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An Idea: An Online Massive Universe created by the web. (Feedback please)
hydrofox
Member UncommonPosts: 17
So I have come up with this interesting idea. I am not sure if it will work and so I wanted to run it by you guys to get feedback.
I have built an amazing looking original wiki page with MediaWiki. I have extensive experience in web design so it looks beautiful and original (I don't want to post the link because I am not promoting anything here)
Anyway, the idea is to basically have one gigantic fictional universe designed and created by the web.
Ill explain:
There are two menus in the sidebar. They have the same list of links.
Planets, Factions, Races, Weapons, Armor, Regions, Zones, Maps, Timelines, Characters. etc.
One of the menus is for all things that have been approved and the other is to submit ideas.
So if a person says, "I want to make a make believe planet", then they click on the Star System they want it in and create the wiki page for that planet. They describe what type of planet it is, weather, climate, landscape, maybe create a map (if artistically inclined) or even a 3D fantasy art depicting the planet. Boom! The planet has been created.
Now say that another user comes along and wants to add some lore to that planet. They read about the planet and like what they see, so they decide they want to create a story line or a fictional character that exists on that planet. So they click on that planet and add to that planet's history or whatever they decide to add.
Each planet is governed by the person who created it. Each race is governed by the person who created them. This way they can decide whether or not they like what is happening on that planet, etc. If they approve it, it moves to the approved section of the wiki.
Now let's say that there is a race, that is well described but has no art. But there is a person who does amazing 2D/3D character art. They can contribute by adding an image to that race that depicts them well, based on what was written about them. If the race designer likes it, it becomes approved and moved to that race's page as the official image of the race.
So this could result in several groups coming together around certain realms, star systems, planets, races etc. But eventually, lead to one massive imaginary intergalactic universe created by the web. An original intellectual property designed by a conglomerate of talented, created, skillful minded individuals.
I just want to know how this sounds or appeals to people who are MMORPG fanatics like me.
Thoughts?
Comments
Sounds like a neat idea, but there is no point in doing it as no MMO will ever come from it. So you are just writing make believe for a game world that will never exist.
Sounds kind of like what Shroud of the Avatar is doing with encouraging the community to donate them art and stuff to put in the game. It's certainly saving them money and potentially will make the game a lot better but it also devalues the work of professional artists/content creators. Everything's complicated.
I agree.
I have designed template licenses so that all intellectual property contributions can be assigned to the individual who came up with them.
I'm not so sure about that. However, if not I could care less.
There may be a few developers or designers who hear about it once it catches fire and want to contribute stuff in there spare time for it.
If not, than it becomes more of an old school dungeons and dragons type thing. Where people can can come up with there own games based on themes and ideas created by people.
I agree and disagree.
I think a majority of people may feel that way. But I'm sure there are people who will find other people's ideas extraordinary and want to add-on/contribute to them.
however, to keep it from becoming like that, planets can be capped. like when most of their timeline, lore, races and ideas have reached a certain level of capacity than they become locked.
Example: If somebody's planet has already reached race capacity but lacks in lore, then races close, and only lore can be added to. If lore and races is at capacity, then only weapons and gear and etc can be added.
Also, Solar systems will be finite and have max amount of planets that can be in them. So the site becomes a first come, first serve community. If you're the first to get in on it then you can create a world. If you come late, then you can only contribute. it's precisely the same way in any games.
Well most likely alot of indie developers would be using it since they have a hard time finding the funding anyways, so the ideas might consist a large portion of some MMO someday.
What comes to devaluating professional artists works, well if they cannot produce something better than someone doing it for fun, then they cannot really call themselfs professionals... There are always people who will need those professionals and are willing to pay for them. World changes anyways, why would you call a number that costs 4,99$/minute to get an answer to a question if you can just google it and get the same answer?
I'm not saying to just go make it happen now, of course there would have to be rules. The size of the planet would determine the gravity, distance from the sun would determine the temperatures, etc.. and people should be encouraged to take the aspects of the planet while creating the life on the planet. For example theres no point on making a skinny little race in planet that has 5 times more gravity than earth or in a planet that has surface temperature of 800°c and they lived in the surface, as they WOULD NOT SURVIVE in those conditions. All these rules would have to be polished well before going live with it. I do think this would be great for the people out there who enjoy writing stories, but have a hard time finding inspiration. As harsh as it may sound, there should also be moderating on the planets to remove all the "i was drunk one day and made this" planets that makes no sense at all...
Love love love the idea! Really, it's super fun.
Suggestion: perhaps provide options for co-ownership for groups who want to build a planet from the get-go. For friends, this would simply be letting a creator give friends access, but if someone wants to blindly thinktank a planet with others online they might not know personally...
Holidays.
Possibly play by post forums with rp toolsets like RNGs and character sheet support. These could be viewed by visitors under a "What's happening now" button or something. Attach a timeline to posts and let planets develop histories, submitted by GMs of the games and approved by planet owner/whoever is put in charge. Dunno how hard that would be, but it would be epic.
Also what greengreen said. Fun stuff, great idea. I would be all over it
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/PerfArt
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
you should pursue this further, i like this idea.
what i like about it most is that it's about pure creative expression. i didn't note any game or rules, just creation. i love it.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
A project like this would inevitably suffer from a big disparity of quality, as no one is controlling the level and grammar of writing. I would also start with much smaller space, maybe just one city or one nation at its best, with a set theme to hold it together.
interesting idea.
but will it be sci-fi or fantasy? Can one planet have deities that grand powers, while another uses technology and the next one magic. And the next one nothing of that?
Cause i have a Notebook full of lore that i wrote for my dream game, but it has some rules that would not fit with other worlds(like astral planes, deity system and so on)
it wouldn't be hard at all and I intend on doing this exactly. Groups can create planets and work only on their world . Timelines will be created for all worlds, star systems, and one massive intergalactic timeline that shows approved changes to the whole universe. Im really glad you like the idea. I am working on it now.
I want to thank everybody for the great feedback I received on this idea. I currently have it in its building stage. I am working to implement all the fantastic ideas that have been contributed to make it a fun and terrific experience for everyone.
There are a couple things I need from the community on this though.
For starters, I am the owner of the facebook page "no hope for the human race"
So putting the website on there to gain exposure should be no problem considering we have 2.3 million fans and a gigantic gamer/fan-fiction community.
My plans to get it exposure involve using reddit, mmorpg, gamedev, deviant art and fan fiction.com to target the people directly who would be into this idea.
If anybody is dialed in with anyone of these sites it would help tremendously if you could help support this project by getting the word out once its launched. (there will never be ads on this website. I am not trying to get rich here. Just be involved in something awesome)
The other thing I need is somebody who knows how to write original extensions for Mediawiki v21.3
If there is anybody who sees this who can help with that in any regard it would be useful. I can modify existing extensions, but some of the really good ideas need individually created modifications.
I will post a link here when this site is in beta phase to acquire more feedback. I love this community. It's one of the best there is online and the feedback in here is amazing.
Regards,
Hydrofox
^this.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse