Goblin Squad Member
|
I am curious what you think about potential player generated content in a fantasy setting MMO?
Obviously a completely player driven economy creates lots to do ... finding and fighting over resources. Recipe acquiition and execution....
But what else?
Player built settlements take a lot of resources, organization and defending....
what else?
will there be a way to have an ambitious chartered company host a traveling "carnival" of jousting and combat tournaments?
what things can you think of?
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I think they should add more and more player generated content over the years. In no particular order and keeping in mind some of these could be implemented YEARS after the full release:
Player made dungeons and quests
Player run arena PVP (Gladitorial Combat both fatal and non-fatal)
Player built race tracks and obstacle courses / player run races
Player written books, signs, and scrolls
Player made music for bards
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Player written books, signs, and scrolls
Player made music for bards
What are some ways that could be incorporated?
Maybe something like the RPG superstar where each year there is a writing contest and a seperate music contest?
Actually I bet we could come up with 12 such contests, one per month. At the end of the month of voting the winner's (insert monthly contest here) is actually added to the game.
12 things....
1) Fan fiction piece (sold in-game shop?)
2) Bard song
3) A spell
4) A weapon recipe
5) A piece of clothing/armor
6) A new food or drink for the tavern
7) A monster
8) A NPC with quest arc
9) A dungeon hook
10) A mythic item at the end of a quest chain
11) A new structure blueprint
12) ??? mystery contest each year ends with something different and epic... (Design a deity, design a holiday, design a raid...something epic)
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I believe that UGC (User Generated Content) is the way to go in the long term. The less this game plays like a theme park, the better it will have as a game that will last for years.
Also having UGC will reduce the amount of time the Devs have to put into generating quest content themselves. The Devs could then focus on releasing new zones or epic quest lines (that are done once!)
UGC will allow for the game to remain subscription based, rather than fall into the micro transactions - pay-to-win model.
Give us a living, breathing world to populate, interact with and mold with our actions. Don't give us a world where everyone has run through the same dungeon 50 times in the hopes of getting that rare drop.
At least one pitfall of UGC is that quests can be crafted to be harvested. The Devs would have to look out for this exploit right from the get go!
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I posted this in a topic on books and something similar in one on music. LotRO had a great music system but it was mainly used to play real world music that I found highly immersion breaking, which is why I favor this:
Player Content Approval System
In order to get a book you write published you need X approval points. You get approval points by going to other players and asking them to approve your book.
Later a moderator may come scan over your book. Especially if your book gets flagged by someone. If they find it is trash, then you and everyone who approved your book looses player-content reputation. That means it takes more points for your content to get approved, and they have less approval points. If a moderator ever comes through, reads your book, and decided it's really great you, and the people who approved your content get MORE player-content reputation. Meaning it takes less points to get your content approved and they can give it more approval points.
Books would either be submitted as instruction books or lore books. Instruction books would be required to give useful information to the reader, and lore books would be required to fit the Pathfinder setting and be a good read and/or source or lore.
For instance comedic story about a 20ft. tall goblin with fire breath might be acceptable but a story about sparkling vampires that takes place in Azeroth would not.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
How to distribute PGC (player generated content), assuming it is found acceptible to the developer?
For example, if I design a dungeon, populate it with puzzles, traps, mobs, and rewards, I'll know all there is to know about it. It wouldn't be quite kosher for me to turn around and pillage the place.
So it seems to me like my dungeon should be added to a table of dynamic random dungeons, and I should never know where it might pop up.
So what would be the mechanism by which such a dungeon might become available to players?
I'd suggest that when such a dungeon is approved the developer would identify an appropriate spot for its entrance to appear to a player with a particular map that shows the area. That map would have been discovered somewhere in a container of some sort: the skeleton of a fallen adventurer, a chest in some ruins, or a scroll case discovered in an antique shop in an NPC town.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
during my very short period trying Ryzom, I joined
-a royal wedding (major RP event with non-scripted drama),
-a fashion pageant/beauty contest (with large cash prizes),
-territory control wars,
-guided cross-continent treks,
-and (watched) horseback races.
