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Should there be hunger in an mmorpg?
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Only boring to you. Obviously not boring to the target audience. Otherwise, the market won't be growing so big.
And they can innovate on the combat, and progression.
True, except i have not seen one that is entertaining. But certainly it is not impossible.
Hence, it is up to devs to find and convince players that such a fun food mechanics may exist. I will believe it when i see it.
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
Arya Stark
Best idea yet. Have starvation be a severe xp penalty.
As a level 8 paladin in EQ, I ran out of food and was totally lost. Thinking I might starve, I asked someone for help which is unlike me. A game-long friendship was born that day, one which would influence my gaming style evermore; and thus, I would go on to inspire numerous others (who told me as much). All because of a food/drink mechanism in the game.
I still remember my savior's name, "Whyye," and the adventures we had that day clearly.
BTW, I didn't realize until later that food has practically no effect in EQ, other than seeing "you are hungry" spammed every sixty seconds.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
Hey wait, wurm online has a decent hunger system. But then wurm is surely not your typical mainstream MMO, I'd say it's one of the 2% for the mature audience (and very close to a "survival MMO, though not a "horror theme").
Even though it was just a misunderstanding, your example shows what a potential could lie in a decent hunger system in that it would urge (but not force!) the player into something interesting, a social interaction in this certain case. It just has to be done right and not another chore.
One of the better gaming experiences I've had recently has been in skyrim, heavily modified. Playing with exposure and hypothermia mods, as well as better night darkness (can't see very well). Additionally, a mod that adds cooking recipes and has some nice benefits to eating regularly. Combined with a camping mod, made for a highly an experience with high immersion. I basically just left Riverwood with supplies and started playing as a wandering hunter. All I need to find is some type of a trade merchant mod, and I think I would be set. It's the little things that can make a good game great.
Hunger would be an interesting mechanic. If I allow my hunger to go for so long, I have stat decreases and even minor dot damage. The only way to be completely full is to sit and have a full meal. Doing that yourself would take prep, or you could visit a tavern and just purchase a complete meal. That would wind up creating natural social opportunities, especially if Taverns could be built and run by players.
However, the problems you will run into is when you reach the elder game. What if dungeon running or raiding was the main pve elder game mechanic. So, before any run, you would need to make sure that everyone was fully fed, or else a hungry person could become a liability. What if the run was taking longer than expected? You'd have to stop to eat. While that may be interesting to some folks, and creates a very dynamic playing experience. How long before it just becomes a hassle?
There are a number of mechanics that can make any game interesting, but the implementation is the tricky part. If the mechanic can be largely ignored, then it's shallow. If it cannot be ignored and is unwieldy, then it becomes detrimental. Striking that perfect balance is nearly impossible.
Depends on what a player expects from playing a MMO, back in the old days MMO devs tried to emulate a virtual living world, with random weather, day/night cycles, etc etc etc.
Today MMO's usually don't have that stuff and are just quick moneycows with no virtual world emulation whatsoever.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
For every player that beg and ask for food, 1000 more will go back to town every 15 min and complains endlessly about the chore.
Plus, if every one i met beg me for food, i will go insane. Thank god i can just hit the LFD button and don't see anyone who is not there to run a dungeon.
It really depends on the game. If it was an MMO about survival, then hunger certainly makes sense - as well as mechanics to work around it (like cooking). Slapping it in a current MMO would probably just make things tedious. I personally would not mind a 'basic needs' system that isn't too complex that it distracts from the actual game. Good examples would probably be things like Frostfall / Basic Needs and Diseases for Skyrim, which give you a little something extra to worry about without completely taking over your game.
Some of the IRE MUDs handle hunger like this: from level 1-80 you can get hungry which may cause you to black out and other such issues when starving (though you don't instantly die from it). Past level 80, though, your character is assumed to transcend the need for food. By that level, a typical player has become involved in more and more player organizations and so the lack of hunger code is not only a driving goal, but a great relief.
Well Gloria Victis is not gonna be a mainstream mmo. There are no pve dungeons or instanced raiding planned to be developped as far as I know. In a common theme park hunger in dungeons/raid instances would be bad.
