I have been thinking about a morg like this for a while. I would definitely play and I think there a bunch of spaghetti western fans out there who might jump into the market to try a game like this. My idea kind of went in the direction of skill trees the way classic swg was made. A western morg would do well with a politiican class, doctor, crafter class like black smith, Inidan warrior, cowboy, law enforcement, bounty hunter, thief, union or confederate soldier, etc. I would not recommend a fps model. Lots of adventures could occur in pve out in the wild or in town. Ideally the game should require player interaction to a large degree, now that would be fun!
Going off what I've seen of most Indie MMOs I would make a guess and say that either that game will remain in developement for another 10 years, or it will have some uber failure out the box like Darkfall. I like the idea, but come on, few Indie studios have been able to get a decent product out the door for the last few years. It either fails or never makes it out at all. I mean look at that huge ass investor link, lol. That screams "We need money"
As someone already mentioned....Tombstone. Dude, I would kill to be Val Kilmers character. Doc Holiday I believe? He was so cool he made his sickness look almost cool. What a great setting!
Beau
Yeah, that was his best role, IMO. Dennis Quaid was great in the same role in Wyatt Earp that year. I still laugh when I think of him telling Big Nose Kate to "kiss my rebel d**k".
Ya and lets look at how popular Pirates of the Burning Sea is. I'd assume that a Wild West MMO wouldn't be any more popular.
PotBS may not be pulling down WoW numbers, but it is a successful product with a loyal and profitable userbase.
Just because games don't hit 10 million doesn't mean they failed. By pre-WoW standards, Pirates would be considered a mild success.
Well Tabula Rasa wasn't pulling down WoW numbers either but you could argue that it had a loyal userbase. TR didn't fail because of the fans, it failed because NCSoft said it failed. I can't comment on it's profitability but on that note, I don't think any MMO can be considered profitable except for WoW. SWG is not pulling any WoW numbers either but again, it has a loyal userbase. Lets not forget, EQ2, AoC, AO, AC.....all of the F2P games....
Anyway, my point is simply that although it would garnish loyal fans, as several posts in this thread show, it will be just as popular as PotBS, SWG and all of the other niche MMO's. Again, as I already stated in my original post. To be honest, I envision Darkfall but with a Western Theme.....
I am curious as to why no one has mentioned there already is a Wild West MMO(alabeit with a fantasy twist added but a Wild West MMO none the less) called Sword of the New World. It takes place during the founding of the US and allows you to play up to 3 characters simultainiously.
"Possibly we humans can exist without actually having to fight. But many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands? Is that the truth?"
Ya and lets look at how popular Pirates of the Burning Sea is. I'd assume that a Wild West MMO wouldn't be any more popular.
Actually PotBS was more popular than it is and would have been a much bigger success if not for some really bad dev decisions. They messed up in more ways than can be quickly explained, which is a commentary on bad/inexperienced dev teams and not the viability of a historical setting overall.
I think a fantasy-influenced setting like Deadlands is certainly the most likely for the simple reasons that it completely avoids *ALL* the politically correct BS and realism issues a more historical setting brings with it while at the same time offering more character diversity and a way to *not* be permanently dead and gone when you lose that shoot out.
As much as I personally love the idea of permadeath in an MMO, it would *never* be included by a major studio in todays market.
(And no one has mentioned Sword of the New World because every review I have ever read of it pans it horribly as a terrible asian-knock off with bad graphics, horrible story and gameplay)
I like a lot of the ideas. I don't agree with Dana that we should leave out Native Americans. There are actually a lot of Native Americans that would be interested in playing the game.
The game world would have to be massive. As others have said a massive sandbox. If people wished to play native american and learn more about the culture I think it would be great. Buffalo hunts, crafting your teepee, using all parts of your kill to craft things. At the same time it would be cool to take a wagon train from St. Louis out west, everyone working together to make it a successful trip.