In PFO i expect lot of the action to take place within settlements and kingdoms. I enough people realize that the purpose of playing the game is not to win but to have fun - then I have great hopes.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I think a truly user controlled economy would be great too, especially with discovery based item creation. For example, you can only buy low to mid level items, after that every item you want you have to go to a player merchant to get the item. No auction house, just a player. Also, that merchant has to discover that recipe himself, he cant just go online and google how to make the item. You don't tell the players what they can make, you just let the crafters experiment. and eventually they make something cool. It is in the players best interest to keep that recipe a secrete cause now he is the only one that knows how to make it. I want to say Star Wars Galaxies did something similar, where there were no Jedi in the game for the first year then after 1 year they enabled Jedi without telling anyone. All of a sudden 2 people instantly became Jedi. Not knowing how or why. Eventually a few other became Jedi too and people started to compare notes. After about a year of this people figured out what it took to become a Jedi. Now, what would happen if for crafting it worked the same why, and limit it a bit further as to when you can craft certain Items. Only on sundays or only when there is a full moon or only on the 15th of the month. and just cause you made it once, you might not be able to figure out how you made it, accidents happen in all fantasy settings. It might be a bit frustrating but the people that stick with it will become master crafters and have their name recognized throughout the game. Also, if you're the first to make an Item, you should be allowed to name it. The last point I fear is inflation, that is what killed Eve online for me, Having too much money and not enough to spend it on. That's why I suggested that only low level items be bought in stores. this will mean that junk is cheap but everything useful is player price controlled and the GMs will have to balance and rebalanced the economy, maybe say that all items are worth a set fraction of another player created item.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
P.S. Sorry about the rant.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
A simple form of PGC is what was used in Earth & Beyond (if any of you remember that).
We could generate random missions by choosing a number of option from a menu. The more menu options, the more unique the missions would be.
For example: Location, Party Size, Level of Difficulty and Reward(Risk / Reward), Main Boss type, Main Mob type, PVP enabled? etc...
It is very controlled, and so the devs would not have to worry about a misison being developed for the purpose of farming accolades (like they have in STO) or farming gold, etc..
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Now, what would happen if for crafting it worked the same way, and limit it a bit further as to when you can craft certain Items. Only on sundays or only when there is a full moon or only on the 15th of the month. and just cause you made it once, you might not be able to figure out how you made it, accidents happen in all fantasy settings. It might be a bit frustrating but the people that stick with it will become master crafters and have their name recognized throughout the game.
This sounds so cool, and could be used to craft unique items.
I posted this in a topic on books and something similar in one on music. LotRO had a great music system but it was mainly used to play real world music that I found highly immersion breaking, which is why I favor this:
Player Content Approval System
In order to get a book you write published you need X approval points. You get approval points by going to other players and asking them to approve your book.
Later a moderator may come scan over your book. Especially if your book gets flagged by someone. If they find it is trash, then you and everyone who approved your book looses player-content reputation. That means it takes more points for your content to get approved, and they have less approval points. If a moderator ever comes through, reads your book, and decided it's really great you, and the people who approved your content get MORE player-content reputation. Meaning it takes less points to get your content approved and they can give it more approval points.
Books would either be submitted as instruction books or lore books. Instruction books would be required to give useful information to the reader, and lore books would be required to fit the Pathfinder setting and be a good read and/or source or lore.
For instance comedic story about a 20ft. tall goblin with fire breath might be acceptable but a story about sparkling vampires that takes place in Azeroth would not.
All this will do in effect is to allow large guilds to block publication by any small guild or group they have taken a dislike to. If the goons you worry about do ever come to PFO they would have great fun with your suggestion.
I still play Lotro and while it is true the music system is used to play real world music they are translations of real world music and I cannot really say that I find them immersion breaking a lot of them aren't even easily recognisable. Ban real world music and you would reduce the use of this system to virtually nil as the only people who could use it is those capable of composing something.
Pagan
Pax Aeturnum
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I still play Lotro and while it is true the music system is used to play real world music they are translations of real world music and I cannot really say that I find them immersion breaking a lot of them aren't even easily recognizable. Ban real world music and you would reduce the use of this system to virtually nil as the only people who could use it is those capable of composing something.
I'm pretty sure that is the idea. People who are talented at writing, whether it is music, short stories, or fan websites should be encouraged to do so. While I might not have the talent to do something like this I would benefit from those who do.
