In his debut column, Dana Massey laid out a host of historical settings that would make good MMOs. People seemed to respond most to the idea of a Wild West MMO, so in his sophomore column, Massey lays out what he'd like to see in a potential Wild West game.

Reputation, though, would be the ultimate backbone of the game. Players would harvest reputation through deeds in the world. Each time they hunted down someone more famous or pulled off some heist, they’d rise up the ranks and get closer to the most famous guy in the Wild West.

As players earned more reputation, this would do more than just give them bragging rights. Different schemes within the world would require a group leader of a certain reputation to attempt. The more insane the scheme, the more famous a leader does a band out outlaws require. So, while players could stick up wanderers at an early level, a train heist requires someone with much more fame under their belt to even undertake.

Read about his Wild West MMO here.

Every time I see Young Guns or Tombstone it maks me want to play a Western game like Red Dead and it makes me wish they finally put forth a quality western online game.

 I always wanted a wild west mmo,instead of classes they would choose there profession,i.e Sherrif,blacksmtih,barman,outlaw etc etc and then find a town were there trade was needed,it could then take on a life of its own(the way mmo's should).

Quests could be any manner of thing but even say a barman could join posse's to hunt down outlaws etc....tbh it could be endless what you could fit into a game of this type,though with no mage running in and nuking everyone is there a dev willing to take this on?

I have been playing this one for months.

Concept sounds very interesting. It would be very tough, though, for people not in with a clan/guild/posse (and yes, "posse" would just have to be the themed title for guilds) to do very much unless you made the world truly large, like Dereth in Asheron's Call as opposed to most modern games where you're guaranteed to run into someone every 2 minutes or so.

I'm not sure how "out-drawing" someone would work as it seemes it would boil down to pushing a key on your keyboard. So it's just who pushes it first and by most accounts that makes that person a murderer.

A Wild West MMO would be fun as long as they made it a sanbox game and did not put a bunch of linar quest.  It would need to be a living world as well, could not be a static world.

A static world would ruin any Wild West feel, I mean the Wild West was changing hour to hour and day to day.  Hense the name "Wild".

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Concept sounds very interesting. It would be very tough, though, for people not in with a clan/guild/posse (and yes, "posse" would just have to be the themed title for guilds) to do very much unless you made the world truly large, like Dereth in Asheron's Call as opposed to most modern games where you're guaranteed to run into someone every 2 minutes or so.

I'm not sure how "out-drawing" someone would work as it seemes it would boil down to pushing a key on your keyboard. So it's just who pushes it first and by most accounts that makes that person a murderer.

I think they would have to make it so that the player had to aim after drawing so that a slower draw could still win as long as they had better aim.

Duels were not only about speed but accuracy.  Accuracy was key, just pulling your weapon faster did not mean a win.

I would want to see different guns have different accuracy stats as well as allow weapons to "age" over time and lose accuracy.
 

 I remember playing "the wild bunch" game on the spectrum and really enjoying it,even thinking of that game now brings in alot of idea's for a wild west mmo,the fact you had to buy everything including food for your horse when traveling and feeling the need to gamble at the poker table to get some extra funds,Like I posted earlier the idea's are there and they could be almost endless but what dev is willing to take a chance on a AAA title of this type.

1 thing is for sure it would be a welcome breath of fresh air.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

I have been playing this one for months.

Neat game, I'd never heard of it, but besides "being in the West," I wouldn't call this game much like the outline in the article.

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Concept sounds very interesting. It would be very tough, though, for people not in with a clan/guild/posse (and yes, "posse" would just have to be the themed title for guilds) to do very much unless you made the world truly large, like Dereth in Asheron's Call as opposed to most modern games where you're guaranteed to run into someone every 2 minutes or so.

I'm not sure how "out-drawing" someone would work as it seemes it would boil down to pushing a key on your keyboard. So it's just who pushes it first and by most accounts that makes that person a murderer.

I think they would have to make it so that the player had to aim after drawing so that a slower draw could still win as long as they had better aim.

Duels were not only about speed but accuracy.  Accuracy was key, just pulling your weapon faster did not mean a win.

I would want to see different guns have different accuracy stats as well as allow weapons to "age" over time and lose accuracy.
 

