Post by Morreion on Jun 18, 2011 10:31:21 GMT -5
E3 2011: En Masse interview delves into TERA's political system (Massively)
I have to admit that I've not been a fan of TERA, an MMO in development for an upcoming western release. But this article has made me interested all of the sudden.
The article discusses players who become vanarchs, or province leaders, by election or by superior PvP stats:
A Vanarch's power comes in many forms, but what it essentially boils down to is this: A Vanarch has complete control over his province. He's able to raise or lower taxes, open specialty shops within his province, enable open PvP within his zone, run his own events, and imprison other players. I'd be willing to bet money that at least half of you did a double-take at that last one, but don't worry -- your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. Stefan very clearly stated that the Vanarch of a zone would have the power to imprison "jerks and a-holes" who come through his province. Unfortunately, no other details on how exactly that will work could be provided. Still, a Vanarch has absolute power over his province, though how he runs it is entirely up to him. He could be a kind and benevolent ruler, lower the taxes, disable PvP, open a lot of lovely specialty shops, imprison problematic players, and throw grand parties for everyone. On the other end of the spectrum, he could be a complete despot, raising taxes to insane levels, encouraging a free-for-all PvP slaughterhouse, and imprisoning anyone who looks at him sideways.
This is progress in the following sense:
1) This is a level of MMO play above the individual character- essentially it is an RTS meta-level where certain players control parts of the world setting that other players experience.
2) This meta-level will involve politics and player competition on an organizational level, similar to EVE's gameplay. In other words, players become part of the content.
3) Player content offers a rich interaction that does not go stale like dev-generated content eventually does. This gives another dimension to MMO play. Think of DAoC's realm wars and how engrossing those could be, and how players could play a vital part in changing the outcomes of server situations at any given time.
Do I expect this system to be perfect? Not at all. I'm sure it will need to be tweaked. It may even be terrible. BUT! This is a step in the right direction IMHO, a step towards player content that has the chance of being much more engrossing than scripted code passed down from on high by devs which we're all overly familiar with. I look forward to tyrants, benevolent rulers, and everything in between in this setup! One step closer to a many-dimensioned virtual world!
I have to admit that I've not been a fan of TERA, an MMO in development for an upcoming western release. But this article has made me interested all of the sudden.
The article discusses players who become vanarchs, or province leaders, by election or by superior PvP stats:
A Vanarch's power comes in many forms, but what it essentially boils down to is this: A Vanarch has complete control over his province. He's able to raise or lower taxes, open specialty shops within his province, enable open PvP within his zone, run his own events, and imprison other players. I'd be willing to bet money that at least half of you did a double-take at that last one, but don't worry -- your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. Stefan very clearly stated that the Vanarch of a zone would have the power to imprison "jerks and a-holes" who come through his province. Unfortunately, no other details on how exactly that will work could be provided. Still, a Vanarch has absolute power over his province, though how he runs it is entirely up to him. He could be a kind and benevolent ruler, lower the taxes, disable PvP, open a lot of lovely specialty shops, imprison problematic players, and throw grand parties for everyone. On the other end of the spectrum, he could be a complete despot, raising taxes to insane levels, encouraging a free-for-all PvP slaughterhouse, and imprisoning anyone who looks at him sideways.
This is progress in the following sense:
1) This is a level of MMO play above the individual character- essentially it is an RTS meta-level where certain players control parts of the world setting that other players experience.
2) This meta-level will involve politics and player competition on an organizational level, similar to EVE's gameplay. In other words, players become part of the content.
3) Player content offers a rich interaction that does not go stale like dev-generated content eventually does. This gives another dimension to MMO play. Think of DAoC's realm wars and how engrossing those could be, and how players could play a vital part in changing the outcomes of server situations at any given time.
Do I expect this system to be perfect? Not at all. I'm sure it will need to be tweaked. It may even be terrible. BUT! This is a step in the right direction IMHO, a step towards player content that has the chance of being much more engrossing than scripted code passed down from on high by devs which we're all overly familiar with. I look forward to tyrants, benevolent rulers, and everything in between in this setup! One step closer to a many-dimensioned virtual world!
