hey, WARNING:this post contains highly theoretical content, read as such. I'm new to this site and I just wanted to post my idea and see what people think of it. Alright, My idea for an MMORPG is a Mafia game, which is based around PvP but is balanced for new characters and for veterans. What im trying to say is that there would be different playable proffesions, such as, a Mafia member(could be anywhere from a Don to an average hit man) and the Police. As in other games, such as SWG, there could be guilds..but in this game you could be the Don of a mafia or a cheif of a PD. The game would also offer non combat proffesions, such as an entrepenuer, Chef, Cabbie, and showgirl(all proffessions are not carved in stone as...well the game isnt even being made) Players would balance other players in the game in this way. If a Mafia member killed a cop or civilian..the Police would know and would therefore be able to them down. If a police murdered a civilian..he would most likely be discharged from the force and become unemployed. If a Mafia member killed another Mafia member..most likely the 2 would collide and begin a gang war or something of the sort...most likely in this sort of situation the police would not get involved(crime killing other crime ) however all of this would be up to the player. If a civilian killed another civilian(as anyone could own a gun) then im sure the police would force strict penalties. if worked right proffesions would balance eachother out. Proffesions such as non combat, would depend upon other players to collect their revenue. Restaurant owners would depend upon the people who come to eat(everyone would have to eat a certain ammount a day) at their restaurant. As the chef made more food and had more customers he would gain in skill and be able to prepare better meals...so on so forth. The entrepenuer would obviosly buy things such as factories, restaurants, and bars etc. and would be able to buy more expensive buildings the more his wallet grew. Proffesions such as gun makers would be the same. Player interaction would be very essential for things such as hits. The mob would most likely depend upon the other players to know when and where someone would be. Ex. If an opposing don was planning on eating at Sloppy Joes restaurant at 8 that day..anyone who knew would be able to tell anyone else(for the right price anyways), including opposite Families. I can now just imagine the immense opportunities allowed in the game...although i cannot explain everthing in only one post...i would like to get feedback on what i have explained thus far. Yours Truly, Deathmonkey(the Pillsbury BreadFather)

Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm somewhat MMO ignorant:

But what is it that you do, specificially. Alot of MMOs build the core activity on the grind, and some vary it different ways by adding contingencies or missions or constraints based on magic or technology or whatever.

But for 30 days, what would you do as a mafia member specifically. Would you GTA around town, stealing autos? Would you simply roam around trying to kill rival gang members? I ask because you mention showgirls, or Dons, and I don't have a clear idea what they would be doing.

Kudos to you, btw, for coming up with something other than a medieval MMORPG-- it just needs more detail before I can comment.

I agree with Wavinator here; for a more valid opinion of what your MMORPG would be like I need to have a better understanding of what my experience would be if I played your game; maybe walk through a sample gameplay session that you envisage for your game?

I'd also like to know what ideas you have on balancing this game. Why would a player want to be a chef or a showgirl if they could be a mafioso? I suspect there would be a danger of way too many mafioso and not enough everyday citizens in your MMORPG world.

And you also need bootlegger as a playable class [grin].

thanks for asking...well in the game you would start out as a low level person..maybe a cabbie or errandboy(something low paying)as you play the game you increase in popularity and so on so forth...as you become more popular and say a don wishes to hire you to do a "hit"..this could be the first step in becoming part of this mafia...as you become more dependable..you might go up in the mafia rank...and eventually you could become the don yourself leading your mafia to victory against the others....the more controlled territory in a certain area the more revenue collected from it

I was also last night reading about some of the RPing solutions you guys came up with in the RP thread. I really liked the idea of very rarely that you die...or you are given the option to die and create a new character.. sometimes you fall unconcious(not sure on spelling) and wake up some time later...

and you mentioned about the showgirls...there main goal would be about the same as the mafia men...gaining in popularity gaining more money..working in better fancier restaurants....if you do not think this would work i would refer to SWG...the proffesions musician and dancer were highly used as it was a good source of revenue...things such as entrepenuers wish to become rich etc. but all of these things are up to what the player decides his/her major goal is..more discussion on the topic can be found here

http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/experimentalgameplay/forum/viewtopic.php?t=276&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15&sid=25d2605146ab3c3ef5a45d396d572c3c

or here

http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/experimentalgameplay/forum/viewforum.php?f=2

thank you for taking time and interest into my topic.

I'd like to see a demographic breakdown of MMO populations. In organized crime, there's a pyramid structure. A Don, some high-ranking partners, a few lieutenants, several dozen skilled employees (hitmen, drivers, lawyers, bookkeepers, etc.), a hundred or more "goodfellas", and a small army of small-time flunkies trying to "get made".

Trouble is, you can be an errand boy for your entire adult life, and never make the cut. What player would tolerate carrying unopened packages for his entire online career? You have to make sure that players can have a sense of progress even if they aren't moving up in the organization. A really terrific errand boy might make far more dough than a greenhorn assassin, for instance. You can grind all month on your driving skills, and never feel bad about not being allowed to see what's in your trunk.

Or you can petition for a place among the elite, making administrative decisions about who needs whacked and what businesses to obtain. I don't know how such a system would really work in an MMO setting.

thats exactly what im trying to get across

as you become more popular in whatever you do you will obviously make more money..and i actually have a mafia ranking pyramid if you wish to see it

Mafia structure
Known as the Honored Society among Mafiosi the chain of command is organized in a pyramid similar to a modern corporate structure.

Capo di Tutti Capi- (The "Boss of Bosses", currently Bernardo Provenzano.)
Capo di Capi Re- (a title of respect given to a senior or retired member, equivalent to being a chairman emeritus.)
Capo Crimini- (A "Super Boss" known as a Don or "Godfather" of a crime family)
Capo Bastone- (Known as the "Underboss" is second in command to the Capo Crimini)
Consigliere- (Advisor)
Contabile- (Financial advisor)
Caporegime- or Capodecina (A Lieutenant who commands a "crew" of around ten or more Sgarrista or "soldiers")
Sgarrista or Soldati- ("Made" members of the Mafia who serve primarily as foot soldiers)
Picciotto- (A low ranking member of the Mafia who serve as "Enforcers" or "button men")
Giovane D'Onore- (An associate member of the Mafia, usually a non-Italian or Sicilian)

well its like real life basically in the sense that...you cant have multi millionare businessmen with there corporations withought the man who manages the sewage pipes...that why you start out doing odd jobs and if you wish to stay with that....more power to you....if not more power to you as well....

Sounds like a very ambitious idea, best of luck implementing it.

I've had ideas like this before, but when it came down to implementing it, it fell apart. This would be very cool if you could pull it off...do you have any background in programming? It seems like that would be helpful in keeping the idea managable.

Also, as some others have mentioned there is an inherent problem with people being locked into doing the same boring job for their entire online life, if you can get around that, and have some feasable strategy for implementing this thing, I'd be interested in seeing where you go with this...there have been 2-3 posts by people trying to create Mafia MMORPGs in the Help Wanted forum...maybe you'd want to get in touch with some of them?

Also I'm currently working on something pretty similar to this, minus the MMO stuff.

- Dan

thanks for the tip

As others have already pointed out, this type of setting would be hard to pull off as a MMOG.

But I do think that concept could work in a single player game very well, if you decide that against MMOG route.