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Would you be interested in a Wild West-themed game? (SPECIFICS)

45074507 Member UncommonPosts: 351
edited September 2016 in The Pub at MMORPG.COM
Last week I posted a poll asking the same question (results in comment below this), but did not provide any gameplay specifics for such a game so that I could gauge the interest in the underlying theme. This poll IS about gameplay specifics.

I have a general idea of what I would like a Western game to entail, which is briefly described below. Please vote based on the gameplay and setting details I have provided. Please do not vote based on monetization system, which I have intentionally not included to avoid unnecessary bias (if it helps, assume that the game would be whatever your preferred monetization system is).

---SPECIFICS---

Setting: (historical) American frontier circa 1870 (just after completion of the First Transcontinental Railway) as well as parts of western Canada and northern Mexico. You are an American who has just arrived in one of the frontier towns of the West from the East.

General concept: Classless player skill-based sandbox open world PvP (without safezones) 

Combat: FPS style firearm/bow combat (though with less range, longer reload time and LOTS more gunsmoke), action combat with melee weapons (cavalry swords, bowie knives, pool cues, etc). Includes mounted combat as a major pillar (only mount is a horse, however, of which there are many varieties and variations)

Crafting: EVE style AFK crafting with lots of focus on design (for example, when crafting a vest you can choose from a variety of fabrics, lapel sizes, straps, patterns, button locations, number of buttons, colour of buttons, etc) grants XP towards crafting skills (tanning, woodworking, brewing, tailoring, ranching, etc). 

Progression: Restrictionless XP/skill-based for crafting, level based for combat, but without direct combat benefits such as higher health, more damage, etc; instead, gives indirect combat advantages through a level up point-based tree with selections such as faster/longer run, higher resistance to snake venom, slower hunger bar depletion, etc. Direct combat advantages come from gear (hat, boots, horse and gun, mainly). 

Sandbox: Non instanced land may be bought on the outskirts of NPC towns throughout the world to farm, ranch, build or run a business on. Cities thereby grow and shrink based on player population and activity, and most shops are completely player run. Players may also purchase claims, which do not have to be near cities and give the claimholder the legal right to extract resources on the claim until it expires (24-72 hours, with longer costing more money), but cannot be built on.

Multiplayer: Players have an entertainment bar refillable only by reading expensive and consume-on-use books or listening to player musicians other than yourself (musicians cannot gain entertainment from listening to themselves) for a time, creating downtime for communication in player run saloons, concert houses, etc.

Death penalty: Lose all property, including land, claims, banked assets and carried items as well as a small (5-10%) amount of XP.

PvP: Killing other players decreases your lawfulness (also decreased by theft, vandalism, NPC murder, harvesting resources without a claim, robbing banks and trains, etc) by a large amount, which, depending on the amount of (un)lawfulness causes NPC sheriffs to attack you on sight, causes the government to place a bounty on your head (killing a player with an active bounty on their head increases lawfulness instead of decreasing it, as well as giving you a monetary reward in addition to the player's belongings), or causes up to 100 NPC marshalls, rangers, guard or mounties to relentlessly track you down and execute you with their superior weaponry such as cannons and gatling guns.

PvE: Mainly bank and train robberies, but also big game hunting such as buffalo, wolf, cougar, bear, etc. Perhaps also Indian village raiding, but that may be too controversial.


---NOTE---

I realize that this is not fully fleshed out, and I have probably left a lot out (I've got about 5 pages of notes on this idea right now), but please ask if something is unclear, and if you dislike any aspect, suggest ways to improve the design.


«1345

Comments

  • 45074507 Member UncommonPosts: 351
    edited September 2016

    ^ The results of the original, unspecific poll
  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    Death Penalty sounds a little extreme, why not just make it Permadeath?

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    sorry the PvP no safezones would make me at best only a curious player.

    and FYI: Frontier Sandbox MMO is by far number 1 on my list of wants but not PvP no safezones...nope

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • maybebakedmaybebaked Member UncommonPosts: 305
    Sounds like a gankfest
  • sevitothsevitoth Member UncommonPosts: 375
    Sounds like a gankfest
    Kinda like the old west was?

    Currently Playing: DAOC Uthgard

    Previously Played: UO, DAOC, Shadowbane, AC2, SWG, Horizons, COX, WOW, EQ2, LOTRO, AOC, WAR, Vanguard, Rift, SWTOR, ESO, GW2.

  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    Sounds like a gankfest
    That's pretty much what the Old West was if you were Indian. They were also being camped and griefed

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    sevitoth said:
    Sounds like a gankfest
    Kinda like the old west was?
    because we all love the high risk of cholera just because we are trying to stay hydrated 

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    SEANMCAD said:
    sevitoth said:
    Sounds like a gankfest
    Kinda like the old west was?
    because we all love the high risk of cholera just because we are trying to stay hydrated 
    You only have to worry about that if your pissing and shitting in your drinking water.