I play currently on Landroval when in Lotro, the inn and the stage are pretty well used by people playing music, if the quantity of people playing were to drop by a significant amount which this proposal would entail then I think it would be a sad thing.
The music can only be heard in a fairly limited area, and you also have the option to disable the player music if you wish. Both of these means it is easy to avoid the music that you do not like.
What it does mean in addition that those who wish to play a minstrel have the ability to rp the minstrels very reason for existence. Entertaining folks. I can only recommend people visit the Prancing pony area in Landroval before making up their minds, Lotro is free to play so there is no barrier.
My main point however is giving players the ability to decide what is and isn't good rp wise which is basically what this is all about, player generated fluff, is a recipe for griefing. No two groups of rp'ers will ever agree on whether rp is good or bad. They all have their own definition. For instance some on Lotro would want elves banned from going to Bree if they had their way as it broke the lore.
If you find some piece of rp you don't like, move away. A book published in game you don't approve of don't read it etc. Live and let live has to be the order of the day when it comes to rp fluff.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
When I think of player made content, I think of two broad categories: events and plot-lines. For my first post in this thread, let me stick to events. For 7 years in Ultima Online, this is what I ate, drank, and breathed. Whether small, intimate affairs within a single guild or shard wide events open to the public, the majority of my time was spent running events for the enjoyment of fellow players. Below is a list of events that I scribbled up on the TEO boards, just to give an example. These were divided based on the guilds within TEO, but could be adapted for any similar guild or group acting as the event host:
Military Events:
1. Tournament - Whether mounted (if we have mounts) or on foot, a competition of skill among participants. This could be in-house, held with allies as friendly competition, or an open public event. Having a trophy, especially if it is between allied guilds, might be something to covet and afford the winning guild bragging rights until the next tournament.
2. Drilling Competition - Especially since formation fighting is expected in-game, you could have competing guild regiments strutting their drilling best. Each competing group would be given a series of formation changes, maneuvers, etc. The one that performs the best would win.
3. Teamwork Trials - In a nasty area previously scouted, teams of a set number of soldiers would have to maneuver from one side of the "field" to the other. The objective would be to reach the other side within a set amount of time, while dispatching as many local nasties as possible. Event organizers could have already scouted the area and determined the types of critters in the zone. Each kill would be awarded a set number of points based on how dangerous it was. Each group member death would deduct points from the group's total. This would test not only combat skill, but how well the group worked together and could reach a set destination on time.
4. Community Training - The community's more skilled soldiers could offer public training, including combat tips, advice on weapon use, armor selection, and tactics. The lessons might culminate with participants being taken on a tour through a set course that is known to offer varying levels of challenge.
5. Caravan - A caravan of perhaps the same aligned guilds, providing practice for scouts, merchants, and warriors/guards. if their route was known by less seemly guilds, getting the goods through to safety could be quite an epic adventure.
Ranger/Scout Oriented Events:
1. Great Hunt - the event organizers could lead a grand hunt for big game. Competition for the best kill might result in the awarding of prizes or simply bragging rights until the next hunt.
2. Scavenger Hunt - Participants would compete to find a list of wild items (harvestable plants, animal pelts, ore, a certain type of humanoid's weapon [goblin sword], etc.). The first one to bring them back to the starting line wins.
3. Road Rally - A set number of difficult-to-reach locations would be chosen and judges would be waiting at each with some sort of unique token to prove that the contestants had reached each location. The contestants might know the locations in advance and need to plan the best route or they might only learn the next destination from the judge at the location they just reached. First one to reach all the locations with all the necessary tokens wins.
4. Archery Contest - If archery buttes with scoring exist, you could sponsor an archery contest (annual, monthly, etc.). Besides prizes, you could have a Greatest Archer's Cup that goes home with the winner each time to be proudly displayed at their settlement. The winner would bring it back to the next contest to defend their title.
5. Trivia Contest - Based on locations, animal & nature lore, etc.
Community Building Events:
1. Meet & Greet Patrols - Members could pack up with free items (food, equipment, etc.) and tour the areas more likely populated by newer/lower skilled characters. They could greet, heal, hand out their "welcome to the world" items, and offer to answer questions or lend assistance. Of course, if these people were seeking a company to join, participants could point them in the direction of their own settlements.
