[GaliemVaelant]

...for chat and basic commands in MMOG's. Now, I don't mean anything game defining should always be the same, but simple shit like chat commands and filters.

SWG and FFXI went with /tell {name}, for example, while in L2 you have to type "{name}

WTF?

It should not take new players to a game any longer than 1.5 seconds to figure out basic shit like this. I went two days in L2 before I knew how to send a tell. Sure, a handbook at release will help that, but observance of a basic standard would help even more.

That is just one example, but it's a good enough one to get the idea. I want to be able to log into a MMOG without having to learn how today's new developer has reinvented the wheel on such basic shit that it really shouldn't make a difference if it's all the same.

What I'm posting about this here for is your expert opinion on precisely what those standards should be. Here's what (I believe) is needed. If anything should not be standardized on this list, point it out... If I forgot anything that should, please point that out.

1. ALL chat commands. MMOGs should all have person to person private chat, close range spatial chat, and regional long distance spatial chat (IE shout) at the very least.

2. All MMOG's should offer a quick and easy method either within the GUI or by standardized command to filter any or all channels.

3. The log out command should be standardized, and should always be available by command, not only GUI. Why? What if your mouse freezes?

4. Movement should -NOT- be standardized, but since true 3D is the standard, not that isometric shit like in Diablo, I think we should be able to agree upon a basic set of camera positions, and a standardized way to cycle them.

5. A standard should be set for character limits in chat messages. In L2 you can type what? 3 letters before it cuts you off? In SWG it splits your message into 2 parts on its own, sometimes cutting part off, and in EQ they got it right (IMHO).

I'm no cheenyus, and I'm damn sure no developer (yet), but I still think that after 4 years, 4 months in the genre, I have a fairly decent grasp of the way things should work across the board. The MMOG industry is undoubtedly growing in leaps and bounds, and the setting of and observance of standards is always a boon to advancement in any field... well... as far as I have seen anyway.

The purpose for standards is to make things easier on the player and developer. It means fewer decisions for a developer to make, and it means that players could log into a new game and get moving easier. In very few industries do they reinvent the wheel with every new product, and I think in MMOG's the time has come for them to stop doing that.