Communal Progression

Chongo · 06-04-08, 02:12 PM

This is a biggie to bite off.

What are the MMO angles of progression and are they entirely based around individual character? (think level progression/ crafting progression/ etc)

Right now as we have it, it's abstracts otherwise. Abstracts of progression in friendships and the like. This is always going to be true and in an ideal world is what counts the most for the player based. But one of the biggest points of angst we encounter on a PW is that all the progression is individual, meaning that all tangible reward comes from that line of progression. So there's always an undercurrent of the rat race, no matter how good a player you might be.

Examples of communal progression would come with kingdom style concepts as Leanthar once laid out. Or group task-based progression whereby, for example, your uberness in hitting things hard equates to the ability to do better on borderland scouting which has it's own progression chart which influences land security through a directly linked spawn dynamic or maybe influencing the overall 'health' of whatever land/group you are associated with. Going to a simple example, think of the fort you get in NWN 2's OC. It's got those progression lines with the development of your fort. Now, take those and make them actual jobs that PC's can do, then apply them to a persistant and dynamic index which has tangible result. Everyone's a hippy bard and spends all day in town singing? The index for land protection and scouting sinks, monsters spawn at a greater rate, and the equation shows decreased food supplies and safety, high prices, etc. Nobody singing in town while everyone's a bloodthirsty barbarian looking for loot? The persistant index on this results in things like decreased general morale, which manifests itself in.. I dunno, something which negatively impacts the players just as much as all the other indexes.

And it'd have to be the real deal. Take land security for example. You have random spawns in every region right? The DB tracks what is either confronted and killed, confronted and the fight lost or abandoned, and also very much so... what is or isn't missed. This creates a sincere 'search' as opposed to the mechanical mindset.

Also, as far as progression goes, as far as I'm concerned the whole mindset is gone. You're either do a good job protecting your lands/people/whatever... or you don't. Your reason for getting good at something isn't personal in the sense of focusing on hitting level xxx. You're getting good at it so people know you're a good scout and have been helping the community eat well, increase trade, and have results where everyone benefits from you doing your job(s).

Yes, I know this turns into quantum mechanics in very little time. I mean, in my little head I can think about the database information which would be drawn for that specific example of scouting/ protection, and how the tables could be set up to impact a dynamic result. But then you get into all the other desired angles of progression in economics, politics, etc... and that's a whole lotta tables.

Still, gotta love the wishlist.

miltonyorkcastle · 06-04-08, 02:36 PM

How would you decide which community to be a part of? and what if your character intentionally wanted to hurt the community? would the character cease to advance? how do communities interact? If we had one gigantic community, then how would you deal with factions? Could each faction be a different community? Communities within factions?

Perhaps if the system was set up so you could only get so far in individual advancement (because let's face it, there are some things you can only do for yourself), and then you had to find a community to lend your skills and through interaction improve beyond what you could on your own.

Masterjack · 06-04-08, 05:21 PM

So what would happen if the community worked well together and built it up so that everyone is happy and safe? Would their be no more conflict? Could one kingdom take over the whole of Layo destroying all in it's path? If so it sounds like you would need to but a Yin and Yang equation in their to keep the players interested. Don't get me wrong I love the idea and is something I long for in a MMO. Keep up the awesome work!

zenvidar · 06-14-08, 12:06 AM

This idea would significantly increase the benefits of roleplaying. The way your character behaves would change the way the game handles things. It would need some very advanced coding which I could never imagine to wrap my fingers around, but it would be breathtaking.

If a cleric always goes around healing his buddies instead of sick NPCs and players who come to his deity's temple, problems break out.

Now, allowing players to actually cause a little harm could do well too. Obviously not allowing players to destroy everything, but maybe allowing NPC pickpocketing in the MMO version. A shop owner's stock of weapons went missing, so you can't buy your new sword to go out and try to stop a band of orcs marching on your town. (more realistic NPC enemies that move across area transitions on their own towards their desired goals would be cool)

Now that you and the other heroes in the town can't upgrade, you have less of an edge on the enemy. More NPCs die and part of the town gets destroyed before you finally defeat the enemy.

In addition to factions, having a truely viewable impact would be something to drool over and would provide some amazing roleplaying opportunities.