I found the ideals put forward by Dana Massey to have some interesting concepts. If I am not mistaken I believe I posted a suggestion sometime ago regarding a mmo game set in the wild west. I am glad to see someone has had the time to fill out this ideal. Great job Dana :)  Hopefully some indy game developers will take these ideals and run with them before the major game developers figure it out hehehe. I like to see the underdogs win one now and then. 

Here's hoping that some game devlopers are paying attention.

Best Regards

WildCardz

Wild West would be hard to keep adding content for it cause you can't add any crazy dragons or giant beasts because they just don't exist in that setting. So you'd just have Humans vs Humans with not much vairety to explore.

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

Wild West would be hard to keep adding content for it cause you can't add any crazy dragons or giant beasts because they just don't exist in that setting. So you'd just have Humans vs Humans with not much vairety to explore.

A creative mind could resolve that issue, I can think of several things. Mountain lions, bob cats, wolves, etc.

Some of the varity issue is resolved by the player system Dana has offered.  In addition if a player is riding through a desert his horse might die and he would be on foot, depending on his decissions he could die too.

1) A miner could dig mine shafts etc.

2)A player could be a blacksmith or any number of other professions.

3) The game economy would be purely player driven with the exception of new player start up.

Just let the creative side of your mind mull it over and offer ideals, thats whats needed to get a new game off the ground.

It's easy to say it lacks content or find some fault with the ideal, the hard part is moving from a nay sayer to finding solutions to the problems you may see.

I think it would work very well. As for expansions they could do what expantions should do. Add new terrain, missions and just general things for players to do. As for races I think it would be interesting to to add American Indians as a playable faction. They existed as a very powerful force in the early west and as long as they were balanced properly it should avoid a lot of the headaches Dana mentioned. Playing an Indian on the warpath would kick some serious ass! Or even an Indian scout or outlaw.

I think this game would be more than viable and would be a blast to play

Bren

If you wanna be a gunslinger, and shoot from the hip :)

Look no further   http://wildwestmmorpg.homeip.net:4010/

Enjoy...

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

Wild West would be hard to keep adding content for it cause you can't add any crazy dragons or giant beasts because they just don't exist in that setting. So you'd just have Humans vs Humans with not much vairety to explore.

Developers, like SOE, are much more creative than that.

Firstoff, they would take a look at the native American Indians, and say, "hey, Indians like to use bows".

"I know, lets give the indians pointed ears, and divide them into two groups, good indians, and bad indians. The good indians will be light skinned, with blond hair, live in trees, worship nature, and have names like Legolas. The bad indians will have dark skin, purple hair, live under the ground, worship a spider god, and have names like Drizzt."

"Then we could add a few different races. I know, we could add two vertically challenged races, one with long beards, and another with hairy feet. Then we need to add some more denizens of the underworld, maybe make them green and nasty looking, and give them names like Snaga."

But wait, if we allow guns in the game, we become political. I know, we will replace all the guns with swords. And, if we give the indians magic, we have to give the cowboys magic."

After a bit of tweaks, SOE has your new Wild West MMORPG.

Kinda makes you happy, don't it?

Oregon Trail Online ftw

woz.commtechlab.msu.edu/courses/447sp04/oregontrail/play.htm 

I spose in EQ2 all I seemed to be killing is Beatles, Lions, turtles, Lions, elephants, deer etc etc.

I thought it was meant to be fantasty lol.

Oh I forgot crabs, how could I forget the low 20's grind on the beaches of Nek and then the beaches of EL.

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

I spose in EQ2 all I seemed to be killing is Beatles, Lions, turtles, Lions, elephants, deer etc etc.

I thought it was meant to be fantasty lol.

Oh I forgot crabs, how could I forget the low 20's grind on the beaches of Nek and then the beaches of EL.

Oh, and don't forget those ^^^ squirrels a little further back in EL.

They kill unsuspecting characters so quickly.

They are also the reason I no longer brake for squirrels while driving. After dying so many times, RL squirrels better watch their nuts while crossing the street!

Also, in ROK players get to attack cactus.......the fun never ends. Developers are just so clever.

Omg glomma that looks like a Zelda clone, Ewwww left Zelda a loooooong time ago :P

Meh,  I'd prefer Weird West like Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath  which mixes influences like Steampunk and clockwork with primitive electricity and flickering lightbulbs and Jeckyl and Hyde'esque medicine and labs..  This also introduces a ton of Enemy ideas.

 Check out City of Lost children for some trippy cross-western material.

But I'm still Waiting for Oregon Trail Online....