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Massive Singleplayer Online RPG
zohnny
Member UncommonPosts: 45
well im enjoying elder scrolls 4 oblivion on xbox 360 so much and got an idea. why not make a AAA MSORPG for pc? something of the quality of oblivion and higher. look at all the things you cant do in a mmorpg because of hurdles for the devs. so many things that wont work and cant be done because you have so many people running around. people cry about instancing and not being able to find groups and so on. why not make a massive single player online game? im having fun being a thief for instance. stealing, picking locks, breaking into places, joining a secret guild. assasins are fun too. you really cant do that stuff in a mmorpg. i know people will say you can in ultima online but its not the same.
imagine an entire world to explore. where anything is possible for every play style. an ever growing world. not just a few dlc patches but huge updates that add more cities, ruins, castles, regions you name it. a game where exploration goes as far as you want it to. crafting could have total depth. do things that really do change the world. a game with so much to do that in 5 years you still havent done everything.
i know bethesda is making an elder scrolls mmorpg. but why not a single player online game? i know im using oblivion as a basis but im just trying to get the idea through. compare a massive single player online game to our current mmorpg games in terms of what can and cant be done. in a mmorpg theres tons of limits and stuff you cant do. in a massive single player online rpg the only thing you cant do is play with other players. i think hirelings could work for boss monsters (im just sayin).
man a huge world with all the themes like asian, viking, medieval, tribal, etc. style settings, deserts, wastelands, hills and grasslands, jungles, forests, mountains where you can actually use tools to scale cliffs, an underworld, other dimensions, continents, ships you can sail i mean the possibilities are endless.
if done right i would pay $14.99 per month. theres nothing wrong with not being a massively multiplayer online rpg. single player could be just as fun.
Comments
Perhaps Bethesda will do a "Bioware" and take their games to the MMO market?
I remember both times playing Morrowind/Oblivion and thinking "this would be so cool to play in a party with other players". I even googled "Oblivion multiplayer mods".
But alas... none had been created.
Why are there so many cutesie, fantasy, childish MMO's. Give me blood, gore and a long lasting challenge. I don't need my hand being held along the way. Thanks.
You do? Source please
It's a guess. I too "guess" that they are making Elder Scrolls Online, but I know that they are making some mmorpg and it's not Fallout.
I'm currently playing through the Archeologist Guild quests with my... err Ranger (custom) in the upper 30's. Next probably my custom Assassin (20's) through Brotherhood Renewed along with Twilight Vampirism. Other than that, working with the Construction Set.
As for Online... well it's a Sandbox game (they make sandbox games), so would probably be a massively multiplayer online sandbox game. Why pay monthly for a multi-player game? If they break from sandbox, they will probably screw it up, as they are great sandbox makers, not linear game designers. Unless it's linear like GW, I don't see how the multi-player part would fit. If a sandbox, I don't know how multi-player would be attractive, and how static lobbies would work for that. If an mmo sandbox, and immensive at that, that would seem to fit what they do best. It's really ripe right now to take the market with that, and they could make a killing doing something different than what everyone else is doing.
M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demos & indie alpha's.
That would be an interesting twist and a nice idea. There is definately a market out there for something like that. It could even be somethign similiar to GW1 and DDO where there are hubs for people to gather together and form parties to do the "single player" content or a portion of it. At the very least it might siphon off a number of the people who complain in normal MMO's about casual content and solo content and perhaps allow good MMO's to come about.
A lot of old school gamers would freak out if they seen this idea. I personally like the idea and would be open to play it if the game was good. Nothing in the definition of MMO says that it has to be group oriented.
seriously, I'm in.
I played morrowind for over 2 and a half years and have been playing oblivion since launch.
I have so many content mods and weapons/armor/race mods that my game can't exit properl anymore.
I'm in.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Well, you could look at other sandboxy games, like RDR which has multiplayer which works pretty well. Granted, I agree Oblivion woul dbe much better as a full MMO, or at least larger scale than RDR Multiplayer. If nothing else, they could at least build on RDRs example and up it to something like 50-100 people per session. Sure it wouldnt be 1 big persistant world, but all of those people would basically be actively playing when they join the game (except for some short afk breaks and stuff) and thats plenty of people to get together and have some fun with. Would also make Voicechat much bette rthan dealing with it in a full MMO.
I have no clue about a Oblivion MMO (legit) but I believe there is an Online Mod currently in the work for PC users that would allow players to play Online together. But this mod was developed by users and not Bethesda and I have no clue if it truly works yet.
LOTRO is kind of close to what OP is talking about. Sure, there are other players, but mostly you do your own thing and occasionally pass by one of them. The game has a very solitary, story-driven feel to it.
But all the effort of adventuring and leveling without sharing the experience with others sort of puzzles me. This is sort of like getting all dressed up to go out and just staying at home staring at a mirror. But, whatever float someone's boat....
But please tell me you would not pay a monthly subscription for a single player experience.
