Ok first of all this is not a game thats going to be created. Infact, this is not game at all. Its a MMO design. Ok lets say you have a game. Like something called Bobjoe. Now imagine an MMO where the players make the game. You start off by giving the players races and towns with a world and some creatures. But, there is no history or plot. Thats when the players come in. Lets say the players decide to make another piece of land off the coast of Pio because a big war just happend. They email the suggestion and if its a good one then make it. Now as the time passes so does everything upgrade like from 0 A.D to 40 A.D the weapons and armour become better and the building become more better. Now, lets say month is like a 10 years in the game. You upgrade the game make better weapons more spells. Now lets say you somehow reach the year 4,500 A.D. Your not fighting with swords anymore. Your fighting with laser guns and whatever. And maybe in the middle of it a new race appears. Or something along those lines. Its like a virtual world. Now the idea of this being crazy is that you cannot create a path every month with nothing(because theirs going to be nothing new, well ok maybe fixes of bugs). Now lets say the players dont give you anymore suggestions because everything is like how they want it. You just keep fixing bugs with pathches and so on. This would be WoWx100,000,000 if you can pull it off. Anyways just a suggestion that came into my mind today.

Even if you could make this game:
1. It would be always changing, always appealing to certain groups of people while other groups get screwed, and dont like the way things are, so they leave.
2. This type of game would take a lot of time and dedication. Even if you could implement all your *new* features, it would take time, leaving the developers with hardly any free time. Even if it did generate enough revenue to fuel a whole economy, money isnt everything right?

the idea just seems too radical for people to escape the real world and play something just like it, with exploration, invention, and war.

In the early days of EVE, the game dealt mostly with trade, but a lot of the hardcore players were PK bastards who loved to shoot up convoys. There was an equip called a "Microwarp Drive" that let the merchants get away from pirates about 80% of the time, and the pirate population got really angry and complained to CCP, and CCP nerfed the MWDs so merchants couldn't get away as much. That's been a trend, and throughout EVE's development, most of the gameplay tweaks have screwed over the roleplayers and profited the griefers and pirates.

Jerks and exploiters will be a vocal minority in any game, and they'll write most of the "suggestions". A player-run world will be filled with boobs and liquor within a month.

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A player-run world will be filled with boobs and liquor within a month.

If anyone does write a MMORPG filled with boobs and liquor, please let me know. I'd pay to play it :)



Responding to the original post - I think that a good game design is characterized by stability - if its already good then why change it? Granted, you can deem change itself a constant, but meh.

Eventually (in a game such as you described) a critical point would be reached such that there isn't really anywhere to go or anything else you could add. At that point the game becomes stagnant.

Additionally, "progressing" through time not only implies that new features will become available, it also suggests the elimination of old features. I don't think this is necessarily the wisest thing - I personally would much rather wave a sword around than to play a FPS-like MMORPG. Everyone has their own preferences, and in an unstable world you're bound to make people unhappy.

My solution to this problem then would to have multiple servers at different levels of progression in the timeline, and have them gradually advance (at a player-chosen pace, ie, players spend time researching new technology or something) to an end point, at which the surviving characters can "ascend" and get some bonuses for the next "round" of the game.

To add my own personal touch, I'd also throw in the idea of "psudo-persistance" - each time the timeline loops, each player has to start over, essentially. They may get bonuses based on what they achieved in earlier lives (think reincarnation) but would not be playing the same character. They could choose, upon ascending, to go to another world such that they could "skip" ahead to a nice period of time.

The final problem then, is for those people who don't want to advance into another time phase. A well-crafted plot could be created such that there exist "anarchists" who attempt to stop the progression of technology (ie, research) and bring about a state of technological homeostasis. In this manner some servers might "lock up" at a certain point in time and thus be suitable for people wanting to stick in a certain era.

And I've gone off ranting again. Damn MMORPGs...

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Original post by Iron Chef Carnage In the early days of EVE, the game dealt mostly with trade, but a lot of the hardcore players were PK bastards who loved to shoot up convoys. There was an equip called a "Microwarp Drive" that let the merchants get away from pirates about 80% of the time, and the pirate population got really angry and complained to CCP, and CCP nerfed the MWDs so merchants couldn't get away as much. That's been a trend, and throughout EVE's development, most of the gameplay tweaks have screwed over the roleplayers and profited the griefers and pirates. Jerks and exploiters will be a vocal minority in any game, and they'll write most of the "suggestions". A player-run world will be filled with boobs and liquor within a month.

I tend to disagree with your take on EVE. Pirates could indeed be roleplayers, there is nothing saying that RP needs to be nothing but hand holding and frolicing through space being nice to everyone. It sounds like EVE would be my ideal MMOG because you aren't gimped into certain roles. You can be a pirate and not have to have the merchant ship accept a stupid challenge before you can attack then.

In the same sense it should give a sense of realism to the merchants. Their job is dangerous too and if it wasn't for having to watch out for pirates then it would be as pointless as other mmorpg delivery quests.

As an EVE fanboy, I don't want you thinking I'm against the design. I love the PvP aspect of the game, and intend to become a pirate myself after I retire from mining.

However, I was drawing attention to the fact that satisfying the customers' immediate desires and cultivating the game's long-term balance and enjoyability are not likely to be one and the same.

Players are idiots, and will come up with ideas like, "OMGzors, teh epic drops should be, liek, all teh time!" I think that a comprehensive design and an honest evaluation of what shows up on the message boards should guide ongoing development, and that no kind of open reception of direct player requests or demands should be made. Steal their ideas, but don't tell them that they have creative control.

If they think the Almight Design Team used one of their ideas, they'll be flattered. If they think they're entitled to creative advisorship, they'll be upset with you when you don't acquiesce to their demands.

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Original post by Iron Chef Carnage Players are idiots

Most important bit of information in this thread.

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Original post by Iron Chef Carnage ideas like, "OMGzors, teh epic drops should be, liek, all teh time!"

As a 7 year veteran of running an online game, I know from experience this is what players will always want. 1/1000 maybe think about adding stuff that improves the game for everyone, that leaves 999/1000 who just want the Uber Sword of Megaslayer +1000 damage.

The problem with your take on this idea is that it has no counter balancing. A more workable system would be a world that self controls: land changes, forests regrow, mountains crumble, etc. And then allow players direct control over changing things.

As mentioned pretty early on, this design requires active Devs for the entire life cycle of the project. For the job they have to do, that's pretty drastic.