here are some things i can tell you without giving away the hole idea. i have figured out a way to eliminate grinding. do people like grinding though? this is what i need to know. i figured out a way to get rid of it, but if people like it i can put it back in. i figured out a way to make it so that casual gamers can keep up with power gamers, levelwise that is, not equipment wise.
here is the bombshell though. permadeath is one of the main features of this game. i feel it is a necessary step forward for mmorpg's. it gives concequences for action. it lets people really role play there character. you can choose to be a hated criminal or a hero.
permadeath is my way of dealing with the asshole problem. as i see it now, people like to be jerks because its fun. honestly. but if people could also be a hero, and hunt down the jerks, i think there would be a balance of good guys and bad guys. bad guys would be disliked amoung the community, they would be outcasts not welcomed in citys. but good guys would be welcomed as heroes for risking theyre life to kill bad guys, and as such people would probly help them by giving them discounts to items and such.
please give feedback on all of the topics posted here and not just permadeath. the topics included: grinding, keeping powergamers the same level as casuals, and permadeath.
What is fun? (MMORPG)
Heh!
So, people can not play your game, and be the same level as everyone else. Or they can play your game, and die; starting the not playing all over again.
I mean, perhaps I'm missing something terribly essential, but MMORPGs have had "karma" before. Good guys can PvP without consiquence and bad guys can not go to cities. What ends up happening is a few bad guys get so good or so much stuff they just sit outside the cities killing everyone with uberstuff only they have access to. [as I assume the uber-weapons won't be in the newbie spawn area...]
Permadeath has never, ever been an asshole solution. It's only been a tool they can wield with great savagery.
So, people can not play your game, and be the same level as everyone else. Or they can play your game, and die; starting the not playing all over again.
I mean, perhaps I'm missing something terribly essential, but MMORPGs have had "karma" before. Good guys can PvP without consiquence and bad guys can not go to cities. What ends up happening is a few bad guys get so good or so much stuff they just sit outside the cities killing everyone with uberstuff only they have access to. [as I assume the uber-weapons won't be in the newbie spawn area...]
Permadeath has never, ever been an asshole solution. It's only been a tool they can wield with great savagery.
Author
if an asshole can do that in a permadeath world, than i applaud him. but you see being a asshole is so much more dangerous because you are hated. people will put bounties on your head and you will constantly be risking sending your character back to ground zero. and like i said before. i think permadeath opens up a whole new RP element to the game.
With a single player RPG I try to beat the game. When I have solved the big task, I am done.
With MMORPG's you will not have the finite task, so the game is infinite, and players tend to pick their own targets or will leave to the next game.
If players can't change anything happening in the world (i.e. that evil fortress is just around to be stormed and to kill the big master boss, and 30 minutes later all respawns) it will get boring soon.
At least you have to add some Player vs Player to become the best gladiator, or Clan vs Clan to keep the high leveled chars involved.
The stupid player killers lurking around outside and killing every other player getting there is easy handeled too:
you let people play on your server for no fee: kick them.
people pay to play: it is their right to do what pleases them (and hope some other players get strong enough to kick them).
Btw, I don't think these kind of players trust each other enough to have a chance to stand against a well organized attack from all those anoyed other gamers. (If one lvl 50 char can stand against 50 lvl 1 chars, the game isn't well designed in my eyes)
my 2 cents
With MMORPG's you will not have the finite task, so the game is infinite, and players tend to pick their own targets or will leave to the next game.
If players can't change anything happening in the world (i.e. that evil fortress is just around to be stormed and to kill the big master boss, and 30 minutes later all respawns) it will get boring soon.
At least you have to add some Player vs Player to become the best gladiator, or Clan vs Clan to keep the high leveled chars involved.
The stupid player killers lurking around outside and killing every other player getting there is easy handeled too:
you let people play on your server for no fee: kick them.
people pay to play: it is their right to do what pleases them (and hope some other players get strong enough to kick them).
