Im sure we have all thought about it at one time or another. If you or I could design our own MMO with a big budget. What would we have put into it? I have had hours long conversations with one of my other trucking friends who also plays MMOs.. Anyway If I could design my own MMO with a UNIQUE IP.. ie something that has not already been created before like taking a famous IP and moving it over to an MMO but something truly unique.

These are the things that i would want in it.. Ohh note. I will list games that I have taken inspiration in the past as well Many games have come up with some really creative ways of doing things different.

1. GENRE: would be a sci fi / Fantasy mix. I even know the world I would use but I could save that for another post it is a world I designed though for D20 Modern/future

2. CLASS BASED OR SKILL BASED...Personally I kinda liked the way Tabula Rasa handled it. With few changes.. Start off classless maybe have a starting profession from a list of professions which would be part of your characters background and give a starting skill package. As you level you would pick up a specialist career/class, but also as you leveled you would aquire skill points. with certain skills being class specific. other classes could learn them but would take up more of the characters skill points than class they were designed for.

3. RACES:.. There would be humans which would be the sci fi based race and also the aliens which would be more of a fantasy based but not traditional fantasy.. heck they are aliens. Also as you leveled racial traits could be picked EQ2 did this right.

4. STARTING AREAS. In the game world I would want to create the Aliens (IE the natives) would have racial starting Areas. Humans however would have completely spread out starting areas across the entire planet (IE random spawn points for players). Why is this? Well because their MASSIVE star ship has crashed on the planet and it broke apart upon entering the atmosphere. Another thing. I really liked the the way Age of Conan and Guild Wars had starting stories that were told in instances. I think I would have to use this as well for my game. To help tell the backstory of the world

5. PVP or PVE? It would be faction based PVPVE I havent played Fallen Earth but have read enough about to to think a system much like theirs could work. However I would have a WORLD WIDE faction system in place. Much like Asherons Call did with its fluctuating magic system where Everyplayer not only effects their faction but their races faction as well. Granted on a much smaller scale... IE you are an example of your race and you could make your race look bad.. Granted your bad actions will effect you more than they do your race.

6. Open world or instanced?: The main portion of the world would be large... Very large... Much like Vanguard... However I would use instancing in some cases mainly for big story quest lines.. Or maybe like AoC did with its solo player questlines.  Maybe a small instance to get into a big OPEN dungeon...

7. CRAFTING yes... I would have crafting and would go along the route of Vanguard where Crafting skills are completely seperate of Your adventuring sphere level. I also like the Vanguards Diplomacy politics in the game. This would be used not only for buffs but also Massive (even if short lived Racial faction boosts)

8. MOB: Static and completely random spawn points would be in the game. I like old school games were they were not as organized.. I would have climate spawn charts where sure certain mob types would spawn in one climate area or mapped area of the world. But they would also Roam MASSIVE expanses of land.. Also in my spawn chart some of the intelligent races would have builder type mobs. Where if they got to a big open area. They would use an RTS type system and actually build a camp. The longer the camp is in a spot. the more mobs would spawn out of it and bigger spawns. Also the camp would expand. Buildings and structures would have armor and ratings. The AI for this is already designed ro RTS games.. I am suprised it hasnt been used in MMOs yet. It would make for alot more immersive  dynamic and changing worlds.

9. UI and UI MODS:... first Mods would not be allowed PERIOD! I am against modding MMOs... I think people should learn to play with the UI that is given to them... When you have mods you have players with advantages over other players and I am against it. In saying that though I would want to give players  OPTIONS alot of Options.  Example Target of Target or Dual Targeting like in Vanguard and WAR... I would allow the player to choose in the UI menu.  I liked the UI locks that WAR had in it where task bars would lock. So that would be in. Also I am liking the mapping system of Aion...  HOWEVER... i would also use Fogs of war for the map.. The game world is to be explored. Meaning your world map is greyed out untill you go there.

10. UTILITY... There would be classes that have utitlity spells  that other classes do not have... For example a Wizard that can teleport group members. things that can be used outside of combat. I think alot of the more modern games are missing this element of game play.  Also some gear can mimic those effects.

11. DYNAMIC LIGHTING.. and I mean real Dynamic lighting not just shadows. If you enter into a dark place and dont have a light source or some sort of sight enhancment natural or otherwise the world would be DARK... Same with fog, and smoke. This would allow utility buffs and items to come into play Something like Thermographic goggles... Ohh and while using the site enhancement it would change what the world looks like. IE you use infra red the world would look greenish.

