General Discussion

Do you like the static quests of todays MMORPG's? Or would you rather be able to make a quest of your own in an adventurous game world? A huge game world full of mysteries and exploration, long lost secrets, and dark things in hiding? Would you like your quests to be more of a personal choice to seek out what doesn't make sense in the game lore, or in strange things you find in the game world? Some of these quests could take a long time, or not, and really mean something when you find the answers, like releasing an ancient deity or deamon, or finding a powerful relic or major treasure. Or maybe some of them might be just revealing information about the worlds past, which again might lead to another quest for a treasure.

It's a simple question really, but much deeper the more you think about it.

I prefer "dynamic" quests over static quests.

static quests belong in static games, where nothing ever changes. The pig that you just rescued will be rescued 10's of thousands of times... Themepark game, you come, you ride, you leave, and you leave nothing behind, no mark that you been there, nothing is changed.

dynamic quests, however would be made on the spot for the player or group, making the quest along as you go, and depending on how long you want it to be. In a dynamic quest world, the developers are alowed the freedom to change the world without ruining the questlines, they have the freedom to let the dynamic quests change the game world even.

Sadly however, devs prefer to make static quests, and play catchup with the players that spend 10 minutes completing a quest it took the devs 10 days to make, since it's simpler in short term developing. You barely have to make a quest system for static quests to function, while dynamics will take alot of work and brainpower. But if they did spend the time to make it, they would never have to play catchup with the players again.

A mix of both would be nice.

I like the way Ryzom did it, you can create your own instances. Perhaps this is the way forward. The only issues I can imagine are balance and abuse issues, loot/difficulty ratio. Perhaps they could have it on a point system, different items have different point values which have to be matched equally by monsters with their point values.

Originally posted by wolfmann

I prefer "dynamic" quests over static quests.

Agreed.

How do you guys picture dynamic quests working? Do they need instances so that someone else doesn't get to it before you do?

Originally posted by wolfmann

I prefer "dynamic" quests over static quests.

static quests belong in static games, where nothing ever changes. The pig that you just rescued will be rescued 10's of thousands of times... Themepark game, you come, you ride, you leave, and you leave nothing behind, no mark that you been there, nothing is changed.

dynamic quests, however would be made on the spot for the player or group, making the quest along as you go, and depending on how long you want it to be. In a dynamic quest world, the developers are alowed the freedom to change the world without ruining the questlines, they have the freedom to let the dynamic quests change the game world even.

Sadly however, devs prefer to make static quests, and play catchup with the players that spend 10 minutes completing a quest it took the devs 10 days to make, since it's simpler in short term developing. You barely have to make a quest system for static quests to function, while dynamics will take alot of work and brainpower. But if they did spend the time to make it, they would never have to play catchup with the players again.

Every MMO is a static theme park as you put it.  Making a dynamic MMO that is enjoyable is much harder than people realize.

Have these dynamic quests ever been done?

Ultimately, it seems to me, any 'dynamic' is going to still need a script in the game code somewhere to occur. Such as the "Go get my pig, it broke out of it's pen," example. There has to be some kind of text, object, and completion conditional for it to work. You can vary those things, their location, the configuration of the instance if one is involved. Underneath it all is inevitably going to be a basic structure, though. Otherwise it seems purely hypothetical to me. Just generating basic bestowal dialog for an entirely procedurally generated quest would need some powerful natural language processing.

I do think it could be used to increase the flexibility and details of quests, though. You could make things more involving by providing player with an interface to enter details like characters from their back story. Then a dynamic system could plug one or more of those characters into a sequence plot points, if you will. Modular components given detail when called upon.

As for the original post, though, I'd have basically the same technical objections. You could only make up your own quest for your own satisfaction by projecting onto what is already there or if the developers actually give you access to enough tools to produce your own quest. Either way, you're locked into what the developers actually provide you.

Originally posted by Xpheyel

Have these dynamic quests ever been done?

Ultimately, it seems to me, any 'dynamic' is going to still need a script in the game code somewhere to occur. Such as the "Go get my pig, it broke out of it's pen," example. There has to be some kind of text, object, and completion conditional for it to work. You can vary those things, their location, the configuration of the instance if one is involved. Underneath it all is inevitably going to be a basic structure, though. Otherwise it seems purely hypothetical to me. Just generating basic bestowal dialog for an entirely procedurally generated quest would need some powerful natural language processing.

I do think it could be used to increase the flexibility and details of quests, though. You could make things more involving by providing player with an interface to enter details like characters from their back story. Then a dynamic system could plug one or more of those characters into a sequence plot points, if you will. Modular components given detail when called upon.

As for the original post, though, I'd have basically the same technical objections. You could only make up your own quest for your own satisfaction by projecting onto what is already there or if the developers actually give you access to enough tools to produce your own quest. Either way, you're locked into what the developers actually provide you.

Yes, and what I'm asking about is, if they give you a world that's full of mystery, would you just quest for the answers, thus making your own quests, although in an unofficial manner.

So your choice is to have quests or have no quests at all except the ones you create within your mind.  I've played games like that before and I prefer the WoW model.  Perhaps you can't alter the world, but the quests are still fun.  In reality it's very difficult to make a multiplayer world that can be altered.  It is far easier to make a single player game where the world can be altered.