A wild west mmo has huge potiential. Especially for a sandbox. Gamblers, Trappers, horse rustlers, cattle, salons.. its just endless.
"It is better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees,"
I think the racial issues and being a uniquely American experience would severely limit the marketability of a true Wild West game. It would have to be some contrived setting that mirrored the time period without the tricky un-PC aspects.
I am suprised noone has mentioned the Trigun anime series as an example.
Drev
"If MMORPG players were around when God said, "Let their be light" they'd have called the light gay, and plunged the universe back into darkness by squatting their nutsacks over it." -Luke McKinney, The 7 Biggest Dick Moves in the History of Online Gaming
"In the end, SWG may have been more potential and promise than fulfilled expectation. But I'd rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity." -Raph Koster
Native Americans could easily be included. When creating a character one could choose the culture ancestory they wish to be from including European and Native American. There are no stat benefits to either culture or benefits particular to each per se. Every player can do whatever every other player could do regardless of cultural ancestory. The only difference between the cultures is what skills you start out with and probably your starting area. So a Native American might have archery while a European might have revolvers.
Conflict wouldn't spawn based on a "Cowboy vs Indian" mentality but rather be more organic and less boxed in than that. Since guilds always form in mmos it'd make more sense to have conflic based on guild lines rather than blood lines. Generally, any player could join any guild that invited them.
Perhaps guilds could have different benefits depending on the fame or infamy of their guild. Someone mentioned earlier about Outlaw Guilds who wander around the west doing outlaw things and Calvalry Guilds who help uphold law. An outlaw guild would have more specialization towards things such as robbery and survival in the elements. A guild with better fame could ally themselves with the government and recieve benefits such as easier access to weapons and the like. Guilds allied to the government wouldn't be able to attack other guilds allied to the government unless they retract their benefits from the government and tarnish their reputation.
There could be different factions one could ally themselves with, American Federal Government, Mexican Government, Native Tribes, Outlaw (which wouldn't be a faction per se, I think outlaws should be able to attack other outlaws as well), and Neutral.
Again, conflict wouldn't happen based on an 'us vs them' or Mexico vs America but instead on how guilds manage their connections to other guilds and vie for resources and land holdings throughout the west. The allignment would only allow certain benefits particular to those organizations.
I would love to see a guild that rises up similar to the Pinkertons.
i personally don't think that MMOFPS would fit... what about a 3rd person shooter like GTA/red dead revolver/The godfather (the game) ? that would make customization useful
In a MMORPG there is progression. I think it would be difficult to put in any meaningful progression a shooting game. What "classes" would there be and what abilities would you give them without looking ridiculous? Remember this would be based off a real life time period so I don't think you would be snaring people and tanking .. healing. There couldn't be any tanks or healers .. where would group strategy come in? Everyone just shooting? I think it would work for a massive fps game but that is it .. nothing persistant.
No offense Qombi, but I really think this is why so many games fail. You just basically said this game wouldn't work because it isn't going to be EQ with dirt, or WoW with guns. When every developer runs down the same sad lines of class "tank", "dps", "heal", etc. then all of the games start to look exactly alike. Why play anything other than 1-2 that have the best polish? They're all the same with some different window dressing.
For this setting you don't need classes. You combat skills are as you put it, mostly FPS. However, you can change things like faster mouse tracking while aiming (as a skill), more damage done, less effect from recoil, more zoom when aiming, things like that. True your FPS skills will play a large role, but your characters skills will asssist (or hinder) your FPS abilities.
If you have accurate hit modeling, then your group tactics are as rich and varried as they were in the time period. Flanking, cover, things of that nature. For a good example of how those elements can be incorporated into a game setting look at Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 serries. There was plenty of group strategy in that game without the stupid concepts of Tanks and DPS.