True, and I wasn't saying that isn't the case. I was just saying that if you had the misfortune of being fast on the keyboard and deadly accurate, you're doomed to be a murderer. Generally in the old west a guy who drew first was labeled a killer if he won. The "skill", I guess, was in letting your opponent get that split-second "headstart" on the draw and then still felling him. I suppose a "reward" could be put in for letting that happen (more reputation?) but most FPS inclined players are pretty good shots once they get a feel for a game. Don't think it would happen often.

Originally posted by Dana

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

I have been playing this one for months.

 

Neat game, I'd never heard of it, but besides "being in the West," I wouldn't call this game much like the outline in the article.

No, it dosnt have things like 3d and what not, but it is in the setting, and does a good job of being a "wild west" MMO game.

It has player progression. Town building, dualing, soon to have forts, gear, gear sets, quests ETC...

Ive always thought a wild west mmo would be a no brainer... 6 gun toting outlaws, trappers, mountain men, miners and gamblers...

Oh man pvp would be a blast - Train and bank robberies, cattle rustling and good old fashioned bush-wacking...

Would make a great sandbox MMO

Honestly I don't think a Wild-West style mmo would work because of one reason, the look.

There would be alot of gray, brown, and black. From the buildings to the environment to the clothes, everything was dirty, dusty, or just uncoloured, because dye cost extra. I mean sure, we could add colours, but when you've got pink and purple cowboys running around, it takes away from some of the flavour of the game. For mounts there's horses, and wagons (being pulled by horses). Weapons are pretty much just knives or guns, and it would be hard to add any special effects to them. No sorcery or magic or anything like that, so it would be hard to have anything "flashy" looking.

I just don't think it would work without having to compromise the authenticity or the integrity of the setting.

Originally posted by Blurr

Honestly I don't think a Wild-West style mmo would work because of one reason, the look.

There would be alot of gray, brown, and black. From the buildings to the environment to the clothes, everything was dirty, dusty, or just uncoloured, because dye cost extra. I mean sure, we could add colours, but when you've got pink and purple cowboys running around, it takes away from some of the flavour of the game. For mounts there's horses, and wagons (being pulled by horses). Weapons are pretty much just knives or guns, and it would be hard to add any special effects to them. No sorcery or magic or anything like that, so it would be hard to have anything "flashy" looking.

I just don't think it would work without having to compromise the authenticity or the integrity of the setting.

Like I posted earlier and others have added it would be the sandbox that would keep ppl playing,build your guys blacksmith shop or just log on to make some cash shoeing horses,log on to play some poker or indeed sell some drinks as a barman...that would be the idea,it would have to be,you cant have big shoulder armor etc,a real sandbox game and a living world,then it could very well work.

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Concept sounds very interesting. It would be very tough, though, for people not in with a clan/guild/posse (and yes, "posse" would just have to be the themed title for guilds) to do very much unless you made the world truly large, like Dereth in Asheron's Call as opposed to most modern games where you're guaranteed to run into someone every 2 minutes or so.

I'm not sure how "out-drawing" someone would work as it seemes it would boil down to pushing a key on your keyboard. So it's just who pushes it first and by most accounts that makes that person a murderer.

I think they would have to make it so that the player had to aim after drawing so that a slower draw could still win as long as they had better aim.

Duels were not only about speed but accuracy.  Accuracy was key, just pulling your weapon faster did not mean a win.

I would want to see different guns have different accuracy stats as well as allow weapons to "age" over time and lose accuracy.
 

True, and I wasn't saying that isn't the case. I was just saying that if you had the misfortune of being fast on the keyboard and deadly accurate, you're doomed to be a murderer. Generally in the old west a guy who drew first was labeled a killer if he won. The "skill", I guess, was in letting your opponent get that split-second "headstart" on the draw and then still felling him. I suppose a "reward" could be put in for letting that happen (more reputation?) but most FPS inclined players are pretty good shots once they get a feel for a game. Don't think it would happen often.

Okay I see what your saying.   Most duels nobody died, it was about wounding the other guy enough to win the duel.   sure some people died but I am willing to bet most duels nobody died.

That would be another cool feature, being able to pinpoint your shot and have it do damage to certain body parts.  IE arm, leg.

