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Original post by Arkantis and i don't think theres really a solution to it that makes more than 80% of all players completely content

Ahhh, but there IS a solution.

Agreed - MMO and RPG are conflicting concepts - level-treadmilll RPGs have no concept of play balance, as the whole point of the game is that you get progressively more powerful, while an intensely multiplayer game depends upon solid balance. Besides, mull over the obsurdaty of this:

We're going to go online into a gameworld with over ten thousand players. Then, we'll brake off into small groups of three to seven people, and hunt computer-controlled vermin. Make sense to you? Me neither. Fundamentally, they're really just Diablo with a prettier chatroom.

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Original post by Anonymous Poster They're all the same game in a different graphics package...

not quite...

what makes me play/not play a MMO isnt (only) graphics.

graphics is a matter of taste. depending on how you build the graphics, you are gonna attract very different kinds of players. just changing the graphics, you can bring: more teens, more adults, more girls, etc... if your game is fantasy-like, it doesnt go with realistic graphics, IMO.

now what makes a difefrence to screw up bad a game (i could name a bazilion games here) is the level-up/skill tree.

1) if you state: "there are 500 classes available" for crying out loud, it should be possible to choose one from start. Now, if you state: "10 beginner classes, advancing into any other of the 450 ones" its a total different thing.

some ppl love to work hard and realisticly build a char, others do not. example: "for being a thief, you need to first be a fighter, than archer, then ninja, then, ..., and around level 90, and a few months after started you might be thief. then realistically, the chat goes fight and the only thing he can do is miss. then he attempts to use a healing potion and take damage from the potion (supposed to heal) cuz he doesnt have enough skill to use the potion.

2) think of the poor beginners :)
leveling up fast is desired by most players. too fast is overkill and a very very dumb thing to be allowed too. you need players that stay, right? specially if they are paying to play. to stay, the player must be happy about the game in the begining. then after a while (which varies from game to game) addiction will kick in, and they someday will try to quit, they will swear they will never play it again, and then, they come back. new features help a lot to keep the players interested.

i could say lots of names here :)
what really matters:

3) players like some KIND of game. lets say GameA is anime-cute kind, GameB is hard-lo-level realistic approached kind, GameC is hack-and-slash: kill to level, advance you class, kill more to level up more... kind.

rarely, players of GameA will switch to GameC. the opposite is also true.

what if you make a GameABC-kind?
instead of making a please-everyone game, it might end up a something-is-missing-for-everybody game.

4) look at who are your long-term players. check if they are the kind of player that you want to keep. are they willing to help beginers? do they just depise beginers and think you should close the server for new accounts?

5) go play MMOs! there are tons of free ones, and its possible to find cheap ones out o fthe paid ones. see what you like and dislike :)

Problem with MMORPGs is the lack of real time and lifetime. Ok, time passes and you get bored from boing from here to there but your PC never ages. How can that be if you play for days and years in the game and your hair will never be white?

It would be great if you can get married (even with a NPC) and have children. You dont generate those children as you did with your PC, they born with their own attributes and choose their own paths. Day after day you will get old and when you die you children will inherit your posessions... and guess what... you can choose one of your childs to continue playing!

Obviously you can choose not to have any kids... but you will die alone and all your wealth will be lost... unless you somehow give it to any other people with specific instructions "When a man named XXXX comes... give him this". Then you can create the character XXXX and try to locate that man... and hope he is still alive and that he is Lawful enough to return your posessions :)

You know... life by itself is a good way to generate your own little histories. That will make the game interesting.

What about an invading force killing your children? You wont have any heirs available...

Yeah... I would program a MMORPG with real time...

Luck!
Guimo

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Original post by Ned_K Quote: Original post by Arkantis and i don't think theres really a solution to it that makes more than 80% of all players completely content Ahhh, but there IS a solution.

please... do enlighten me =]