I would love to see something like this, or if Steve Jackson can be convinced that Car Wars would make a great game... well then I'd send him my money now. The genre can use some good diversity to give people alternatives to what is currently out there. Unfortunately, due to the expense and overwhelming success of WoW, it's unlikely we'll see that from many of the mainstream developers until more of the WoW clones fail.
MMOs don't have to be about grind, levels, and gear. That's what current games are doing and there is really only room for a few well done versions of that model. How many EQ and WoW clones do you really want to play in the long run?
In addition to other ways, skill points could be given for time logged in. Or like the CoX new Day Jobs, for time logged out in specific areas. Maybe some sort of exchange ratio for general experience and specialties. Like 10 doctor points could be exchanged for 5 general experience points that could then be used for running speed.
Don't know how "shake" works, but I'm thinking of cross hairs for shooting. The more accuracy points you have, the tighter they get and the more sure you are of where your shot is going to hit. Or you're able to use a finer scalpel as a doctor. Or your lariats land around your target more.
Make it mostly open PvP, but some towns could be non-PvP zones. There could be varying degrees of lawless-ness. Some towns you could do whatever you want and nobody would care. Others, you might find the NPCs turn hostile (shopkeepers won't do business with you). Some, the sheriff comes after you by himself or recruits a posse to hunt you down. The degree of your offense raises the bounty on your head and increases the number of towns where your wanted poster appears.
Guilds could be towns, ranches, or outlaw gangs.
For mounts you'd have horses; horse-drawn buggies, carts, and wagons, stage coaches and trains wouldn't be mounts but maybe ways to travel longer distances in a shorter time. If you had a horse, it could be tied to the back of the stage coach or loaded into a stock car so you could have it at your destination.
One possible way around the Native American problem would be to go with an Old West-inspired track. Let it have the flavor, but not be historically precise or accurate. It's just a game after all. Make two fake tribes, one more friendly to the frontier people and one more hostile. Have diplomacy a skill track. That way, you don't have to worry as much as historical detail of specific tribes. But that could be just as offensive. What do y'all think?
------------- The less you expect, the more you'll be surprised. Hopefully, pleasantly so.
Perhaps, but in my opinion, we've seen that gun-based RPG games have a tough time catching on. See case Tabula Rasa. If you make this a pure PRG in that sense of the word, I think it's just in that grey area where it could be so much neater. If you're going to have guns, FPS is the way to go IMO.
The online FPS system would work but my guess then is the MMO part will be the minor one, like customizing your character or having huge land to explore. I would certainly play an Outlaws online but the question is: for how long?
Honestly, I would not want to play an Wild West MMO. It does not interest me, at least not in the traditional sense of Wild West. If they could put a fantasy twist on it (like the Dark Tower) I would most definitely play it. But choosing between cowboys or indians doesn't sound like fun to me. Sorry, just my opinion.
"Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know." William Saroyan
Definitely skill-based. Low-instancing, too. In addition to other ways, skill points could be given for time logged in. Or like the CoX new Day Jobs, for time logged out in specific areas. This is a great idea and I have wanted to see it in a game for awhile. It makes too much sense. Don't know how "shake" works, but I'm thinking of cross hairs for shooting. The more accuracy points you have, the tighter they get and the more sure you are of where your shot is going to hit. Or you're able to use a finer scalpel as a doctor. Or your lariats land around your target more. So an FPS/RPG combo? With twitch and die rolls? I dunno seems weird. Third/first-person would work much better I think. Make it mostly open PvP, but some towns could be non-PvP zones. There could be varying degrees of lawless-ness. Some towns you could do whatever you want and nobody would care. Others, you might find the NPCs turn hostile (shopkeepers won't do business with you). Some, the sheriff comes after you by himself or recruits a posse to hunt you down. The degree of your offense raises the bounty on your head and increases the number of towns where your wanted poster appears.
Towns could hire officers that are either NPC or players. NPC officers protect the town while no player officers are around. When someone commits an offense in the town the npc or player officers arrest him (or kill, not sure how this would work). Perhaps the guy would be booted from town or something? I dunno. Or make him pay a fine.
