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Originally Posted by Ngruk Ok, I get it, once maybe. How cool would it be if Freeport ran itself and everyone had things 'to do', the NPC's that is. Man that would be cool, sort of. I mean Boston runs just fine without me, people, and lots of them, are ALL busy and going from here to there and NONE of them need me to quest for them. Having said that I don't drive into the city to sit back and watch it happen. |
And yet, your actions, as well as those of your "allies" have had profound impact on Boston, both in terms of its prominence, economy, discord, and how other "NPCs" behave. Don't tell me you'd forgotten about '04 so soon!
In MMOs, defining events involving a multitude of individuals/guilds should play a part in dictating the content, layout and economy of various cities and provinces. WAR has taken a step in the right direction, where players' actions take a proactive role in defining the world and the capital city's state.
To me, the best way to provide a realistic, dynamic aspect to the typically NPC world is by providing some kind of disillusioned or revolutionary sub-aspect to each realm. As a rough example, in Freeport of EQ1 there were really three groups: the lawfully allegiant supporters of the Militia/Lucan D'Lere, the underground movement of rogues/smugglers assisted by the Shadow Knights and Necromancers, and the devoutly pious Knights of Truth, all struggling for control of the city and its priorities. In a next-gen MMORPG, I would expect players, based on their prominence between both players and the computer-regulated realm, to dictate just which aspect became a key player, thus determining the economic and "quest-based" direction of the city, as well as giving economic discounts/penalties to persons/guilds based on their personal allegiances.
The problem, here, arises in players anticipating or being predisposed to favoring one path amongst others. On the one hand, you can resort to penalties for the winning/alternate bonuses for the losing side. Or perhaps, you can open other objectives to the winning side so that they are prompted to expand their influence, offering a chance for a rebel group to overthrow them in the capitol while the winning faction seeks to expand their power/influence.
Server-side dynamics, where NPCs behave differently based upon the time of day, the world looks/acts different based upon season are one thing, but providing a balanced, player-driven economical/political/ecological habitat to enjoy is, in my opinion, the current Holy Grail of MMOGs.
