Goblin Squad Member
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Given that most currently played MMOs are not sandboxes, that Pathfinder Online (PFO) might have elements notably different from any past sandbox that many newcomers may have played, or that said community members may have never played in a sandbox-based game at all, we in the Empire of Xeilias thought it would be helpful to provide an overview of PFO's proposed sandbox structure, especially given all the new arrivals on these forums.
We in the Xeilian Empire have a strong reputation in past games of informing and educating fellow players. Whether the recipient of these lessons decides to join the Empire or not is irrelevant if, by helping the individual, we thereby enhance the community as a whole. To that end, we have prepared a number of short articles. Each element of PFO's sandbox design discussed herein will contain the following:
• General description of the element as it pertains to PFO.
• The benefits of that element in terms of game play (the parts we're excited about).
• Player considerations (things to keep in mind, especially if you're new to sandbox play).
Open World Setting
In an "open world" game, players can roam freely through the virtual world and are given considerable freedom in choosing how or when to approach objectives (see Player Driven Objectives in a soon to come, follow-up post). The PFO map will consist of contiguous hexes (Map1 and Map2) that are not separated by artificial barriers (e.g. geography, invisible walls, etc.) meant to funnel players along a predetermined path as is common in more linear game designs. There are, however, terrain transition points as indicated by red "X's". In PFO, open world also means that the world design will not be separating characters as seen in many theme park game's use of character level zones. Lastly, while you're traveling in whatever direction you choose, you'll be doing so without instant travel (e.g. teleporters, gates, etc.). In PFO, getting from point A to B is a meaningful part of the game. That is, travel may require planning (such as for caravans), might involve potential risk, etc., so instantly popping from place to place and removing all that interaction and content will not be happening in PFO.
Benefits:
Being an open world game, PFO should provide a more real-world feel, thus liberating players from the constraints of linear game play. Player freedom is one of the great appeals to sandbox game play, so having the freedom to literally choose where you wish to travel is a very empowering aspect of PFO. In short, you the player decide where your character should go.
Considerations:
With all that choice and freedom comes the possibility of risk. In most theme park games, you are provided some semblance of safety by being funneled through zones that tend to match your ability level. Some games go so far as to deny entrance to zones that are too high level or too dangerous for your character. The PFO game developers have stated that as you travel further from settlement and starter town hexes, the world may become more dangerous, either due to mobs or other players, but nothing stops you from going there. As with so many aspects of PFO, bringing friends while choosing your own path might be the best (and most fun) policy.
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Goblin Squad Member
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In continuing this series of articles intended to help those new to sandbox gaming, or at least those curious about how PFO will present a sandbox experience, our second installment will deal with the player driven nature of PFO. As always, we of the Empire of Xeilias hope this information empowers our fellow players by becoming more informed members of our PFO community.
Hobs
Perhaps more than any other feature, having a more player driven game is what lures people to a sandbox environment. The opportunity to determine your own objectives, to create and manipulate the world economy, and to perform truly world persistent actions all make PFO different than any theme park experience. So a not to overburden the reader with a wall of text, we will break this topic into a number of separate articles. For this article, we will focus on player made objectives.
Player Made Objectives
In most MMOs (most of these being theme parks), the game-provided content (quests, story arcs, etc.) strongly, if not totally, control player objectives. Though you may decide to skip a quest, or even be allowed more than one alternative path for your character's progression, all the possible choices are predetermined. This is what is meant by "being on rails" - you're riding the ride that game developers have made for you and partaking only of the fun that they provide.
In a sandbox game, the developers give players the tools (game mechanics) to create our own objectives. We decide the skills we wish to train, the groups we join, what those groups will do, what they attempt to build together (socially and materially), and how they choose to regard other groups around them (trade, become allies, wage wars, etc.). Though it has been stated that there will be some newbie status quests, monster escalations (a PFO take on mob spawns), and random instanced dungeons, the vast majority of PFO's content will involve what players choose to do with one another. More than most games, group and settlement level objectives will be very important, and again, those are all chosen by players.
Benefits:
The chance to have player made objectives, especially in a world where player interaction and character interdependence will be vital, more than in any theme park, the groups you choose,from an adventuring party, to Charter Company, settlement, and even nation, will have a huge impact on your success in PFO. Players looking to set ambitious objectives and get the most out of the game will likely need to consider the experience and talent level of their associates, their level of organization, and the social networks that they provide. No longer forced down the cattle shoot of theme park games, the freedom and creativity inherent in player made objectives will allow for an individual's unique perspective and desires to shape their game experience, but many of those player made objectives will require the right associations to be fully realized.
