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Giving Players the Ability to Run Events
PokemonTrainerRed
Member UncommonPosts: 375
I was thinking about the role of a GM and it occured to me that it seems to be something that doesn't get used much when in actuality it could be a fantastic tool to use for an MMO world.
Sandboxes would suit this very well, but could also be implimented more into other subtypes as well.
How do you think about it? Or not really that bothered?
Comments
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I would love to see the whole world themselves. They are the will behind the world. The GMs just make it so. Events like invasions, boss fights, social events, roleplay events, the choices are actually endless.
Ryzom has been trying to do this for years. There is an event team that the players can apply to join. I've never considered it to be really successful but they have done some real good events off and on. The Dev's still seem to be really devoted to developing more of it.
This is what the Foundry system is all about in the new Neverwinter MMO and it's one of the main reasons I am so looking forward to.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Tools for social and roleplay events are common in sandbox and social focused MMOs. Invasion and boss fight type content is something that really doesn't work well in the hands of the player.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
1. It will get exploited to hell. Start a small event for your guild and spawn easy to kill monsters with good loot. Since your guild knows what is coming, they can equip perfect gear.
2. It does not scale well. You have 5000 players on your server? An event incorporates 50 players? For every player to be able to participate in an event every day you will need 100 GMs per day per server. With redundancy lets say 200 GMs. How will you get that number of players to act as a GM without a reward?
3. A mass of events will result in players losing interest fast. What would you rather do: Go into a dungeon with a chance to find an uber sword or play the same event with no reward at all for the 10th time?
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Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I agree - if people can cheat, they will.
Also, I have seen some inane ideas come from players (more than game developers).
There's a lot debate on how far the game should go to entertain you. Some players want to treat the game like a toy, the company provides the tools and you create the fun.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
Ryzom also had the Ryzom Ring for years but no longer do.
It was basically a scenario editor where players could create instances for othe players to play their scenarios. However there was no experience or loot for killing anything in the scenarios - any reward had to be given by the player. Ryzom's a pretty grindy game as is so there's not much motivation to spend a lot of time getting no reward. I never even experimented with it or even played a scenario but have seen videos of scenarios others made. I think Ryzom actually messed up big on this, they should have done something like make worthy scenarios part of the game for say a month or 2 - giving exp and loot - maybe they could have limited players to say just once a day or week entering any specific scenario.
I highly doubt it will be fun. Most players are not good content creator.
I am not opposed to trying the idea out though .. although i have little faith in it.
Play some of the mods in the Fallout or Elder Scrolls series, then come back and say they were not "fun". Yes you can get some very poor ones, but the best a top notch and most are of a high quality. Less well known would be the Neverwinter modding, they did some great stuff there MMO wise. Thinking back to AO were you could do some scrippting, the fanbase created a text based library for nanos.
Given the chance players can do a lot for a game, gaming companies do not tend to like it too much as it raises copyright issues. But many modders these days have their stuff brought in house so to speak, like in the Civ series.
I believe Scot is correct:
1) Devs can't make enough content by comparison to the time players can burn through it.
2) Player communities around mods etc give the game more life as well as actually more content.
etc.
Eg FTL has some nice mods for that game and another ks campaign I'm waiting on I'm expecting some great modding for.
But back to mmorpgs, the content problem is only worse; there's some indications companies are taking this route eg Forge for SOE etc. Also think devs should harness some particular selfless/resourceful players to run events or mobs or whatever also. Why not if it fits with the game design. Win-win.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
I'm not sure if this counts as a player run event, but large scale invasions of opposite faction cities are something I've found enjoyable.
Only other thing I've seen event wise is a GM who loaded up a huge-ass monster and invaded a city. However, I'm not sure I'd want to give players access to such a tool.
I use to play NWN, Dungeon Siege .. both have mods .. and yes, 99% are no fun. And even the good ones are poor immitation of professional produced stuff.
There are some .. very rare .. good mods .. like DOTA ... but i would waste my time on 99% of them.
One game .. may be not. Just play a few games .. there are more than enough content. I will never have time to burn through content in DDo, LOTRO and DCUO.
Re: OP
The MMO I am a part of does this on a regular basis. See:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/27/some-assembly-required-ten-years-warp-by-for-vendetta-online/
And also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnYiqbciNiw
and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4hM08fSLFY (voice cast by yours truly)
A big part of getting around the maturity bar required for having access to "GM" tools is 25 hours of game time logged and a 500 word essay on Maturity, Trust, Involvement, and English, before being allowed access to those tools. However, most of the events don't even need the tools; as it is a sandbox environment the community tends to be self-organizing. The "Nation War" that I voice-casted from last Sunday can be run by anyone, without any special privileges except for the trust of the community.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
I don't see player modding as being needed for sandbox or themepark; they just make for a better game. But in a themepark where content locusts want a new serving every month it may help to whet their appetites.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design