2. Mentor Match-up - Host a gathering where new players/characters can visit with members from various guilds. It would be a time for newer players to meet our community's seasoned veterans and ask questions, plan future interactions, apply as apprentices, etc.
3. Ally Exchange Program - Members of a particular guild could meet up with their counterparts from one of their allied companies and spend a week living with them in that ally's settlement - learning their ways, making friends, strengthening ties, etc. After the visit was through, the hosting counterpart would then enjoy the other party's hospitality for a week.
4. Search and Rescue - Community members of a more compassionate nature could patrol the more dangerous areas looking for injured or dead characters and giving aid.
5. Community Ball or Festival - Most games now have dance emotes. A community ball/dance/festival could be held with food, drink, dancing, storytelling, games (if they are available in the game...UO had dice, chess, checkers, backgammon), and more. A great way to meet new people without doing anything too serious. I once had a lunchbox auction at one such festival...the ladies filled boxes with food, drink, etc., and the gentlemen bid for them - for both the box and the company of the lady who packed it. The proceeds went to my charity fund for new/PKed players.
Knowledge/"Mage-esque" Events:
1. Trivia Contest - Questions about history, lore, religion, spells, etc.
2. Book Sale/Exchange - If there are writable books in-game, people could buy/sell/swap for books that players have written in hopes of filling their shelves.
3. Wizards' Duels - Like the Argent Guard's tournament, but between spell casters.
4. Song/Poetry/Story Writing or Telling Competition - Just what it says.
5. Tarot Card Readings or Fortune Telling - Either using the real thing or just RPing it.
Mercantile Events:
1. Auction - Members can either sell their own raw materials and finished goods, or take in other people's goods and collect a commission on the sale.
2. Barter Day - People are invited to barter for goods rather than buy/sell.
3. Community Market - The hosting party organizes a market of not only their goods, but invite other community members to set up shop as well. Crafters could sell/trade existing stock, take orders, etc.
4. The Best Crafter - Depending on how quickly items can be crafted and recipes customized, crafters of the same type (smiths, alchemists, etc.) could compete for who could fashion the best item of a particular type.
5. The Best Pitch - Members are provided random (often comical) items that they have then try to sell to the judges with the best impromptu sales pitch they can come up with.
This is just a sampling. The list is as long as your imagination. With even a few of these events occurring a month, the PFO player base could enjoy a wonderful degree of player networking and community fun.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
What Hobs is showing is what I truly wish to see, and the fact is that many of these things are doable in several modern MMO's. My hope is that we will build a community focused on enjoying our trip in PFO and not just a rush to get better gear to go "pernonin" noobs.
What it comes down to is us, we need to be a strong community that supports each other and the events/roleplay atmosphere, even for those who do not wish to RP. We need to band up against griefers and put a stop to the bad types early on.
Now, if the devs do give us more tools to create content, there are even more possibilities. If not, addons can handle part of the strain as long as they let some freedom there.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
One huge advantage of UGC/PGC is that it overcomes the issue of many games becoming bottom heavy with way too much investment in things that keep the new player (and hence real world cashflow provider)happy.
The tendency is for UGC/PGC to be done by experienced players who are far less inclined than the dev team to provide stuff only suitable for beginners.
One huge advantage of UGC/PGC is that it overcomes the issue of many games becoming bottom heavy with way too much investment in things that keep the new player (and hence real world cashflow provider)happy.
The tendency is for UGC/PGC to be done by experienced players who are far less inclined than the dev team to provide stuff only suitable for beginners.
We have never played an mmo that ignored the veteran players and catered to the new players. Our time on the other plan, which is host to earth, has shown us that most sandbox titles such as UO and SWG, before it tried to emulate a theme park title, actually catered to the veteran players while adding very little for beginners to do. Most theme park MMO's also ignore beginner content in favor of veteran players.
We do love the mission architect from city of heroes, lots of crazy fun that was. It often had content to do for all player ranges. It also often had specialized grinds made so it could be used to speed level.
SWG had some amazing player run story events that encouraged role play between participants. A lot of things such as Hobs has mentioned were done successfully on a few servers in swg and the game was better for it.