Considerations:
Given the overarching themes of PFO (meaningful player interaction, territorial competition, etc.) and the interdependence necessary for success, PFO may seem less solo play friendly than many theme park games. It is true that there will likely be places even skilled individuals will not venture alone, mobs you cannot kill singlehandedly, and for the best skills acquisition and greatest achievements you will need to be a member of a settlement or even a nation. Rather than viewing this as anti-solo play, I would encourage readers to view it as pro-community. For a decade now, MMOs have eroded the need for in-game community. In far too many MMOs, it is possible to attain the highest levels, best skills, most awesome loot all by yourself, to the point that you might as well be playing a single player console game. True, with being part of a community there may be times when the objectives of the group or settlement need to come before those of the individual. However, the best communities will be fostering an environment where members want to contribute, both for their group's sake and their own enjoyment.
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Goblin Squad Member
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It's time for another installment of the Sandbox Primer. Today, we're continuing the value of "Player Drive" in sandbox games. Today's episode...Player Made Economies.
Player Made Economy
Like many MMOs, PFO will have harvesting, refining, and crafting. Unlike many, nearly everything players will want or need will be player crafted, including the best gear in the game. In PFO, you will be killing mobs not for the best dropped gear, but for the materials from which to craft the best gear. Similarly, PFO will have auction houses where players can buy, sell, and manipulate the economy. However, unlike most MMOs, these auction houses will be locale instead of universal. That is, each settlement will likely have its own auction house for buying and selling goods. This allows for several very unique player driven economic features. First, the hosting settlement can determine the tax rate of goods sold, so that the settlement's economy can be augmented by sales within its walls. Furthermore, some auction houses, either for lower tax rates, proximity to important geographic features, better guarded territory, etc., may prosper while others do less well. Finally, harvested and refined materials, as well as finished goods, may need to be transported to particular auction houses This brings considerations of caravans, caravan protection, transporting costs, etc., into the mix of the player made economy.
Benefits:
In a player made economy, supply and demand are king, not the NPC's set price. In such an environment, nearly every aspect of the game influences economy, and by being player driven, players have the ability to manipulate those influencing factors. Like the earlier mentioned benefits of player driven elements, this puts the control squarely in the hands of the players.
Considerations:
Like player driven objectives, a player driven economy may dictate some economic decisions a player needs to make, especially in regards to their group and settlement. In a world where monster escalations may attack settlements or war with other settlements is possible, the individual player may need to devote harvesting/refining/crafting time to the needs of the settlement. Of course, given that the settlement is the hub through which nearly all economic benefit will flow, anyone interested in the player driven economy will have a vested interest in their settlement's physical and economic security.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Persistent Actions
Unlike most MMOs, where the surroundings you play within are static and cannot be truly manipulated by the players, in PFO, players will have several means by which they can create and/or affect persistent elements within the game. Though many MMOs provide player housing of some fashion, almost all of these are instanced, which removes these structures from the main game world and limits who can interact with them. Also, most of these structures are for cosmetic entertainment and/or extra storage. In PFO, players will be able to create Outposts (used to produce bulk goods for settlements), Points of Interest (e.g. shrines, forts, taverns, etc.), and Settlements. All of these will exist in the regular game world, can be visited and potentially affected by anyone, and have permanence for as long as they are defended and maintained. Chief among these are settlements, which will be created by a group of players (minimum of 30). Settlements will have their own player created governing bodies, settlement laws, economies, storage, etc. Also, it is in settlements that trainers for the higher tier skills of PFO will be found.
Benefits:
Very few games have been daring enough not only to include player created structures in the actual game world, but allow them to be living, breathing features that can not only be built up, but torn down as well. Having a hand in choosing locations for these, contributing to building materials, to construction, and finally to the operation, governance, and defense of such structures, is what makes sandbox games so completely immersive and entertaining. It is the closest to designing actual portions of the game that most players will ever get.
Considerations:
With great opportunity comes potential sacrifice and risk. In PFO, player made structures will be vulnerable to attack by individual players or whole armies, depending upon the structure's size. In a game based on territorial control, it only makes sense that these persistent structures can be damaged or destroyed, but that is what makes them truly dynamic. It is also why they will be highly valued, closely guarded, and require the efforts of a well organized group like Pax to maintain and defend.
