In my current design, I''m trying to create an environment where characters do not necessarily have to fight in order to enjoy the game. The way it''s set up is that characters who do not initiate attacks retain their ''good'' status. This comes along with an automatic gain of power over time. Characters who initiate attacks against others (in order to steal their power by killing them) become ''evil'' losing their ability to gain automatic power over time. As a good character, besides gaining automatic power over time, you can also set out in search of pockets of power, which pop up all over the world and can be absorbed by the character. (Evil characters can not make use of these pockets of power) This way, players can let their characters grow without ever having to fight. The problem is... what else is there to do? I''m not planning on having any NPCs, and for now I''m not planning on having any quests. Basically, all the things that players currently do in MMORPGs are put aside for the moment. What else is there to entertain and motivate the player?

Thats an interesting idea but you have to take into consideration
that must of the people who play MMORPGs want to fight. they want to becoume the next hero battling the evil of the land, and some want to become the dark evil lord battling the good of the land. If you take away fighting on the good side then you will
get alot of disapointed customers. but remember that there is justified killing and fighting, so i dont think it is such a good idea to limit to the evil characters.

i don''t mean this post as a flame, its just my opinion.



Sir Darkan Fireblade
-"I Feel like im playing Poker i dont know who''s bluffing!"-

What else is there to entertain and motivate the player?

Exploration.



Glen Martin
Dynamic Adventures Inc.
Zenfar

DARKAN_FIREBLADE wrote:

quote:

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Thats an interesting idea but you have to take into consideration
that must of the people who play MMORPGs want to fight.

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Players that want to fight can choose to
a) become evil characters
b) become hunters of evil characters (hunters are good character that gain only a small percentage of 'free power', but are specialized in fighting evil characters)

Basically, there are 3 different types of default gameplay:
1) good character (no initiating combat)
2) evil character (initiate combat for power)
3) hunter of evil (initiate combat against evil characters)

[edited by - Silvermyst on June 12, 2002 11:38:17 AM]

Why not set up small societies or towns. The good people can gain power by contributing to the growth and development of the town. The bad people can gain power by raiding and destroying the town. In this way, good people can''t go hide and acrew lots of power and bad people have goals to their destruction. Also, good people could then defend the town in order to fight without being seen as an aggressor. This would allow for champion heroes, as well as the passive good guys.

EEROOKIE wrote:

quote:

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The good people can gain power by contributing to the growth and development of the town. The bad people can gain power by raiding and destroying the town.

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Perfect idea. This really fits in perfectly with the idea that good characters automatically gain power, because they can now build these towns at ease, without feeling pressured into the typical MMORPG behavior of killing for power.
And you''re right, it would also give evil something to destroy. Two birds with one stone.

GLENRM wrote:

quote:

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Exploration

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Yup, exploration will be one of the key elements. But I don''t want to make this too big an aspect of the game to start out with, because then the visuals become too important. If one of the reasons to play the game is to see something of the world, that world better be worth seeing.

All of the graphical chat environments are basically MMORPGs without the combat... it''s just socializing. This idea has been around for years. Back in the text-based MUD days there were even entire code bases that were dedicated to social MUDding rather than the hack-n-slash type. www.habbohotel.com is one example.

PRON!!!!

If you want to take away combat, NPCs, quests and basically everything other than interaction, you'd better let them do something.

I'd say to make it a highly detailed sex game. Give your characters scores for achieving better orgasms for the other players. Make it easier to get the same player to that 'place' every time after the first, thus promoting monogamy or something like that.

I'm sorry... this just sounds like another of those "I've been in college way too long and want to create some mythical utopian society where the meek really do inherit the earth" game designs. People don't want to play that, they want to maim, kill and run rampant.

[edited by - solinear on June 14, 2002 11:47:02 AM]

The ONLY things that come to mind are politics and sports. All the competitiveness and focused dedication to a goal, none of the "arrrgh" and "ahhhh" features of combat.

If you manage to pull off a "Politics Online", my hat off to you