| Khanquer |
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Most people never fully grasp what truely ruined an MMO for them. You can point at a myriad of issues, but the true culprit is there in front of you.
Immortality.
Here is where people start ranting about 'Permanent Death', as if Death needed the word 'permanent' placed in front of it in regards to an MMO.
A great deal of the gaming community are now 'elite' players. Not the majority, mind you, but that will change quite soon.
It is only a matter of time before millions of common gamers in the world become to unchallenged by the game box immortality that today's MMO models build upon.
Forums like these are generally filled, at start, by elite gamers looking for something better than the before. Sadly, I have yet to discover a single game that targets the millions of elite gamers in the world, so we are forced to pick and choose from our limited, dwindling to easy mode upon creation, stock of MMOs.
You start up a regular Dice and Paper gaming adventure, give all the immortality and then continue... They can't die. They can only be forced to revive (or go back to START without collectiong $200). Big deal.
Just like in Dice and Paper, we all 'built up' characters and it was sad to see them die at times...and STAY DEAD, but that added a LOT to the game. Most MMOs are now Free to Play, so players can no longer rant with, "Im not paying to build up a character and lose it!".
Adding Death to an MMO would give us all a nice awakening to real potential of a virtual adventure together.
It is because there is no death in MMOs (and a lot of non MMO) games that lead a gamer to losing interest.
Imagine a game without GameBox Immortality:
"Your group enters the dungeon, immediately weary of a group nearby. No one is ever real sure of strangers' intentions, especially so far from a city and protection. You know that group of players is sizing you up, mainly because they know they might have to defend themsevles against you.
Parlay begins between your group leader and theirs and some textual/verbal ground is made and each group goes a seperate direction in the dungeon.
As your group progresses, a slip up of the tank lets one of the dps get aggro, briefly, but that dps' heart rate SHOT UP immensely because she knows if she doesn't redirect aggro soon, she will die.
The healer redirects the generated aggro off of the dps and the dps praises the healer for it.
WOW? What was that? Depending on the situation, that experience may resonate for hours, days, months or even years for those involved.
The group has one of the harder, rarer professions in it. A profession only played by the most patient and challenge desiring gamers, but that profession gives a lot of interesting benefits if a group has one along. Such a player manages to detect that a small ambush player group is farther ahead in the dungeon and awaits the chance to pounce on this group of 'just randomly met' adventurers.
The decision to risk this confrontation alone is enough to turn away a LOT of players, but for this example, we will carry forward. The group prepares via buffs, scrolls, pvp gear, etc... for the confrontation.
Ahead, the ambush group has a player scout around the corner. The scout knows players are coming along, but has been generally carried up in levels by friends and doesn't really consider that any group could pose a challenge to his friends. After all, 'they raided WoW and EQ2 together on pvp servers.(He likes to brag about his friends.)' The scout is partially lax in his reporting to the ambush party. "Group of 5. Looks like the typical make up, no sweat."
What they don't know is that the group coming around the corner is not only prepared for the confrontation, expecting it and wanting it, but that they are all master crafters carrying expendable items, such as powerful potions, that will help insure their victory.
The group leader of the non-ambush group reviews the lay out of the dungeon, realizing that the ambushers are using a non-mob area to attack from and that at some point, wandering patrols will threaten his group unless he can get the ambushers to move back some by appealling to the ambush group's lack of discipline. (which is carried over in abundance from GameBox Immortality games)
Coming into range of the ambushers, the group gets ambushed...
To the surprise of the ambushers...when they realize real challenge is upon them...the lesser disciplined 2 players make a dash for 'survival' issues (they don't want there beloved characters to die!), which leaves the odds greatly favored towards our main group winning...which they do with a great deal of challenge."
Now, what an EXPERIENCE!!!???!
If this were a typical GameBox Immortality MMO, the players would barely feel this event and would have committed to such a situation with barely any noticeable care or excitement and the memory of the experience would quickly fade away... just go repair your gear while we wait on you to sneak/invis/get summoned back to the group already!
Death opens a PLETHORA of doors that GameBox Immortality permanently keeps closed. Doors of wonderment and excitement of what can be done in an MMO in bringing it to a worthy experience.
Friendships mean more, item acquisition means a LOT more, treasure is worth bragging about, socializing is more meaningful, crafting becomes paramount, every upgrade is 'worth the time!', etc...
I know long ago, I learned to dread the loss of my character's corpse, but even that became mundane as the full realization of the fact that my character was immortal sank in. It is only a matter of time before the fact that every character in almost all games are immortal. Just like BORING facebook games, you can NOT fail!!! What fun is that?
I want to challenge the Gods like I did in EQ1, except this time...when they lay waste to the raid...it's permanent. What an exciting memory that would be! "OMG... last night, we entered one of the lower planes underprepared...dreams of glory and treasure...but all we did was get a full scale wipe... lost it all, but it was so exciting! Especially when we seen the planes denizens dividing up all the loot they got off of our corpses. We had already obtained so much loot, why did we continue?"
Can you imagine the impact death in an MMO would have? Just try it. Look for the positives, not the common rants of the short minded, lesser experienced gamers. If I wanted a game that was easy and offered my character free immortality, Id still be playing UO, EQ, WoW, etc... I just can't hack those anymore...
Those MMOs merely serve to prepare us for the future of gaming where the death of your character is feared and respected.
And...Id like to see a Murderers guild survive for long. Player-Killing on site Murderer guilds only thrive in worlds where you can not die. Take away their revive and it will go back to being a challenging, dangerous path like it once was.
How many of us smirk when we hear anyone bragging about a present day MMO character? A celebration of mediocrity!
Make a WoW or EQ2 'death' server and I'd be all over that. As it is right now, elite gamers are no longer attracted to what is on the market.
I can daydream about Pathfinder at the very least offering us a server without GameBox Immortality, just as I can dream of aliens picking me up and keeping me as a pampered pet.