If they updated it with regular content I would.
look, 15 dollars per month is nohting. I spend more than that on coffee per week. maybe every few days.
I always pay for what I find of worth. I pay for the best theater tickets, I pay online for movie tickets and get those added fees so that I can insure that I get tickets and it's not sold out, I pay for expedited shipping if I need something but not sure if I'll get it in time.
Would I like to pay nothing? You betcha!
But if paying what I think is a reasonable fee for something that I consider of value will get me regular updates to a game that I find fun and exciting then I'm there.
50 cents a day. for years and years of content that is of professional quality?
please. People pay more for cable to "not" watch what is offered. Or to watch what I would say really isn't worth it.
edit: yup I probably pay from nine to twelve dollars every two days on coffee. just put that there for comparison.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
i have no problem paying a subscription for it. look at the dlc for oblivion. small and fun. now for a single player online game im sure the content would just keep coming. the dlc for oblivion is done but an online game just keeps growing. with single player only you can play casual at your own pace or hardcore. imagine oblivion but with more features, more land, more options and evergrowing.
as a single player online game you should expect to be playing by yourself. its actually your world and you do what you want. adding multiplayer takes away from it. some features wouldnt work. so i would expect a single player game from the start. it would work way better than having any type of multiplayer for the idea i have. we have multiplayer in every mmo out there already. when you dress up your character (and no where to go like poster said earlier) its for your own personal satisfaction in a single player online game. if you wanna show it off take a screenshot and post it on mmorpg.com.
im just sayin the idea i have in mind is total single player only. questing could be so much more dynamic. just think of all the possibilities for all the features and content that could be added. so i wouldnt want or expect pvp because i know im buying a single player online game. just think of the possibilities. imagine if this was done for an elder scrolls game, or a legend of zelda game, or a tenchu game. a massive single player online rpg could open up so many options and doors. everyones stuck on making a massively multiplayer game. look how many failed. look at the complexities involved just because its multiplayer. someone needs to make a massive single player game. and someone like bethesda that can get it right.
Well the way I look at it is that you are paying for continued value.
Ultimately one would say that they should be paying for each expansion. And that's fine. I bought the first few dragon age offerings but have no issue in the "play as a hurlock" expansion so didn't buy it.
If I payed only 15 per month and got continual expansions that would be fine. Or a la carte would work just as well. whatever. All I know is that i spend a lot of time combing the oblvion mod sites trying to find content that is decent and worth my time.
there is a lot of great stuff. some of it is almost worth paying for. But there is always something that seems out of place, buggy, floating items, weird layouts, etc that gives it away as amateur. And I mean that as the word is actually meant to be defined. "for the love of"
If a pro game company offered a game that would last for years like oblvion then I'm there. simple as that.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Uh tay, they call those expansions, and you pop off $50 about every year for one. That's why I don't mind GW so much, as they run off of expansion costs. In fact most mmo's now that thrive on instanced content are doing the same, but making tons of money with subs, and expansions, and that does bother me. I'm fine with making lots of money, but not bloated service costs. If I pay $15/mo (And I usually have multiple subs going), I want my $15 bucks worth, and that means burning bandwidth because there are 100's or even 1000 other players in my area.
M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demos & indie alpha's.
Running through Oblivion with a few friends does NOT equal MMO.
It'd be a fun coop game, but as an MMORPG it would have to be restructured so completely that it wouldn't even slightly resemble Oblivion.
ok you bring up a very good point.
burning up bandwidth.
If a company offered me an online game with millions of players on the same server, same play space and I hated the game then it owuldn't be worth a penny.
If a company promised me mini expansions for my monthly sub and then a large paid expansion I'd do it.
It's all about paying for good game play. Paying for value. Granted, online games (mmo's in this case) offer something that solo games don't. An actual living world. whether I party with the players or not they do flesh out the world quite nicely.
but given the oblvion or morrowind example, that's it, no more expansions. At least not from the devs. Just from modders. Some are great. but very few are so amazing that I can't tell it was from a modder. There's always some issue that seems amateur. Again, as it is meant to be defined. and how many "uber" mods have players announced only to then announce that they ran out of steam. too many for my counting. And I can count pretty high!
If they kept fleshing out morrowind since its inception I probably would still be playing it that's how much I loved that game. But there's only so far you can go with the available content. once you start getting close to three years you've done it.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
check my last post i edited it and added some stuff in last paragraph. a single player online game could have just as many subscribers as a multiplayer online game. look how long content takes to come out for mmo games. months and years because of the multiplayer complexity and balance and all that. single player games take about 2-3 years to be made. extra content comes fast and easier. but the thing about single player offline games is the dlc stops and most of the time you need to wait for the games sequel to be made to play new stuff. a massive single player online game could be around for 10+ years just like some mmo games today. there could be monthly content for free as well as paid expansions no problem.
btw when i say massive single player online game the "massive" part means the size of the world the game is set in.
That’s why sandbox mmo expansions are not as imperative to keep subs, as the players drive content, rater than the publisher feeding it.