Guilds could be towns, ranches, or outlaw gangs. For mounts you'd have horses; horse-drawn buggies, carts, and wagons, stage coaches and trains wouldn't be mounts but maybe ways to travel longer distances in a shorter time. If you had a horse, it could be tied to the back of the stage coach or loaded into a stock car so you could have it at your destination. I'd love to see all this stuff player created. Tracks and railways are all done by players for particular reasons and for particular goals. One possible way around the Native American problem would be to go with an Old West-inspired track. Let it have the flavor, but not be historically precise or accurate. It's just a game after all. Make two fake tribes, one more friendly to the frontier people and one more hostile. Have diplomacy a skill track. That way, you don't have to worry as much as historical detail of specific tribes. But that could be just as offensive. What do y'all think? Native Americans should be portrayed in the same manner of realism that settlers / european types are given. So if a settler can make saloons, shops and towns let the native american players have tribal lands where similar features are offered but in a distinctly native american way. Some research could help this situation, find what tribes were mostly around and base the characters off of those historial things. What it doesn't need to do is point to native american conflicts like the Indian Wars and abhorent racism that was apprent during that era. It would be easy enough to allow players to playe both cultures without having to be disrespectful or one sided. As long as both sides are even and equal and treated fairly I don't think there would be much problem.
Some random loose thoughts about needs for a Western MMO for me.
It would have to span on huge non instance landmass.
From prairie
to desert
to forrests
to mountainranges
to swamp/marshes
to riverlands
and to farmlands
Animals, would have to be "drifting" or in modern terms, dynamic.
If a animal is hunted hard, it moves to another area. so when you next log in to extinctify the bunny or buffalo population, you might want to group up with a scout, because the buffalo aint where you left em.
Animals hunt eachother, cycle of life. hunt too many bunnies, and the wolves starve, and turn aggro on humans before moving after the bunnies (example).
Non combat jobs are just as important and needed as combat jobs.
No more sacrificing the social players, the crafters, the non combatants on the altar of the mighty combat wombat.
Bartenders, cooks, Barwenches, smiths, seamstress'es, carpenters, ranchers, farmers... all just as needed as combat wombats.
Food/Water playing an important role for survival, and not in the "buff" meaning.
No food or drink, and you weaken and die over time.
a half cooked rabbit not as effective as a decently cooked meal. So unless you're a dang good cook, you'd want to eat at the non combat crowds places. Same goes for drink, water from the stream works, but a good beer works better(tho too much and you might get blurry screen with odd colors).
Planning the trip outside town gets important. Bring supplies or perish. It's a adventure, not a trip to the mall outside the safe cities.
No instant transport or uberfast transport in the lands.
Trains can take you where you need, or stagecoaches (that can both be robbed by NPC/PC). Outside of that, you have to walk or ride. If your buddy is across the world, bad planning on your part.
Robbing trains/stagecoaches are a team effort and easily hindered.
Task should be rewarding but also something non common, or else no train would ever go unrobbed.
Risks of being recognized and get bountyhunters on your trail. Wich means if you're caught, your robbing character gets to rot in prison for some time. (actions has consequenses, and FFA don't meen free massacres).
And more... Basicly my Western MMO would be hard to make..and it wouldnt be a "solo" game, as you would depend on other people in every step. Be it as buying their goods, their maps, getting healed, eating their food or even their company. It wouldnt be a free ride for the combat wombat people(And I'm one of them!).
wow, a lot could be done with a wild west mmo. Take classes, not everyone in the "wild west" was wild, you have shop keepers, miners, farmers, upcoming medical men, witch doctors, natives and explorers from "out of town" sorta speak. Then the outlaws, the lawmen, the statesmen, those who would shoot you just cause and those who wanted and fought for a "civil" frontier and expaning the "union", which brings us to soliders. Just would be so much to do, hope someone can take it on.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
I thought I was one of the only people who had thought a Wild West MMO would be a great idea. I went on a rampage about three months ago- Carving through the internet like a fiend trying to find a wild west MMO.
