Post by Morreion on Jan 17, 2011 8:44:03 GMT -5
Since Loendal is putting in some serious effort at coming up with his own world at The Lands of Neuhnee, I figured I'd post my somewhat scattered thoughts on what I'd like to see in a virtual world.
The three basic principles of Morreion's World would be:
1) it's a virtual world sandbox
2) it's big
3) there's lots to do for different types of players
The mechanics of the world would be:
4) there's a lot of factions that are rivals
5) there's different levels of play
Think of something like Vanguard's world size with classic UO-style variety of activities. There would be many factions that you could pick to join. For instance, you could start in a city and join the City Guard, the Thieves Guild, the Forest Bandits, the Assassin's Guild, the Merchant's Association, the Explorers League, the Huntsmen...each of these factions offer you quests and tasks to rise in that faction while gaining special rewards and abilities unique to that faction. Factions would oppose each other, and would encourage designated PvP (for example, City Guard and Forest Bandits fight each other on sight, unless there's a truce). What starts out as an NPC faction gradually changes to player factions.
And fighting wouldn't be the only thing to do. Merchants could engage in economic warfare against other merchants, investing in risky voyages and caravans of profit, buying low and selling high in different geographic areas. Explorers would discover new resource sources and items of note.
There would be different zones to do different things. A player could journey to the Pirate Main and become a pirate, rise in faction, develop an NPC following, and set up their own pirate ship. This could attract other players to join this individual's personal faction, and fight against other pirates as well as prey upon merchants, who hire mercenary factions to protect them. Players who prefer large-scale warfare could journey to a land where 3 countries are eternally at war, join one faction and plunge into the fight, which develops into organized RvR versus other players in the opposing factions as they gain levels. The world would be big enough to have room for everyone's playstyle, including new lands to discover and plenty of room for players to go off and do what they want away from others if they so desire. Say a Huntsman lives in a cabin in the woods, selling hides and meat to city dwellers. Everyone would fit in to the grand scheme of things.
There would be a level of play above controlling your avatar. Once you reach a certain faction level (after lots of play), you would have the opportunity to engage in RTS-style play as the ruler of a certain area, from a village up to a whole region. You control the tax rates, economic development, laws, and so on, engaging in politics and diplomacy with other players on your level, all while other players play their avatars in your areas.
Expansions would happen when a new continent is discovered, opening up the whole process to start over in another area.
Yes, that's very elaborate, but it would feel like a living and breathing world, and would have a ton of replayability!
The three basic principles of Morreion's World would be:
1) it's a virtual world sandbox
2) it's big
3) there's lots to do for different types of players
The mechanics of the world would be:
4) there's a lot of factions that are rivals
5) there's different levels of play
Think of something like Vanguard's world size with classic UO-style variety of activities. There would be many factions that you could pick to join. For instance, you could start in a city and join the City Guard, the Thieves Guild, the Forest Bandits, the Assassin's Guild, the Merchant's Association, the Explorers League, the Huntsmen...each of these factions offer you quests and tasks to rise in that faction while gaining special rewards and abilities unique to that faction. Factions would oppose each other, and would encourage designated PvP (for example, City Guard and Forest Bandits fight each other on sight, unless there's a truce). What starts out as an NPC faction gradually changes to player factions.
And fighting wouldn't be the only thing to do. Merchants could engage in economic warfare against other merchants, investing in risky voyages and caravans of profit, buying low and selling high in different geographic areas. Explorers would discover new resource sources and items of note.
There would be different zones to do different things. A player could journey to the Pirate Main and become a pirate, rise in faction, develop an NPC following, and set up their own pirate ship. This could attract other players to join this individual's personal faction, and fight against other pirates as well as prey upon merchants, who hire mercenary factions to protect them. Players who prefer large-scale warfare could journey to a land where 3 countries are eternally at war, join one faction and plunge into the fight, which develops into organized RvR versus other players in the opposing factions as they gain levels. The world would be big enough to have room for everyone's playstyle, including new lands to discover and plenty of room for players to go off and do what they want away from others if they so desire. Say a Huntsman lives in a cabin in the woods, selling hides and meat to city dwellers. Everyone would fit in to the grand scheme of things.
There would be a level of play above controlling your avatar. Once you reach a certain faction level (after lots of play), you would have the opportunity to engage in RTS-style play as the ruler of a certain area, from a village up to a whole region. You control the tax rates, economic development, laws, and so on, engaging in politics and diplomacy with other players on your level, all while other players play their avatars in your areas.
Expansions would happen when a new continent is discovered, opening up the whole process to start over in another area.
Yes, that's very elaborate, but it would feel like a living and breathing world, and would have a ton of replayability!
