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Players as Monsters/Villains
quix0te
Member UncommonPosts: 138
Heres my idea. Most of the games coming out now use instancing. Why not allow players to act as villains/monsters in instanced dungeons? They will be allowed to reconfigure their appearance and pick a new name. Then they will be put in a random instanced dungeon, watered down slightly, up against a hero or heros whose overall power level is about 20% higher. The reason for this is that players will be able to use strategy and tactics that AIs cant or dont. Since the instanced dungeon is random, theres no predicting where you will end up so you cant easily coordinate with friends. The 'villain' gets kill xp based on how well they do against the heros.
This allows those players who like PvP to have an outlet. It makes the missions more interesting and challenging, since you never know when you will have a real intelligence out there against you. It even provides a cool endgame, as you now have a steady supply of powerful bad-guys.
Edit: I thought I'd better define instanced dungeons since most people seem to not understand this part. Instanced dungeons are like the dungeons in LDON or the mission zones in AO. They are pocket dimensions created randomly for PC's to hunt in. EQ2, WoW, City Of Heroes, and Ultima X will all have this. Its expected that you're there to fight. This way the 'monsters' cant just sneak over to newbie areas and kill everyone there. You can scale the power of the 'monster' player to that of their opponent, so that the PC's have an edge in power and the 'monster' is forced to use trickery to overcome the PC's.
Comments
Can also be exploited to high heaven, with imbalancing implications. It's rife with issues. And in the end, this is all PvP, so why bother with the disguises?
EverQuest tried a beta of this some time ago. They called it Project M. They never released it into the public.
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Nice idea. Shame about the flames!
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04.01.05
The mpc option on EQ test server allowed players to play low level monsters. Playing a kobold and chasing gnome casters back to the nooby guards was a delight, one could wait back and give them a supprise as the casters tried to ambush monsters from a distance with nukes, it always startled the casters to see a monster charge ENRAGED at them & chase them back to the nooby guards! It encouraged the noobies to group up for mutual protection, something EQ has desired from the begining.
Mmm. Yeah. That wouldnt be happening. This would be only in instanced dungeons, so that the PCs could reasonably be expected to be ready. So I dont think anything like this has been done before.
I'm not sure what exploits you see and would be interested to hear them. Others have suggested using this as a means to powerlevel buddies. I see it being done as a random thing, which would make that different, and there are many more efficient means of PLing.
This is a good idea, but the exp for killing wouldnt work. It could be exploited very easily, I can see friends letting eachother kill oneanother for some easy exp... Other than that, as long as its done correctly its a good idea.
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A: 73% S: 66% K: 33% E: 26%
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A: 73% S: 66% K: 33% E: 26%
Hmm. I'm not sure if other people arent familiar with instancing or if I'm explaining this wrong. In an instanced dungeon you are placed in a 'pocket dimension' where its just you, your party if any, and the monsters. You have a mission to complete in the dungeon. You get xp for completing the mission. In addition you get xp for monsters killed. Anarchy Online and Lost Dungeons of Norrath are both examples of this. WoW, EQ2, City Of Heros, and Ultima X are all going to have this feature (other MMORPGs as well, I dont know).
I foresee you taking on a 'monster mission' where you walk through a 'monster door' (after changing your colors and name). YOu are deposited in a dungeon, waiting for your 'prey'. The dungeon doesnt exist on a map. You cant make sure your friends get that particular dungeon. Also, and this is the part I guess I dont understand, to me it seems like there are much easier ways to powerlevel a friend. The instanced dungeons I've played have many monsters, you wouldnt be the only thing in the dungeon, so even if you 'took a dive', the people doing the dungeon wouldnt be THAT much better off. I guess you would need to link the 'monster's xp' to some measure of effectiveness so that people didnt just log in as a monster over and over and read a book, a low effort way of getting xp.
You could do project M (in EQ) on the test server, it was open to the public. I loved it. It was great fun. I'm not sure how you could implament it in a real MMORPG perminatly, there are just to many problems with it.
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"If you respawn then isn't permanent death, it's something else."
Bartle:
A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% Test learn what it means here.
Yee:
Ach: 85% GRE: 65% AFF: 15% Imm 15% Test Click here to learn about it.
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Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
I didnt do project M. My understanding was that it was mostly used as a means of ganking unprepared noobs. This would be in instanced dungeons only so there would be the expectation that everyone would be prepared. Also, the powerlevel of the 'monster' would be automatically set so that they'd have to use strategy/cunning to overcome the characters, who would be above them in power.
On the other hand, the monster/villain would be able to attack more intelligently than standard spawns.
Just like everything PvP, VI didn't implement it very well. I agree it can get boring fast, but I liked doing just the I liked Team Fortress or Counter strike, I'd do it for 20-45 minutes, then I'd log in with my main. I think this is a great idea as a "value added" service to a game. It gives you something to do when you just want to screw off a little.
The problem with VI, I think you could be a level 1-10 mob and only in newbe zones and other lower level zones where level 1-10 mobs would be found. This meant you be a level 10 mob in Steamfont and wait for some unexpecting newbe gnome to come bouncing out of Ak'anon and mow them down.
Let's take the game Pets (it doesn't really exist, so don't look for it) You can be a member of Cats, or Dogs. If your a cat, you could take over a mobs in certain Dog area zones. Maybe there could even be quests given in Cat city for 4-6 people to take over mobs in a Dog area zone and stop them from doing something. If you die as a "controlled" mob you'd resawn as another and keep going until either all mobs are gone, or the Dogs complete the quest and you lose.
This would add great variety to a game. I'm sure it a great deal of work to make happen, and since it's a only a value added service I can understand why so few have tried this.
-=-=-=-=-
"If you respawn then isn't permanent death, it's something else."
Bartle:
A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% Test learn what it means here.
Yee:
Ach: 85% GRE: 65% AFF: 15% Imm 15% Test Click here to learn about it.
-=-=-=-=-
Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.