Someone already posted the thing, but this is worth looking into. (called "The West")
Maybe a development company will one day pick up the idea and run with it. Too many MMOs nowadays are just copies of the last one. (IE WoW format), and while they new stories and graphics are refreshing.. it's time for a new setting all together IMO. Let's try for something new. Science Fiction is nice, i'm always up for it and it hasn't been used to death. Fantasy needs a break though, before we break her legs from so much use. But history would be awesome. Playing in the old Wild West or during prehistory.
Maybe playing as the first tribal humans or something.
Either way, I hope discussions like this inspire some developer out there.
Everquest - 2000 - '02 Anarchy Online - '01-'02 Earth and Beyond - '02-'04 Star Wars Galaxies - '03-'06('07) World of Warcraft - '04-'07 Age of Conan - '08 - shelved. -Waiting on- Star Trek Online SW: The Old Republic
I'd be a Cattle Baron...and drive all the squatters off my land. Don't get me started on those damn sheep farmers and free grazers.... I don't think most of the Chinese were forced to build railroads...but there were so few jobs offered to them...they themselves were "railroaded" into those jobs. However..once in..it was hard for them to leave...and since it was none to pleasant to work for the railroads....it was pretty miserable and just short of slavery.
Sounds like a very interesting concept. One thing that I think would be utterly necessary to keep the rampant slaughter down to a more realistic level would be consequences. Again, though, keeping with the theme. If you developed a reputation as a real bad guy, then there would soon be lawmen after you as well as bounty hunters. If you mananged to elude/kill off your pursuers, your bad guy rep would grow, and larger packs would start coming after you.
You could make it so mutually agreed upon duels had no effect on your "karma" rep, but ganking (ie murdering) would definitely peg you as a criminal. Perhaps wanted posters with your name on it might start appearing, including bounty offers.
I'm not sure how you'd handle death as a player-criminal though. It'd have to be severe enough to make the player really want to avoid capture, but maybe not so severe that no one would do it. Perhaps some jail time, a heavy fine?
Anyway, love the idea. As long as the pvp aspect wasn't heavily favoring the best net connection, I'd try it.
Comments
not sure if anyone put this link up but this would be almost like the wild west
http://frontier1859.com/mmorpg/
I have been thinking about a morg like this for a while. I would definitely play and I think there a bunch of spaghetti western fans out there who might jump into the market to try a game like this. My idea kind of went in the direction of skill trees the way classic swg was made. A western morg would do well with a politiican class, doctor, crafter class like black smith, Inidan warrior, cowboy, law enforcement, bounty hunter, thief, union or confederate soldier, etc. I would not recommend a fps model. Lots of adventures could occur in pve out in the wild or in town. Ideally the game should require player interaction to a large degree, now that would be fun!
Going off what I've seen of most Indie MMOs I would make a guess and say that either that game will remain in developement for another 10 years, or it will have some uber failure out the box like Darkfall. I like the idea, but come on, few Indie studios have been able to get a decent product out the door for the last few years. It either fails or never makes it out at all. I mean look at that huge ass investor link, lol. That screams "We need money"
As someone already mentioned....Tombstone.
Dude, I would kill to be Val Kilmers character. Doc Holiday I believe? He was so cool he made his sickness look almost cool. What a great setting!
Beau
Listen to the Spouse Aggro podcast at spouseaggro.com. Twitter: spouseaggro
Yeah, that was his best role, IMO. Dennis Quaid was great in the same role in Wyatt Earp that year. I still laugh when I think of him telling Big Nose Kate to "kiss my rebel d**k".
PotBS may not be pulling down WoW numbers, but it is a successful product with a loyal and profitable userbase.