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    laserit said:
    SEANMCAD said:
    sevitoth said:
    Sounds like a gankfest
    Kinda like the old west was?
    because we all love the high risk of cholera just because we are trying to stay hydrated 
    You only have to worry about that if your pissing and shitting in your drinking water.
    or if wild animals are

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    SEANMCAD said:
    laserit said:
    SEANMCAD said:
    sevitoth said:
    Sounds like a gankfest
    Kinda like the old west was?
    because we all love the high risk of cholera just because we are trying to stay hydrated 
    You only have to worry about that if your pissing and shitting in your drinking water.
    or if wild animals are
    Yup, no doubt a couple million head of Buffalo can cause a problem in certain geographical area's ;)

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    laserit said:
    SEANMCAD said:
    laserit said:
    SEANMCAD said:
    sevitoth said:
    Sounds like a gankfest
    Kinda like the old west was?
    because we all love the high risk of cholera just because we are trying to stay hydrated 
    You only have to worry about that if your pissing and shitting in your drinking water.
    or if wild animals are
    Yup, no doubt a couple million head of Buffalo can cause a problem in certain geographical area's ;)
    well thank you for your educated insight lets move on now with the understanding that my core point was ignored.


    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    SEANMCAD said:
    laserit said:
    SEANMCAD said:
    laserit said:
    SEANMCAD said:
    sevitoth said:
    Sounds like a gankfest
    Kinda like the old west was?
    because we all love the high risk of cholera just because we are trying to stay hydrated 
    You only have to worry about that if your pissing and shitting in your drinking water.
    or if wild animals are
    Yup, no doubt a couple million head of Buffalo can cause a problem in certain geographical area's ;)
    well thank you for your educated insight lets move on now with the understanding that my core point was ignored.


    And just what was your core point regarding cholera in a Wild West video game?

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • LynxJSALynxJSA Member RarePosts: 3,332
    SEANMCAD said:
    sorry the PvP no safezones would make me at best only a curious player.

    and FYI: Frontier Sandbox MMO is by far number 1 on my list of wants but not PvP no safezones...nope
    Same here. Frontier Sandbox is something I'd really like to see, but open world PvP (without safezones) ... not really into that at all anymore. 
    -- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG 
    RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? 
    FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?  
  • 45074507 Member UncommonPosts: 351
    @laserit: I can't tell if that's sarcasm, but I did actually consider that and thought that it would enourage griefers too much.

    @SEANMCAD, @LynxJSA: would seperate PvE (non PvP) servers solve that?
  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    4507 said:
    @laserit: I can't tell if that's sarcasm, but I did actually consider that and thought that it would enourage griefers too much.

    @SEANMCAD, @LynxJSA: would seperate PvE (non PvP) servers solve that?
    No it wasn't sarcasm

    I would imagine that it would take quite a bit of game time to acquire all your personal assets. The longer you survive without dying the more it's going to sting when you do.  Seriously with a death penalty that harsh, you might as well make it permadeath.

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • jonp200jonp200 Member UncommonPosts: 457
    edited September 2016
    Can I sell my sister to be raised by Indians?  If that's a "yes," I'm in.

    Kidding aside, from the days of RPGs, the genre has never sold.  I agree it sounds like fun.  Not really sure why it doesn't sell.

    Seaspite
    Playing ESO on my X-Box


  • LynxJSALynxJSA Member RarePosts: 3,332
    4507 said:
    @laserit: I can't tell if that's sarcasm, but I did actually consider that and thought that it would enourage griefers too much.

    @SEANMCAD, @LynxJSA: would seperate PvE (non PvP) servers solve that?
    Since I know what is involved in maintaining that, I'd say "No."

    -- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG 
    RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? 
    FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?  
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    edited September 2016
    4507 said:
    @laserit: I can't tell if that's sarcasm, but I did actually consider that and thought that it would enourage griefers too much.

    @SEANMCAD, @LynxJSA: would seperate PvE (non PvP) servers solve that?
    yes

    just to add even more to the list.
    railroad building in which the villa you created if it has a railroad it could thrive. in fact the villa could provide resources to even have it built in that direction including supplies and workers

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    LynxJSA said:
    4507 said:
    @laserit: I can't tell if that's sarcasm, but I did actually consider that and thought that it would enourage griefers too much.

    @SEANMCAD, @LynxJSA: would seperate PvE (non PvP) servers solve that?
    Since I know what is involved in maintaining that, I'd say "No."

    ironically small indie teams can pull something like this off. For reasons I can never understand the larger companies cant.

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • ElsaboltsElsabolts Member RarePosts: 3,476
    No
    " Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Those Who  Would Threaten It "
                                            MAGA
  • ianicusianicus Member UncommonPosts: 665
    no. and lets be honest, the market wide interest would be fairly low...
    "Well let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said…’I’m too drunk to taste this chicken." - Ricky Bobby
  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,610
    A game glorifying a group conquering a race? Naaa Native Americans deserve more respect than that. Would need to be a story outside Cowboys and Native Americans. 
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    ianicus said:
    no. and lets be honest, the market wide interest would be fairly low...
    'lets be honest'

    I think the market would be huge if they factor in PvE players. Westerns are still popular and when done right as a genre its very compelling.

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • Gamer54321Gamer54321 Member UncommonPosts: 452
    Lesson learned from Eve online regarding bounties:

    Don't let criminals build up a bounty, only to have their alts or friends cash in on the bounty.

    In Eve, it was all the players that could put a bounty on other players, but this was abused, and only helped the bandits getting money by collecting their own bounty with an alt character.
  • Gamer54321Gamer54321 Member UncommonPosts: 452
    Question to the OP: What is motivating you for wanting to create a western themed MMO?
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