Originally posted by Sanguinelust

It takes a long time to develop a thick skin when it comes to the internet. There have been a few times where I wanted to go beat someones ass, not becasue I'm a sore loser, but because the other person decides to say something that would get thier ass beat if they weren't safe in their mother's basement. It would be great if no one was allowed the anonimity that the internet gives them but I think of it this way now, anyone who acts that way is doing so because they are pretty much powerless to do so in any other format. That line of thinking and a thicker skin has allowed me to get beyond the feelings of hurt I'd like to deliver.

That and kicking my cat when it happens helps too

I'm kidding about the kicking of the cat part of course.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Originally posted by dageeza

Originally posted by zymurgeist

It has nothing to do with graphics or physics. It's a player behavior issue more than anything else. No one yet has found a way to make a MMO that players won't make into a playground for shitheads at the first opportunity. You can't give players that much freedom and have a game the masses will play. Emergent gameplay is a designer's nightmare.

Zymurgeists opinion is more or less my opinion on sandbox games as well, looking at it from a developers point of view sandbox games are risky on more than one front and allowing "unguided" universal player freedoms often leads to a game that is more niche than mainstream players can bare..

IMHO for a sandbox to become more than just hardcore player popular and a true cashcow it would need to have some fairly heavy duty themepark influenced faction, realm and or ruleset that the majority could play under while still allowing for complete player rule and freedom outside of this said themed realm...

Bottomline is it would be both an incredible amount of work and risk to do it right with no one really clearly being able to define exactly what right is at this time..

While i myself love the idea of true wide open WTF do i do next sandbox games i honestly believe the majority of mmo players cant deal with "making their own way" from scratch in what is often viewed as an "unfair cruel player ruled world" and the majoirity clearly would need a deeply guided path such as a themepark offers as an in game alternative to complete player freedom..

And this my friends would be a tall order for any dev company to pull down and why true sandbox games will always be just a niche in the face of the dumbed down themepark mmo's....

 Agreed.

Yes.  Exactly.  Jedi would have to be random to fit properly in the SWG universe.  "Earning" jedi via learning professions etc. just does not  fit imo.

Completeing 5 professions is how it was when i first started SWG...I never liked that and often thought some sort of random selection would be as true to the story as possible.  Granted alot of players would hate not being in control of their Jedi future, but random selection would make a jedi truly special.  Just curious what others think the best method would be. 

Originally posted by AvatarBlade

Originally posted by Lerxst

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Tools that allow people to divide into like-minded groups are the best tools that one can add to their MMO. They allow a crowd of 1,000-2,000 people to divide into dozens of smaller but stronger communities.Compare the conversation in General/Global Chat (Barrens, anyone?) with the chat in your preferred guild's Vent/TS. When together with others that have a similar focus and similar interests, there is significantly more harmony and respect than in a clustermess of everyone and anyone. The interactions in your game are more personal, more meaningful and more enjoyable when you allow your players to divide into smaller groups or communities. 

On a flight to Iceland recently, I had the priviledge of sitting next to an EVE player who was a member of the 101st Space Marines, a corporation (guild) in the game comprised of military and ex-military. These are people that, despite what flag they fought under, have shared similar experiences in their life and occupation. From what I could tell from how this individual spoke of the corp, there was a real connection between the players. It was very clear that this corp was built on far more than just a common desire to achieve certain in-game goals. IActually, I can say the same of most guild members that I have met at cons and events over the past ten years or so from the early UO gatherings to last month's EVE Fanfest.

The guild is one of the best features ever introduced to MMOs.

 

Ever.

 

You seem to be twisting real life with "game life".  That's the entire point of this post - a game is... a G A M E.  It's not a support group or a self-help seminar.  It's not a the "clique" you join in high school or a virtual "water cooler".  IRC has plenty of that already, the're called chat rooms.

 

I don't read a book for the benefit of talking about it with friends later on, I read it for the enjoyment of the story.  Why would I play a game if the point wasn't to enjoy the game, but to spend 100% of my time with and around groups of people who are talking about movies or TV shows while I'm pummeling an Orc?

 

One of the quickest criticisms reviewers can give games are for immersion breaking mechanisms.  Well, guess what the majority of player guilds are...

 

I don't want a bunch of ex-Marines or just kids pissed off at their parents, forming their "Curbstompers Inc." guilds for the sole purpose of releasing their pent up frustrations and trauma on an unsuspecting player base.  Games are supposed to provide an escape from reality, not create a duplicate in another form.

Don't RP servers have certain rule sets for at least part of what you're asking for? Like rules regarding guild/player names, what you can chat about, at least in general chat. Go play on one of those. Don't join a guild that doesn't share your immersion principles. Also, it's an online game, play a single player one if you want 100% immersion. As for the book comparison, even comparing it to a single player game is stretching it, it's more like a movie, you can't interact with the story, nothing will ever change no matter how many times you read it, ofcourse the author is trying to immerse you in his story, there's no new character popping up each time you reread it, so don't compare it to an online game where there are thousands of people doing their own thing.

Even withour guilds there will be individuals breaking your immersion from what you wrote, what then? Ban those people? What if you break my immersion? That game would end up banning all it's player base because there will always be someone thinking someone else broke his "sence of reality" within said game. You're preety much asking to be done to others what you claim is being done to you, take away their fun.

 Exactly right.  Well said.

What is RoM?

That really sucks man. Hope it works out.

Nice response Cik.  thanks

I've read many posts that have said it's not ready.  To bad I was really hoping they would get this one right.

We'll see.

Not really sure what you're talking about.

As most have said this game is solo friendly for all classes.  Good luck!