Just because games don't hit 10 million doesn't mean they failed. By pre-WoW standards, Pirates would be considered a mild success.
Well Tabula Rasa wasn't pulling down WoW numbers either but you could argue that it had a loyal userbase. TR didn't fail because of the fans, it failed because NCSoft said it failed. I can't comment on it's profitability but on that note, I don't think any MMO can be considered profitable except for WoW. SWG is not pulling any WoW numbers either but again, it has a loyal userbase. Lets not forget, EQ2, AoC, AO, AC.....all of the F2P games....
Anyway, my point is simply that although it would garnish loyal fans, as several posts in this thread show, it will be just as popular as PotBS, SWG and all of the other niche MMO's. Again, as I already stated in my original post. To be honest, I envision Darkfall but with a Western Theme.....
I am curious as to why no one has mentioned there already is a Wild West MMO(alabeit with a fantasy twist added but a Wild West MMO none the less) called Sword of the New World. It takes place during the founding of the US and allows you to play up to 3 characters simultainiously.
"Possibly we humans can exist without actually having to fight. But many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands? Is that the truth?"
Actually PotBS was more popular than it is and would have been a much bigger success if not for some really bad dev decisions. They messed up in more ways than can be quickly explained, which is a commentary on bad/inexperienced dev teams and not the viability of a historical setting overall.
I think a fantasy-influenced setting like Deadlands is certainly the most likely for the simple reasons that it completely avoids *ALL* the politically correct BS and realism issues a more historical setting brings with it while at the same time offering more character diversity and a way to *not* be permanently dead and gone when you lose that shoot out.
As much as I personally love the idea of permadeath in an MMO, it would *never* be included by a major studio in todays market.
(And no one has mentioned Sword of the New World because every review I have ever read of it pans it horribly as a terrible asian-knock off with bad graphics, horrible story and gameplay)
I like a lot of the ideas. I don't agree with Dana that we should leave out Native Americans. There are actually a lot of Native Americans that would be interested in playing the game.
The game world would have to be massive. As others have said a massive sandbox. If people wished to play native american and learn more about the culture I think it would be great. Buffalo hunts, crafting your teepee, using all parts of your kill to craft things. At the same time it would be cool to take a wagon train from St. Louis out west, everyone working together to make it a successful trip.
A wild west mmo has huge potiential. Especially for a sandbox. Gamblers, Trappers, horse rustlers, cattle, salons.. its just endless.
"It is better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees,"
I think the racial issues and being a uniquely American experience would severely limit the marketability of a true Wild West game. It would have to be some contrived setting that mirrored the time period without the tricky un-PC aspects.
I am suprised noone has mentioned the Trigun anime series as an example.
Drev
"If MMORPG players were around when God said, "Let their be light" they'd have called the light gay, and plunged the universe back into darkness by squatting their nutsacks over it."
-Luke McKinney, The 7 Biggest Dick Moves in the History of Online Gaming
"In the end, SWG may have been more potential and promise than fulfilled expectation. But I'd rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
-Raph Koster
Native Americans could easily be included. When creating a character one could choose the culture ancestory they wish to be from including European and Native American. There are no stat benefits to either culture or benefits particular to each per se. Every player can do whatever every other player could do regardless of cultural ancestory. The only difference between the cultures is what skills you start out with and probably your starting area. So a Native American might have archery while a European might have revolvers.
Conflict wouldn't spawn based on a "Cowboy vs Indian" mentality but rather be more organic and less boxed in than that. Since guilds always form in mmos it'd make more sense to have conflic based on guild lines rather than blood lines. Generally, any player could join any guild that invited them.
Perhaps guilds could have different benefits depending on the fame or infamy of their guild. Someone mentioned earlier about Outlaw Guilds who wander around the west doing outlaw things and Calvalry Guilds who help uphold law. An outlaw guild would have more specialization towards things such as robbery and survival in the elements. A guild with better fame could ally themselves with the government and recieve benefits such as easier access to weapons and the like. Guilds allied to the government wouldn't be able to attack other guilds allied to the government unless they retract their benefits from the government and tarnish their reputation.
