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5/30/08 4:11 PM
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Viewed 981, Replies 24
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Originally posted by CactusmanXI wouldn't go near loans with a ten foot pole if I were designing a game. I'd be focusing on rather more positive and enjoyable experiences than that of going into debt. Perhaps you've never had a car loan, mortgage or business loan, but they don't qualify as fun unless you have no intention of paying them back. In a game, cash in hand is the way to go. Get it. Spend it. The getting should be entertaining and the spending should be entertaining. |
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5/30/08 2:31 PM
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Viewed 981, Replies 24
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Originally posted by CactusmanXYou can do all that, but you're left with an economy that exists to make loans work and not much more. If a game is going to have money and an economy, let it be a system driven by supply and demand, and let loans be issued based on trust, not some awkward dependency on surety bonds. |
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5/30/08 7:01 AM
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Viewed 981, Replies 24
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Originally posted by CactusmanX You're implementing margin trading. If prices fall on the borrower's collateral, the lender might perform some kind of margin call. Either the borrower comes up with the necessary funds or the lender liquidates as much of the borrower's assets as is necessary to cover the call. If too many people are borrowing heavily, the calls may result in the value of many assets falling, producing a ripple effect in the economy. Market squeeze. People are more prone to take risk in a game than in real life because characters are essentially throw-away. I can easily imagine a character building up a little wealth and then speculating with it in an attempt to make some big money. A player might send a dozen characters to the poor house before finally hitting it big. |
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5/16/08 2:59 PM
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Viewed 1760, Replies 24
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I've been developing products for 25 years, and that has run me through a bunch of languages including FORTRAN, Pascal, C and C++. These days I code in C#. It's got a great development environment, and the language lets me design and develop interfaces and classes in a natural way. It's all neat and tidy and nicely wrapped up with a bow. I recommend the language, especially for novice programmers who already have some skills. Just remember that you can still have memory leaks with a garbage collector. The need for discipline in software development never goes away. Originally posted by xkey That's just scary. |
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5/14/08 10:16 AM
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Viewed 1524, Replies 50
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Originally posted by AdamantineI'm not sure why that would develop. If a game can survive on push-button manufacturing then it can survive on skilled crafting. The only important thing for consumers is that there are enough goods on the market to ensure healthy competition and meet the demand. The manner in which the people providing the goods are entertained would seem a moot issue. |
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5/14/08 8:13 AM
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Viewed 1524, Replies 50
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Originally posted by Astrina If ATITD crafting were introduced to Eve Online, it would be a phenomenal game. Transpose it into a fantasy setting with the World of Warcraft visual presentation and I'd be a happy man. I'd tweak it further, but that would make a very good start. |
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5/11/08 4:42 PM
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Viewed 663, Replies 22
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Originally posted by WickershamDo both. The cinematic character ignores the command, but a cartoon icon version (ala World of Warcraft) would emote something to indicate why the action wouldn't be permitted. Player: commands "Hit king" Character: No reaction. Continues as if the command had never been given. Cartoon: says "That's a good guy! I can't attack him!" Only the owning player sees the cartoon. Everyone sees the character behavior. The cartoon is serving as the equivalent of an error message/dialog. In any case, the character would simply not do an action if the game says that it shouldn't. There's no need for a safety bar by the cliff because the character just won't respond to a command that causes it to go over the edge. While getting naked might be available (for swims in wilderness lakes), a character would refuse to do it in certain contexts. Such as while in town, or perhaps around other people, depending on how prim and proper the world's social structure is defined to be. |
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5/11/08 9:51 AM
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Viewed 1524, Replies 50
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Originally posted by VengeSunsoar That's right on target. Eve Online uses the technique of ensuring that there is a steady supply of desirable goods available in an open market even if all crafters are offline. Fantasy MMOs usually structure crafting on a contract basis where logged-on customers make requests of logged-on crafters. Fantasy MMOs also typically refuse to make crafting an integral part of the game. Crafters cannot keep an inventory because there is simply no provision for it, nor can they sell anything if they are not logged-on. Eve Online is structured to let crafters crank out product into a market that is constantly consuming it. Neither side is inconvenienced and both sides desire the interaction. All this said, crafting generally doesn't exist in MMOs. It's actually push-button manufacturing where players pour ingredients into recipe hoppers, press a button and get a manufactured item. I'd very much like to see crafting implemented in the way that A Tale in the Desert attempts; player skill is involved with the task of creating the end product. Specific examples there are charcoal production, gem cutting and blacksmithing. |
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5/11/08 8:29 AM
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Viewed 663, Replies 22
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Originally posted by GodliestThat's an interesting point, but I'm afraid that having greater realism in the presentation is only going to make it worse. Imagine that a higher percentage of people observe the proprieties of the new and improved cinematic-quality reality of the game environment. Players start to relax into the idea that they are moving a real person in a real environment. When somebody decides to do something that violates the context, it will be particularly damaging to the experience of other players. Ah well. Perhaps when the day comes, we'll just have a hundred different copies of the game world so that a hundred different rule sets can be in force. |