We cast our votes In favor of any fun or cool player created happenings in the river kingdoms, sandbox is after all a place for our imaginations to run wild and for us to created the world we want to play in.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
We do love the mission architect from city of heroes, lots of crazy fun that was. It often had content to do for all player ranges. It also often had specialized grinds made so it could be used to speed level.
The Mission Architect in City of Heroes was a fantastic idea, as well as a spectacular disaster, so a lot of lessons can be taken from that example.
In short: people suck.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
As Akanaaz suggested, such events work best when a community is interested in participating in such events (a community market day, for instance, needs people willing to sell and buy things), but it requires only a few dedicated event planners to keep the ball rolling. Whereas most players will be interested in their own character's progress, some people, like myself, will spend most of their time creating such events and networking players/groups to increase public knowledge and participation in those activities.
Likewise, I would love to see each guild have a plot-manager of sorts. Not only would that someone be working on plots internally (for their own guild), but they would be a contact person for that guild within the community as a whole - providing other plot managers with an easily identifiable touchstone-person when the plot manager from one guild wished to weave a plot they're running into another guild. When I speak of plots, I mean unscripted, free-flowing story arcs where the decisions and actions of those who find themselves involved determine the direction of the plot. I have found in the past that the best way to manage a plot is to put it in motion and let it go. Periodically you toss other wrenches into the mix, have your NPC-style plot characters (made specifically for the plot and usually deleted afterwards) help drop clues here and there, etc., but for the most part, you just roll with how others respond. After all, if players do not feel that their actions have real impact on the course of a story, then they are reduced to extras in a movie who are handed their designated part and scripts rather than feeling like stars of an impromptu, unscripted play.
What Hobs is showing is what I truly wish to see, and the fact is that many of these things are doable in several modern MMO's. My hope is that we will build a community focused on enjoying our trip in PFO and not just a rush to get better gear to go "pernonin" noobs.
What it comes down to is us, we need to be a strong community that supports each other and the events/roleplay atmosphere, even for those who do not wish to RP. We need to band up against griefers and put a stop to the bad types early on.
Now, if the devs do give us more tools to create content, there are even more possibilities. If not, addons can handle part of the strain as long as they let some freedom there.
I couldn't agree more. That's why in the thread about Arenas I think there is potential to have events where characters can compete, win prizes even get their names known by others which can create the type of RP rivalry that brings players back to those events because they want to beat that guy who won the last tourney, or that got the prize etc.. If we could get a bit of Dev help creating leader boards that would be great. If not then so long as we can write on scrolls and in books, we can create or own, it'll just not be as easy nor as widely known about. (I hope this makes sense)
Hobs idea about having 1 go to person in a guild for RP, storyline type events is an excellent idea, pretty much like a guild "event planner" lol . But really it would help bring guilds into events and really speed up what is usually a "teeth pulling" process. :P
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When I think of player made content, I think of two broad categories: events and plot-lines. For my first post in this thread, let me stick to events. For 7 years in Ultima Online, this is what I ate, drank, and breathed. Whether small, intimate affairs within a single guild or shard wide events open to the public, the majority of my time was spent running events for the enjoyment of fellow players. Below is a list of events that I scribbled up on the TEO boards, just to give an example. These were divided based on the guilds within TEO, but could be adapted for any similar guild or group acting as the event host:
Lots of cool ideas:
I love this!
Trade events should try and fall on Oathday if possible (game time, as it is the equivalent of Thursday for us mere Earthlings).
Rather than tarot cards, I'd switch it to the Harrow Deck, to keep it within the Lore.
Other than these two suggestions, I'd keep it as is, as it is sheer brilliance!
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My first list of 25 events were events that those kinds of groups could host in-game for the public at large. This list consists of events that would be run to challenge/entertain one or more of those kinds of groups, such as by their guild's event planner or from an outside source. These are far more role-played in nature, with some requiring participation from a number of people, even from a guild's allies or role-played enemy companies. My hope is that the community will develop good out-of-character relations, with good and evil guild leadership having OOC ties with one another for their guild's mutual role-played benefit.
Warrior Group:
1. Search & Rescue - A distressed character has approached the guild to help find a captured relative. The relative would need to have stealthing skills and would be positioned in a dangerous location (e.g. a camp or cave near a monster spawn).