There could be different factions one could ally themselves with, American Federal Government, Mexican Government, Native Tribes, Outlaw (which wouldn't be a faction per se, I think outlaws should be able to attack other outlaws as well), and Neutral.
Again, conflict wouldn't happen based on an 'us vs them' or Mexico vs America but instead on how guilds manage their connections to other guilds and vie for resources and land holdings throughout the west. The allignment would only allow certain benefits particular to those organizations.
I would love to see a guild that rises up similar to the Pinkertons.
Will there be a fat mexican with a double barrel shotgun as a character?
i personally don't think that MMOFPS would fit... what about a 3rd person shooter like GTA/red dead revolver/The godfather (the game) ? that would make customization useful
No offense Qombi, but I really think this is why so many games fail. You just basically said this game wouldn't work because it isn't going to be EQ with dirt, or WoW with guns. When every developer runs down the same sad lines of class "tank", "dps", "heal", etc. then all of the games start to look exactly alike. Why play anything other than 1-2 that have the best polish? They're all the same with some different window dressing.
For this setting you don't need classes. You combat skills are as you put it, mostly FPS. However, you can change things like faster mouse tracking while aiming (as a skill), more damage done, less effect from recoil, more zoom when aiming, things like that. True your FPS skills will play a large role, but your characters skills will asssist (or hinder) your FPS abilities.
If you have accurate hit modeling, then your group tactics are as rich and varried as they were in the time period. Flanking, cover, things of that nature. For a good example of how those elements can be incorporated into a game setting look at Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 serries. There was plenty of group strategy in that game without the stupid concepts of Tanks and DPS.
I would love to see something like this, or if Steve Jackson can be convinced that Car Wars would make a great game... well then I'd send him my money now. The genre can use some good diversity to give people alternatives to what is currently out there. Unfortunately, due to the expense and overwhelming success of WoW, it's unlikely we'll see that from many of the mainstream developers until more of the WoW clones fail.
MMOs don't have to be about grind, levels, and gear. That's what current games are doing and there is really only room for a few well done versions of that model. How many EQ and WoW clones do you really want to play in the long run?
Definitely skill-based. Low-instancing, too.
In addition to other ways, skill points could be given for time logged in. Or like the CoX new Day Jobs, for time logged out in specific areas. Maybe some sort of exchange ratio for general experience and specialties. Like 10 doctor points could be exchanged for 5 general experience points that could then be used for running speed.
Don't know how "shake" works, but I'm thinking of cross hairs for shooting. The more accuracy points you have, the tighter they get and the more sure you are of where your shot is going to hit. Or you're able to use a finer scalpel as a doctor. Or your lariats land around your target more.
Make it mostly open PvP, but some towns could be non-PvP zones. There could be varying degrees of lawless-ness. Some towns you could do whatever you want and nobody would care. Others, you might find the NPCs turn hostile (shopkeepers won't do business with you). Some, the sheriff comes after you by himself or recruits a posse to hunt you down. The degree of your offense raises the bounty on your head and increases the number of towns where your wanted poster appears.
Guilds could be towns, ranches, or outlaw gangs.
For mounts you'd have horses; horse-drawn buggies, carts, and wagons, stage coaches and trains wouldn't be mounts but maybe ways to travel longer distances in a shorter time. If you had a horse, it could be tied to the back of the stage coach or loaded into a stock car so you could have it at your destination.
One possible way around the Native American problem would be to go with an Old West-inspired track. Let it have the flavor, but not be historically precise or accurate. It's just a game after all. Make two fake tribes, one more friendly to the frontier people and one more hostile. Have diplomacy a skill track. That way, you don't have to worry as much as historical detail of specific tribes. But that could be just as offensive. What do y'all think?
