Re: some creature resemebling something

Are you talking about singleplayer? Thats all fine, usually singleplayers are able to save their games, but perhaps you want to remove saving games?

Are you talking about multiplayer, where the player and all his information is stored on a online server? You have obviously not played alot of online rpg games. Have you heard of lag? Has you internet connection every went down for 24 hours? Or someone picking up the phone when you are on a modem? Or simply AFK?

quote:I have been suggesting a way to allow players to play as "monsters" in our _in design_ MMORPG. This role has traditionaly been an NPC, but, by allowing players to become these creatures you can justify PKing. I''m not sure that it would be PKing, because the other player is a monster and players wouldn''t know if it was an NPC (we would still have NPC monsters) or a PC. What are some of you thoughts on this ideal?

This has been implemented in thousands of muds, in different constellations of race wars. I''d reccomend you to check out Duris, there are like 15 goodie races and 15 evil. This is no commercial since i don''t play duris myself.

that landfish mirage brings some good points.

Imagine it. If there was nothing after death except to start a new character, you know how attatched people would be to the game? It is amazingly strong bond we could make if we were in such a living realistic world.

Something I can see coming with this grand game is the thought that you aren''t the sole person here. Let me explain.

Say on the other side of the continent your good friend who started the game with you months back was killed by a murderer around one town. You are on a miniquest or such on the other side of the continent when all of a sudden a messenger boy delivers the news that your comrade is dead, and you are to attend the funeral. This makes the world revolving in a sense. Just because you are in this world doesn''t mean it has to revolve around you like some single player RPGs do. NOt a good example I know

But the thing I''m trying to point out is that it is a close simulation to a real world. Life death, strife, terror, innocence....it goes on and on

And another cool point i thought. Say after you are dead, you can explore/live in a whole other worlld a la Kain:Soul Reaver? You are transported to another realm to live.

Let me explain a bit why I''m against permanent character deaths.

The problem is that even if your character dies, I doubt it will be as big an event as you guys make it out to be. The player will probably just say to his friends: "hey, its me! Yeah, that guy really nailed me, huh. If he''s not already dead maybe we''ll go knock him off.". It just doesn''t seem that dramatic to me.

The way I see it, it just doesn''t seem to matter too much to me whether or not you die. You just create a new guy and go on.

Is there something I''m missing here?


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Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant and she fell on me? Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.

maybe the reason it isn''t that big is because nobody ROLE PLAYS! if everyone played their part, then they would definately think twice about death and such things, and even be remorseful the next time around.

It doesn''t have to be game over when you die, just the end of something you were working on, and the start of something else, such as an afterlife or the revenge of you or something.

From a marketing point of view, permanent player death is a very bad idea. In RPGs, MM or not, players enjoy become attached to their characters, working long and hard to make them as cool as possible. In MMORPGs they even build relationships under that persona. When that character dies, so does the player''s connection to the game world, and the player may stop playing your game altogether. Think if you got 40 hours through ff7 and then your save file is erased. Are you going to start over again immediately? Not bloody likely. Maybe in a week or two, maybe never. After a permanent death, what''s the point of making a new character? Not only will you suck for a long time, but the new one will probably die before long anyway. it seems very discouraging.

Your support for Permanent death seems to be based on encouraging realistic role-playing and avoiding trolls through the FEAR of death. There are other ways of making the players fear death, without making it so totally devastating. Loss of experience, equipment or money, embarassing social stigma(?) you get the point. Maybe it would be possible to resurrect your character, but only within a certain time limit or a certain number of times. Maybe for a hefty price you could "save" your character like in a regular RPG, and when you die your character would be returned to that state.

Another way to discourage PK is to have a bounty hunter system or a police force within your game. An avid PK''er may soon find that he has a huge price on his head, with sheriffs and other PK''ers out hunting for his hide.

I have recently been toying with the idea of having a whole party, or even a whole clan/family of characters in a MMORPG. If you have 5-8 characters, permanent death would be a tragic loss, but you would still have a strong presence within the game. New characers could then be "born", or NPC characters could be recruited to join your party. With a little equiptment and training, you could make up for the loss of your character without losing your progress in the game. This could also add a lot more strategy to battle, something in dire need, as I''ve noticed that MMORPGs tend to have very simplistic, boring battle systems.

Theoretically, concepts like player-run stores and even player-built cities could flourish if you had a whole clan of characters. Some characters would have duties, like minding the shops, while others would be the clerics and warriors. An A.I. Major-domo would basically run your entire clan for you, until you step in and take control of specific parts. Imagine taking control of your most powerful warrior, getting together a 5-6 person adventuring party, and going on a quest. while you''re party is away, your castle might be raided by goblins, so you take control of the captain of the guard and organize a defense. the possibilities are endless, and largely unexplored.

Bah. Was I foolish to think that just because I typed in a Username It would show up on my post? Well, the registration Nazi''s seem to think so. That last post was written by me.