful it is as likely to rip them apart as it is to turn you into a pile of ash... or just light the candle next to you and laugh as you pee your pants. They are not all powerful however, they have limits, and in fact magi sometimes face hardships beyond what the average person could imagine as a punishment for what disciples see as blasphemy.
What's a disciple? Well, don't worry, it's not a class. I would never dare ruin such a dream by boxing players into set roles and skill sets. It's just one more path a player can choose to walk down. In this path, players devote their lives to the worship of a deity in return for gifts and aid. Often in the form of magic which the disciple can call down to aid them or others, or smite the wicked... or the pesky good guys. However, the deities have all vanished from the heavens somewhere in the midst of the main plot and it will take incredible determination, dedication, a lot of followers, and likely some good old fashioned sacrifices to summon an old god back to their rightful place where they can look down over us pitiful mortals. Players also will have the ability to create their own religions and attempt to gain enough support from others to actually will a new god into existence. Deities are fickle though, and disciples will need to work to earn their newly summoned gods favor. You, after all, don't control the deities actions, so be careful what you wish for, especially if your newly summoned deity has a twisted sense of humor.
About that plot. Just because this is a sandbox style game doesn't mean there is no main story line. In fact, the entire world is the way it is because of a story that stretches over thousands of years that all lead up to the point in time where you enter the world and help decide the course of the story from there on. Will you be a hero, a villain, or maybe just the farmer in the middle of no where tending your crops praying that whatever that group of adventurers that just ran by to do doesn't stir up more trouble for your crops. The main story is just one single piece of the massive puzzle, as there are countless off-shoots of lore and history in the works for you to enjoy and partake in, as well as dynamic events planned to occur randomly, based on certain requirements being met, or by the discretion of a team dedicated solely to making the world seem alive and forever changing.
Speaking of the world being alive, lets not forget the creatures of the world. From the simple critters scurrying past your feet to hide beneath a bush, to the herbivores struggling to survive and migrating to find food and water. Even the predators that follow and track their prey will seem real, especially if it is you they are hunting. There is, after all, a reason fences and walls were invented. Just because you are in your village doesn't mean you're safe from the hungry hunter. I haven't even mentioned the multitude of legendary creatures, but there will be a variety. Some will lie in wait, hidden away from the world except for when they need to eat, or breed... Others may actively hunt other creatures, or even players, attack villages and possibly even castles. Someone really should track that beast down that keeps destroying your neighbors farm, but are you going to do it without an army? Maybe it's better to just post in on the taverns notice-board and see if some group of heroes are up to the challenge. Might want to do something about it soon though, as the population of NPCs in the city is dwindling, they're all scared and leaving for safer pastures. Yep, that's right, I even want the NPC's to react to the world around them, and ask for your help if they have no where else to turn. Don't worry though, no exclamation or question marks over their heads, you will actually have to socialize, if that's your thing, to find out if someone needs help or has a task that needs doing. Just don't take too long getting back to your estate, you know what they say about the mice when the cats away. Someone needs to keep those slaves, servants, and hirelings in line. You did remember to restock their food and water stores, make sure they had the materials and tools they needed before you left to drag your gladiator off to the city arena to try to make some gold off his blood right? Lets hope the new guards do better at keeping vermin and beasts out of your mine this time, it took days to clear them out and clean up the blood and bones of the last work force you lost. Ah... the simple joys of a game world that seemingly lives and breathes.
I honestly could go on for several more paragraphs, but I think it's best to leave some things for later. Having said all that, this is my vision, my take on that game I and so many others have been looking for. It may take a while yet, but you have my word, it will be worth the wait especially if I have anything to say about it. So if you share my interest in the game that I just described, you enjoyed the bits of my vision of what this game should be, then you have found the right place. Just don't blame me when you're losing sleep or are late to work!
I certainly hope this little post gave you a bit of insight into my vision and the sort of goals that I have set for the team. Most importantly I hope that it helped clear up any assumptions or rumors about what we're intending or what the game is all about. I look forward to seeing this community develop with your help and support, and please, spread the word about what we're trying to accomplish here."
If we're talking "most players", just look at what most players are playing. They're playing the MMORPG with the most polished and well-executed combat, with lots of varied content. When combat is the most frequent activity in a game, failure to make it fun results in a failed game.
If we're talking "players" (ie any damn fool with an opinion) then all of these suggestions are valid.
But if we're trying to narrow things down to ideas which make sense -- ideas which will entertain a lot of people -- then a lot of the opinions professed in this thread are dangerous niche dead-ends. Granted, depending on the scale of game made a niche might not be a bad idea since niches typically have less competition.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
It's the same as with nearly any human activity. Let's take swimming. There are a certain number of people who want to swim competitively. They enjoy the challenge.
The you have a much larger group of people who just want to splash around in the pool.
And then you have another still sizeable group who just want to lounge by the pool while others swim.
If you want to know what players want, which of these types of people are you asking about? People who like a challenge? People who don't like a challenge? People who are just hanging out?
It makes all the difference. But generally speaking, the more the challenge, the less people you find who are interested.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I am also a game dev, and currently working on a mmorpg. However, I am also designing a new gaming console/ add on (Havent decided yet) to run it on, and its virtual reality. I have a few connections that I'm sure you could use, ie; progammers, artist, other devs. I would like to get some input from an outside source. just im me
My ideal MMO, which I will admit is slightly nostalgia fueled, would be something like Runescape, my first MMO. I want an open world sandbox mmo, that while having some sort of a story, doesn't completely quest lock you. Runescape had quests and gave you a list of every quest available. The player then decided if they want to go do those quests or not. Each quest had a story and most of the quests felt like they fit into the overall game world. The game was highly adventure driven. There wasn't really anything that told you to go to a certain area, you would just travel there looking to level. Also, Runescape had a ton of things to do that weren't just questing and grinding. Now breaking off of Runescape a little, I would like to see a game without levels (that actually works), where (back to RS here), like Runescape, has instead different abilities that you can train like magic, strength, health, defense, etc. Then, I would also like those abilities to not really have a cap. (bringing in my asian MMO background) I like the fact that with hard work, you can turn out to be better or stronger than others at something. Lastly, in addition to minigames, open world pvp, structured pvp, and some sort of stable in game economy where people are free to make money, there has to be a hefty crafting system where customization and experimentation is possible.