Bear
09-16-2003, 06:44 AM
"...something HARD to do..."
Like stop making single player, or LAN specific, games and then marketing them as Massive Multiplayer? Like hiring enough GM staff to make the game world actually change once in a while? (The world circumstances, not just the weather and graphics.)
Like turning a virtual world into an unpredictable, exciting place to visit, rather than a shooting gallery where you simply stand at the booth (spawn point) and shoot the targets as they pop up? Like having NPCs that move around and do things sometimes? Like random encounters and random quests and new buildings being built while old ones burn/decay/get damaged in fights? Like wild animals that ACT like wild animals? Like NPCs with enough common sense to scratch?
Like making something besides Doom with better graphics?
One of my fondest online memories happened during EQ late beta. The game was abot to go live, and we were all messing around with our beta characters, knowing that they were about to be wiped in a day or so. I was hunting Orcs with my wood elf, and encontered one of the mid-range critters. Don't remember exactly how high, but he was killable. So I attacked. He turned and ran away, I chased him. He doubled back and set an ambush. We fought and he ran again.
The GM, or whoever was actually operating that Orc, led me merry chase for about 15 minutes. Back and forth. A game of cat and mouse where we would try to outguess each other, setting ambushes, doubling back on ourselves, just generally fighting to stay alive. It was the most exhilirating and delightful experience I had ever had on an online RPG. Because it WAS roleplaying.
And it was the very last time in EQ that I ever had that kind of enjoyment.
Bear
Like stop making single player, or LAN specific, games and then marketing them as Massive Multiplayer? Like hiring enough GM staff to make the game world actually change once in a while? (The world circumstances, not just the weather and graphics.)
Like turning a virtual world into an unpredictable, exciting place to visit, rather than a shooting gallery where you simply stand at the booth (spawn point) and shoot the targets as they pop up? Like having NPCs that move around and do things sometimes? Like random encounters and random quests and new buildings being built while old ones burn/decay/get damaged in fights? Like wild animals that ACT like wild animals? Like NPCs with enough common sense to scratch?
Like making something besides Doom with better graphics?
One of my fondest online memories happened during EQ late beta. The game was abot to go live, and we were all messing around with our beta characters, knowing that they were about to be wiped in a day or so. I was hunting Orcs with my wood elf, and encontered one of the mid-range critters. Don't remember exactly how high, but he was killable. So I attacked. He turned and ran away, I chased him. He doubled back and set an ambush. We fought and he ran again.
The GM, or whoever was actually operating that Orc, led me merry chase for about 15 minutes. Back and forth. A game of cat and mouse where we would try to outguess each other, setting ambushes, doubling back on ourselves, just generally fighting to stay alive. It was the most exhilirating and delightful experience I had ever had on an online RPG. Because it WAS roleplaying.
And it was the very last time in EQ that I ever had that kind of enjoyment.
Bear