2. Support Your Local Sheriff - A sheriff or other law enforcement figure has come to the group for aid. They are transporting a criminal elsewhere for trial, but his cohorts are trying to free him before his delivery. The sheriff is asking for help in fending off the criminal's friends. This would likely require several enemy guild members to pull off, and could be a good launching point for further RPed interaction between the guilds involved.
3. Aid and Protect - A woman has come to the group's camp/keep/tower/settlement and is asking for asylum. She is a witness to a crime and is fleeing from the hired assassin sent to kill her. The assassin would likely need rogue skills. As long as the woman and assassin players were willing, this could stretch over many days and really test the group's security.
4. Escort - A rich merchant wishes to hire the group as an escort to get from point A to B. The path required for travel could pose some challenge, but planned events along the way could also make it fun.
5. The Curse - One of the group finds a master-craft or even magic weapon, but it's cursed. Slowly, the character's personality begins to change (possibly more foolhardy, more berserk in battle, etc.). It would be a nice RP challenge for that player. This might bleed into a historian/mage event, with magi/historians having to learn the nature/history of the weapon and how to break the curse. I like when what seems on the surface to be one time events turn into whole plot-lines.
Ranger-style Group:
1. Stuffed - A local taxidermist has an order for a particular critter but can't kill it himself. He asks the group to track one down and bring back the body.
2. You Can't Get There From Here - A surveyor is looking to build a new road through the wilderness to link two settlements/cities/etc. He is in need of scouts to help find the path of least resistance and to protect him while he surveys the area.
3. Hide and Seek - A sheriff or other local law enforcer is tracking an escaped criminal and needs help. The criminal would have stealthing abilities and the group members would have to secure the area and capture him before he slipped past and exited the area.
4. Hallowed Ground - The group member is contacted in dream (they can write the story on their group's forum) by a nature based being (god/demi-god/spirit) and told that an ancient holy place for nature is nearby, but is currently being defiled (they may have to solve the cryptic message to determine where this place is). The place would be picked ahead of time by the plot manager (preferably infested with nasty critters). The defilers would have to be eliminated and the place purified. This location could become an important RP spot for future events, rituals, ceremonies, etc., for the community as a whole.
5. Getting Back to Nature - A wandering mystic befriends members of the group and charges them with strengthening their bonds with nature. Those who seek the mystic's blessing must first discover their totem animal. They must enter a drug induced trance, see visions of their totem animal spirit, go on a solitary hunt for that animal's food, and present it to the animal. Then they must return hair/fur/feathers from the animal to the mystic so he can make a fetish for the ranger to carry as good luck and protection.
Healers & Public Out-reach Group:
1. Urgent Care - A sickness with a specified number of RPed symptoms breaks out. This could run through the guild's ranks and perhaps to other guilds (members spontaneously deciding they've been affected). The group would need to respond to the public outbreak - tend the ill, arrange for medical supply transports, search for a cure, etc.
2. Rumor Mill - A rumor is heard through the community grapevine. The rumor is only bits and pieces - nothing conclusive - but potentially damaging or foretelling of coming danger. The members would need to use their networking skills to gather more info and either avert the catastrophe or find the root of the rumor and end it before it spreads (depending on the type of rumor). Cooperating RPers would be given pieces of the rumor to share if they are contacted.
3. Good Neighbor - An allied guild member has approached the group to plan a friendly competition between guilds (perhaps something from my first list of 25 events). It is up to the members to coordinate the event, contact the necessary people/guilds within our company, and negotiate rules and prizes that are fair for all parties.
4. Helping Hand - An illiterate mute has been discovered and seems to need help. Obviously, this person can't speak or write to communicate, so group members will have to find creative ways to learn about the person and what they need.
5. All Things in Moderation - Two parties (RPed community members, allied guilds, etc.) have some sizable argument. Group members are being asked to play the neutral moderators of the dispute. They will need to gather the facts and practice their best communication skills to conduct the negotiations.
Mages & Historians:
1. A Wonderful Day for an Exorcism - A villager has come to the group for help. A family member is possessed by something. The group must investigate, question and study the possessed person, attempt to identify the possessing being, and perform the appropriate ritual to drive it out. Obviously, a simple spell isn't going to do it. this isn't a cleric event because if all it took was a cleric spell to cast out the possessing spirit, well...it wouldn't be much fun.