 In a MMORPG there is progression. I think it would be difficult to put in any meaningful progression a shooting game. What "classes" would there be and what abilities would you give them without looking ridiculous? Remember this would be based off a real life time period so I don't think you would be snaring people and tanking .. healing. There couldn't be any tanks or healers .. where would group strategy come in? Everyone just shooting?

I think it would work for a massive fps game but that is it .. nothing persistant.

I'll only play it if we can catch syphillis....games with STIs are cool  :)

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Concept sounds very interesting. It would be very tough, though, for people not in with a clan/guild/posse (and yes, "posse" would just have to be the themed title for guilds) to do very much unless you made the world truly large, like Dereth in Asheron's Call as opposed to most modern games where you're guaranteed to run into someone every 2 minutes or so.

I'm not sure how "out-drawing" someone would work as it seemes it would boil down to pushing a key on your keyboard. So it's just who pushes it first and by most accounts that makes that person a murderer.

I think they would have to make it so that the player had to aim after drawing so that a slower draw could still win as long as they had better aim.

Duels were not only about speed but accuracy.  Accuracy was key, just pulling your weapon faster did not mean a win.

I would want to see different guns have different accuracy stats as well as allow weapons to "age" over time and lose accuracy.
 

True, and I wasn't saying that isn't the case. I was just saying that if you had the misfortune of being fast on the keyboard and deadly accurate, you're doomed to be a murderer. Generally in the old west a guy who drew first was labeled a killer if he won. The "skill", I guess, was in letting your opponent get that split-second "headstart" on the draw and then still felling him. I suppose a "reward" could be put in for letting that happen (more reputation?) but most FPS inclined players are pretty good shots once they get a feel for a game. Don't think it would happen often.

Okay I see what your saying.   Most duels nobody died, it was about wounding the other guy enough to win the duel.   sure some people died but I am willing to bet most duels nobody died.

That would be another cool feature, being able to pinpoint your shot and have it do damage to certain body parts.  IE arm, leg.

 

Okay, now here is where I'll disagree. Most duels if you're talking english and/or european history, that was the case. We over here in the west had "gunfights". It was a point of pride for many on how many notches they had on the grip of their pistol. It was about killing the man the majority of the time. WHen you "called someone out", it wasn't to wound them. It was to kill them. If you wanted to make a name by "trying" Billy the Kid, you went away in a pine box.

Originally posted by qombi

 In a MMORPG there is progression. I think it would be difficult to put in any meaningful progression a shooting game. What "classes" would there be and what abilities would you give them without looking ridiculous? Remember this would be based off a real life time period so I don't think you would be snaring people and tanking .. healing. There couldn't be any tanks or healers .. where would group strategy come in? Everyone just shooting?

I think it would work for a massive fps game but that is it .. nothing persistant.

There were plenty of Doctors back then. A plausible healing system could be done with bandages and whiskey. Course there's always cauterizing the wound too.

http://frontier1859.com/ is a MMo for the wild west thats been about  thats still in the sponcership phase, last i hears one guy was gonna sponcer it but i havnt checked back for awhile.

Originally posted by qombi

 In a MMORPG there is progression. I think it would be difficult to put in any meaningful progression a shooting game. What "classes" would there be and what abilities would you give them without looking ridiculous? Remember this would be based off a real life time period so I don't think you would be snaring people and tanking .. healing. There couldn't be any tanks or healers .. where would group strategy come in? Everyone just shooting?

I think it would work for a massive fps game but that is it .. nothing persistant.

Progression would be the reputation of your Char, the NPCs would start to offer you bigger and better jobs or contracts. 

Classes? No need for classes.  Skills would be the way to go. Off the top of my head skill list.

Horse riding

Duel pistols

Rifles

Shotguns

reload - pistols

reload - rifles

reload - shotugns

accuracy - pistols

accuracy - rifles

accuracy - shotguns

speed draw - pistols

speed draw - rilfes

Med wounds - healer type - heal gun shot wounds

gunsmith

ammo smith

leathersmith - saddles, bags, ect

Whiskey making

Drinking

Leadership

Short list off the top of my head

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Originally posted by qombi

 In a MMORPG there is progression. I think it would be difficult to put in any meaningful progression a shooting game. What "classes" would there be and what abilities would you give them without looking ridiculous? Remember this would be based off a real life time period so I don't think you would be snaring people and tanking .. healing. There couldn't be any tanks or healers .. where would group strategy come in? Everyone just shooting?

