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Joey Nipps
Orcan High Command
Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 849
Location: Outer Space |
Rendelius (for one) has mentioned that he wishes for an MMORPH that wasn't JUST about killing and level advancement (to become a better killer and gain stuff). I heartily agree. With that said (and I suspect agreed upon by most true RPers), suppose there were an MMORPH with a good skill based advancement scheme and "lots" of interesting non-battle skills to choose.
What would (long term) be the motivation for people to play such a game and play non-battle oriented characters over the long term in such an MMORPH? The motivations for a killer based character are fairly obvious - fame, fortune, cool items to enhance your killing, new creature AI to learn to defeat and perhaps others. But once you are good at tailoring (for instance) - how long really will you stay interested in playing?
For instance, Rendelius mentioned trying in UO to play a hermit type woodsman (I tried the same thing  . Forgetting the deficiencies of UO - how long would this have been enjoyable - really? Please consider this problem fully before posting back - I have been considering this dilemma for many years and don't have any good answers myself. How to roleplay a tradesman and keep wanting to sign on each and every day - otherwise the MMORPH would not survive long enough to make any money and thus would not be produced.
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When everything else in life seems to fail you - buy a vowel. |
Sat Feb 09, 2002 2:27 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Well, in paper and pencil 3rd ed, my party had an Expert. The character was a sound concept... she wanted to establish trade routes and set up her merchant guild all throughout the underdeveloped yet material rich south eastern edge of the continent in our world. Basically, she hired the rest of the party to help her forge said trails and keep them secure. She was in it for the money and fame, pure and simple.
By level 3 she was so sick of not pulling her weight in the party that she started picking up a few levels of various classes that would still let her work on the key skills she wanted. Certainly she was great at a bunch of 'trade' skills and talked the party out of several situations (including captured by the native orcs)... but when she 'teamed up', her skills were... lacking.
Now... we play RP heavy. If you jokingly say 'We should teach this guy a lesson' there's a good chance said guy will attack you because what you say, your character says. There's plenty of time for using trade skills and such... BUT at the same time... people want to advance. Nobody wanted to be a level 3 fighter until the end of their career... that's what the town sheriffs do.
Translating all that to a MMORPG (yes! I do have a point! I think. )... people wanting to play trade skill characters are certainly possible and useful. And if you can do that day in day out while shelling out cash... (in other words if you take the money you make for fixing computers in life to spend on making a character who fixes swords in a game)I respect you. A lot. But I think a balance should be reached... I think if you truly want to get into the spirit of co-operation in a MMORPG, you have to have a character who can help out his friends in ANY situation to a degree. Or at least try.
So perhaps it's not 'how long could you play this character' as 'how long would people play this character with you?'
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Sat Feb 09, 2002 4:57 pm |
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Joey Nipps
Orcan High Command
Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 849
Location: Outer Space |
Come on - NOBODY has any opinions? Are you all really just FPS gamers that are lurking in this RP forum???? Is all you like to discuss is how cool some game was?
_________________
When everything else in life seems to fail you - buy a vowel. |
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Mon Feb 11, 2002 2:20 pm |
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Shrapnel
Rocket Scientist
Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 1325
Location: Newark, NJ |
Well when I played UO, of course, first thing I went looking for was mail armor and a sword...6 mos later I had the building and levling of characters down to a science.
But when the PK scene got hot (ie kill 5 people now their guild is scouring the woods for you) I decided it would be nice to see what the other side of this life is like. I used to spend hours and DAYS with 1 of three characters:
Miner/Smith
Tailor/Hunter
Lumberjack/Carpenter.
Later to find out that these three characters would be the bread and butter for my fighting chars. Like many others would think when looking at their titles, I thought "who the *&$& wants to play a game and not kill monsters???" All 3 of these characters were fun to play because they are self sufficient the minute they hit the ground and can make you tons of cash.
From an RP view, you can go about your day by heading to the bakers shop, or the butchers shop to pick up a few things for lunch, then head over to the stable and buy a few pack horses (dont forget to give them some fruit occasionally or they will leave you) then with any of those classes you could hit the outdoors in search of resources
Carpenter/Lumber jack can produce tons of arrows/bolts or furniture or just 'wood' to be resold to adventurers or tradesmen within any town. Possiblities are way too many to mention, but after you've gained your wealth and resources, many others in the game have gone on to purchase houses and place them very close to each other, forming a city in some cases, out in the middle of the woods where you and you guild/fellow tradesmen can literally 'set up shop' and create you armors/weapons/items right from your shop (can buy forgeries, Tailorshops, and woodsorker shops in UO).
Anyway, from the RP point of view, UO is and continues to be chock full of possibilities. And is the one game where you the RPer can still influence RPing (Many of these damned vendors I'm speaking of wouldnt serve me unless I RP'd the sale)
Oh yea, the point to all this: Its take a while to form relationships with the other vendors, to get your skill to GM status (thats when selling your stuff really gets you cash. Its like being a desinger, as all items made by a GM (tradesman) have their name on them (Ie: Superb Ring Mail crafted by (You) is on the inscription of every piece of GM-Made stuff) to horde enough cash to buy property and to tend to all the pack-horses. etc etc
[ This Message was edited by: Shrapnel on 2002-02-11 08:50 ] |
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Mon Feb 11, 2002 2:46 pm |
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Shrapnel
Rocket Scientist
Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 1325
Location: Newark, NJ |
Ooops totally forgot:
A tale in the desert. New game currently in beta. No weapons, no armor, no magic. Just a lot of egyptians, doing research:
Creating better architecture
Creating better agriculture
technology
social structure
There are people running for positions of leadership within the cities (like mayors) people who are tryin to be head engineers so their city can build the first pyramid, build the first fireworks show (by learning pyro technics) who will build the first system of canals for city's sewer system.
Wanted a game where RP is primary focus?
Dont get any better than this cause without violence I can GUARANTEE you wont find a single d00d within 50 miles of this game. I was in (am in) the beta since b1. At first In was utterly fascinated with this game and how so many could be here without the burning desire to equip themselves with some thing better (better that WHAT, I do not know yet, everyone is wearing Toga and Loincloth so far). Tried as I might, the longest I've ever stayed in a play session was 45 minutes. But if this something you would like to try, I could probably get you into the beta.
[ This Message was edited by: Shrapnel on 2002-02-11 09:17 ] |
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Mon Feb 11, 2002 3:16 pm |
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