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This game shows a great development for the genre
Heyitschris
Member Posts: 49
Introduction (not me, the thread)
For years now I`ve felt most of the mainstream games follow a too-much used concept, and lets face it, a boring concept. Most of the new MMOs involves too much scripting. They all want us to believe we get a awesome adventure will a lot of things to do, but their worlds are never-changing. Every player faces the same path downwards the game, with the same way of playing it. It`s a concept that definitely will keep the newcomers to the genre interested, since this is just like the SinglePlayer (and multiplayer) games they`ve played in the past, but in a bigger package and with a lot of people play simultaneously. This is not the case for many old-timers. Many of us are so tired of this repetitive gameplay, and agree it`s a sore development to the genre to increase the numbers of this gameplay in such a large scale that we do. Still, there is hope in upcoming MMOs, due 2010 and 2011.
Should we move away from NPCs and scripted stories?
The main problem I have with most MMOs today is that I don`t feel that I affect the world around me, even if I put 100 hours into the game. The NPCs can say that I`m a badass, but the world really is the same. I mean, they`re NPCs, it`s not like it matters to them because they`re not alive, and have no emotions. Why spend 100 hours questing when you get nothing out of it? There is no social reward like recognition to be gained by doing favors for people that doesn`t even exist.
Should we make games NPCs free?
Face of Mankind (FoM) has convinced me that it really isn`t a silly thought at all.
The game is complete NPC-free, and is complete run by politics between the 8 different factions in the game. - And that is NONE-SCRIPTED politics. What good does that too, you might wonder. It means that the world can completely change over night, everyone affects everyone. The game itself doesn`t urge you to go to war against a faction, - That`s all decided by the in-game politics which is controlled by the players themselves.
What role you chose to play in your faction is also up to you. In the game you can play what you want. A law enforcer (not a job for every faction), an outlaw (not a job for every faction), politician, business man, - and you will have a impact on the world no matter which one of these you decide to be. It`s the way we all play together and cooperate, or do not play together and do not cooperate that makes the world. If you are a law enforcer, your role is important because without you, everyone would go around in complete anarchy, shooting wildly. By being a law enforcer, you keep the game playable for the majority of people. That makes you EXTREMELY valuable to the world. Depending on what you chose to do and be, you will be hated and loved by different people, and for fill different duties.
Knowing that, and seeing it happen right before my eyes, I think it`s kinda sad knowing there`s millions of people out there right now doing favors for NPCs which will serve no purpose. "Purpose", I believe that`s where this genre should be headed, and Face of Mankind set a great example to how it can be done.
The downsides
A non-NPC game, of course, need to have a very special way of play. We can`t have real people staying in shops all day to get shop-items out. And of course, it`s nice to have a epic history in a game that you can progress with whenever you want and that you have control of. Some people will of course prefer this, and this is where the MMO community will in the future split up.
There`s a lot of disagreement in how the genre should develop over the years. No doubt, many different gameplay styles will co-exist. Which will be the dominant? With all the new MMO players over the past years, there will soon be a lot of people wanting something more "hardcore" and interesting.
A game where the history and progress is changing by the second, there`s a deeeeeeeeep learning curve and alot to keep up with. It`s easy to get confused and you can`t really have a big website filling you in on everything, unless you read the forums, where everything going on is discussed. It can be very hard for new players of the game to get lost in all the information and constant movement, and with a world where your own history is not scripted, it`s hard to decide what you want to do, even know what you can do. I see quite a few new players in FoM that just can`t keep up in the beginning and can`t endure the massive learning curve that is thrown at you all at once.
Afterword
I realize that I`ve focused a lot on FoM in particular in this thread, even though this topic can cover many games, cause there`s actually quite a few games which has their similarities, which also deserves to be mentioned. Still, I haven`t played those yet. I`ll be keeping myself in the world of FoM for the time being. Playing two of these games at once would lead me to being unable to keep up with any of them.
Any thoughts and disagreements are welcome, but keep this as a harassment-free and troll-free thread.
Comments
a world can never be a world (in this genre) without AI. I'm sorry but you cannot rely upon X thousand players to run a world that should be filled with quadruple that amount of people. I agree that all these scripted events are boring but that doesn't mean you should remove every NPC from the game, just remove the scripted events and make the NPC's more dynamic.
It has been tried before and has caused plenty of headaches before (see Wurm online and Darkfall for current examples)
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
Are you kidding me? This game throws you in with absolutely no idea of what your supposed to do. There is no starter tutorial its a mess.
I disagree, you can have a "world" with nothing in it - just whether you find it believable without NPCs is up to you. As for FoM, you will find that every nook and cranny is filled with various players, and the circumstances they put on you vary as well. The only downfall is that the game *relies* on other players to be there. If the population had a huge drop, then the game would be in trouble. As for how a Player-only world works, well it does, try it.
@csheadshot, yeah but a lot of other games do that too and people beg for more.
Whatever faction you joined states what you do. If you are a cop, do objectives and scan people for arrests. If BoS, make drugs and try to sell it to cops or something. The same dilemma of most sandboxes is here "you need to figure out what you wanna do". Also, what should be the first thing you notice in-game is the objective list on the right side of the screen, it's like this game's quest system, and really the only way to make money beyond selling items on the market.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
@ csheadsh0t
I know. The point in this thread was to highlight the way its run at its core. Not the new-player-friendliness
As i pointed out in my post, there are games that have tried it and have had problems with it. Realistically it can never be done (properly) unless the population is stable (it never is in MMO's) and only if the game mechanics are well designed.
What happens when no one wants to be the guy who makes leather armour because few people wear it or because it doesn't sell well? What about guards? How does the game protect people from being ganked? Are you willing to patrol the same streets day in and day out to stop griefers?
The point is while it can work on a small scale (very small scale) it can never really work in a proper virtual world and isn't that what we are all looking for?
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
I think it can work, and in many ways FoM proves it. I'll admit that at first, no npc's and no quests took some getting used to, but now that I'm no longer chained to those concepts of what a game 'should' be, I'm having a ball. There is a certain magical greatness in New York City when it's packed with people and there is no war going on.
The downside is that many of the cities are totally empty....
As i pointed out in my post, there are games that have tried it and have had problems with it. Realistically it can never be done (properly) unless the population is stable (it never is in MMO's) and only if the game mechanics are well designed.
What happens when no one wants to be the guy who makes leather armour because few people wear it or because it doesn't sell well? Armor and weapons decay without the possibility for repair, so there is always a market for goods, especially since there aren't NPCs handing out or dropping gear. What about guards? How does the game protect people from being ganked? Are you willing to patrol the same streets day in and day out to stop griefers? The game doesn't protect people from getting ganked, other players do. Yes, they are willing to guard colonies every day, because there is always protection needed since there is no game mechanic specifically for preventing ganks.
The point is while it can work on a small scale (very small scale) it can never really work in a proper virtual world and isn't that what we are all looking for?
Otherwise your points on things being properly done is purely subjective.
I'm not here to complete my forum PVP dailies.
I hear ultima online had players who formed regular patrols..
If it worked 10 years ago, i think it might work now.