2. Only Magic - A particularly nasty creature (any type will do) has been discovered and needs killing. However, this particular critter seems not to be susceptible to weapons (so from a RP standpoint, we won't try using weapons on it), and only magic can kill it. The wizards and sorcerers of the group will need to coordinate their efforts to make up for the lack of fighters providing the usual meat shield for their protection.
3. We Can Make That - Someone has come to the group for help with crafting a particular magic item. The group will have to research the ingredients needed for it's crafting, organize gathering and harvesting to procure the ingredients, research the rituals and spells necessary for enchanting the items, and craft it. The details would be a combination of members RPing what they think would be best and also getting/finding necessary plot clues.
4. Penny for Your Thoughts - A gem is discovered. When in a person's possession, they will gradually discover that it allows them to read the surface thoughts of the people they focus on (RP - you could use in-game chat to pass this info to the gem holder). Possession of the gem also causes the user to be open to contacts with beings/creatures with telepathic abilities, especially while asleep, so dreams get affected and could lead to all sorts of issues if something really telepathic became curious about or perturbed by the user's new toy (could post these dreams/episodes on the group's forum for others to enjoy). With practice, the owner could start to read the deeper thoughts of his/her target and make mental suggestions to those they concentrate on (again, chat system and passing the suggestion to the target). Now...depending on alignment, it might be interesting to see what happens with this item. If other RP guilds learn of it, it might become a very contested item if all RP parties involved agree to honestly participate.
5. The Book of Truth - The group learns of a book that supposedly does the following - if a question is written on the book's blank pages, the answer appears in its place the next morning. It can do this only once per week (so you have to be choosy about what question you're asking). The group would need to decipher clues, answer riddles, and piece together old legends in order to determine the book's hiding spot (somewhere suitably difficult to reach). If the book is recovered, it can be a very handy plot tool. Of course, like the gem above, it would also become a very coveted item among RPers. I used this as a plot item in Ultima Online...it was very fun and very dangerous.
Traders & Crafters:
1. Down to Basics - A merchant wants to provide "starter" kits for his adventuring customers. He is asking the group to put together a starting kit for the average adventurer for him to sell. It would have to contain a wide variety of items and be below a certain price so that the merchant could still make a profit.
2. Two for the Road - A small-time merchant is looking to join your caravan. The group will have to decide under what conditions he may join (for a fee, shared goods, no charge, etc.).
3. Pst - Hey, buddy... - A merchant approaches the group members with some very fine goods for sale but seems rather shady. How do you deal with him?
4. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? - A man approaches the group in need of cash. Do you choose to help? What kind of loan are you going to offer, at what terms, etc.
5. 9/10ths of the Law - An item finds its way into your shop. It clearly seems to be an important personal item/family heirloom/etc. Do you keep it or try to track down the owner? If the latter, the group needs to back track along the trail, follow the clues, and find the owner. If not, other events may follow.
This is just a sample of what people can put in motion for the benefit of other groups in this game. It just takes a little creativity and a desire to spread the fun.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Yeah...
Signs, Books, Scrolls, Letters... all permanent, stealable in-game resources that can be sold and traded.
We need message boards IN GAME, and maybe something for someone to deliver as mail...
Mailman ftw!
Diplomacy needs hand-offable scrolls and things to take to the next kingdom over, seriously. With seals on.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I am all for making it possible for things that normally happen in game such as Auction Houses and a Mail System to be run by players using the contract system. Company x might specialize in one or the other.
Alternately, if GW decides they are not willing to shake the boat by leaving these things to the players, make it slow/inefficient enough that players can compete. For instance, make mail take 4 hours so people are inclined to use player run services for quicker service. Likewise, make the AH have a high enough cut that players can run similar services and actually make money by taking a smaller cut.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Most of this is possible with just the skills and items that the game is likely to have. Some of the things that might help have, in part, been mentioned in this thread and elsewhere:
- Writable books. UO had them, and you could make the writing permanent by treating the book
- Being able to write a message on an item you craft, like a sword's name
- Being able to place an object on the ground for others to find
- Disguise kits or disguise skills
- Masks, to hide an identity in a RPed sense (RPers don't see names over heads)
- Public area crafting stations and commons areas to set up markets, carnivals, etc.