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The less you expect, the more you'll be surprised. Hopefully, pleasantly so.
The online FPS system would work but my guess then is the MMO part will be the minor one, like customizing your character or having huge land to explore. I would certainly play an Outlaws online but the question is: for how long?
i would love to play a wild west MMO!! would be nice if you had a crafting side, you can open up a shop in town or a saloon!
wild west mmo sounds boring as hell. make a Firefly MMO, so wild west/scifi & I'm on board.
Honestly, I would not want to play an Wild West MMO. It does not interest me, at least not in the traditional sense of Wild West. If they could put a fantasy twist on it (like the Dark Tower) I would most definitely play it. But choosing between cowboys or indians doesn't sound like fun to me. Sorry, just my opinion.
"Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know." William Saroyan
Some random loose thoughts about needs for a Western MMO for me.
And more... Basicly my Western MMO would be hard to make..and it wouldnt be a "solo" game, as you would depend on other people in every step. Be it as buying their goods, their maps, getting healed, eating their food or even their company. It wouldnt be a free ride for the combat wombat people(And I'm one of them!).
wow, a lot could be done with a wild west mmo. Take classes, not everyone in the "wild west" was wild, you have shop keepers, miners, farmers, upcoming medical men, witch doctors, natives and explorers from "out of town" sorta speak. Then the outlaws, the lawmen, the statesmen, those who would shoot you just cause and those who wanted and fought for a "civil" frontier and expaning the "union", which brings us to soliders. Just would be so much to do, hope someone can take it on.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
I thought I was one of the only people who had thought a Wild West MMO would be a great idea. I went on a rampage about three months ago- Carving through the internet like a fiend trying to find a wild west MMO.
Someone already posted the thing, but this is worth looking into. (called "The West")
Maybe a development company will one day pick up the idea and run with it. Too many MMOs nowadays are just copies of the last one. (IE WoW format), and while they new stories and graphics are refreshing.. it's time for a new setting all together IMO. Let's try for something new. Science Fiction is nice, i'm always up for it and it hasn't been used to death. Fantasy needs a break though, before we break her legs from so much use. But history would be awesome. Playing in the old Wild West or during prehistory.
Maybe playing as the first tribal humans or something.
Either way, I hope discussions like this inspire some developer out there.
Everquest - 2000 - '02
Anarchy Online - '01-'02
Earth and Beyond - '02-'04
Star Wars Galaxies - '03-'06('07)
World of Warcraft - '04-'07
Age of Conan - '08 - shelved.
-Waiting on-
Star Trek Online
SW: The Old Republic
I'd be a Cattle Baron...and drive all the squatters off my land. Don't get me started on those damn sheep farmers and free grazers.... I don't think most of the Chinese were forced to build railroads...but there were so few jobs offered to them...they themselves were "railroaded" into those jobs. However..once in..it was hard for them to leave...and since it was none to pleasant to work for the railroads....it was pretty miserable and just short of slavery.
Sounds like a very interesting concept. One thing that I think would be utterly necessary to keep the rampant slaughter down to a more realistic level would be consequences. Again, though, keeping with the theme. If you developed a reputation as a real bad guy, then there would soon be lawmen after you as well as bounty hunters. If you mananged to elude/kill off your pursuers, your bad guy rep would grow, and larger packs would start coming after you.
You could make it so mutually agreed upon duels had no effect on your "karma" rep, but ganking (ie murdering) would definitely peg you as a criminal. Perhaps wanted posters with your name on it might start appearing, including bounty offers.
I'm not sure how you'd handle death as a player-criminal though. It'd have to be severe enough to make the player really want to avoid capture, but maybe not so severe that no one would do it. Perhaps some jail time, a heavy fine?
Anyway, love the idea. As long as the pvp aspect wasn't heavily favoring the best net connection, I'd try it.