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What fascinates you in RL that you'd like in your MMO?
Amaranthar
Member EpicPosts: 5,851
Sometimes it seems to me that gamers these days don't seem to be interested in anything "real", and that's reflected in MMORPG's.
But that's an unfair thought. So I thought I'd ask to see what sorts of interesting things from the real world players would like to see reflected in their games.
Many things, like for example construction, are in many MMO's but not to nearly the degree of "realism". Most don't have decay or destruction of construction, and few have any depth at all to construction.
That's something I'd like to see a lot more depth in.
Another thing I'd like to see is Gemstones, cutting, size and clarity, etc., so as to have more of a value to the whole concept of gems, rarity, and trade in gemstones and jewelry. I'd like to be able to close in on the view of gems to see their beauty or lack thereof. I'd like to trade, mine, or discover rough gemstones with the idea of cutting and polishing in hopes of increasing value. And I'd like to see gemstones holding more powerful versions of magic by their various aspects, so that larger gemstones can hold magic that does greater damage, and clarity affects range, and some system of that sort to enhance the whole picture of gemstones.
There's got to be a lot of things players might want to see added or expanded on in their MMORPG's.
Got any ideas, desires, or pet peeves along these line?
But that's an unfair thought. So I thought I'd ask to see what sorts of interesting things from the real world players would like to see reflected in their games.
Many things, like for example construction, are in many MMO's but not to nearly the degree of "realism". Most don't have decay or destruction of construction, and few have any depth at all to construction.
That's something I'd like to see a lot more depth in.
Another thing I'd like to see is Gemstones, cutting, size and clarity, etc., so as to have more of a value to the whole concept of gems, rarity, and trade in gemstones and jewelry. I'd like to be able to close in on the view of gems to see their beauty or lack thereof. I'd like to trade, mine, or discover rough gemstones with the idea of cutting and polishing in hopes of increasing value. And I'd like to see gemstones holding more powerful versions of magic by their various aspects, so that larger gemstones can hold magic that does greater damage, and clarity affects range, and some system of that sort to enhance the whole picture of gemstones.
There's got to be a lot of things players might want to see added or expanded on in their MMORPG's.
Got any ideas, desires, or pet peeves along these line?
Once upon a time....
Comments
It shoots the one on the right in the image below......
So there's no need to explain "outside" to me.
But what's that got to do with adding depth to MMORPG's?
Once upon a time....
There's so much that can be4 added to a game if you first add more depth in "natural" things.
Once upon a time....
Do you gamers ever start to realize that your thinking has been controlled?
Once upon a time....
I'd love to see more realistic logic and consequences in MMOs.
Survival games have features like thirst and hunger to simulate reality, this creates tension and impending danger when you scavenge for supplies. That's a kind of realism I can appreciate and enjoy. Realistic simulations that intensifies a dramatic situation.
As far as logic goes, I'd just love to see more game mechanics that made sense. Not to mention design choices.
I understand that fantasy universes have dragons and magic and multiple realms of mindfuckery.
But if you borrow tools from the real world, that are supposed to work like their realistic counterparts, then don't bloody make them impossibly inaccurate or malfunctional looking.
I'm talking about armour and weapons of ludicrous appearances, without proper consideration for other factors.
It's one thing to have a "buster sword". It's another thing entirely to be able to swing such a sword around, only to somehow not automatically kill or utterly destroy everything you hit with it, unless the laws of physics in the game universe works differently. Which typically, from the looks of it, is not the case. Now that just doesn't make sense.
If you're gonna play around with the laws of physics, the least you can do as an author is to make it consistent. ... wow, sorry about that rant :P
Basically, I want more ways to be creative and inventive than simply chopping down a tree and building a house and then filling it with pre-designed furniture.
There could even be rare materials, clays, pigments, fabrics or jewels that other players can harvest to provide to the artists for a fee.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
first, the solid foundation that provides players with a foundation of "logical" familiarity (boring but needed).
Second, the foundation to build the fantasy on top of, that gives it all "immersion".
Third, fantastic depth.
Fourth, much greater game play via all the stages that affect multiple things.
"Realistic simulations that intensifies a dramatic situation."
You hit an important thing here. With realistic simulations, you have a backdrop that players can use to figure things out, to be challenged by, and to overcome.
MMO's feel very "staged". They should feel more like a game with winning, losing, and a range of outcomes in between as you face challenges, explore and learn.
Once upon a time....
For example, if the sun moves in a logical pattern (it doesn't have to rise in the east in a game world, just rise on the same horizon)...........
-you can use that to head in the right general direction
-you can use that in places where you can't always see the sun to determine what side of trees the moss grows on if you don't already know.
If there's a "North Star" or known constellations you can use that for general directions.
Huge rivers can guide you.
Lakes with unique fish can clue you in.
You can play a much deeper Ranger type character because you learn aspects of the game like that, and couple it with "skills" (catch fish, recognize animal tracks, recognize types of moss, skills that speed up a players own efforts) to figure your general location.
Realism adds to game play possibilities.
Once upon a time....
