Comments on: A Western MMO http://chrisguincreations.com/drawingboard/?p=106 A place to help Chris Guin fantasize and plan fun new creative projects - video games, musicals, stories, and more! Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:06:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Chris http://chrisguincreations.com/drawingboard/?p=106&cpage=1#comment-2525 Chris Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:21:19 +0000 http://chrisguincreations.com/drawingboard/?p=106#comment-2525 I'm well aware that the game would be a tough sell to the traditional MMO community without being an action-oriented game in some sense. The West theme appeals to me, but not necessarily to the Second Lifers and Sims Onliners and others that would appreciate a high level of design control over their businesses, homes, or whatever. I think a PvE world could be perfectly reasonable though - the world could be populated by gangs of bandits, various Native American tribes at varying degrees of hostility, or maybe even wild animals or legendary creatures (jackalopes?) (although I would hope to not have more than 10 bears around at any given time - it's getting a little too fantasy-esque in that case). You could have narrative threads about negotiating with tribes and railroad companies, rescuing other towns that have been taken over by hoodlums, bringing down corrupt land-grabbing companies, convincing the old gunslinger to come out of hiding, etc etc. Heck, it might be even more compelling than the bilge that was passing for story during WoW: The Burning Crusade. How to make the combat system really work concerns me more. The West theme suggests FPS. But there's no real obvious way to make FPS and MMO work together to my knowledge. Oh well. Fun to think about. I’m well aware that the game would be a tough sell to the traditional MMO community without being an action-oriented game in some sense. The West theme appeals to me, but not necessarily to the Second Lifers and Sims Onliners and others that would appreciate a high level of design control over their businesses, homes, or whatever.

I think a PvE world could be perfectly reasonable though - the world could be populated by gangs of bandits, various Native American tribes at varying degrees of hostility, or maybe even wild animals or legendary creatures (jackalopes?) (although I would hope to not have more than 10 bears around at any given time - it’s getting a little too fantasy-esque in that case).

You could have narrative threads about negotiating with tribes and railroad companies, rescuing other towns that have been taken over by hoodlums, bringing down corrupt land-grabbing companies, convincing the old gunslinger to come out of hiding, etc etc. Heck, it might be even more compelling than the bilge that was passing for story during WoW: The Burning Crusade.

How to make the combat system really work concerns me more. The West theme suggests FPS. But there’s no real obvious way to make FPS and MMO work together to my knowledge.

Oh well. Fun to think about.

]]> By: Jonathan http://chrisguincreations.com/drawingboard/?p=106&cpage=1#comment-2524 Jonathan Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:37:14 +0000 http://chrisguincreations.com/drawingboard/?p=106#comment-2524 Keep in mind that this model is heavily represented in other mmo's that haven't been as successful. Really, this seems to me like a mix of SWG (a terrible game) and Eve Online (another terrible game). In SWG, you make you can only purchase goods from other players, who set up shops in their homes of player houses spread around the various worlds. You didn't used to gain levels, but improved upon various skills, from dancing to crafting etc. There was no ultimate bad guy to destroy -- the purpose was simply to live in the Star Wars universe however you wanted. The distinct lack of combat destroyed the game of enjoyment for most people, as most people like to develop and become more powerful, a desire left wanting unless you are sufficiently greedy to really care about fantasy gold. Eve appealed more to the frontier desires of people. You did long boring trade routes for gold, built expensive ships and colonies to protect your collective, and could be bad or good. Most of the game involved surviving griefing, as people without a reason to be good resort to being bad most of the time. There were probably 10 pirates for every person trying to make a trade. The only end objective was to have the most money so you could buy the best stuff. The challenge in breaking any model, regardless of the world you use, is sustainability. There must be goals you can achieve which feel like advancement, either personally or the story itself. In the west, it's unlikely you'll have a compelling in-game story, although I suppose it's possible. Instead, you'd have to find a way to satisfy personal goals through improving your character and community. But most people who would buy an MMO do not want to be in it purely for fake commerce. There must be an action based part of the game with room for growth. You figure out how to incorporate both and you'll be a very rich man, that is if you already are a very rich man and can fund your innovative ideas. Keep in mind that this model is heavily represented in other mmo’s that haven’t been as successful. Really, this seems to me like a mix of SWG (a terrible game) and Eve Online (another terrible game).
In SWG, you make you can only purchase goods from other players, who set up shops in their homes of player houses spread around the various worlds. You didn’t used to gain levels, but improved upon various skills, from dancing to crafting etc. There was no ultimate bad guy to destroy — the purpose was simply to live in the Star Wars universe however you wanted. The distinct lack of combat destroyed the game of enjoyment for most people, as most people like to develop and become more powerful, a desire left wanting unless you are sufficiently greedy to really care about fantasy gold.
Eve appealed more to the frontier desires of people. You did long boring trade routes for gold, built expensive ships and colonies to protect your collective, and could be bad or good. Most of the game involved surviving griefing, as people without a reason to be good resort to being bad most of the time. There were probably 10 pirates for every person trying to make a trade. The only end objective was to have the most money so you could buy the best stuff.
The challenge in breaking any model, regardless of the world you use, is sustainability. There must be goals you can achieve which feel like advancement, either personally or the story itself. In the west, it’s unlikely you’ll have a compelling in-game story, although I suppose it’s possible. Instead, you’d have to find a way to satisfy personal goals through improving your character and community. But most people who would buy an MMO do not want to be in it purely for fake commerce. There must be an action based part of the game with room for growth. You figure out how to incorporate both and you’ll be a very rich man, that is if you already are a very rich man and can fund your innovative ideas.

]]> By: Megs http://chrisguincreations.com/drawingboard/?p=106&cpage=1#comment-2505 Megs Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:00:52 +0000 http://chrisguincreations.com/drawingboard/?p=106#comment-2505 "4) Trains are cool" And we come to the real reason why you'd like this. ;) “4) Trains are cool”

And we come to the real reason why you’d like this. ;)

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