I've been playing MUDs and other online text-based multiplayer games for a long time now, most notably DragonRealms and the nearly defunct Federation. The only game I currently play, and work for, is its successor, Federation II.
Federation II is not a fantasy game with magic and swords and what have you. I sort of miss having a classical-type RPG to play. I like the magic, myth, and the things of that sort that can't be found in the real world. The reason I don't play them, however, is because I have a number of problems with their typical implementation.
In my experience, a player usually begins these games in debt. When a character is created he is given money to get basic equipment and the like. The problem here is that the amount given is generally not sufficient to purchase the equipment one needs. You cannot get both armor and a weapon, for instance. Even the cheapest armor or weapon.
The effect is that one begins life in debt, and cannot purchase the equipment needed to go out and kill critters to earn the money to repay the debt. I'd both eliminate the debt altogether and increase the buying power of a new players starting money.
I say go out and kill critters to earn money because this is the customary way of doing things. This is another issue with the implementation; players are given few ways in which to make money. Not everyone wants to spend all her time out killing goblins for minimal reward.
Related to this is fluff - items such as clothes, toys, and other essentially useless buy fun things. It is generally prohibitively expensive. A new player is stuck with crap.
I understand progressively cooler items should be available as one gains more experience and raises higher in the ranks. With greater experience comes greater privilege. New players should not automatically get the most powerful magical item in the game. This should be reserved for those who have worked for it. However, new players should have a few fun things available to them.
My main problem is with game mechanics. In the beginning, and even when I began playing over 10 years ago, internet service was charged on an hourly basis. Bandwidth was expensive, and games also charged per hour played. This resulted in many ways in which a game could keep players playing for a longer period of time; possibly the most evident is how experience is gained.
Grinding is the act of doing a repetetive, dull act in the game merely to earn advancement. It is a holdover from the pay per hour days. By making someone do the same task over and over again in order to earn the experience to advance, a player was kept in the game.
However, bandwidth is now cheap. Games are no longer charged on a per hour basis, but generally on a flat fee scheme. Pay your subscription, and play all you want. Game mechanics do not reflect this change, and grinding remains.
This way of gaining experience and advancing is mind-numbingly boring. A game should be fun, not work.
There are ways around this, though. This usually involves scripts which do all the repetetive actions. A player may start the script, leave for work for the day, and his character will do all the boring stuff in his absence. When he returns home in the evening, he will have advanced to the next rank.
It's silly. The person isn't actually even playing the game. Scripters can be an annoyance to other players and game personell.
Scripting shouldn't be necessary at all. Game mechanics need to be updated for the 21st Century. Though a player should have to do things to gain experience, these things should occur in the normal course of gameplay.
Furthermore, there is often no difference in gameplay from one level to the next. Perhaps a player can kill bigger, more dangerous creatures, or learn a new spell, but things are essentially the same. I do not claim that things should be radically different, but there should be something. Perhaps a new quest opens up, anything.
Finally, I have issues concerning guilds, classes, professions, whatever you choose to call them. Typically a character can belong to only one. This is bogus. As a player I should have as much of the game available to me as I choose to play. If I want to be a thief/cleric, fine. Though the two might seem mutually exclusive, I can actually think of some good ways to role-play the combination.
If designing my own game, I might do away with professions altogether; that is, I would not require a player to join any one. And I would allow her to join as many as she chose, with a few expections. My ideas currently involve some warring secret societies.
Those are my main issues with how games are implemented. I have a few more ideas on how I would design the game I would like to play, but I won't write them now.
I'm sure I've rambled on enough.
Have a great day everyone!
Federation II is not a fantasy game with magic and swords and what have you. I sort of miss having a classical-type RPG to play. I like the magic, myth, and the things of that sort that can't be found in the real world. The reason I don't play them, however, is because I have a number of problems with their typical implementation.
In my experience, a player usually begins these games in debt. When a character is created he is given money to get basic equipment and the like. The problem here is that the amount given is generally not sufficient to purchase the equipment one needs. You cannot get both armor and a weapon, for instance. Even the cheapest armor or weapon.
The effect is that one begins life in debt, and cannot purchase the equipment needed to go out and kill critters to earn the money to repay the debt. I'd both eliminate the debt altogether and increase the buying power of a new players starting money.
I say go out and kill critters to earn money because this is the customary way of doing things. This is another issue with the implementation; players are given few ways in which to make money. Not everyone wants to spend all her time out killing goblins for minimal reward.
Related to this is fluff - items such as clothes, toys, and other essentially useless buy fun things. It is generally prohibitively expensive. A new player is stuck with crap.
I understand progressively cooler items should be available as one gains more experience and raises higher in the ranks. With greater experience comes greater privilege. New players should not automatically get the most powerful magical item in the game. This should be reserved for those who have worked for it. However, new players should have a few fun things available to them.
My main problem is with game mechanics. In the beginning, and even when I began playing over 10 years ago, internet service was charged on an hourly basis. Bandwidth was expensive, and games also charged per hour played. This resulted in many ways in which a game could keep players playing for a longer period of time; possibly the most evident is how experience is gained.
Grinding is the act of doing a repetetive, dull act in the game merely to earn advancement. It is a holdover from the pay per hour days. By making someone do the same task over and over again in order to earn the experience to advance, a player was kept in the game.
However, bandwidth is now cheap. Games are no longer charged on a per hour basis, but generally on a flat fee scheme. Pay your subscription, and play all you want. Game mechanics do not reflect this change, and grinding remains.
This way of gaining experience and advancing is mind-numbingly boring. A game should be fun, not work.
There are ways around this, though. This usually involves scripts which do all the repetetive actions. A player may start the script, leave for work for the day, and his character will do all the boring stuff in his absence. When he returns home in the evening, he will have advanced to the next rank.
It's silly. The person isn't actually even playing the game. Scripters can be an annoyance to other players and game personell.
Scripting shouldn't be necessary at all. Game mechanics need to be updated for the 21st Century. Though a player should have to do things to gain experience, these things should occur in the normal course of gameplay.
Furthermore, there is often no difference in gameplay from one level to the next. Perhaps a player can kill bigger, more dangerous creatures, or learn a new spell, but things are essentially the same. I do not claim that things should be radically different, but there should be something. Perhaps a new quest opens up, anything.
Finally, I have issues concerning guilds, classes, professions, whatever you choose to call them. Typically a character can belong to only one. This is bogus. As a player I should have as much of the game available to me as I choose to play. If I want to be a thief/cleric, fine. Though the two might seem mutually exclusive, I can actually think of some good ways to role-play the combination.
If designing my own game, I might do away with professions altogether; that is, I would not require a player to join any one. And I would allow her to join as many as she chose, with a few expections. My ideas currently involve some warring secret societies.
Those are my main issues with how games are implemented. I have a few more ideas on how I would design the game I would like to play, but I won't write them now.
I'm sure I've rambled on enough.
Have a great day everyone!
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
aaardvark:
Yeah, but we call my friend the big furry mexican weasel. I don't know why, it somehow seems...fitting. And yes, Pauly Shore is the devil.
anishka:
WOW~ that was a long entry you posted! Your hands musta hurt after that! HOLY! Anyways, I am going to try my best to kiss him that many times, will it work? prolly not but it will be fun trying! 