Btw, I don't think these kind of players trust each other enough to have a chance to stand against a well organized attack from all those anoyed other gamers. (If one lvl 50 char can stand against 50 lvl 1 chars, the game isn't well designed in my eyes)
my 2 cents
Quote:Original post by HARTI've thought about whether an MMORPG should have permadeath, but if our hypothetical asshole wants to be one, he still can be. If you've eliminated the level treadmill, then when the asshole dies, he can simply come back. I'm not saying there isn't a right way to implement permadeath; however, I don't think it's the be-all end-all solution.
if an asshole can do that in a permadeath world, than i applaud him. but you see being a asshole is so much more dangerous because you are hated. people will put bounties on your head and you will constantly be risking sending your character back to ground zero. and like i said before. i think permadeath opens up a whole new RP element to the game.
Well being a 'stupid player killer' I can tell you this.. We definitely trust our own kind and will gladly form up to stand against a larger force(although it is a LOT of fun to try to take them all on single handedly).
Perma-death is perhaps the single worst idea you can implement into a game.. You have to look at why anyone continues to play one of these games for months on end and pays a set fee every month.
IT is because they are building something, whether it be a character or a treasure horde or whatever, and they grow attached to whatever it is they are building.
Now if they die and that death is permanent you can bet than at least 50% of your players will cancel their subscriptions especially if they just lost a high level character, why bother starting over again if you are just going to die again and have to start over once again..
The thing with player killers is that eventually every game will get boring.. Whether it is after 2 months or 2 years eventually you will have done everthing there is to to and seen everything there is to see.. Now if you have built up this UBER character and really enjoy the game then it is hard to quit. The only thing left to do is to go and PVP and PK.. Being the evil bad guy is about the most fun I have ever had in any game. And I am a nice passive guy in real life who lives in a nice house donates lots of charity, recycles and picks up trash when I see it on the street.. But the rush that you get by sneaking up behind someone and putting a virtual bullet in the back of their head is unparralled. Or taking on a group of 3 people with gorilla tactics and winning.
Nothing beats it, and it will be what keeps the experienced players who have been playing for a long period of time paying that monthly bill every month.
So instead of figuring out a genius way to do away with the assholes or penalize them for being assholes, why don't you make a system where they can be assholes to their hearts content without completely disrupting the lives of everyone else..
As hard and impossible as it sounds there is a solution, and it sure as hell isn't permadeath. The only thing that will solve will be your bandwidth bill as no one will be playing your game for very long
Perma-death is perhaps the single worst idea you can implement into a game.. You have to look at why anyone continues to play one of these games for months on end and pays a set fee every month.
IT is because they are building something, whether it be a character or a treasure horde or whatever, and they grow attached to whatever it is they are building.
Now if they die and that death is permanent you can bet than at least 50% of your players will cancel their subscriptions especially if they just lost a high level character, why bother starting over again if you are just going to die again and have to start over once again..
The thing with player killers is that eventually every game will get boring.. Whether it is after 2 months or 2 years eventually you will have done everthing there is to to and seen everything there is to see.. Now if you have built up this UBER character and really enjoy the game then it is hard to quit. The only thing left to do is to go and PVP and PK.. Being the evil bad guy is about the most fun I have ever had in any game. And I am a nice passive guy in real life who lives in a nice house donates lots of charity, recycles and picks up trash when I see it on the street.. But the rush that you get by sneaking up behind someone and putting a virtual bullet in the back of their head is unparralled. Or taking on a group of 3 people with gorilla tactics and winning.
Nothing beats it, and it will be what keeps the experienced players who have been playing for a long period of time paying that monthly bill every month.
So instead of figuring out a genius way to do away with the assholes or penalize them for being assholes, why don't you make a system where they can be assholes to their hearts content without completely disrupting the lives of everyone else..
