What I find so fascinating about MMORPGs is not nearly as much that things go on without you as it is that you never get to "save" the games state. Once you have done an action it can''t be undone by restarting the game.

Time does keep rolling on ahead, and your own timeline within the game may skip and hop from one session to another, but it can never go backward. You can''t save, and then try to jump off a cliff to land on a dangerous ledge... there is too much at risk.

The preciousness of life holds a higher value in those games.


Back on subject though:
A world that alters over time is a good theme to incorperate into a game. The examples posted above would work best in a Diablo style game. Something that has one major location that acts as a hub for the player to go on quests.

The city itself could age, the people could age, the situations and quests could change over time. Seasons could change.

The ideal situation would be for the game to keep track of what quest have been completed, each of which has a specific effect that is triggered at some point in the future.

Every time that a player starts a new game, the results could turn out drasically different. Even if he attempts to do the exact same quests, the intervals between his sessions would remove predictability.


Just please, God, don''t make the player feel like if he stops playing for a while, the world will end. Give him reason and curiousity to come back, but don''t stack things against him just because he also happens to have a life.

CDV

Agreed. The game can''t be simulated to a win, loss, near-win or near-loss while the user was away or the player will feel left out.

GroZZleR, the game would need to play itself just as it would with the player in it, but don''t let the player in until the time has passed. If done well, the simulation should take only a few seconds, depending on the complexity of the game. And yes, many things would be based on random events, just like in the player-participated gaming.