I think it would work for a massive fps game but that is it .. nothing persistant.

 

There were plenty of Doctors back then. A plausible healing system could be done with bandages and whiskey. Course there's always cauterizing the wound too.

Scars as involuntary customization!

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Originally posted by TdogSkal

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Concept sounds very interesting. It would be very tough, though, for people not in with a clan/guild/posse (and yes, "posse" would just have to be the themed title for guilds) to do very much unless you made the world truly large, like Dereth in Asheron's Call as opposed to most modern games where you're guaranteed to run into someone every 2 minutes or so.

I'm not sure how "out-drawing" someone would work as it seemes it would boil down to pushing a key on your keyboard. So it's just who pushes it first and by most accounts that makes that person a murderer.

I think they would have to make it so that the player had to aim after drawing so that a slower draw could still win as long as they had better aim.

Duels were not only about speed but accuracy.  Accuracy was key, just pulling your weapon faster did not mean a win.

I would want to see different guns have different accuracy stats as well as allow weapons to "age" over time and lose accuracy.
 

True, and I wasn't saying that isn't the case. I was just saying that if you had the misfortune of being fast on the keyboard and deadly accurate, you're doomed to be a murderer. Generally in the old west a guy who drew first was labeled a killer if he won. The "skill", I guess, was in letting your opponent get that split-second "headstart" on the draw and then still felling him. I suppose a "reward" could be put in for letting that happen (more reputation?) but most FPS inclined players are pretty good shots once they get a feel for a game. Don't think it would happen often.

Okay I see what your saying.   Most duels nobody died, it was about wounding the other guy enough to win the duel.   sure some people died but I am willing to bet most duels nobody died.

That would be another cool feature, being able to pinpoint your shot and have it do damage to certain body parts.  IE arm, leg.

 

Okay, now here is where I'll disagree. Most duels if you're talking english and/or european history, that was the case. We over here in the west had "gunfights". It was a point of pride for many on how many notches they had on the grip of their pistol. It was about killing the man the majority of the time. WHen you "called someone out", it wasn't to wound them. It was to kill them. If you wanted to make a name by "trying" Billy the Kid, you went away in a pine box.

I know in movies and such they always kill the other man in the duel but I would think that in reality most duels ended with one man wounded instead of dead.   I could be wrong and I am sure I am.

This could be worked around in a MMO.  You get rewarded for not drawing first but winning the duel.  If you drew first and killed the other guy, the law in that town could not be after you, which would be cool.

Well, I know one thing. I would play it.

When I was first getting into SWG, a few months before I joined beta2, the devs were talking about the career possibilitires. Of course they Tasos:ed it, talkin gabout the endless possibilities you had and how you could do anything. They even talked about "owning your own bar" and that was my goal. I was thinking about having a bar in Mos Eisley, a tired rusty droid in the back room creating the food and drink, myself in the bar handling the costumers and having a nice side income by buying and selling smuggled goods underneath the nose of the Empire.

Of course, beta came and I quickly understood that was impossible.

But in a western game? Having a bartender with a pianist in the corner and a shotgun under the bar... It is a flipping must!

Yup, I would be there... Now go build!

Originally posted by Kasimir

Well, I know one thing. I would play it.

When I was first getting into SWG, a few months before I joined beta2, the devs were talking about the career possibilitires. Of course they Tasos:ed it, talkin gabout the endless possibilities you had and how you could do anything. They even talked about "owning your own bar" and that was my goal. I was thinking about having a bar in Mos Eisley, a tired rusty droid in the back room creating the food and drink, myself in the bar handling the costumers and having a nice side income by buying and selling smuggled goods underneath the nose of the Empire.

Of course, beta came and I quickly understood that was impossible.

But in a western game? Having a bartender with a pianist in the corner and a shotgun under the bar... It is a flipping must!

Yup, I would be there... Now go build!

That would be fun, running your own bar in a Wild West town, holding poker games and maybe some girls upstairs.   yea it could be a blast