Goblin Squad Member
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Just quickly throwing this out before I go brave the wider world for sustenance, but should characters like Vengarr and Link and other 'staple' running jokes from the Tabletop World get nods in the game or not. Either way I think it would work, although hopefully NOT to the level some games do, which turns it from being a marginally fantasy MMO to 'Swords, Spells and CHUCK NORRIS!' Online.
I can see it being funny, but at the same point it would speed up the growth of the inevitable Barrens Chat cancer in the global channels and could be a bit jarring if in the middle of an extremely tense and attention-grabbing fight or mission, to have one of the NPCs turn around and go "Hey, hey Link, listen!" to the Gnome Fighter or something stupid like that.
Probably not making much sense. I blame the cats for distracting me by sticking their heads into my shoes and then falling over with revolted looks on their faces. The fact that six cats all did it to one pair of shoes, right after each other, makes me think they're setting me up. again.
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World of Warcraft does this all the time. (The Plants vs. Zombies quest was hilarious. The Joust-based quest, a pain in my butt... The Six Demon Bag was a glorious magic item to receive.)
And, for that game, which is inherently 'silly,' I think it's awesome.
I'm not sure I want to see much of that in Pathfinder Online.
OTOH, this is based off of a game system in which a Bard can function off of Perform (comedy), so it's possible that some actual jokes might be built into some quest lines, if not Easter Egg meme-stuff like Huge Manatees or whatnot.
Goblinworks Executive Founder
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A fairy that says "Hey listen" is one thing. Having every fairy say "Hey, listen!" all the time is another. Having huge manatees is ok, but spamming "Oh, the huge manatee!" is not.
All things are good in moderation, but even moderation ought not be taken to excess. No Chuck Norris, no Woodchuck Norris, no Chunky Norris, no Nuck Chorris, none of that. Everything should make sense in the setting, even if it does reference something outside of it.
What about Chuck the Florist?
Hopefully, in this game, the cake isn't a lie.
In my opinion, I think it's great to use things like this, but only in obscure, easter egg type ways.
Like finding The Master's Sword in the middle of a forest, but when you try to pull it out, a voice tells you that you're not the chosen one or something. Nothing major, but a nice little nod to another fandom.
Maybe finding an NPC standing by a lake who complains about some tart throwing a sword at him would be kinda funny.
But the first time I saw someone with a pop-tart cat vanity pet, I'd cancel my service.
EDIT: That last line sounds kind of inflammatory. I'm not making threats. In all honesty, I probably won't even play PFO, not because I am against the idea, but I just realized one day while playing WoW that MMOs just weren't for me. That venue attracts a lot of idiots and douchebags, and it was near impossible to have a serious role playing scenario going on, even on RP servers. So when I made that last comment, I meant it in the most facetious manner possible.
I would not complain if a dusky hued mohawked elven individual known as Mister (single letter here) put in an appearance. But if he does not have a legitimate cause to pity a fool for a course of action, he should not infer said line. And he should be flight-adverse.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Memes that shatter immersion are bad. I'm on the fence on memes with "plausible deniability".
Personally, I'd rather the game avoid as much tongue-in-cheek action as possible, unless the situation is appropriate for it, such as the bard performing, etc.
As for RP opportunities, I agree there's very little chance of that when you have so many people in such a small area. I generally choose RP servers on most games not necessarily because I RP a lot (I RP some) but mostly because I find it much less likely to run across players named Schlongdong (real name I saw in the 5 minutes I tried a non-RP server on SWTOR when our RP server had a queue).
I think there will be ample opportunity for pre-established groups to RP, but just as there are huge negatives and difficulties in random grouping, there are huge negatives and difficulties in random RP. I've often thought it would be interesting for a game to incorporate e-Harmony style personality matching algorithms to just throw players together in the same instance. I don't know how difficult that would be, but there's potentially a huge payoff if people really do form social networks in-game that keep them attached to it.
I'm curious if there will be any instances at all, though. Or if there will even be separate servers. I'm kind of hoping everyone's in the same world, and it might be that limiting the growth over time might make it feasible to not have instanced zones, since people would naturally spread out, and since it's not a Theme Park, there's really no need for everyone to want to be in Zone A instead of Zone B.
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Goblinworks Executive Founder
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Memes that shatter immersion are bad. I'm on the fence on memes with "plausible deniability".
Personally, I'd rather the game avoid as much tongue-in-cheek action as possible, unless the situation is appropriate for it, such as the bard performing, etc.
As for RP opportunities, I agree there's very little chance of that when you have so many people in such a small area. I generally choose RP servers on most games not necessarily because I RP a lot (I RP some) but mostly because I find it much less likely to run across players named Schlongdong (real name I saw in the 5 minutes I tried a non-RP server on SWTOR when our RP server had a queue).
I think there will be ample opportunity for pre-established groups to RP, but just as there are huge negatives and difficulties in random grouping, there are huge negatives and difficulties in random RP. I've often thought it would be interesting for a game to incorporate e-Harmony style personality matching algorithms to just throw players together in the same instance. I don't know how difficult that would be, but there's potentially a huge payoff if people really do form social networks in-game that keep them attached to it.
I'm curious if there will be any instances at all, though. Or if there will even be separate servers. I'm kind of hoping everyone's in the same world, and it might be that limiting the growth over time might make it feasible to not have instanced zones, since people would naturally spread out, and since it's not a Theme Park, there's really no need for everyone to want to be in Zone A instead of Zone B.
I'm hoping for no instances, and eventually transparent non-overlapping servers (each server handles some zones, and hands off players leaving that zone to the server that handles the destination zone). I think that is what people mean by 'one server', rather than a limitation on the remote hardware.
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Goblinworks Executive Founder
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Now why would a Batman villian (Mr.E) pity fools?
The dark-hued mohawked individual would have initials B.A. His friend, Mr. Smith, would love to do all the planning. As long as everything makes perfect sense in context, without getting the reference, the reference isn't bad. When things stop making sense in context (Florists delivering roundhouse kicks, or objects that don't interact normally) then it degenerates.
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Goblin Squad Member
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As long as everything makes perfect sense in context, without getting the reference, the reference isn't bad.
I kind of disagree with this. If I'm playing along, and I suddenly run across a clear reference to the A-Team, even if there's "plausible deniability", I'm going to groan and roll my eyes.
I don't really know what the right answer is here. I imagine there are some people who really enjoy these kinds of nuggets. I don't. For my part, I'd rather they weren't in game.
Now, as for characters from Pathfinder novels, etc., being in-game, that's a very different situation. After all, this is the world they're from.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Well, one example of a clear reference would be a cigar-smoking leader in a white jacket and black gloves, with a burly, dark-skinned, mohawk-sporting sidekick. That right there would turn me off, and that doesn't even reference Face or Murdock.
Basically, if I get the Pop Culture reference, and it's obvious to me that it was intentional, then it's going to disappoint me.
But I reiterate, I understand that some people enjoy these things, and I try very hard not to impose my values on others, so I really don't know what the "right" answer is.
From an RP perspective, anything that breaks immersion is bad, and Pop Culture references are going to break immersion.
Speaking of Pop Culture references, has anyone here seen Somewhere in Time? (Note, this is not the HG Wells time travel movie, Time After Time). It stars Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.
If you're at all inclined to take my recommendation on a great Romance movie, please track it down and watch it before joining me in the Spoiler for a discussion of that movie and why it's relevant to this thread.