- Pack animals
- The ability to decorate and lock items down in a building
- Interesting locations - not necessarily something big, but interesting, and without a game provided history to it so that players can create its importance (a ring of stones, an odd tree, a clearing in the woods, ruins, caves that aren't part of dungeons, small pools of water in a secretive spot, etc.).
- Mapping skill
- Interesting "trinkety" style items from loot that we can assign our own RPed importance to.
As for leaving some of the staples of current MMOs behind, I'm all for it. I find Auction Houses to be on of the main culprits for the death of player-to-player trade in games. My Rift toon was dead set on showing that people could better the AH. I maxed out all three harvesting skills and sold harvestable resources for lower than AH prices. By the time I left the game, I had a client list of over 100 regular customers.
I would much rather see player run vendors than an AH. if you want to play the auction house game, run a real player-run auction house.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
I would really LOVE the ability to use a Dungeon Architect system similar to the Mission Architect in CoX to let players generate PvE modules that can be created by the playerbase.
It can be explained in-game by having the players gated to a pocket demiplane. There is even a spell in PnP called Create Demiplane that basically does this.
Most of this is possible with just the skills and items that the game is likely to have. Some of the things that might help have, in part, been mentioned in this thread and elsewhere:
- Writable books. UO had them, and you could make the writing permanent by treating the book
- Being able to write a message on an item you craft, like a sword's name
- Being able to place an object on the ground for others to find
- Disguise kits or disguise skills
- Masks, to hide an identity in a RPed sense (RPers don't see names over heads)- Public area crafting stations and commons areas to set up markets, carnivals, etc.
- Pack animals
- The ability to decorate and lock items down in a building
- Interesting locations - not necessarily something big, but interesting, and without a game provided history to it so that players can create its importance (a ring of stones, an odd tree, a clearing in the woods, ruins, caves that aren't part of dungeons, small pools of water in a secretive spot, etc.).- Mapping skill
- Interesting "trinkety" style items from loot that we can assign our own RPed importance to.As for leaving some of the staples of current MMOs behind, I'm all for it. I find Auction Houses to be on of the main culprits for the death of player-to-player trade in games. My Rift toon was dead set on showing that people could better the AH. I maxed out all three harvesting skills and sold harvestable resources for lower than AH prices. By the time I left the game, I had a client list of over 100 regular customers.
I would much rather see player run vendors than an AH. if you want to play the auction house game, run a real player-run auction house.
Hobs, everything you mention here is excellent. The jury is still out on disguises, we don't know how GW feels about that, but the rest would really let us do all kinds of things, events and fun stuff for everyone. I would like to try and get some feedback from GW on if they are ok with adding this stuff in for us. Obviously none of its so important it needs to be done soon.
What do you all think?
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
What would make a massive difference is if the appearance (not function) of basic buildings in a settlement could be set.
If the settlement builders could choose wall colors, texture (plaster/stone/wood etc) and some basic feature like round/arch/square windows to match how they see their guild, the different settlements would acquire a distinctive feel and it would all be player generated. Potentially buildings could have their appearance "improved" at a later date by investing gold coin and crafting time. Alternatively building upgrades may be one of those optional things you need to pay real cash for.
|
Goblin Squad Member
|
Ultima Online had the most customizable housing features of any MMO I've ever been in, but there are some lessons to learn from that system. I would like to see standard player owned buildings have some degree of customizing possible (colors, textures, where the windows go, etc.) but not as wild as UO got. Some people made marvelous houses and some were just atrocious. Now, I have no desire to be the housing decoration police, but if you change the base style too much, the whole feel of the region gets twisted a bit. SWG controlled how diverse the player housing styles could get by having planetary styles.
One feature I am hoping for is that items can be gathered from the world (with skills, as drops, etc) and crafted or placed in your hex...harvestable trees that you can transplant into your hex as permanent decoration, boulders you can dig up and place, etc. Being able to dig a pond for looks or a mote for defense would be very cool. But again, there is a happy medium...variation allows for personlization that most player, especially role-players love, but it can also lead to hexes being so utterly manipulated that they no longer look like the same land, and you lose the continuity of the region you're in. As with all thing in creating a game, the designers will need to walk that middle ground between satisfying all players and maintaining the feel of the land our characters will live in.