[Mist]

I tried thinking of something modular enough to be developed under the paradigm we have going here, and taking some ideas from the threads I've read so far.

Sometime in the far distant future, players begin as soliders of a vast and powerful empire. This empire spans not only hundreds of worlds, but also alternate realities, elemental planes, etc. Really anything you can think of, from urban nightmare metropolises, utopian communities, deep space mining operations, idyllic colony worlds, post-apocalyptic distasters of the technological and/or magical varieties. This empire is besieged on all sides by aggressors of various races and factions.

The main hub is a military installation of no small size in and of itself. It houses a training complex, research labs, and numberous transport methods to various worlds (mostly portals of some variety.) Each accessible world is a place where something catastrophic has happened or is currently happening. Missions progress through a given zone, seeking to uncover what happened there, or the source of the ongoing problem. Some worlds are more based on exploration or intrique, while others are all out warzones. Some worlds have miniature hubs of their own, creating secondary pathways between the various worlds. Longer, more intricate mission chains span worlds, and deal with fighting against the factions on multiple fronts.

Players progress by aquiring skills and equipment/artifacts of technological or magical power through various means across the worlds. However, each world creator may set a cap as to how advanced technology or magical abilities function on a given world. Players do not level or directly progress in basic hitpoints or other ability scores, though equipment may provide bonuses in various areas.

PvP is handled via giving players access to joining a few of the opposing factions. Players doing this lose access to empire specific mission content, and the central hub, forcing them to find alternate routes around the multiverse, but gain the ability to attack and loot other players freely and gain access to unique rewards and abilities by killing empire players, hindering them and therefore advancing the interests of their faction.

I know theres a whole lot of other stuff to look at but this seems like something that could actually be developed in this framework, and would actually have some content be something other than a complete sandbox type game as some people are proposing.