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Goblin Squad Member
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When I was managing a city in Shadowbane, other players in my guild would see me standing by the tree all day fiddling with buildings and guards and fielding messages from our scouts and from other guilds, and ask "don't you ever get to play the game?" I told them that I was playing the game- but that they were playing a shooter, while I was playing an rts.
Hmmm...good stuff, looks like I have to bring over my rping in a sandbox articles myself.
Thanks for putting this up. Alot of people don't -get- sandboxes.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Open World Competition
Not all sandbox games have open world competition or PvP, nor is every decent PvP game a sandbox. However, when you put the two together, you get a level of realism and dynamism that stands out among games where competition and PvP are isolated to certain zones, limited to only predetermined opponents, etc. Certainly, competitive play is not everyone's cup of tea, but competitive play does not strictly mean that participants must be the ones slugging it out in traditional PvP fashion. In a territorial control based, settlement vs. settlement competition, the harvester gathering valuable resources, the crafter helping build a new settlement structure, or the merchant opening new markets for his goods are all involved in competitive play. Of course, there will also be plenty of opportunities for PvP, since the struggle for territory and resources are at the very heart of PFO.
Benefits:
As mentioned above, there will be many forms of competition in PFO, but given that most people unfamiliar with the game will have questions/concerns focusing on traditional PvP, let us focus on those considerations.
In my mind, the benefit to open world competition in a territorial control, settlement vs. settlement game is that there will be a meaningful context for most of the PvP occurring in PFO. Unlike free-for-all PvP venues where everyone is a target for little more reason than the thrill of the kill and what the winner can strip off the loser's corpse, the vast majority of PFO's competition will revolve around controlling territory, controlling that territory's resources, and defending your own holdings. To this end, Goblin Works has taken a rather layered approach by providing a range of PvP opportunities depending on the scale of the competition, from individual character to entire settlements and even nations. Below is a list outlining some of the proposed forms of conflict:
• Feuds - "a state of PvP hostilities like a war between settlements, but at shorter notice and for a shorter period—against another company or settlement" (Ryan Dancey).
• Raids - used to attack and plunder outposts.
• SAD (Stand and Deliver) - used by bandits to attempt to demand goods/coin from travelers.
• Bounties - contracts allowing you to hunt down and dispatch individuals for profit.
• Guard Contracts - for hiring on to guard caravans and the like.
• Assassination - a collection of very specialized skills most often used to target characters holding key leadership positions so as to temporarily negate the Development Index bonus they help generate for their settlement.
• Factions - though still being fleshed out, warfare based on membership to specific lore-based factions.
• War - settlement vs. settlement or greater PvP.
This list does not include "sanctioned" PvP stemming from enforcing a settlement's laws against those flagged as criminals, attacking trespassers, or defending against anyone flagged as hostile due to their aggressive behavior, etc.
Considerations:
Certainly, the hope is that if PFO provides this many opportunities for PvP minded players to scratch their competitive itch, that they will be less likely to bother those who don't have that itch at all. Does this mean that if you are not engaging in any of the PvP activities listed above that you will be safe? No. Open world conflict means that the conflict can reach any part of the world, including where you might be peacefully doing your nonviolent business. Of course, some places will be far more dangerous, and conversely, some far safer than others. For instance, starter towns will be extremely safe. However, outside these few highly secure zones, even with all these opportunities for what we might call constructive or "meaningful" PvP, nothing will stop a player from attacking you if they desire to do so. This is part of living in a sandbox game - some players' idea of player-made objectives may include actions that put others at risk.
However, there are two things to keep in mind. First, as with so much of PFO, working in groups can alleviate much of this concern. The most passive traveler, harvester, or merchant will likely have settlement members more than willing to act as guards. In fact, any settlement worth its salt will devote whole companies of well seasoned PvPers to acting as guards, sentries, home defense, etc., so as to protect their members who are less skilled in combat. Second, PFO will contain a number of mechanics that provide consequences for PvP outside the methods outlined above, including a reputation and alignment system that will, in part, control access to skill training and settlement membership. The practitioner of repeated poor behavior might quickly find themselves out of a home, out of access to the skills they desire, and onto multiple groups' enemy list.