They are aiming for realism and even partnered with Medieval Worlds, a company that specialize in historical and medieval model design, medieval architecture, weapons and interior design: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.591655890859568.1073741835.352162408142252&type=1
Further more there will be a weather system with klimates and migration of wildlife. Not your typical mmo of today
https://www.facebook.com/FUtilez ||| https://twitter.com/FUtilez ||| https://www.youtube.com/futilezguild
Gloria Victis sounds awesome. Will try to keep an eye on it.
Very cool. Wish I could play your Skyrim mod! And, I love the idea of someone building an inn/tavern at some local hot spot; letting adventurers come sit and eat. They could make the mechanic like old EQ's meditate button. Where you have to sit and click "eat." But you can click it just once, and will continue to eat until full or until you stand up. Player can socialize or watch TV IRL or heaven forbid get up and take a shower or clean up the place.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
I remember that. That was a horrible gameplay design, forcing players to stare at the spellbook (and later the scene in one direction) for 10 min.
I am glad most games won't do that.
And you think watching TV or taking shower should be part of a video game? If i want to do those things, i go do those things. When i play a video game, i don't want the game to force me to watch tv. That defeat the purpose of playing a video game.
I'm currently playing Skyrim, heavily-modded and with self-imposed restrictions on movement speed, carry-weight, fast -travel etc. I find such restrictions add tremendously to a game that I had previously found too easy to be engaging. For me, a certain degree of inconvenience in a game usually makes for a more rewarding experience.
However, the point at which the burden of inconvenience goes from desirable to detrimental differs from player to player. What works for me in Skyrim would not necessarily work for another player in the same game; finding a happy medium that would suit everyone in a MMO would be quite unrealistic. There really is nothing to be gained by imposing such mechanics in MMOs when the majority of the players are not interested in 'immersion' and are instead focused on rapid progression and content consumption. If immersion is your goal then your best tool is your imagination (as it has always been since the first pnp rpgs). You don't necessarily need to see your character eating, recovering arrows from corpses or fletching new ones to allow yourself to believe that they do these things.
More annoying than realistic to me. I like my games more whimsical and cartoon looking since its a game. EQ2 has hunger and I always hated that I had to have bread and water provisioned.
Agree with who says "it dependes on the kind of game". But we are moving towards a more sandbox game, players want the world to run as they predicted, thay want to shape their stories. Such worlds cannot be a part of economy and politics, power games and much more complex and fine strategy than the simple "go and kill" as too many mmorpg did until now. Since sandbox and jobs cannot be separated and jobs and economy cannot be separated I think that an hunger and thirst are not only to be implemented, but they are the engine of the world economy. Economy by definition lies on needs. No needs = no economy. Why should I do the cook or the farmer if the players do not NEED to buy my food?
Farming, hunting, cooking an so on would not be worth to exist, would not have any utility at all. They would only be a "cosmetic" componet of the game.
A realistic game, such as Black Desert, would surely need to implement a hunger thirst system in order to make economy go.
Will it make the game more fun?
If i have to spend my game-time managing (i.e. buying, keeping inv ...) bread ... then no. That is a trivial chore with no challenge and no fun.
I didn't mind hunger as a mechanic in EQ1 - it was a constant necessity, and a way to provide a small stat boost if you were careful about it. It also made the cooking craft seem a bit more relevant. You needed to eat something (and more of it if you rode your horse). I kinda liked it, it made the game seem more like a virtual world than a game.
I didn't care for it in WoW where it was just a cheap buff/healing component, and it wasn't considered a necessity. It was just another buff for the min-maxers and there was "the right food" and everything else was pretty well junk.
Although I always thought, if there was hunger, shouldn't there also be bathroom breaks?
I'm often getting hungry while playing MMOs, does that count? I recommend eating cheesy poofs and Doritos
btw Fallout New Vegas has a fun hardcore mode, you have to drink water to prevent dehydration.
Got it off steam during the summer sale for 3 bucks.. epic deal