12. ATTRIBUTES and NUMBERS... I would go back to the basics... Games these days seem to think they need numbers in the 100s and 1000s Well... I would want to bring the numbers back down to a smaller base.  IE a a Great Sword will deal between 2-20 damage plus strength.no matter what level you are. Sure some magic items would have bonuses some special attacks would grant bonuses. But keep the numbers smaller.  something along the lines of DDO

13. GRAPHICS:. I prefer a more realistic approach, but with that being said. I think most the games that come out that go the more realistic approach seem to forget it is also a fantasy world. Some exageration can be a good thing or unique designs. Also i like some brighter colors in my games and most realistic worlds use to many dull colors. I would liven it up some. At least in some places of the game world.  Aions color palet is great. Art style... hmm From Aion to Something like on the cover of some of the Rifts books would be nice. or maybe Gamma World

14. QUESTING:. I think a character questline like AoC is great.. Also a Massive campaign story quest line is a must. I like the way guildwars did their bounty system for go out and kill mobs and that would definately be in there to almost completely get rid of the go out and kill 15 mob type of quests that plague almost every MMO... Certain Areas of Interests like dungeons would also have some quests associated with them. I think the Faction system would allow for alot of content to be generated by the players.

Anyway... I realize this is a long pointless post. I guess Its been on my mind and Today I am sitting in the back of a semi on a 34 hour reset in an area with a crappy connection so I couldnt log in to play anything but it wasnt so bad I couldnt post something so here it is...I also realize unless I win millions of dollars somehow it will never happen. HAHA but its always good to dream.

Here is mine . . . but it would be uber expensive.

1.  SciFi

--Civilization as we know it has crashed and burned.  The survivors were holed up in underground bunkers with autolocks.  200 years later, the locks are opened, and the survivors' ancestors are left to repopulate the earth.  No magic, technology is miniscule to start with, and misunderstood to all new players.

2.  Skill Based

--You can be anything you want.  Some skill will increase through use (combat, crafting, etc.) . . .others will not (jumping, running, swimming, etc.)

3.  Human's only

4.  Starting areas would be several bunkers placed around the world.  Two in NA, two in Europe, one in SA, one in Asia, one in Australia, and one in Russia.  As for area size, it would take many RL days to cross, say, North America on foot.  In game time would be weeks.

5.  PvPvE

--  You can kill animals and mutated beasts, or you can kill other players.  You make the choice.  I would like to steal the covert/overt system from SWG for this.

6.  Technological limits force my hand to zoned areas.  But if it can ever be a full open world, I would prefer that.

7.  Crafting

--Once again, SWG style, except no auto harvesters.

8.  Mobs

--Random mob spawns depending on time of day, climate, area, etc.  Try to simulate the great wild as much as possible.

9.  UI

--All windows will be able to be moved, resized, and locked.  Map is gogged, and even unfogged, shows just basic basic stuff.  No minimap.

10.  Lighting

--Day will be day, and night will be night.  If it is a full moon, you could see some things, but if their is cloud cover, you are screwed.  Caves and such would be pitch black.

11.  Numbers

--You are human.  Not superhuman.  That means that you are basically weak.  It will also not take 10 sword swipes or five shotgun blasts to kill a damned mountain lion.

12.  Graphics

--Mediocre so that computers can handle it.

13.  Questing

--None.  Although there will be a mission system . . . again, much like SWG.

Personally, the specifics don't matter to me. I prefer to gauge a game based on the actual game mechanics and the way users get to interact with the game and the world set up for them.

Genre to me doesn't matter, I appreciate all forms from medieval fantasy to modern present day fantasy to science fiction far off into space. They all have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages. I would like to see a mech type of game released since I don't see many other companies looking at this type of setting and there are people out there that would appreciate something like that in a more niche capacity.

Character development doesn't matter whether it is level-based or skill-based as long as it is semi-engaging strategically. A system simple enough for most people to get a footing on but a hard one to "master" with more diversity. A system that somehow gets people away from following a optimal "cookie cutter" type build-setup. Again, each has its own advantages or disadvantages, however I don't think mixing is a good idea since in my opinion it tends to take away focus from the game design.

Races won't matter, but personally if I were to design a game, I would first only allow Humans for simplicity sake then slowly introduce other races that provide a slightly different feel, but mostly the same experience as the Human experience.

In regards to gameplay, I like to see a lot of PvP oriented type things and not directly talking about combat, more all encompassing with the other aspects of the game as well. I like the economy that revolves around player made items as opposed to computer generated. I would like to see more Player actions interwoven into each other in more indirect ways (an effect 1 might cause can affect another player's situation maybe in their quests/adventures without the players really knowing it sort of thing). I would also like to see PvE and PvP interwoven more so as well (where they can affect each other, not force people to PvP or PvE) rather than pushed apart and segregated.

Finally, I do agree with the above poster that graphics should be kept decent enough to be easy on the eyes, but not demanding on computers to allow many players to play without having to upgrade their systems and software. I think some companies try too hard in pushing the graphics when its not all that necessary. Again, I like to heavily weight a game by its mechanics and gameplay for the most part.

Something that exceeded in realism and artificial inteligence.

Something that would make you look back and ask: "Now seriously, are you an human player, right? right?"

Something which offer always MORE of what the player likes in order to progress in the "most efficient ways".

You like to PvE-grind, then grind yourself, and everyone who will grind better than you, they are grinding as well.  You like to PvP, than PvP away and anyone who kick your sorry @$$ earn it while PvPing, whatever there was to earn.

Just keeping this simple logic is beyond most devs.