I like medieval fantasy, so I'm thinking more along the lines of watermills and then adding more stuff like rack and pinion mechanics ....
to build up a system that players can use to power movement of things like heavy stone sliding doors.
Powered by weight (water) or air (wind). Maybe add in elephant/bull/Troll power systems.
But that system in a MMORPG would be more likely based on "send" codes rather than real physics. Like opening a door, basically pushing a code button and it sends the movement to the target.
With that, you can change the "buttons" and the targets to shift the same system to electronic and chemicals (especially the bubbling/explosive types) for Sci-Fi or Steampunk games.
Imagine Steampunk with that! (Maybe it's already been done to some degree?)
The game would basically be stacking "send" codes according to the player's constructions to cause things to go 'round and move things. Think of the possibilities.
Once upon a time....
A miner might uncover a huge supply of iron and found a town nearby. The town grows very large after a month until the supply of iron dries up. People move on and the town becomes a small village of those who want to settle down.
Dynamic game systems are content that can be reused over and over in a huge variety of ways. I can't play games with only static content. I don't want to consume. I want to explore and be in wonder.
On the sailing front, I grew up racing dinghies, competing at local and national level. I'd love to see proper sailing in a game! Most games that have sailing are just point-and-go - no real skill involved in trimming sails, setting courses, balancing the boat or anything like that. There aren't even any "proper" single player games with good sailing.
Now, the image is of an RS800, its a 2-man dingy. Very fast, very technical but great fun. You couldn't have something like that in a fantasy game but I'd love to see something like this in a apocalyptic game. Actually, just give me a waterworld MMO! Would be the perfect game to implement proper sailing, alongside being able to build / customise your boats. Add in weapons, multiplayer features etc and suddenly sailing becomes an integral and fun feature.
On the extreme sports side, I'm talking skateboarding, rollerblading, rollerskating, skiiing and snowboarding primarily. I suck at all of them in real life but I love watching and love computer games with them. Couldn't have them in a fantasy MMO, but would love to see it in some other settings. I'm a particular fan of the Skate games and their control methods. I'd love an actual MMO set around extreme sports - could be massive, open world with instanced skateparks. Would be the perfect sandbox setting - players could create their own races / challenges / skateparks, setup their own skate companies to sell boards to other players, sponsor players and stuff. For quests, you could have instanced skate competitions, either against AI or real people. For expansions, add in rollerblades and bmx's. Maybe there could be a winter sports expansion to open up the Alps as a travel destination?
Edit: Nvm, creating assets for such a game would probably increase several times over.
A rack and pinion would be just a mechanical part that would naturally be used for mills but with ingenuity on the player's part, a way to make a forge blower or mobile tree cutter is also possible.
The art cost of that would be pretty high (4-6x) but maybe if it was reused often, it could be worth it?
Makes me think of, what if instead of Crowfall having seasons (winter and maybe rainy, dry, and normal), it was a world constantly shifting in time. At one time you are in a Primitive era, now you are in a Medieval one. Gotta adapt to the new technology but just long enough before you may go back in time where you don't have access to keep your high tech stuff functioning.
With procedurally generated worlds, you could have the same world reformed into something similar but different. And you could swap out current era critters for past that are more or less the same thing in a different skin. So a tiger becomes a T-rex, etc.
I think such a system might have to limited time travel to specific time periods. So that players find a Time Travel Device and it takes them to exactly 1 million years into the past.
And this Time Travel Device could be something that has "slots" that dictate how far into the past you go, so that new content can be added as the game progresses. Maybe those slots take a magical gem with a specific spell power, and new spells for different times can be added later as content is added.
Honestly, I don't think there's any limits to ideas, just how they are designed.
Once upon a time....
To find a realistic gameplay depiction of sailing, I'd have to go all the way back to 1987, to a game called "The Ancient Art of War at Sea".
edit: although, hey, I just ran across this: www.sailsimulator.com
Times have changed
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
As far as UO goes, I always found it really hard to see anything in that game, and the whole value of breeding ornamental flowers is being able to look at them. But it sounds like a good resource for someone designing a plant growing system for an MMO.
You would learn by grouping with players who knew the language you wanted to learn. They would just chat in the language and slowly, as you learned it, what they were saying started to make sense.
VG
You could also cross breed them to get new plant types.
They also had plant diseases, plus ways to avoid that by pouring potions on them as they grew.
I think it should be very feasible to design a very robust farming system.
Such designs, if they are done right, usually also create demands on the players. Time and dedication. To me that's a good thing, but a game could also choose to remove that by their own design choices. That's something up to an individual overall game design, for anyone or for the dedicated...what kind of game does one want.
I love the idea of artistic creation game play. But that's something that players will abuse to the detriment to the game (sexual, political, etc., in-yer-face stuff). That's another thing to consider in a design, but it's possible to make systems that don't have that (which takes away the freedom to create). Another design decision.
UO had a system for making statues of one of your characters, out of several types of materials.
I can see a 3D game allowing players to make statues of anything in the game, in various sizes, out of various materials, gilding them with gold or partially, etc.
For any new game with player built cities this seems like a benefit, to me.
Once upon a time....
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
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Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"