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What IF... as an mmo sandbox world, it also had The Elder Scrolls Construction Set built into it? Something like SecondLife, but not where you could upload your own content, but you could build many things within the persistent non-instance game world with a good tool? Not buildable in every area, but something like UO + SWG on steroids. Would make it a true sandbox mmorpg.
Now, if you think that sux, you must hate the Matrix, right?
And you probably hated all the player created content for Elder Scrolls thus far... if you even played Elder Scrolls.
And you like to play with the eraser filings on your desk too. hehe
M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demos & indie alpha's.
While there are some folks on this board who express interest in such a game, this kind of game would die. It would have a small following (i.e., folks willing to pay monthly subs for a single player online game when there are true Massively Multiplayer options), dev expenses cost money, maintaining servers costs money, and the whole thing would crash before it ever got out the door.
Cool to fantasize about it, but no one is going to make a AAA quality subscription-based, massively single player game. In fact, why would it have to be online at all? Seriously. Does not Oblivion in its present state, with expansions, already fit the bill?
and what does the "online" mean when you cant play with other people
A subscription fee.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I'm trying to wrap my head around what your game would offer that a standard RPG (non-online) wouldn't?
Evolving, persistent world is pretty much all I can come up with? I think to most people the fact that they can buy expansions which simulate these effects is enough incentive not to pay the $14.99 a month.
It's (good) news to me about the Elder Scrolls RPG by the way! I was chatting to a friend about this the other day. Why did I never bother to finish Elder Scrolls, and why did I never buy Morrowind? Because I found almost all the depth available in those games plus the benefits of playing with other players in MMO's.
When it comes down to it I would rather play a MMORPG than a standard RPG. If I want to spend some time solo'ing, I can...but I also have he flexibility of playing or inter-acting with others.
I loved Mass Effect 2 recently, but as I got close to completing it all I was wishing for was that SWTOR would be half as beautiful.
Oh so correctly put: game publishers are only interested in catching a constant flow of money these days.
I could see a small solution with an on line adventure game with very limited interaction and co-op modes.
The problem for future years is that the cost and time to produce "challeging" PVE content is too high to satisfy players satisfaction levels.
The only solution for future "subscriptions" is open services for game packages and e-sports combos.
Example: you''l pay 20 $/month to have WOW - SC2 - D3 and all of its e-sport access through BattleNet.
An extra on line adventure game could be thrown in, but could never gather alone subs to cover its costly development.
While SC2 - e sports for example would bring in masses of money with little to no extra development resources.
It's all in the money game these days ... and PVE is too time consuming to produce as a single sub solution.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
My thought excactly. Why on earth would it need to be online if you are playing only by yourself? It sounds like an oxymoron to me.
If you want to pay a monthly fee for added content that is one thing but the online part I dont get.
Besides isn't Guild Wars pretty much like that? Towns as player hubs and everything else pretty much private?
For me the whole idea sounds like a step backwards. The future is to interact with other people through the Internet, not isolate yourself. That is the past.
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You know, if done in the right context, this might work. Think of all of the bugs that were in Oblivion, and the fact that a fan took it upon themself to create the "unofficial patch" that fixed a lot of those errors.
Part of your monthly sub would be constant "tech" support, in terms of bug fixes. Secondly, if the developer would make changes to the game to either improve certain skills or nerf some overpowered skills, or even add content that would normally be DLC, then yes those two things alone would be worth a sub.
Now imagine if you added some multiplayer interaction like Demon Soul for the PS3. Where players can leave notes with tips of the upcoming fight, or you can remotely view someone else's death or even call someone to help you with a particularly tough fight. That would be neat.
If you also had support for guilds. If you were in a guild, a guild hall could be a common place where people could chat, trade, form adventure parties. You could access your guild hall in any city, town, village where your guild purchased or built. However, being in a guild meant you had a "guild chat" regardless of where you were, just like in most mmorpgs.
Also, if you purchased a shop in a town in your world, you could allow open access to your store so that when someone walked up to that store front in their world they could select from a menu of various players who own that shop in their world. That player could then come purchase your wares you sold there. Depending on the layout of the world, you could almost form your own trade route as you sell buy common items found in one part of the world and sold them for more where they are more rare in another part of the world.
Something like this would actually work pretty well I think. You still have the support and the ability to network with others like in any other mmorpg, but you can also select the pace in which you explore your world without the content becoming obselete.
Kaneth: Hellgate London tried something similar, not as good as your suggestion but still not that far. It didn't work that well.
As for Elder scrolls online have Bethesda hired people for a MMO department the last 2 years so they are making something. Whatever it is Fallout, ES or something else is however not known at this time even though speculations and the mess with Interplay points to a fallout game. Maybe they are working on both, maybe none.
While I like the exploration in the ES games (particularly Daggerfall) am I not a fan of a solo MMO. I don't really see the point of that, but some elements from these games could be added in MMOs with good results.