As hard and impossible as it sounds there is a solution, and it sure as hell isn't permadeath. The only thing that will solve will be your bandwidth bill as no one will be playing your game for very long
I think there's not an ideal solution to this problem, but there are ways to make this a less pressing issue.
For example, you could send High level players to another plan, separating their goals from mid-level gamers... Or, if you have a very well designed society, you can delegate good players some social positions, based on their performance - let bad guys build a thieves'guild, and good guys lead some cities' army or royal guard or whatever...
In my opinion there will always be assholes, you can't avoid them, but they are players and they have their urges. You must attend your players, give them what they want without corrupting your world. If I were in your skin, I would concentrate on the story and give players a mean to shape the world's history and patterns.
Cya
For example, you could send High level players to another plan, separating their goals from mid-level gamers... Or, if you have a very well designed society, you can delegate good players some social positions, based on their performance - let bad guys build a thieves'guild, and good guys lead some cities' army or royal guard or whatever...
In my opinion there will always be assholes, you can't avoid them, but they are players and they have their urges. You must attend your players, give them what they want without corrupting your world. If I were in your skin, I would concentrate on the story and give players a mean to shape the world's history and patterns.
Cya
One thing you should definitely look at is making the player's options known to them. In most MMORPGs I have played, there are more side-quests, fun episodes, and activities to take part than I'd ever imagine. The simple problem is, to access a huge and fun quest, you may very wel have to talk to the most inconspicuous looking NPC in the most remote corner of a town you rarely enter.
These things are cool when/if you find them, but it is often a chore to find these things, regardless of whether you know about them or not. And often an even greater contributor to the problem is simply not knowing that such an option is available.
MMORPGs are, in a word, MASSIVE. And something that none (IMO) have done right to date is pacing the massive amount of information the player is to learn. They either plop you in the middle of an enormous world not knowing how to do anything even as basic as using the interface to attack a wimpy blob, OR they try and teach you everything at the beginning before you are even close to being able to use most of the knowledge. If there was a system in place that would teach you parts of the game as they became relevant, and gave hints of quests that could be done, or what regions would be good to explore, etc.
These things are cool when/if you find them, but it is often a chore to find these things, regardless of whether you know about them or not. And often an even greater contributor to the problem is simply not knowing that such an option is available.
MMORPGs are, in a word, MASSIVE. And something that none (IMO) have done right to date is pacing the massive amount of information the player is to learn. They either plop you in the middle of an enormous world not knowing how to do anything even as basic as using the interface to attack a wimpy blob, OR they try and teach you everything at the beginning before you are even close to being able to use most of the knowledge. If there was a system in place that would teach you parts of the game as they became relevant, and gave hints of quests that could be done, or what regions would be good to explore, etc.
Quote:Original post by Telastyn
I like MMORPGs without people...
I totally agree. I am currently working on a science-fiction RPG, and I recently decided to make it single-player only. The reason is because multiplayer (let alone "massive" multiplayer) requires to many concessions to gameplay.
One of the biggest problems with multiplayer games is the inability to change the speed of time. I hated having to sit down for five minutes "resting" in EQ, just to raise my health back up so I can go back to fighting squirrels. In Morrowind, for example, the process of resting/healing/sleeping is simply a screen fade out, and eight hours have magically passed. I was able to spend the extra five minutes of my life doing more productive things (or having more fun in combat, dialog, etc.).
The time problem also affects travel through the game world. If I want a reasonably realistic game world, I won't want cities/planets to be 10 seconds apart. Huge gameworlds, like in Daggerfall, would be impossible in a MMORPG because players would not want to spend hours traveling to where they want to go. Single-player games do not have this problem, as they can merely show a little cutscene or an Indiana Jones-style red line on a map, and the player has arrived at his destination.
Multiplayer definitely has its benefits, and can be very rewarding. I may even try to work it into my next SF RPG (if I make one). For now, I want to work on entertaining one person at a time.
- Mike
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