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5/11/08 8:24 AM
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Viewed 663, Replies 22
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Originally posted by Blackfoot-3 When players are in combat, they like to see fierce swordplay animations, sparkly spell animations and their character looking awesome as it tanks the raid boss. That's roleplaying. That's wanting the fiction of the game to support their particular fantasy of being powerful and cool. I was curious to know if anyone else enjoyed the fantasy of a town looking and behaving like a town. With the advent of cinematic quality graphics, I can well imagine that the powerful and cool fantasy is going to get even more alluring. I'm not interested in roleplaying, but I'm interested in my character doing it for me. I don't want to remember who to wave to, or the path to move through town, or who to give way for, etc. I just want it to happen, just as I want walking to 'just happen'. I want my character to be an actor on the stage and I can direct. But roleplaying is far too much work for me to do it by hand. Part of the inspiration for all this was walking through some of the cities in World of Warcraft while in first person view. I was just walking along, looking around town. It was a lot of fun. I was playing tourist. I was exploring, and that's something that I really love in gaming. Exploration is all the sweeter when the thing being explored behaves in a self-consistent manner. |
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5/10/08 7:06 PM
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Viewed 663, Replies 22
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I recently watched the opening cinematics to World of Warcraft. I was thinking about what a great game the cinematic-quality animation would make - in another 10 years. Certainly there are lots of other high quality animations out there, and I'm sure I'd have a similar reaction to them, but I can perhaps more easily imagine a game when I see World of Warcraft characters on the screen. Imagine a game with cinematic quality animation, with full physics, collisions, cloth and hair simulation, wind, weather and top-notch lighting. It would be absolutely phenomenal. Until the players showed up. They'd still be saying and doing the same sophomoric things that they always do. The naked dwarves would be passed out drunk in the streets - in beautiful cinematic quality with flakes of snow gently falling on their inert forms. The gnomes would still be jumping off the highest buildings to see whether they could kill themselves - in beautiful cinematic quality with blood and gore as femurs drive up through torsos. Is there any point in pursuing an ever more realistic presentation of a themed setting when the players themselves actively ruin the setting? It's a bit like trying to watch a movie in a public theatre while the guy behind you keeps yelling out advice to the silver screen hero. Would you sacrifice flexibility in the control of your character if it meant that all player characters in the world remained consistent with the theme of the game? So your character would refuse to strip in public places. It would refuse to jump to its death. It would refuse to sit on the mailbox, block doorways and otherwise be annoying. Your character would, in short, follow the social conventions of the game setting. Taken to an extreme, if the king shows up, everyone bows. Including your character. You might tell your character to cross the street in front of His Royal Annoyingness, but it won't, because the social conventions of the game insist that your character respect the king. There's no point in calling him king if everyone /insults him and dances naked in front of him. This would all mean that when you trundle down the street of town, you'll see NPCs and PCs, and they'll all be behaving like citizens (or visitors) to that town. People will walk in and out of shops, never jumping out windows or walking their horses into town hall. And so forth. I'm not a roleplayer, but I'd sure like to be able to walk through a town that seemed like a town. |
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5/08/08 10:36 AM
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Viewed 981, Replies 24
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If you're interested in online economies, take a look at the blog of the Eve Online economist. It's a fascinating bit of insight into the workings of a balanced economy. As a general statement, the key to getting players interacting is to create systems between players that they find mutually entertaining - and to keep those interactions alive. Fantasy crafting falls flat on its face because crafted goods are entirely optional and the crafting systems are invariably uninteresting to those who would craft. As a sideshow, they are doomed to failure. Combined with the technique of power levels to stratify everything, there's not much hope left of success. To make fantasy crafting work - to create the crafting role - requires two important things: 1. People want to craft. The system itself must be entertaining. Not because it enables combat, but because it brings in money. Or because it's fun to make things. Or for some other reason that pertains to crafting. 2. People must want to use crafted items. Crafting cannot be optional. It must be a mainstream element of the way the game operates. If there are multiple axes of gameplay, then crafting must be mainstream to at least one of them. This is true of any system. For harvesting to be a role in a game, people must want to harvest because they like harvesting, and other people must want the stuff that they are harvesting. For baking to be a role in a game, people must want to bake because they like baking, and other people must want the stuff that they are baking. For politics to be a role in a game, people must want to engage in politics because they like politics, and other people must want them politicking. Pick a role that you'd like to have people fill in your game. Create a system that will entertain enthusiasts of that role. Tie that role into the other systems of the game such that the enthusiasts of those systems are happy to have the first group filling their role. There are lots of ways to do this wrong. The most common ways are 1. Create a system for enthusiasts of one role, then foist that role off on enthusiasts of other roles. The enthusiasts of the other roles don't want to because that first role has no natural relationship to what they enjoy doing. Players complain. 2. Create a new role that enthusiasts of other roles want to use, but don't make the new role entertaining to do. That new role is tossed in as a fiction to provide something needed in the game, but that nobody actually wants to do. So the people who need it end up doing it. Players complain. 3. Create a system for enthusiasts of one role - and don't relate it in any way to any other roles in the game. Alternately, relate it, but make it a duplicate of other roles. Consider that combat requires quick healing. Consider that healing can only be accomplished by potions. Consider that healing potions can only be created with fish scales. Now fish scales are an integral part of the game, and fishing is a role that players can fill. But what if the above chain were true except that healing potions could also be made with herbs? If herbs are easier to obtain than fish, then fishing is relegated to being a pointless role. One last thought that I'd toss out is that player dependence and interaction does not have to mean that the two players must be online at the same time. Goods and services that characters rely on can be provided when one or the other player character is offline. In truth, that seems to be the better way of implementing many of these systems because it makes more interactions practical - and therefore more plentiful. |
