Hello, my name is Equinox and I am a recovering Warcrack addict. Seriously though, I do enjoy the game for what it is, although I've since moved on to Guild Wars to lighten the load on my wallet. But the subsequent boredom which I find settles in after a time no matter what MMO game I'm playing (WoW, City of Heroes, Guild Wars) made me think of something I've yet to encounter.
QUests created in an MMORPG by high-level players for lower level players. I'm not even sure how mechanically that would work, but I think it's an idea that could breathe new life into MMORPGs - at least for me.
For clarity's sake here's an example of one way I think it would play out: a player - at the highest level attainable, or close to it would have access to some task & reward mechanic that would permit her to offer a quest to a player below a certain level. Perhaps it would cost gold, or require certain in-game achievements to be able to grant quests to others.
Admittedly, I know next to nothing about programming - and certainly not at the level of games as complex as these - but it sounds like something that should be possible.
Perhaps this is already out there in a computer game I've yet to play...
Thoughts?
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Typically this is mimiced by hosting scavenger hunts or riddle contests or whatever (in City of Heroes, costume contests are all the rage), with the host having certain prizes that they award to the people who participate and complete the various challenges. They could be as simple as an EQ1 Necromancer not feeling like farming up bone chips to use as components to summon his pets, and offering lowbies platinum or items for stacks of bone chips to elaborate puzzle quests where different members of a guild stand in certain areas offering riddles that must be deciphered to learn the location for the next riddle (where another player waits to give them the next stage of the 'quest').
I have heard that at least one MMO is considering player-submitted quests, but I have no idea what mechanic they are considering for it. Presumably some sort of NPC will be available who will hold onto prizes for these various missions / quests, but it's a stumper how such a thing would work. (I think it was City of Heroes, where I read they were working on such a thing.)
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I have heard that at least one MMO is considering player-submitted quests, but I have no idea what mechanic they are considering for it. (I think it was City of Heroes, where I read they were working on such a thing.)
It was indeed, and I believe it is lined up as Episode 14: The Architect. I know that, as a long time CoH beta tester, I was given a questionaire with a series of proposed screen shots. I am not sure how much is being governed by NDA, but knowing how these things work I won't go into any detail other than it looks like these would have some meat to them. I wouldn't be surprised if other games considered something similar, either as a baseline product in future releases, or as an add-on to certain products.
QUests created in an MMORPG by high-level players for lower level players. I'm not even sure how mechanically that would work, but I think it's an idea that could breathe new life into MMORPGs - at least for me.
That's the thing with today's MMOGs is they're still linear. One doesn't have to hardcode in predetermined outcomes for quests that are preconstructed. Players can make their own quests given the game itself allows for enough versatility and diversity in choices that can be made.
The sad part is that game already exists. Problem is, it's a game on paper and in development, and without the required financial stimulus it needs to be created (you know, so people can actually get paid for the work they do....), it never will be. We even have a prototype we've all ran around in and flew around in.
For clarity's sake here's an example of one way I think it would play out: a player - at the highest level attainable, or close to it would have access to some task & reward mechanic that would permit her to offer a quest to a player below a certain level.
Why have a mechanic to do that? For example, one quest could be the high level character telling a lower level character in game that he needs 5 sprigs of Andulusian honeycomb, and it only grows up in the Andulusian mountains 15 miles to the south, and I'm too busy to go get it myself. Would you mind going to get it for me? I'll pay you X, or I have X trinket I'm willing to part with if you go and get it for me. Simple. It's simple task, errand, and mission objective assignment by the players. Those are quests. The journey to the location and everything that happens going there, the acquisition of the honeycomb and anything that occurs while doing so, and the return trip.
Do you think you're not strong enough to survive a trip to the Andulusian mountains? Hire guides or hirelings to help you get it done, be they players or NPCs. Instant adventure. No code was written by the dev team, no prompting by the game, and no carrot-dangling going on by the game or the dev team going on. All this is very simple to implement, and requires very little to no overhead on part of the dev team.
Players today are so brainwashed into being told their character's options that they've forgotten that they can have their own options, tons of options available to them that doesn't require a single line of code. Someday, we hope to provide proof.