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Originally posted by Dialogue
This will allow developers to tell a more fully realized story and make the game world really *breathe* for the players. As long as there are still communal areas for the players to get together and tell their tales, I see this as a good thing for the future of the genre.

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Originally posted by Ekim

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Originally posted by Dialogue
This will allow developers to tell a more fully realized story and make the game world really *breathe* for the players. As long as there are still communal areas for the players to get together and tell their tales, I see this as a good thing for the future of the genre.

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Don't get me wrong, I don't see this kind of feature as a bad thing, on the contrary! But I just don't see it as a solution at all. I don'T believe that it will enable devs to make a tighter, better woven story. It's just a tool to alleviate some of the grieving that some players find themselves "victims" of (although that's another debate altogether). And while that's also a good thing, it just won't solve any of the inherrent problems of the genre.

How can it fix the problem of individuality in an mmorpg when everyone will still be able to do the same quest? Sure, they'll do it in a private and quiet place where things can be better controlled by the devs, but it'll still be the same quest that your friend finished last week. It won't make the world breathe or seem alive since no one else but those allowed in this private region at one time will be able to see what happens there.

Making a world alive means that it should have events that do not require the player's presence or input to run, but that allows a player, or groups of players, to influence it's outcome if they participate. I know that "instances" can be used in that regards, and that would be great, but you're then still alienating the feature that I love the most about mmorpgs: the unpredicatble encounters between players.

So, anyway, I see instances as a great tool, but not a solution. In the end I believe that it may only outline other problems more clearly, or even create new ones.

But hey! I've been known to be wrong... many many times!

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• Destructible environments. To me this is the #1 benefit of private realms, well perhaps after removing camping and griefing. Say you're walking down a corridor and the tunnel collapses behind you. The dungeon has just got a lot more interesting. How about the first member of a group crosses a bridge, the bridge breaks away behind them, splitting the group up. What looks like a statue ahead of them lights up and a warning horn goes off. What are you to do? What is the group to do? They cannot add this kind of thing into a game without having a private realm.
  
• Monster AI. How about a group of monsters that splits up and tries to flank your group. If the AI needs to take into account all the characters that are anywhere close to it, some of whom might not even be attacking it, how does it know who is actively involved in the battle. How does it limit its tactics to those that care. Private realms will allow the monsters to have tactics that are related to their environment and the group that is attacking.
  
• Scaling difficulty for quests. Private realms allows the developers to add scaling difficulty of quests to the actual group entering the private realm. So even if you repeat the private realm it can be more difficult.
  
• Real battles, helping people. Maybe you come across an encampment of a human army. It's trying to block the pass in front of you from a giant army on the other side. A horn blows and a rider rides up to the human leader. The giant army is splitting into 2 parts, a portion is coming up the main pass, while a smaller division is going over the high pass attempting to flank the army. The leader looks to you and says I don't have enough men to cover both flanks. You decide you want to help the army, which flank you want to help. Shoot you could even decide not to, and sneak past the giant army. Maybe you decide to help the giants and kill the humans. Or say you're going to help the humans, and then don't. Completely up to you.
  
• Playscapes. I don't know enough about the other games, but this is one feature of Mythica that can't be overlooked. A playscape will have multiple goals and objectives that are somewhat persistant. When you enter them the 1st time you might only complete two of them. You might return weeks later and complete the others. Decisions you made the 1st time through will affect how the private realm reacts to you the next time through.
  

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Originally posted by JonnyG
Before I start I'll mention that I might be a little biased as I'm a moderator for Mythica HQ and heavily into Mythica. IMO, you're missing some of the best things about private realms if done correctly. I think that private realms/instances will allow the developers to make the world more immersive for the following reasons
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I really think that the private realm technology will give the devs more to work with than just stopping griefers.

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Originally posted by Anonymous
And I definitely agree that one thing you do lose with this is accidental meetings. Running across someone in a huge battle where you might just want to watch, help out if they need it. What about that noob leading a train, I guess they could lead the train right out of the private realm. That's an interesting question. If you run and leave the private realms, do the monsters stop following?

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