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5/04/08 10:24 PM
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Viewed 981, Replies 24
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I'm not quite sure what your actual goal is. Do you want players interacting with each other or do you just want the world to be dominated by player actions? If the former, I'd warn you off of the idea of having players rely on other logged-in players for essential game services. Purely optional services can be handled with direct player interactions, but I hope you don't want anyone to have to wait until they can find a player providing the requisite service before they can enjoy some aspect of the game. That sort of thing should be reserved for the hardcore players. It uses too much play time. If the latter, look no farther than Eve Online. They have extensive player interactions through NPCs. Players buying player-made items, taxes, corporations, contracts, alliances, shared tasks such as fleet mining and combat operations, and many more besides. What is Eve Online lacking in examples in this space? (no pun intended) |
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4/16/08 10:00 AM
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Viewed 570, Replies 12
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Originally posted by Produde A timer counts down from 20 minutes but can be frozen if the buffed character is grouped with the buffer. As a result, the total duration of the buff can be far longer than 20 minutes, while the timer continues to show 20 minutes. If the buffed character leaves the group, the timer resumes its countdown, giving the ungrouped character 20 minutes of buff.
So the purpose of the timer is not to indicate how long the buff will last in all circumstances, but to indicate how long it will last while the buffed character is not grouped with the buffer. - edit: removed an admonition |
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4/16/08 8:35 AM
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Viewed 570, Replies 12
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Originally posted by Anofalye Dark Age of Camelot worked something like that. Buffers had concentration points that they allocated among a certain number of buffs. Once buffed, a target stayed buffed so long as it remained within a certain range. I believe a rebuff took place automatically if the target came in range again. It's been a while, so my recollections may be off. I think personal buffs were just on a timer. |
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4/05/08 1:59 PM
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Viewed 553, Replies 12
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Originally posted by qombi I traipsed down memory lane with EverQuest a little while ago and I completely agree. I visited so many places and was having a grand old time - except where the game had been 'improved' visually. The game had a very specific experience to it, and being able to revisit the same game environment really helps to bring back memories of how we used to play it. Highpass had been made unrecognizable, as was Freeport. Such a shame. I'm very happy that the game is still operating, however. Hearing those same sounds and seeing the same crude graphics from almost a decade ago was a real delight. I'm glad that I could do a visit to a relatively-intact world. Not only that, they've granted lots of free time to those who have old characters. I think I had a couple years of accumulated free time. In another couple years, I might burn another hour or two of that time. I hope that Blizzard doesn't feel an obligation to mess with the look and feel of World of Warcraft. In another 10 or 20 years, I'd like to go back and get a taste of playing one of those quaint games from 'back when'. |
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4/03/08 8:16 AM
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Viewed 881, Replies 20
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Originally posted by HexxeityWell thanks a bunch for shooting my dissertation research out of the water. My career is ruined. Originally posted by dirtyjoe78If you go back and check the premise of the poll, you'll notice that it is a duplicate from another site. If I had changed it, there would have been no way to compare the results. I would never create a poll with such vague choices and without any qualifications on the setting. |
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4/02/08 6:08 PM
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Viewed 3485, Replies 88
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I voted "No" as the gameplay videos did zero for me, but I like to sample what's out there so if a free trial pops up, I'll certainly take a peek. JB |
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4/02/08 9:30 AM
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Viewed 881, Replies 20
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For those interested, it looks like the balance is essentially the same between rpgwatch and mmorpg except in NPC interaction. The people at rpgwatch place a high premium on NPC interaction, while folks here place almost no emphasis on it at all. I just checked the rpgwatch poll again and noticed that they're running the same poll on both the MMO and RPG sides of their site. That probably means that the single-player RPG folks are pumping up the numbers of players interested in NPC interactions. In an MMO, we have each other, but the single player gamers only have the NPCs. I guess we all like to be social, even if it's only with a cartoon. Thanks to everyone who voted. |
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3/31/08 8:09 PM
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Viewed 881, Replies 20
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This poll is a duplicate of one currently running at http://mmo.rpgwatch.com. I'm curious to see how the two communities of players differ in their answers. I am not responsible for the one being run at rpgwatch.com. Feel free to take a peek at the other poll. I know that I was surprised by the response there. |
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